Prior to working with AAF, I had only volunteered or consulted for full-service shelters. Usually when the topic comes up in groups of animal advocates, I try to steer the conversation towards something safer, like politics or religion.
It is one of dogdom’s great hot-button issues and I am far from an expert. I hesitate to wade into a discussion about the relative merits of no-kill versus full-service shelters. I have my doubts about the no-kill movement, and many of them center on the fates of dogs like Ollie. I took comfort in knowing that Ollie would get a second chance, but I still had grave concerns for him. I did, however, know that Ollie would be welcome at the shelter for the foreseeable future and that every effort would be made to address his behavior problems and find him a good home. We had recently started working with AAF, and I didn’t know their policy on euthanasia for behavior problems. Ollie, however, had been adopted from a “no-kill” shelter: the Animal Adoption Foundation in Ross, Ohio. Few shelters have the resources necessary to work with them and appropriate homes are extremely rare. It was the right decision.Īn owner’s decision to return a dog like Ollie usually means a death sentence. I suspected that Ann and Meredith would make the painful decision to return Ollie to the shelter. Most importantly, they just were not prepared to live in fear of the day that safety precautions somehow failed and their enormous unpredictable dog attacked someone else. They never intended to rearrange their lives to protect friends and family from their dog. They didn’t sign up to develop the advanced dog training skills necessary to help him. They adopted him for companionship, though, not as a risky and time-consuming rehabilitation project. Privately, though, I concurred with the first trainer’s recommendation to return Ollie to the shelter.Īnn and Meredith were exceptionally dedicated and conscientious owners who had clearly fallen in love with Ollie. I prefer to explain my interpretation of the facts and let owners reach their own decisions. I generally avoid making recommendations to clients about a dog’s ultimate fate.
#SHELTER 3 PART1 HOW TO#
We outlined the work involved and encouraged them to take some time to digest the information before making a decision about how to proceed. We explained to Ann and Meredith that Ollie could probably learn to safely interact with visitors, but it would involve a long, tedious behavior modification process with no guarantee of success. We quickly gained his trust and saw his delightful softer side. Ollie was a dangerous dog, but not a hopeless case. He warned us that he would bite when we made him uncomfortable, but an untrained eye could easily miss those subtle warnings. We met a dog who, in addition to exhibiting extreme aggression in doorways, was likely to bite anyone that grabbed his collar, handled his hindquarters, or tried to remove him from furniture. They asked my partner and me to perform an in-home evaluation and offer a second opinion. He had come to them under tragic circumstances, but – exhibiting only physical signs of his trauma – the seemingly gentle giant charmed everyone he met during his brief stay. Ollie’s aggression surprised the shelter’s management. On their veterinarian’s recommendation, they consulted a dog trainer who recommended returning Ollie to the shelter. This frightening behavior led Ann and Meredith to start confining Ollie away from visitors, but he still bit twice more over the next month. Low growls and wary stares soon replaced the warm welcome he had given earlier visitors. He remained affectionate with his new family, but began ferociously guarding doorways against everyone else.
From there, Ollie’s aggression quickly escalated. It started when he bit Meredith’s elderly mother as she entered the house. Then his behavior took a sudden and dramatic turn for the worse. The big goofy Harlequin Great Dane quickly bonded with his new family and spent his first 2 or 3 weeks charming their friends and neighbors. Their relationship started out wonderfully. Ann and Meredith (not their real names) had adopted him from a shelter less than two months before our appointment. Homes for 140-pound dogs who bite people are in short supply, and Ollie seemed about to lose his.
I had little optimism for Ollie’s future as we concluded his initial behavior consultation.
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