Corgi Mix pup @ our local shelter...breaks my heart...
Hey all, not so much a discussion as just wanting to get some insight on this sort of topic. I am sure all of you there are dog lovers of all sorts. As am I. my problem is, is that I have a hard time looking at the realistic picture when it comes to animals. I honestly would forgo my own well being to help an animal. I already dont have any real spending money of my own because I spend it all on maggie's needs. lol
I see a dog, and I melt instantaneously. My boyfriend, an animal lover as well, believes I have an unnaturally great love for dogs. lol
There has been a corgi/lab mix male...named Dustin, 2 yrs old, at our shelter for a month or two now. I kept checking the website to see if he was adopted...but he wasnt. Finally, yesterday, I convinced my boyfriend to go and visit the doggies, and Dustin. I told him I would be as realistic and neutral as i possibly could so long as he just opened up to the possibility of possibly adopting him if he was a good fit. He agreed. So we went, and there were many people there at opening hours..which was good! I love seeing all the cats and dogs get adopted and into homes :).
So we sign in and explain that we are interested in Dustin. We visit all the dogs (only 8 in there now, yay!) and say hello...so cute. Then we get to Dustin. And my heart just began to drop.
He is all black...about 40 lbs. And he just looked so sad. His info said he has alot of lab and corgi attributes, was a little bossy, but very high energy (perfect fit for maggie, right?) Well, he was laying down in his kennel, Just looking so sad. My boyfriend and I bent down along with the worker to greet him, softly, and he immediately began to growl. The worker put her hand up at the cage he and began to bark and snap. Brandon tried and he really barked and snapped. He did it less with me. We stayed for a few mins and just talked to him. Brandon tried again and still he growled. Me, thinking what this poor thing had to have gone through to be defensive like this began to cry. It just broke my heart. He looked healthy, and alert, shiny coat...but just sad.
We went out to talk to a trainer and just explained that we cant make any final decisons, as we have another dog and a landlord to talk to. I asked about his behavior. They said he has barrier issues...he does not like to be behind things. They said he is a little weary of strangers but will warm up to them, and when he does, is is very loving and very, VERY playful. I asked if they had known anything about why he was reacting so badly to brandon. They did say that he seems to be a little bit fearful of men. He had been a stray, then brought to one shelter, adopted, then returned for snapping at a male child. He also I guess, is picky about which dogs he likes.
We told them we would talk and maybe be back. After talking, brandon said if he was still there, and he liked maggie, and we had caught up on some financial stuff, he would like to try it. Despite that fact, brandon still felt like he would warm up to him. As much as I would like to try, I just feel like he would need someone that can devote alot of time to him and helping him warm up in the begining. We both work M-f, I don't think it would be fair to him. Our shelter does not harm animals though, so they will keep dustin until he finds a home. It just breaks my heart to think about how much of a hard time this little guy must have had in his 2 years of life. The good side though, is that where he is so young, he can certainly be shown that not all men, or people, are bad people.
This is probably why I should not go and visit animal shelters. I am signing up to volunteer there...maybe I shouldnt? lol.
Sorry for my venting....any one else ever had an experience like this? I just can't stop thinking about him!
I see a dog, and I melt instantaneously. My boyfriend, an animal lover as well, believes I have an unnaturally great love for dogs. lol
There has been a corgi/lab mix male...named Dustin, 2 yrs old, at our shelter for a month or two now. I kept checking the website to see if he was adopted...but he wasnt. Finally, yesterday, I convinced my boyfriend to go and visit the doggies, and Dustin. I told him I would be as realistic and neutral as i possibly could so long as he just opened up to the possibility of possibly adopting him if he was a good fit. He agreed. So we went, and there were many people there at opening hours..which was good! I love seeing all the cats and dogs get adopted and into homes :).
So we sign in and explain that we are interested in Dustin. We visit all the dogs (only 8 in there now, yay!) and say hello...so cute. Then we get to Dustin. And my heart just began to drop.
He is all black...about 40 lbs. And he just looked so sad. His info said he has alot of lab and corgi attributes, was a little bossy, but very high energy (perfect fit for maggie, right?) Well, he was laying down in his kennel, Just looking so sad. My boyfriend and I bent down along with the worker to greet him, softly, and he immediately began to growl. The worker put her hand up at the cage he and began to bark and snap. Brandon tried and he really barked and snapped. He did it less with me. We stayed for a few mins and just talked to him. Brandon tried again and still he growled. Me, thinking what this poor thing had to have gone through to be defensive like this began to cry. It just broke my heart. He looked healthy, and alert, shiny coat...but just sad.
We went out to talk to a trainer and just explained that we cant make any final decisons, as we have another dog and a landlord to talk to. I asked about his behavior. They said he has barrier issues...he does not like to be behind things. They said he is a little weary of strangers but will warm up to them, and when he does, is is very loving and very, VERY playful. I asked if they had known anything about why he was reacting so badly to brandon. They did say that he seems to be a little bit fearful of men. He had been a stray, then brought to one shelter, adopted, then returned for snapping at a male child. He also I guess, is picky about which dogs he likes.
We told them we would talk and maybe be back. After talking, brandon said if he was still there, and he liked maggie, and we had caught up on some financial stuff, he would like to try it. Despite that fact, brandon still felt like he would warm up to him. As much as I would like to try, I just feel like he would need someone that can devote alot of time to him and helping him warm up in the begining. We both work M-f, I don't think it would be fair to him. Our shelter does not harm animals though, so they will keep dustin until he finds a home. It just breaks my heart to think about how much of a hard time this little guy must have had in his 2 years of life. The good side though, is that where he is so young, he can certainly be shown that not all men, or people, are bad people.
This is probably why I should not go and visit animal shelters. I am signing up to volunteer there...maybe I shouldnt? lol.
Sorry for my venting....any one else ever had an experience like this? I just can't stop thinking about him!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tauna and Kota on
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I always feel like that for animals, especially dogs. I volunteered at an animal shelter a few times and was a dog walker. It was great. I loved that I was helping the dogs not feel so bad and cooped up while they were there. They got attention and lots of love from me. I did want to take them all home, but you have to have willpower to remember that you are there to help them while they are there and you can't take them all home. I think it would be a good idea for you to volunteer. You could help the dogs while they are there at the shelter and know that even though they are there, that they are getting some attention and love from someone... until they find their own forever home and loving family. Hugs from me and Kota
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Permalink Reply by Ashley and Copper on
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I can't even go to my shelter because I always leave sad and wanting to take them all home. I definitely know how you are feeling. If this is something you are going to do, I think you should take a vacation but your boyfriend would have to take one with you because if Dustin just bonds with you, it's not going to fix the men issue. I tried to adopt a shepherd/chow mix and while he was a good dog, he just wanted to run. He almost got hit by a car because when I came in the house he looped right around me and shot out the door.I couldn't deal with that because I had lost Pooh 8 months prior to getting hit by a snowmobile while I was at work.(To this day, my ex-roommates still claim they do not know how he got out.) Rescue dogs can be challenging because you don't know their story but with some time and TLC, I'm sure things could work. Good luck and don't beat yourself up.
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Permalink Reply by breanna bellefontaine on
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thanks guys. glad I am not the only one out there :).
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Permalink Reply by Julia on
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First, you and your boyfriend should meet Dustin outside of his kennel, without a barrier. That's meeting #1. Meet in a room, or a yard. Take him for a walk on a leash. Next, have a supervised interaction with your dog(s) with the shelter staff. This is essential. This is meeting #2. Now you have information you can use to make a decision.
Your trainer, or others you consulted, really can't help you, because they haven't met with the dog like you have. They can only guess. Rely on the shelter staff, and the interaction with your other dog. Then you will be able to make your own decision. Meeting a dog through his cage door is not a good indicator of who he is. If you are interested in adoption, the shelter should bring him out for you.
At my shelter, this is our protocol. Check with landlord if it's a high-risk dog for rentals. Meet in a room. Interact with other pets. Allow adopters 24 hours to decide. The 24 hour hold is limited so the dog will be free to be adopted again as soon as possible, if the original potential adopter doesn't want him. We do behavior evaluations on our dogs. If he is growling at your boyfriend, there is probably something about that in his behavior eval, and info from previous owners. Pay attention to all that also. We do encourage adopters to return the "wrong" pet to us in 30 days, but we would much rather send home the "right" pet in the first place.
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Thanks for the help :) I do believe that is a similar policy to what the Greater Portland by me has. My only reasoning for not meeting with him more closely is because I did not want things to go great, get my hopes up, and have our landlord (which is my boyfriends mom) say no. Unfortunately, she would like us to be a bit more practical at the moment and fix up a few things in the house before we get another animal. (I can't blame her.) She is a very practical person, and I kinda had thought she would say this. My boyfriend said if Dustin is still there in a month or two that he would like to have the more one on one visits with him.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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I bet this will give you the inspiration you need to get these things done! Good Luck!
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Permalink Reply by Susan Temple on
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Before we got Tulip we looked at a lot of shelter/rescue dogs. Our corgi Peanut was our only dog at the time and he was a rescue. We weren't limiting ourselves to Corgis, although they are the dogs I've always had, and a little beagle came into our local pound. I went to see her and boy did she worm her way into my heart! She was frightened, sad, skinny and had a terrible case of mange. She wasn't available for adoption because she was being treated for the mange. But I still visited her often, bringing toys, food, bedding. The dog warden didn't think the treatment she was getting was helping her mange but it was all the town was willing to do for her. I asked if I could take her, at my expense, to my vet. I did and he felt her mange was systemic and gave her an alternated treatment. She slowly got better, but still the pound would not release her because of the mange. I even brought Peanut to visit her (her mange was not contagious type) and they played in the yard. Finally the warden made the decision to release her to a beagle rescue were she went into a foster home that could treat her. I sadly let her go emotionally. We needed to get another dog for Peanut, he was so lonely since our big dog Buddy had died. Peanut didn't take to many dogs and he did take to that little beagle. It was sad, but we needed to move on. I still think about her and hope she got the forever home she deserved. After that experience we decided that getting a female puppy would be best for Peanut. I found a breeder through our local Corgi club and never questioned our decision. I am after all is said and done a Corgi mom!
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Breanna, I have fostered many corgis and have experience working with shelter dogs. In order to make a good decision, you'll need to do a realistic assessment. The stability of your finance and living arrangement, your own relationship, lifestyle...etc. How onboard is Maggie and your significant other? Are they both 100% comfortable with the arrangement? Some corgis do fantastic alone, we have a few members who had to deal with custody issue when their human relationship gone sour. Unless you have trusted friends and families who live close by, it is very hard to find someone to dog sit when you need to take a long vacation or even a night out in town. I don't mean to discourage you, those are the very same reason I chose to foster instead of adoption.
It takes about 2-4 weeks for a shelter dog to reveal its true self, shelter is not a stable environment, initial shell shock is very common. Try volunteering, it'll give you a taste of working with other dogs, you'll earn some skills and a rewarding experience.
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Thank You! Yes, we are looking at all of our areas. I am pretty sure Maggie would be on board because she loves playing with dogs, and playing in general. To me she always seems so much more excited when she plays with a dog. So, we definately know we want another dog...it is just about deciding when to make this happen, and if we can make it happen.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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The personality you are seeing in the shelter is not necessarily the true personality, but the true personality could be better or worse. I agree with what everyone here has offered, and I just wanted to add that please don't assume that because a dog is aggressive or fearful or protective, it means it was abused. Dogs are not born a blank slate and they have innate personalities; aggression is one of many reasons dogs are surrendered and sometimes it was the original owners' mistakes, but other times it was not. He might have gone through bad times, or he might be there because his owners raised him lovingly from a puppy and then one day he bit someone seemingly out of the blue.
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