Rescues, Strays, Adoptions, Shelters and County Pounds: Here are some things you may not know.

For almost eight years I worked in shelters – three private shelters and one municipal animal control agency. Later, I was on the board of directors of one of the largest humane societies in the country. I’ve seen every aspect of pet overpopulation, shelters, adoptions, rescue, animal cruelty investigation, leash law violations and enforcement, humane education and warm fuzzy puppies that lick your face and tickle your nose. I’ve seen adoptions go right and adoptions go horribly wrong. I’ve seen just about every wrinkle you can come up with to deal with this horrendous cultural problem. After I gave my heart and soul to the “humane movement” for those very difficult years, I got out, kinda. I started fixing dogs retail after being completely unable to help them, wholesale.

For more than 25 years, that hard-earned knowledge has helped my clients, friends and family through countless encounters with animal control, adoptions from rescues and shelters and in rare cases, euthanasia of a pet. Just as with me, dealing with stray or surplus jobs isn’t likely your primary job. Regardless, most people invariably have big hearts and often end up in the position of giving advice in crisis situations dealing with unwanted pets, strays and adoptions. Whether you like it or not, if someone asks your advice they will think of you as an expert and a confidant. It also means that if you handle it correctly, their trust and faith in your wisdom will be confirmed forever. With that thought in mind, here are some things that may help you in those sticky situations.

Rescue and adoptions:

For every eight dogs there is only one home. That is a national average. Your local area may be a little better or a little worse. Of the dogs that go into shelters, only about 20% survive. If you think those two numbers are identical, they aren’t. Many of the dogs in shelters are strays. The term “pound” is short for “impound” – just like the impound yard for towed cars. The dogs are put on display as “found property” so their owners can reclaim them. The reclaimed ones make up a good percentage of the survivors. It’s good to know that 90% of identified strays eventually go home, while 90% of unidentified strays get dumped back in the group with a one in nine chance of adoption. If you don’t want your dog destroyed at a shelter, keep current identification on them at all times. Note: microchips are a good idea, but they don’t help your dog if some animal lover finds them on the street. Until they get to a shelter or a vet clinic, they are still unidentified. If the finder can just look at a tag to get your contact information, it speeds up the whole process, keeps your dog safe from communicable disease and possibly saves you impound fees and citations for “dog at large.” If you are traveling with your dog, consider writing your cell-phone number on its belly or ear with an indelible marker as a temporary tattoo. If you find a dog and are keeping it temporarily, get some non-toxic hair paint and put your phone number on the dog’s side. Why? Because if the dog slips out of your control it may not trot up to some amateur animal lover who is chasing it to “rescue” the poor lost dog. Most amateur dog catchers end up spooking the dog and driving it further from where it belongs. Anyone attempting to help the dog will benefit from being able to immediately contact you. (If you need a historical precedence for writing on the side of a dog, Norwegian hunters have been clipping their initials in the guard hairs of Elkhounds for hundreds of years. Their dogs are then identifiable at a couple hundred yards. )

The point of hitting you with the reality of shelter statistics is to drill home the message that if you can help a dog avoid a shelter, it’s probably a good thing. The only time it’s not good is if the dog’s owner is desperately looking for them. In that case, the best place for the dog is on display at the shelter nearest the place you found them. The obvious problem is that those passionate owners are in the minority. It’s best to assume that all strays have someone looking for them and act accordingly.

Rescue and Adoptions: The trend over the last 20 years has been for the creation of rescue groups that attempt to stem the tide of the dogs needing homes. It doesn’t work. The national statistics prove it. In 1977 there were about 100 million dogs and cats in the US. Each year, the turnover is about 90%. In 2006, the number was 140 million. That is a 40% increase in animals with only a 10% increase in the human population. With all the rescue groups, animal shelters, county pounds, pet-store adoptions, spay-neuter clinics and national attention placed on overpopulation, the numbers grew by 40%. As I said, it’s not working. The only thing rescue groups do is remove the higher class of adoptable dogs from shelters and county pounds. Needless to say, taking the cream of the crop leaves shelters with less attractive animals but does not increase the number of available homes in a community – that number doesn’t magically grow just because all the pure-bred Labs have been removed from shelters.

The No-Kill option:

Likewise, no-kill (or as I like to call them, “slow-kill”) shelters don’t create more homes. They only make the statistics worse for the shelters that do euthanize dogs. That is the logical consequence when one group selectively accepts animals and closes their doors when they are full. That doesn’t mean that they are bad people or that there is no place for no-kill shelters. Some pet owners simply aren’t strong enough to deal with the reality that if they don’t adopt a dog in a shelter it may die. No-Kill shelters offer the freedom from that fear and, since they don’t actually influence the number of animals in a community, aren’t doing any harm other than making the local county pound’s stats worse.

County Pound or Private Shelter:
Having worked for private and public shelters, the only real difference I can come up with is that private shelters tend to be newer and the facilities tend to be a little nicer. That isn’t a guarantee, though. I’ve seen some county pounds that were brand-spanking new and as clean as a whistle. The first shelter I worked in was a very poor private humane society converted from a storage building at an airport. It was very rough. That being said, most humane societies attempt to have softer policies within the framework of a massive overpopulation problem. Most of them still euthanize far more animals than they adopt. Because they are dependent on private donation, many of them fudge the stats so that people will erroneously think the animals have a good chance at adoption. You can understand their motivation. If you tell the truth about how few animals are adopted, donations dry up. Animal lovers tend to connect your shelter with the thought of dead dogs and cats and refuse to set foot inside your shelter. If you fib, you are obviously lying about what you do for a living but you can keep your doors open to do what “animal lovers” haven’t the strength to do. It is an obvious ethical problem to take donations based on a lie. You may have to answer for that, some day but your conscience will probably take a back seat to expediency. Many shelters get away with fibbing about their real statistics and never get caught. Nobody really wants to know the truth, anyway. So, you rationalize the lie so that you can do good work for animals. Meaning, don’t rely on a brochure or the assurances of someone who works at a private shelter to tell you what chance a dog has of being adopted. Don’t rely on their information about a specific dog or cat, either. They fib about that too, for the same reason that animal lovers won’t go to shelters. Everyone is afraid of death and will adjust their behavior to avoid it whenever possible. If Fluffy’s owners said she can’t be housetrained, the ‘magic wand of rescue” may erase that little tidbit from her kennel card before she’s up for adoption.

Another difference between private shelters and municipal shelters is the quality of the staff. Private shelters tend to have more saints and zealots. These people work long hours for little pay and sustain themselves on emotion and passion…until they burn out. Municipal shelters tend to have more people who were drawn by retirement benefits, good wages and steady, municipal work. Few of them started working at a county pound because of a passion for helping animals. Many desire a good retirement and get comfortable in a groove of just doing their job. While some staff at municipal shelters are every bit as kind, thoughtful and loving as anyone you’ll see at a no-kill shelter, there are generally less saints than in a private shelter. Another feature of municipal shelters is that sometimes they are constrained by local laws that do not give them the option of bending the rules. This can lead to situations that block any logical sincere efforts to solve a problem. There is a reason that nobody would want to be elected dog catcher. It’s a tough job and they are often put in a position that makes them out to be the bad guy.

National Humane Groups:
There are several different national humane groups who present themselves as defenders of animals. These groups do not run shelters, even though they imply that a contribution to them will actually rescue dogs and cats. One such group loves to show television ads with starving puppies and kittens, abused animals and the survivors of pit bull fights. These groups have no standing as law enforcement agencies and don’t actually care for any animals. They do make a lot of money. Most of the money goes for salaries and legislative lobbying. This does bring up a very important point. Most people believe that every “humane society” is connected to all other humane societies. The exact opposite is true. None of them are connected. The term “humane society” is like saying “dental office.” It is a generic term that roughly describes what they do. The same is true of groups using the acronym, SPCA. The real ASPCA is the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is in New York City. If you have an SPCA in your town, it’s probably not connected to them. For instance, the Arizona Animal Welfare League also calls itself the Arizona SPCA. They use the acronym because it is well known in the North East. Many residents of Phoenix come from states where the ASPCA is well known. I suspect it improves the donations of local groups if new residents mistake their local organization for the founding group, back East.

Now that I’ve given you some general information, here are a few things to think about when you are confronted with the aspect of dog ownership that is the most fragile and most difficult to confront.

  • If you find a stray, the first thing to do is put it in a secure place. Get the dog off the street and into a crate or kennel. Do not remove the dog’s ID unless you absolutely have to. Many a dog has escaped temporary confinement as the finder takes the collar off to read the tiny little letters. Now the dog is back on the street, sans-identification. If you must remove the collar, write your name and phone number inside the dog’s ear or belly, as described above with indelible marker or on the coat, BIG with non-toxic hair paint. Fluorescent paint is good for this purpose.
  • No shelter can guarantee that any dog will be adopted. There are very few shelters in the country that adamantly never put a dog down. I call these “slow-kill” shelters because they are willing to keep a dog in a kennel for literally years. That is so close to prison that I have trouble accepting that as anything other than a life sentence. Real shelters have size restrictions that force them to regularly euthanize dogs. Remember, there is only one home for every nine dogs and you’ll realize that they can’t possibly stack them like fire-wood until a home comes along.
  • If a dog is surrendered to a shelter, it can be adopted out or euthanized, immediately. The common misconception is that they are kept for X number of days…three or six depending on the local jurisdiction. Those guaranteed holding times are only for stray dogs. Technically a stray is “found property” and the local government has to hold it long enough for the owner to reclaim it, just like an impound yard for towed cars. Dogs surrendered to the shelter by their owners become the property of the city or county at the instant they are signed over. I hate to break it to you, but there is no special “death row” at a shelter. Dogs are euthanized at the decision of a shelter manager or other staff. The idea that you saved a dog in the nick of time is a harmless fantasy. The time when a dog dies is purely related to how many dogs they have in their kennels of which basic type. If they have a dozen medium size, medium coated mixed-breed dogs, another one isn’t going to last long. If that dog comes in and hangs at the back of the kennel or is obviously not friendly, it doesn’t matter that in a couple days it will be much more outgoing. The decision of which ones are destroyed is made each morning and in this case, there are plenty of dogs that are outgoing and friendly. The quiet one isn’t going to make it, even if it came in just the night before. Sorry. The same is true of any particular breed or mix that is in great abundance. The Maricopa County Pound in Phoenix always has an overabundance of Pit Bulls. In that crowd, a “Doodle” with an undershot jaw stands an almost 100% chance of adoption. The Pit Bulls aren’t so lucky.
  • Try not to get a dog from a shelter that consistently has full kennels. Regular disinfecting can’t be done when every single kennel is full, all the time. Full kennels are the ones most likely to spawn sick dogs. That is a huge problem. If the dog is incubating the disease when it’s adopted, it means someone will be looking at a sizeable vet bill, right off the bat. If you need to release a dog to a shelter for adoption, this same concern applies. If you really want the dog to have its slim, best chance of a new home, getting sick will be a death sentence. If they are adopted and then get sick, they stand a good chance of being taken right back to the shelter. They probably aren’t going to be treated for the illness – shelters don’t have that kind of money to spend on returned animals. So, if you go to a shelter that has horrible euthanasia stats and has half-full kennels, don’t imagine they aren’t actually full. It’s probably the result of a very smart shelter manager. It means the manager is anticipating the next batch of new dogs that will hit before closing time. Then the whole process starts over again. At a shelter, they must constantly plan for the next eight dogs that will never leave on four legs.
  • Few dogs have ever been in a kennel situation that is quite as noisy and hectic as an animal shelter. The first physical reactions are a compromised immune system, loss of appetite and diarrhea. If you have to release an animal to a shelter or find a stray that you reluctantly take to a shelter, there isn’t any reason you can’t vaccinate it first. Technically you may not be able to do this legally as a stray isn’t your property, so check out the laws in your area before proceeding. Simple vaccinations may help the dog stay healthy in an otherwise stressful situation.
  • If you find a stray and simply can’t bear the thought of sending it to the pound, you have to go out of your way to make it possible for the owner to find it. In almost all cases, keeping a stray is legally considered theft of found property. If the owner ever tracks down their dog, you may be criminally and civilly liable for your loving gesture. Most owners are not sympathetic when their little Fluffy is kept by a helpful savior. The fact that the dog looks horrible and has no I.D. isn’t an indication that the owner caused the dog to look that way or that the ID wasn’t on the dog when it got lost. Being on the streets can make a conformation Poodle look very ratty in a very short amount of time. In some cases, vindictive spouses, nasty neighbors and delinquent kids let dogs out of their yards – meaning, it wasn’t the owner who caused the dog to be on the streets. If you find a dog and wish to keep it on your property, there are local laws that tell you what hoops you have to jump through to do it legally. This may include information the local animal control department that you have the dog, an ad in the newspaper or a posting on an internet site.
  • If a dog has a history of biting, you do not lose liability by transferring it to someone else. If the dog ever bites someone again, the paper trail will lead back to the first person with knowledge the dog was aggressive. The reality is that if a bite is reported or the victim was treated by a doctor, you probably only have two options – keep it forever or put it down. That is a very hard reality, but if a friend or client thinks they can give a biting dog to a rescue group or shelter they are sadly mistaken. If they are honest about the bite, the group will refuse to accept it. If they fib about the bite, they are even more liable down the road because they intentionally lied about the dog’s behavior. That being said, the practice of lying and dumping a dog into rescue is pretty common. Equally common is a rescue worker who withholds information to save the dog’s life – and thereby passes a time-bomb on to the new owner.
  • Withholding information about behavior problems is almost always a mistake. While it may get the dog adopted once, it will almost certainly bounce the dog back to the shelter or get it dumped on the streets. If you must release a dog to a shelter or rescue group, you are morally obligated to be truthful about its health and behavior. If it isn’t house-trained, say so. If it bites kids, say so. A new owner may be willing to take on that responsibility up front but will feel betrayed if they discover it after the fact.
  • The very best rescues occur when a knowledgeable dog person does the right thing. This means you find an animal, put it on display or advertise that you have it, then take it into your home or place it yourself. If a client simply must give up a dog because it fights with their other animals or is aggressive to their children, they can still find a good home for it and then visit the dog with the new owner’s permission – they almost always give permission. Whenever you can, the best solution is to keep the animal out of organizational adoption at all costs. The people in that business are so overloaded with good, healthy, adoptable dogs that adding one more to the mix doesn’t help anyone.
  • If you are going to oversee the adoption of a dog, charge money for it. That insures the adopter is willing to make a commitment up front. Never give a dog away free of charge or go out of your way to pay for training, boarding or future vet bills. If you want to pay for current vaccinations and a health exam, roll that into the price of the dog so you can pick an arbitrary amount the new owner would pay for anyway. Try to avoid silly contracts that try to place future obligations intended to insure responsible ownership. Once the dog leaves your hands, you can’t really force the new owner to do anything. In the end, it’s all about your ability to find a true dog lover and then put the dog’s fate in their hands. Good luck.

One thought on “Rescues, Strays, Adoptions, Shelters and County Pounds: Here are some things you may not know.

  1. I met you over a 2 day period once in Richmond VA as you taught a class sponsored by Cindy Briggs at “All Dog Play Skool” and I repeatedly watched the video tape of it that you allowed me to take.
    In this blog post, you didn’t directly offer advice about CraigsList and its us e by jerks looking for bait dogs, careless people, or the fairly rare dog torturers. I was looking for a few sentences about your view of offering or acquiring a dog using CraigsList.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *