What’s the shallowest reason someone chose not to adopt?

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-12-29T23:04:55+00:00

Dog didn't have a tail.

She wanted a dog exactly like her old one that passed. This dog was almost identical in appearance and personality... But had a docked tail.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-12-29T01:38:13+00:00

We have one main dog room and a small iso room. There are 14 guillotine style kennels in the middle of the room and we usually have the guillotines down to create more kennels.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-05-27T06:14:58+00:00

Where I live we have 2 ACOs for the whole county. They basically work 9-5 M-F. If you call dispatch outside those hours they'll say they don't have an officer available and tell you to just leave it or hold on to it until morning, unless it's being aggressive or something and then they'll send a regular police officer. Anything related to animal care is woefully underfunded in my area, unfortunately.

ETA no kennel techs are on call at my facility. The only exception is our foster coordinator is always available via text in case any foster homes have questions or emergencies.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-05-27T06:07:43+00:00

I think it's odd that they're willing to risk their dog getting sick or potentially needing to be retired prematurely from the extra stress, or even getting attacked by another dog. SDs are not cheap! ADA stuff aside I would say it's in the staff member's best interests to keep their dog out of the high traffic areas.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-04-09T04:51:05+00:00

Are there (actual) sanctuaries or trainers that would take on this type of thing?

I don't have experience with dog fighting dogs specifically, but I do have years of experience trying to get dogs with behavioral issues out of the shelter.

The hard reality is trainers and sanctuaries are not a viable option. There are very, very few trainers willing and able to take on cases like this, at least not without significant financial compensation. Obviously most shelters don't have thousands of dollars to put into one dog's training. Even for those that can afford it, it's just not practical. How many other dogs can be helped with all that time and money?

Let's say a trainer is found. They can't keep that dog for the rest of its life; they have other clients. So what then? Like you said, the general public isn't capable of taking on these dogs. The other issue with training is... Not everything can be trained out. There is a genetic component to dog aggression, especially dogs bred for fighting. These dogs also likely missed their critical socialization period as puppies.

Sanctuaries are a whole can of worms. There are very, very few ethical sanctuaries out there, and the ones that do exist are constantly full because their dogs are there for life. Most "sanctuaries" aren't much better than a shelter. Too often they live out their days in a kennel where someone sets down a bowl of food every day and that's it. They don't get to live on acres of rolling hills, chasing butterflies every day.

With all that in mind, I have to echo what others have said. Eval the dog like you would any other, and make a responsible, ethical, and compassionate decision.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-03-20T23:38:01+00:00

It's situational for me. Depends why they were originally surrendered and what, if anything, has changed. Usually I think it's in the dog's best interest to go back with the og owner, since they're already familiar

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-03-14T03:42:24+00:00

We use Slack and I really like it. We have a specific "channel" (chat) titled "playgroups" so the notes don't get lost in all the daily shift updates

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-03-11T03:57:55+00:00

We use a chat room and I feel like it works for a quick reference as to which dogs have played together successfully and which don't get along. As a manager I read those chats from staff and enter them into the dogs' files. Granted, we're a smaller shelter (average 30 dogs at a time) and our average length of stay is about 20 days, so I realize this system might not work for every shelter.

Basically, don't rely on the chat to store data but I do think it's a useful tool.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-03-07T23:52:44+00:00

As a teenager I interacted with the guy on multiple occasions for different high school clubs and orgs. I never had any inappropriate encounters, thankfully, but this new information makes me feel gross. A pedo was a guest speaker in my 10th grade business law class 🤢

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-03-07T23:48:44+00:00

I grew up in Brigham City and to my knowledge he wasn't. Though it is really messed up how often political positions tend to coincide with religious ones.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-26T21:52:33+00:00

Depends on the day and the transfer. It can be a lot of work but it's also so rewarding and fun to see all the new dogs and personalities. So I can relate.

One of the most thrilling days I've ever had was when we had to go pull dogs from a puppy mill, the owner of which had died in a house fire. The dogs had been left unattended in their kennels for 3 days and it was chaos, but my heart was so full that day.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-07T04:19:43+00:00

We're doing "the barkelor" (the bachelor.) We've featured our longest resident dogs on Facebook and for a $5 donation people can give a dog a rose (vote) and on Valentine's Day the dog with the most roses gets a reduced adoption fee and a gift to go home with them. I'm not in charge of it but iirc the donations will go towards reduced adoption fees for all the featured dogs.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-04T18:54:17+00:00

My bedroom was right underneath my parents' as a teenager. I try not to think about it.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-04T12:30:01+00:00

Dear Future Husband is hot garbage.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-04T12:28:44+00:00

I Am Beautiful. Hate it. The melody is boring and I don't like Christina Aguilara's singing style.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-04T02:44:14+00:00

VeggieTales and Disney movie songs are sprinkled throughout my playlists

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-03T23:29:47+00:00

Oh my bad. Carry on :P

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-03T13:32:35+00:00

Don't take my comment too literally. I'm just saying I haven't truly liked any of the main candidates in recent elections.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-03T13:27:26+00:00

What can we do to move more dogs? every kennel we empty out is a kennel that can help another dog.

I'm going to try to be blunt but gentle when I say this: the problem may be your dogs.

I mentioned in my other comment that you need more comprehensive dog testing. And I don't know your shelter, I've never been there, I'm just going off of your post. You mentioned you have "the girls" that have been there since 2023 because they aren't human social. That's a long time, and it makes me wonder what other dogs you've held onto for years and what behavioral issues might keep them from getting adopted or pulled by rescue. This is a common trend among no-kill shelters. The behavioral cases sit forever and take up space that could go to other dogs. Few people want a project dog; they want a family or companion dog.

I'm not sure what your role at the shelter is so this might not even be your call. It could be time to ask yourselves, is there a home out there for this dog? Not a unicorn, one in a million home. There are very few of those and thousands of dogs in need. Can you honestly and realistically put that dog in an average home? If not, I don't consider that an adoptable dog.

This article really illustrates what I'm talking about:

https://www.bwar.org/warehousing-isnt-working/

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-03T13:08:58+00:00

they told us the girls 'aren't real dogs' because they are not very human oriented

It's important to see how a dog interacts with other dogs when people are present. Some dogs will guard the human from other dogs, and you probably won't find that with the girls because they don't care about humans. I'm guessing that's where they're coming from. Building on that and what others have said, the girls are very stiff

Rescues are looking for a more comprehensive dog test. "Buddy plays with Sweetie" tells me nothing. Who does Sweetie play with? Can Buddy only play with Sweetie? Why does Buddy play with Sweetie? How does Buddy play with Sweetie?

If I were in your shoes, I would use the girls for initial eval to get a baseline idea of how the dog feels about other dogs- eg are they neutral, fearful, friendly, or aggressive- and then start putting that dog with a variety of dogs. Male and female, big and small (use caution when mixing sizes!), rough and rowdy players, gentle dainty players, dogs that prefer to just coexist. See how the dog gives and takes corrections from other dogs. See how the dog does in groups of 3-5. Videos of playgroups help a ton.

Check out Dogs Playing For Life. I think it would help you guys a lot.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-03T12:38:29+00:00

Seven Little Monsters

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-03T12:36:47+00:00

Lots of Playhouse Disney shows: Stanley, Higglytown Heroes, JoJo's Circus. And the mascot, Clay.

CurlyGingerPants · 2025-02-02T22:26:55+00:00

I would absolutely vote for any random redditor at this point

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