No easy decisions

[melonie]

I just read an update from Sioux Empire Pit Rescue, that stated one of their dogs had been put down due to an accident where the dog got out of the yard and attacked another dog. He was not dog aggressive or selective.
We know accidents happen.

I am so sad that he had to pay such a high price. But I get it. The risk is too high to keep him. And that is so so sad.

Meanwhile in the shelter I no longer work for as of Sept. 19th, we have Snow. Who has been with us for over a year, who is a great dog. But he is not easy, he is risky. I know any one of the experienced regulars on this forum could handle him. Anyone w/out experience... I don't trust.
We also have Diesel, who IS part pit bull and yellow lab. The shelter pres. chose to drop bull breed mix from his 'breed' and just put lab mix.
He is a great dog, but very dog selective, untrained, and wild, and also fear issues.
The risks that these two dogs pose are ignored, I'm ignored. But I hope like hell me and mine don't pay the price.

The shelter had a dog attack another dog once. Complete human failure, not the dogs fault. It was put down. It wasn't a pit or bull breed mix at all.
Where do you draw the line?

[fawncoat]

I think the general thinking is that b/c there are SO many dogs in shelters everywhere that ARE very adoptable, why use resources in rehabilitating or training dogs that the average pet owner can't handle.
I wouldn't want to be the person in charge of determining the line that has to be drawn when it comes to who gets put down and who lives.

I also think that when you have limited space, you have to make tight decisions. Sure, the human may have failed the dog, but there are so many dogs that could be 'failed' in the same way without incidence. Some people just cannot read a dog's behavior, or think far enough ahead to prevent problems; they're only able to react to something after it happens. They probably aren't bad owners, but how do you weed that out?

I hate to say, but I think it really comes down to what's easier.

[melonie]

Unfortunately easy isnt always done either.

Sent from my SM-G730V using proboards

[kcdogblog]

Dog aggression in a shelter is, by far, the hardest thing we deal with when making euthanasia decisions. Our team has universally agreed that a dog that will physically go through a barrier to attack another dog is too dangerous to place in public. We also all admit that not every dog has to be a dog-park-ready dog. But then there is a LOT of grey in between. And where is the line between not euthanizing dogs just for not loving other dogs and being a true danger to an owner, another dog, and the public (acknowledging that expecting an owner to always be perfect in their handling is setting everyone up for failure, because none of us is perfect). It's the single hardest decisions we make at our shelter daily.