Dogs, Cats and Other People - Column by Matthew Margolis

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Dog Talk With Uncle Matty : Pet Adoption Standards

Matthew “Uncle Matty” Margolis

Adopting a child has been likened to pushing a big rig from Scranton to San Francisco. On roller skates. Adopting a dog, by contrast, often requires little more than willingness and an ability to pay.

The question is: Should the standards be higher?

Should people be expected to understand what it means to adopt a dog, to grasp the time, effort and patience required in order to fully commit to the task? Should those who make the placement of dogs in homes their business be expected to make an appropriate match?

In the world of animal rescues, shelters, pounds and private breeders, there are those who make the effort. They temperament test their dogs, acquire a history when possible, obedience train the animals and go the extra mile to ensure an appropriate match. Then there are those whose only effort is to get the dog in a home. Even if it's the wrong one. Here's a tale of such an effort:

"My partner, 'Beth,' adopted 'Luna,' an 8-year-old female Boxer, from a pound about a year ago. Beth has an 8-year-old daughter, and a few months after they adopted Luna, she bit the little girl. Beth returned Luna to the pound, but they convinced her to keep the dog.

"This is where our issues begin. I have a pug, 'Missy,' and she's also 8 years old. Both are spayed.

"About four months ago, Beth and I introduced Luna and Missy. Everything was great at first. Luna would come to my house, and Missy would go to Luna's. Missy even stayed at Beth's house for three days without me. When I returned, I gave the usual amount of attention to each dog, but after about an hour or so, Luna snapped when Beth and I went to pet Missy.

"The worst attack was last week. Beth and I were in her living room with the dogs. They were playing, and Luna became very aggressive and attacked Missy, wounding her badly. We put the muzzle on Luna, and even then she hovered over Missy and growled. The dogs have not seen each other for a week.

"Yesterday, Beth and I took Luna to the park and let her off the leash to run. We noticed a gentleman walking his black Lab. Luna took off running toward them, and Beth ran to retrieve her. Luna had never attacked another dog in the park in the year that they had been going. Beth put Luna back on the leash, apologized to the man and reached down to pet his dog. As soon as Beth touched the Lab, Luna attacked.

"At first we thought it was just territorial aggression. Now we aren't sure of what to do. We have no history on Luna, and we don't want this to turn fatal, where she injures or kills my dog, or snaps one day and attacks Beth's daughter or anyone else. Are there solutions?"

By my lights, the story ended when Luna bit the little girl. Once a dog bites a child, there are limitations to everything. While mistakes were undoubtedly made by all adult parties involved, the hands-down most astounding part of this narrative is that a shelter worker, in a reckless act of irresponsibility, convinced this woman to return an aggressive dog to a home with a small child.

Luna needs a home with no children or other animals. She must be on-leash at all times when in public, she must be professionally trained, she must be kept in a secure yard or inside, and she undoubtedly requires a lot of exercise. Boundaries must be set and enforced. Right now, she is in the worst possible home. This shelter worker not only failed to make a good match, but instead encouraged a dangerous one.

Are there solutions? Absolutely. And they begin with higher adoption standards across the board.

Woof!

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Dog trainer Matthew "Uncle Matty" Margolis is co-author of 18 books about dogs, a behaviorist, a popular radio and television guest, and host of the PBS series "WOOF! It's a Dog's Life!" Read all of Uncle Matty's columns at the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com, and visit him at www.unclematty.com. Send your questions to dearuncle.gazette@unclematty.com or by mail to Uncle Matty at P.O. Box 3300, Diamond Springs, CA 95619.

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc.

This news arrived on: 09/13/2008

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