Shelter? Humane? Really?
Hard to credit, but there it is in black and white. Not that one can believe anything one reads in the newspaper, certainly not. But those involved were contacted, interviewed and the results of those interviews are an integral part of the story. So the story can be disbelieved if one wishes, but not refuted as regards the facts as reported.
A young couple with no children and a pet cat found a stray dog in their neighbourhood. This young couple, Simone Powell and Kevin Skerrett, had been thinking of expanding their household by adopting another pet. But like sensitive citizens they thought it fair to turn the dog they found wandering about untended, a little Lhasa Apso mix, in to the Ottawa Humane Society. Concerned owners would certainly turn there in their desperate search to discover the whereabouts of their lost pet.
At the time this pair handed the little dog over to the people at the Ottawa Humane Society they made it abundantly clear that, should the owners of the dog not turn up, they were to be contacted as it was their intention to adopt and care for the little animal in their own home. When they contacted the Society six days later to enquire whether anyone had claimed the dog, they were told that hadn't in fact happened.
When they expressed their intention to claim the dog themselves they were informed that would not be possible. It was the unequivocal intention of the Ottawa Humane Society to put the dog down. Ms. Powell and Mr. Skerrett pleaded with the authorities at the Society to reconsider: they owned a house, had a fenced-in yard, were prepared to seek professional assistance in training the dog, but the Society was adamant. They were not prepared to release the little dog to this pair who so desperately wanted to shelter and care for it.
The dog had been submitted to a behaviourial test for aggressive tendencies. This test appears to be the brainchild of one Susan Sternberg, an American dog trainer and behaviour consultant. In the test given to this little Lhasa Apso mix, it was given a treat, a dried pig's ear, then repeatedly poked with a stuffed rubber glove on the end of a stick. After several pokes the dog nipped the "hand" and thus sealed its fate.
Personally, our own two little dogs, a miniature and a toy poodle, both let us know that they too don't appreciate being bothered when they're tired, sleepy, eating a treat, or simply not feeling up to par. They will growl at us, turn up their lips, and if we persist, they will lift their heads and snap at us. Doing what comes natural, one could say. They don't snap at children, at small animals, but when we provoke them they will.
It's inconceivable to us that supposedly intelligent adults would consign a small dog to death because of a natural resistance to being deliberately provoked. All the more so as these are the people tasked with caring for animals in need. When the Ottawa Humane Society sends out its appeals for donations they don't advertise their lack of patience and empathy for the animals they take in; rather the need for funds to support their ongoing work to help these animals. There appears to be a disconnect between perception and reality here.
The Society's executive director, Bruce Roney, defended his staff's decision: "If the dog bites the hand, that's the sign of a problem", he is reported to have remarked. That reaction is simply not acceptable. Norma Guy, an assistant professor at the University of P.E.I.'s Atlantic Veterinary College is quoted as having said most dogs guard food. What's more, animal behaviour, which is her specialty is an inexact science, with no guaranteed test methodology.
Does it take a genius to realize that any animal, people included, will become irritated when repeatedly poked? Particularly when they are repeatedly interrupted while engaged in something relatively pleasant, consuming a treat. This dog was abandoned, frightened, disoriented, destabilized, and was given no opportunity to redeem itself through an adoption. Yet the Society stands by its decision: "We do not release aggressive dogs into the community".
That should encourage people to contact responsible members of the community, those engaged in finding homes for rescued, stray or abandoned animals, who look for volunteers who commit to fostering these dogs until good homes can be found for them. Some of these dogs, because of their unhappy experiences with brutal owners, or fending for themselves untended and lost, develop a mistrust of people and need to learn to trust again. They are worked with patiently, and when the time is right, placed for adoption.
They are not considered expendible nuisances to be euthanized by a rigid mind-set posing as a humane animal shelter institution.
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, September 10, 2006
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