A Note to Dog Rescues and Shelters
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Last week, I wrote to dog breeders. This week, I’m writing to another great source of pet dogs - rescues and shelters. As a whole, I have great admiration for these organizations and I really admire the people who do the work that is often physically and emotionally exhausting. I’m not qualified to tell you how to run your organizations and I hope it won’t sound like that’s what I’m trying to do here.
But, as a person who gets called in to help the owners of those dogs who once passed through your doors, I do believe I have some insight that could be helpful. You likely have a fair to very good understanding of a wide range of dog care topics - from assessing which dogs have the best potential to be adopted, to nutrition, to healthcare, to day-to-day welfare issues. And I have no doubt that you have some knowledge (and perhaps even some serious education) on dog behavior.
But that’s not always true. There are rescues and shelters still giving out outdated and potentially dangerous information about behavior - and it causes problems for dogs and their adopted families. Though I’ve seen it from a number of shelters, I’ll use just one recent example that came to my attention (anonymously - I’m not trying to scold anyone but to help people understand that the information they may have given out for decades is no longer considered valid by behavior experts).
This particular rescue with a “safety protocol” that’s mandatory for adopters and foster families. And though it’s only mandatory for the first three months, it’s written in such a way that it gives the impression that these are all good things that should be kept up for everyone’s benefit.
It includes entirely debunked warning about dominance and “leadership” including making sure you never let your dog on the sofa or bed without your permission. There are admonishions to “never baby or coddle your dog” but to “establish a leadership role.”
And there are lots and lots and lots of instructions or prohibitions under the category of “safety.” I agree with many of them. When we bring in a new adolescent/adult dog, we don’t know their learning history including their ability to come when called, what might scare them and cause them to run, etc. So, I agree completely with recommendations not to go on off-leash walks with your new dog right away and being careful about the dog’s location before you open doors to the outside that could allow for escape. And I can understand some warnings about risk of escape in fenced yards (it would be reasonable to suggest that new dogs might dig under a fence, climb over one, or squeeze through remarkably small gaps when sufficiently motivated).
Other rules come simply from personal bias based on people’s common “fear of dogs” (or, in this case, the fear of dogs doing normal dog things). For instance, there’s a long list (eight bullet points worth) explaining why dogs should never go to dog parks. This is despite the thousands of positive interactions dogs have each day in dog parks. Yes, there are qualifiers: not all dogs should go to dog parks, not all dog parks are created equal, and I wouldn’t recommend taking a new dog to a dog park. But the fear mongering to encourage people to never ever let a dog play with other dogs is - well, it’s just that - fear mongering. And it’s unsupportable.
A friend of mine suggested a different list of items for a safety protocol and I can get behind this one. It includes:
Use positive reinforcement to train and avoid force and fear, which are linked to aggression.
Give dogs opportunities to engage in species-normal behavior with other dogs so they don’t lose their social skills via isolation. Practice recalls using a vetted plan, culminating in dog park recalls.
Make sure your yard is securely fenced and practice recalls in from the yard using yummy chicken.
Make sure your dog is micro-chipped and wearing ID on his collar.
Make sure your dog has comfy sleeping places, which might include your furniture if you wish.
Give your dogs as much love as you like.
Be very wary of outdated, militaristic, paranoid-sounding manifestos that forbid basic rights such as conspecific interactions, and that emphasize control and “leaderhip.”
If your dog has behavior problems, engage the services of a certified applied behavior professional.
Might it be time to review and possibly update the information you send out to adopters and foster families? I know you’re busy and it’s just one more thing to do. But the dogs who you place with be better off with good (updated) information. If you would like a behavior professional to help with that review, I’d be happy to lend a hand.