Canine commentary on fairness

Very interesting piece on my local NPR station today on The World today:
www.theworld.org/taxonomy_by_date/1/2008120

"New research suggests that dogs may exhibit behaviors that look like envy. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Dr. Friederike Range who headed the study at the University of Vienna."

Some more on the study itself:
http://www.wolfscience.at/english/research/blog/09December2008/

"One crucial element for the evolution of cooperation may be the sensitivity to others' efforts and pay-offs in comparison to one's own costs and gains. Inequity aversion is thought to be the driving force behind unselfish motivated punishment in humans constituting a powerful device for the enforcement of cooperation."

Dogs Can Think "no fair"

What parent hasn't heard that from a child who thinks another youngster got more of something. Well, it turns out dogs can react the same way.

Ask them to do a trick and they'll give it a try. For a reward, sausage say, they'll happily keep at it.

But if one dog gets no reward, and then sees another get sausage for doing the same trick, just try to get the first one to do it again.

Associated PressThis undated handout photo provided by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows the subject being asked for its paw by the experimenter and obeying. The partner dog is sitting next to the subject and waiting for its turn.

Associated PressThe subject is following closely that the partner is receiving a food reward for its action.

Associated PressThe subject has not received food for giving the paw in the last trials and observing that the partner did receive food, the subject is refusing to give the paw and avoids looking at the experimenter. No fair! What parent hasn't heard that from a child who thinks another youngster got more of something. Well, it turns out dogs can react the same way. Ask them to do a trick and they'll give it a try. For a reward, sausage say, they'll happily keep at it. But if one dog gets no reward, and then sees another get sausage for doing the same trick, just try to get the first one to do it again.

Indeed, he may even turn away and refuse to look at you.

Dogs, like people and monkeys, seem to have a sense of fairness.

"Animals react to inequity," said Friederike Range of the University of Vienna, Austria, who lead a team of researchers testing animals at the school's Clever Dog Lab. "To avoid stress, we should try to avoid treating them differently."

Similar responses have been seen in monkeys.

Range said she wasn't surprised at the dogs reaction, since wolves are known to cooperate with one another and appear to be sensitive to each other. Modern dogs are descended from wolves.

Next, she said, will be experiments to test how dogs and wolves work together. "Among other questions, we will investigate how differences in emotions influence cooperative abilities," she said via e-mail.

In the reward experiments reported in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Range and colleagues experimented with dogs that understood the command "paw," to place their paw in the hand of a researcher. It's the same game as teaching a dog to "shake hands."

Those that refused at the start -- and one border collie that insisted on trying to herd other dogs -- were removed. That left 29 dogs to be tested in varying pairs.

The dogs sat side-by-side with an experimenter in front of them. In front of the experimenter was a divided food bowl with pieces of sausage on one side and brown bread on the other.

The dogs were asked to shake hands and each could see what reward the other received.

When one dog got a reward and the other didn't, the unrewarded animal stopped playing.

When both got a reward all was well.

One thing that did surprise the researchers was that -- unlike primates -- the dogs didn't seem to care whether the reward was sausage or bread.

Possibly, they suggested, the presence of a reward was so important it obscured any preference. Other possibilities, they said, are that daily training with their owners overrides a preference, or that the social condition of working next to a partner increased their motivation regardless of which reward they got.

And the dogs never rejected the food, something that primates had done when they thought the reward was unfair.

The dogs, the researchers said, "were not willing to pay a cost by rejecting unfair offers."

Clive Wynne, an associate professor in the psychology department of the University of Florida, isn't so sure the experiment measures the animals reaction to fairness.

"What it means is individuals are responding negatively to being treated less well," he said in a telephone interview. cm-bd

But the researchers didn't do a control test that had been done in monkey studies, Wynne said, in which a preferred reward was visible but not given to anyone.

In that case the monkeys went on strike because they could see the better reward but got something lesser.

In dogs, he noted, the quality of reward didn't seem to matter, so the test only worked when they got no reward at all, he said.

However, Wynne added, there is "no doubt in my mind that dogs are very, very sensitive to what people are doing and are very smart."

-- The Associated Press

Local Dog Deaths

There have been two high profile dog deaths in my local area. In both cases, the tragedy of the deaths need not have happened at all. Instead of just seeing the horror of it all, the need for proactive education and outreach needs to be brought into clear focus.

The first was an elderly ill dog whose owners took it upon themselves to put her out of her misery. They lacked the monetary means to do so humanely. The lacked the knowledge that there is a local nonprofit that will do these procedures at no cost, if required. They tried to kill the dog with a hammer.

I hear the sounds of shock and disgust. I echo them with you.

Yes, it is horrific what this dog went through - being rescued from her grave by digging her way partially out and then local authorities being alerted by a neighbor, only to be euthanized latter because of her condition. Not all the facts are known about the situation. It is possible that she was a dying beloved family dog and the owners did what they felt they needed to do. The autopsy showed signs of a serious skin condition and malnourishment (not eating for several days) but that does not mean abuse, or even neglect, it could be an old dog dying. There were photographs of this dog with her family; they looked loving and warm.

I do not mean to imply in any way that in any event these people did what was right; no animal should suffer that way! I do think that it is important to understand that they did not feel there was anything else that they could do. That is a breakdown in the animal welfare education system.

While working on an emergency veterinary helpline I would get a number of calls every week from desperate people looking for a kind way to end their pets suffering and not finding any inexpensive way to offer that end of life gift. Those that found their way to us were given the information they needed in a compassionate way.

A yellow Labrador named Molly had to be euthanized Friday after she was struck in the head with a hammer and buried alive.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/dog_buried_alive_euthanized.html

The owners told KGW the dog was a beloved family pet that had been sick for weeks and they couldn't stand to see it continue to suffer. They said they did not have a gun or the money to put the dog down, so they decided to euthanize the animal by hitting it in the head with a hammer.
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_102508ORB_dog_buried_alive_SW.149ae57cf.html?ocp=1

The other death was that of a service dog killed by another dog on local transit. The owner of the dog that attacked and killed the other dog lied when he boarded the bus and was asked if his dog was a service dog. When questioned by the police, he admitted this.

This opens up the volatile issues of what training/registration/certification/identification service animals ought to have. The laws related to this currently need clarity but I am far from convinced that the suggested changes to the laws are positive. There are so many people who can live fuller lives with the assistance of properly trained service animals. There are far too few organizations able to help these teams get trained.

Kae Seth wasn't surprised to read that bus passenger Leroy Morley passed off his pet Rottweiler mix, Max, as a service dog. The president of Guide Dog Users of Oregon says she increasingly encounters "people who try to stretch the letter of the law" to get their pets into buses and businesses.
http://www.oregonlive.com/health/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1225250718320060.xml&coll=7

Leroy Morley "feels awful" that his dog killed another dog on a TriMet bus Sunday, said a man Tuesday claiming to be Morley's boss.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1225250715320060.xml&coll=7

*sorry about the issues with the links. Blogger is insisting that any of my Word copy/pasted posts are full of html so I am giving Notepad a try...

Kibble Bubble or Talk to the Dog

A Colbert Report re-run about the financial crisis has just ended, so I turn the tv off, grab my jacket and the leash, and head out for a walk with the dog. She's oddly pensive as we head up the street. After a little while, she stops and asks, "What was that all about?"

"All what?"

"All that 'crisis' and 'bailout' stuff. It sounds scary."

"Well, a bunch of banks made a bunch of really bad loans, and people have lost a lot of money."

"I got that," she says. "I may be a dog, but I'm not stupid. I'm asking how they lost a lot of money."

"Well, it's complicated, but I'll try to explain. Let's say you have a whole bunch of kibble--"

"How much kibble?"

"I don't know. A lot. Fifty cups."

"Oooh! I like how this starts." She wags her tail excitedly.

"You won't like how it ends. Let's say you have fifty cups of kibble, and the Weimaraner across the streets comes and asks you to loan her one cup, and promises to pay you back five cups over the next year. Do you give her the kibble?"

"No! It's my kibble!" She looks offended at the very idea.

"It's only one cup, and she'll pay you back five."

"Yeah, but I don't trust that dog. Where's she going to get five cups of kibble? She's just going to eat the one cup, and I'll never get paid back. She's a bad risk."

"Exactly. Now, imagine that some human comes and offers to sell you a piece of paper for ten cups of kibble, and the paper says you get fifty cups of kibble over the next year. Do you buy it?"

"Sure. Humans have lots of kibble. They're good for it."

"You might think that. The thing is, the paper says that some human gave ten different dogs-- the Weimaraner, the two Yellow Labs on the next block, that beagle around the corner, a bunch of others-- some human gave each of them one cup of kibble, and they promised to pay him back five cups over the next year."

"But it's the human giving me the kibble, right?"

"No, the dogs are. They promise to pay whoever has the paper. The human just sold you the paper."

"Well, that's not so good. But as long as the human vouches for the dogs, I guess it's not too bad a risk."

"The thing is, he doesn't know any of the dogs. He bought the paper from somebody else, who bought it from somebody else, who bought it from a dog somewhere, who made the original loans."

"Wait a minute. Why on earth would anybody do that? You can't trust any of those dogs to give me back my kibble."

"Well, the theory is, if you put ten dogs together, they might not all pay you back, but as long as some of them do, you can get back the kibble you started with. If you get lucky, and they all pay you the kibble they owe you, you've got almost a hundred cups of kibble."

"That sounds good. So am I a lucky dog?"

"Of course not. You can't trust those dogs, and none of them can give you any kibble."

"Oh." She looks sad. "Well, ok, then I'm out ten cups of kibble. That's bad, but I've still got..." You can see the wheels turning as she struggles with the math.

"Forty cups left."

"Thank you. Forty cups left. That's not too bad."

"Right, except you wanted to get a lot more kibble, so you went and borrowed another fifty cups from some other dog, and promised to pay her back a hundred cups."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you're greedy."

"Well, why would she give me the kibble?"

"Because you had forty cups, and showed her a piece of paper saying that you'd get fifty more in the next year."

"But those bad dogs didn't give me my kibble."

"Right, so instead of having forty cups of kibble, you have minus sixty. You owe some other dog sixty cups of kibble that you don't have."

"Well, that sucks."

"Exactly. That's the financial crisis, in a nutshell."

"So what's the bailout?"

"The bailout is that I step in, as your owner, and give you the hundred cups of kibble you need to pay off the dog you borrowed from."

"Oh! That's good." She wags her tail. "This is why we love you."

"Thanks. The problem is, because I had to spend money buying kibble to bail you out, I no longer have the money to buy you squeaky toys."

"But... but... but..." she's really flustered. "But I like squeaky toys! I like kibble! I want my squeaky toys and kibble!" She's about to melt down completely.

"Take it easy. Your squeaky toys and kibble are safe. This is all just a hypothetical."

"Oh." She calms down a bit. "So, hypothetically, who's to blame for all this? I bet it's that Weimaraner. I never did trust that dog."

(For the record, the dog in question is perfectly nice, and has very nice owners. I have no idea why Emmy dislikes her so much.)
"No, it's not her fault."

"But she borrowed kibble she couldn't pay back!"

"Yeah, but Alan Greenspan told her it was a good idea, and she believed him."

"Who's Alan Greenspan?"

"Another human. He's... a veterinarian, and takes care of a lot of dogs."

"Oh. Well, what about the human who sold me the paper? It's all his fault, isn't it."

"Not really. He bought the paper from somebody else, and trusted them when they said it was a good investment."

"So, it's the dog who made the initial loans, isn't it? Let's find him and bite him."

"He might be the right one to blame, but nobody remembers who he was. And anyway, he had a mathematical model that said the whole thing would work out. It was very complicated"

"Oh. Complicated math is very convincing to dogs."

"Also bankers, more's the pity."

"So there's nobody to bite? We're out all this kibble, and there's nobody to bite?"

"Nope. At least, nobody we can identify easily. All we can do is buy more kibble, and hope for the best."

"Hmmph." She looks dissatisfied, and we walk in silence for a while. "You know what? I bet it was a cat."

"A cat?"

"A cat. Whenever there's a crisis, and kibble goes missing, there's a cat at the bottom of it somewhere."

"That's an... interesting theory."

"You should see if any of these bankers are cats. I bet one of them's a cat. That's who you should blame."

"I'll be sure to pass that on to the appropriate authorities."

"Good." And, with the nation's financial problems solved, we continue on our walk.

http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2008/10/the_kibble_bubble.php

Humane Education

Being out of work and watching the field as hawk-eyed as I have been some ideas have been brewing in my head.

My education department was not the only one cut recently. While mine was cut all together, a number of other shelters in the Northwest have had education programs suffer cut-backs or redirection of their time away from education to outreach. What does that mean? More hours for events and fundraising and less hours for directly educating the public.

While I strongly feel that it is the responsibility of these local animal welfare non-profits to be doing this educational work, if their leadership does not agree with my priorities a painful gap is left in the community.

Sadly, but predictably, many children and adults do not learn at home what they need to know to be responsible pet owners. To tell the truth, I did not learn the lessons that I really needed when I was young. I was taught kindness, which is the most important lesson certainly, but the serious day to day meeting of animals’ needs (beyond the basics of food, water and shelter) was something that I was not prepared for. Pets suffered for this. I suffer still for having been the cause for their pain.

There are a number of independent organizations trying to meet these humane education needs.

Healing Species is a program doing some amazing work using an 11 week program, leading classrooms of children to expand their understanding of others and to learn empathy. Through sharing stories, group projects and conversations, and simple but deeply changing positive interactions with real animals the students’ views of stewardship, kindness and community are nurtured.
www.healingspecies.org

Doggone Safe brings safety programs to both children and adults. A majority of injuries that are caused by dogs could be avoided all together if basic skills about interactions with animals were taught widely. These programs also instruct on reading canine body language so that a person can understand a dogs intentions more clearly. A wagging tail does not always belong to a friendly dog!
www.doggonesafe.com

Kids and Storks teaches soon-to-be and new-parents pet safety lessons and how to properly prepare and then integrate their family pets with the new arrival – a baby. So many pets loss their loving homes because parents lack these skills!
www.dogsandstorks.com

Come the beginning of the year, I will be re-launching a humane education curriculum for a local Head Start school. It is a program I developed and taught while employed at a local humane society; yes, that one that no longer has an education department. I’ll be teaching these classes with my feline and canine partners: Guido and Moon. We’ll be strictly volunteers. The schools can’t afford to pay and the small non-profit that I’ll be working under the auspice of, has only has three paid employees and a dedicated group of volunteers.

Where does is all this leading me?

Oregon law says:
Oregon 336.067 Instruction in ethics and morality. (1) In public schools special emphasis shall be given to instruction in: …(c) Humane treatment of animals.

If the animal welfare larger non-profits cannot, or chose not to, provide humane education then perhaps independent contractors and smaller non-profits will have to step up and fill the need.

Building Coalition

Responsibility, Transparency, Community Support, and Willingness to Change

Without these from local animal welfare organizations (and I include rescues, open-admission, limited-admission, private and government agencies here) there will be "bright new day" in animal welfare. The euthanasia numbers will not drop. The public will remain ignorant, committing neglect and abuse. Spay and neuter efforts will fail.

As a member of two local task forces, I have seen the intent to embrace the four principles above from a number of organizations. They are brave; they are truly willing to serve. Some may have something to lose by walking the walk here – the limited admission shelters are moving of their own free-will toward a level playing field.

Yet there are those that still refuse to share information about their operations. Some organizations publish their annual reports in a newsletter, or even better on their website - including intake and live release numbers, budget information and program specs. Others chose to keep this information tucked away only for the eyes and minds of their board members.

Trust is an issue.

Does one chose to trust other local organizations or hide information? Do we choose to lay the numbers and the issues on the table, and educate our public or opt for the nanny-state answer that they can’t understand so they shouldn’t have the information?

Integrity is at risk here.

With the Asilomar Accords (www.asilomaraccords.org) common language, at least on a local level, can be reached so that terminology on what is Healthy, Treatable, or Unhealthy within a community will have same usage. To come to these terms is not an easy discussion and cannot be held solely within the animal welfare community. By calling in members from the animal welfare community (shelters and rescues), as well as veterinarian, trainers and behaviorists, owners of pet related businesses, to honestly discus what an average pet owner is likely to do in various situations – these definitions can be classified.

These terms are by no means rubber stamps for disposition. If the resources are available in a community, “unhealthy” pets can be placed. If the resources are not there, not even all “healthy” pets will be placed and euthanasia of these animals will continue. But without at very least common terminology a community cannot work together as a whole to end that tragic practice.

I applaud my local community coalition ASAP (http://www.catadoptionteam.org/cat/adoption/info/408) for the work they are doing and I am proud to be a small part of the process. I can only hope all of them will follow through and not hobble the process with their own fears.

Prison Dogs

Project Pooch www.pooch.org – just south of Portland doing some amazing work with incarcerated teens. At risk shelter does are brought in for on-site training by the at risk kids. Both canines and young adults are learners and trainers in their own way. Dogs are adopted out, mostly with their Canine Good Citizenship http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/index.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canine_Good_Citizen and the teens learn a lot about themselves through their dog’s eyes.

The program I was involved with for two great summers is Project Click http://www.clickertraining.com/node/310 . “Project Click! is a highly structured program matching at-risk teens from the Clark County Juvenile Court System with difficult to place animals from our shelter. Project Click! students learn the clicker training method to rehabilitate behavior challenged dogs and learn first hand the value of reinforcing positive behavior. The interaction with our animals helps these troubled teens gain a sense of responsibility, self-confidence, and patience. In addition, students learn problem solving skills and a greater understanding of the animal sheltering world. Many students express an interest in the field and all come to value the importance of community service.” That is what I wrote for the website anyhow but it is so much more than that! The bonding experience, the way that we all learn to trust, the power of positive interactions will make those times shine for me forever!

PenPals down at Marin Humane where I used to work brings shelter dogs to San Quentin: http://www.marinhumanesociety.org/programsservices/PenPals/PenPals.html.

And there are a number of programs that are doing basic service dog training within prison walls such as: http://www.puregolden.com/service-prison.htm http://www.champdogs.org/prison-program. There are many more simliar programs out there, making a huge difference to a lot of people and dogs.

It is a ripple effect as well. These programs make real changes for the better in ways that just shutting someone, pet or person, in a cell never will.

What have I been doing?

"Then, at the urging of Portland Commissioner Randy Leonard, a joint city-county task force began meeting in May to study service and financing options for animal services inside Portland city limits. "

http://www.oregonlive.com/metroeast/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_east_news/1214951113247720.xml&coll=7

This article is not the best view of the issues. As these Task Force meeting continue I am increasingly convinced there is no best view. We Task Force members are doing what we can to weave together near cacophony of different opinions, concerns and demands to work through the process of finding out what is to be done to provide the Portland metro area with the animal services it needs.

If only there were some what to check the agendas at the door!

In the past, at other shelters, I have seen very successful work using inmate work crews to help with animal shelter chores and up-keep. It is a win-win-win situation when handled correctly. The animals get the care they need, the staff gets to spent their time on more skills intensive tasks, the inmates get a dose of humanity and animal bonding.

I’m going to float this at our next meeting, after talking some with the shelter where I’ve seen this sort of program work so well.

Wish me luck!

Mayor says strays in his town are better off fending for themselves

As I work in Head Start classrooms, I strive to make some beliefs very clearly understood by my students. They learn about what a pet is during their time with me, through the help of my partner animals Guido the Orange Boy Cat and Moon Doggie. They come to know that our pets, animals in-general, are more like us than they are different from us and have many similar needs to ours. They learn that there are differences between us all as well as part of these lessons.

They learn how important is it is simply to care.

We have domesticated these animals, our pets; they are our responsibility. We cannot simply turn them out and let them fend for themselves.

Mayor James Valley, who said last week the city was taking stray dogs to the St. Francis National Forest and turning them loose, has been targeted in a complaint by the Humane Society of Southeastern Arkansas

http://www.helena-arkansas.com/state_news/x1006365435/Humane-Society-files-complaint-against-H-WH-mayor

Related articles can currently be found at http://www.topix.com/wire/city/west-helena-ar

National coverage, related to folks losing their homes

Things were looking rally ugly for me and mine last year – my husband had lost his job and mine was eliminated from the shelter where I was working, both within a few weeks time. I was making worse case scenario plans for the just in case…

Rio would not be an easy foster and really can’t be re-homed. He needs his companion dog Moon with him to continue to resemble a sane dog; so that means those two must stay together and with us. Our two orange boys (red tabby dudes) are easy going but I don’t know anyone in town looking for fosters. I settled on old friends up in eastern Oregon who simply adore one of our cats and would be willing to take on two in the bargain.

Looking into rentals that would welcome two over 40 pounds dogs, at something vaguely similar to reasonable rents was shocking. There were few and far between.

This unpleasant exercise made the crisis starkly real to me.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-29-pets-foreclosure_N.htm

“STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — The house was ravaged — its floors ripped, walls busted and lights smashed by owners who trashed their home before a bank foreclosed on it. Hidden in the wreckage was an abandoned member of the family: a malnourished, starving pit bull.”

“The San Joaquin Animal Shelter in Stockton is fielding more desperate calls from animal owners about to be evicted. Many call as a last resort after being turned down by various rescue groups with no room for more animals.

"They're usually breaking down on the phone," said Kathy Potter, a shelter dispatcher. "I'm quite direct with them that there's a 50-50 chance the animals might be put down."

Still, shelter operators say, half a chance is better than none.

"They may be euthanized at a shelter," said Stephanie Shain of the Humane Society of the United States. "But they'll be fed and have water and have a humane euthanization, as opposed to spending the last days of their lives eating carpet or wallboard."

http://www.catchannel.com/News/foreclosure-pets-program-selects-first-10-shelters.aspx?cm_sp=InternalClicks-_-RelatedArticles-_-news/foreclosure-pets-program-selects-first-10-shelters

“The first 10 shelters have been selected to receive grants, pending verification of their nonprofit status, Peterson said. The money will help create or expand programs such as cat and dog food banks or a veterinary fund to help people who can’t afford medical care for their pets.”

"What kind of dog is she/he"?

We often get asked this question.

With Rio it is pretty clear. He is mostly, or completely, Australian Cattle Dog (Red Heeler, ACD, etc) of working stock. With our River Girl it was more guesswork: Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix? She looked a lot like an English Shepherd but I don't know what one would have been doing wandering Madera County. Mostly we said, "fluffy herding dog mix" or "Madera Dog". Moon is mostly guesswork: Border/Aussie/Brittany something'er other?

What goes into the mix matters, not just as to what the end package looks like but as to what the behavior tendency is likely to lean towards. Temperament is part biology, part socialization, part training and part the environment around the being at the time of the assessment.

Still, it is important to identify the breed of the dog as closely as one can to help with the placement of a shelter dog.

In some cases miss-identification might get a dog of "questionable background" but a great temperament a good home that might have walked right by if they had a better idea of what breed mix the dog was.

In other cases though it can lose a home for a dog, break a family's hearts and turn community members off on shelters. As in the cases of those cute little Labrador mixes, that grow up to be Pitbull mixes and their owners are forced to part with them or their lease (I am strongly against outlawing breeds of pets but it does happen. Apartments that will allow large dogs are hard to find let along those that will take any breed of large dog).

Here is one man's interesting quest to find out just what kind of dog he had adopted.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-ace-package,0,1865035.special

"Black dog, white dog, brown dog, yellow dog, big dog, small dog, purebred, mixed breed, it just doesn't make all that much difference.

As long as you're a good dog."

The economic squeeze continues here in Oregon.

People are trying to stretch paychecks further, as costs continue to grow at an alarming rate.

Some are facing worse situations, looking for ways to make unemployment checks cover the expenses that barely stand still long enough to be counted.

Gas prices are huge, power costs ballooning, other utilities are going up, http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/121142312179830.xml&coll=7 , food prices are pushing families to find other ways of stocking their kitchens http://news.opb.org/article/2185-nw-food-banks-fill-gap-prices-rise/ .

The extra few dollars needed here, and few more there, add up quickly when they are coming from all sides. The pressure makes folks make some hard decisions.

“Unable to afford proper pet food, they share their own, robbing themselves of nutrition.”

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1211505912164930.xml&coll=7&thispage=1

There is some help coming to the pet-owners, organizations coming together to help keep the pets fed through this rough time. This is community support, finding a local answer to these problems, with the help of non-profits to administer. We must strive to take care of our own as best we can, lend a hand (or a dollar) as we can.

“The food bank seeks donations of unopened, unexpired cat or kitten food. The food will be made available to cat owners in financial need living in any Oregon county.”

http://www.koin.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=d9295616-5eba-4f8b-91ed-5a349121f3ef

I hope other communities are finding ways to lend support as well.

It may be something about the eyes

My first Delta Dog was River. She was an amazing girl and more of her story will be told here; I learned so much from her. For one story of her life see out

local dog magazine page 6 http://www.spotmagazine.net/Issues/Spot_March2006.pdf

She died in my arms in January of 2007. http://corva.livejournal.com/194946.html

It was a long search for a new partner. I did not have the luxury to mourn her. I was working full time at the Humane Society for Southwest Washington as their Humane Educator and Behavior Specialist. I was crippled without a canine partner at my side.

We welcomed two dogs into our home in what turned out to be long term fosters as they were not suited to the Work.

The work is therapy dog work. I am trained and registered through the Delta Society http://www.deltasociety.org/ . It takes a very special dog to be solid enough, willing enough, and friendly enough to be a Delta dog. It is not something that can be taught, though there is a lot of teaching involved. It is something in the basic temperament, the soul of the dog if you will.

This is from the time we welcomed the third canine application into our home. (I am guessing there will be some stern looks and disapproving thoughts about re-homing two dogs for “not fitting in” but it is more than that. I was not looking simply for a pet dog, a Delta dog is a working dog and need to be cut out for the job.)

July 2007

“Moon has come to live with us.

It seemed there was still something missing from our pack with River's passing and there are work situations where I fear little Journey Bug is just too much of a pushy clown.

I'm thinking that Moon might be a Border/Spaniel or some sort, or maybe Border Aussie?

She lived the first year of her life neglected: on a chain in a back yard of a small town, escaping often and going out wandering the town (finding much of her food that way). She was noticed by her soon to be foster family who saw how sweet and charming she was despite her start in life. When Moon became pregnant on her first heat, the direness of her situation became even more apparent. Her savior starting bringing her high quality food and trying to talk the owners, a somewhat clueless young couple with a baby of their own that took most of their focus, into giving Moon up for adoption into a family more able to take care of her. Which they eventually did, after Moon gave birth to four pups on the first day of spring.

The pups and Moon when to live on a sheep farm in wonderful foster-home, with other dogs, room to run and huge hearted folks. All the pups were placed. When Moon was spayed, a lump was found. The cancer was removed but it was very unusual to find cancer in that young a dog. She stayed in foster till this weekend.

I have been taking with her foster folks for many weeks. She seemed like such a perfect dog but the cancer thing really spooked me. I spoke with my vet, had the lab tests sent to her, spoke to her some more. The only answer remains, there is no answer - only hope.

I finally shifted to wanting to meet Moon by thinking of what a short time we had with River Girl, under three years! "River of a thousand days", well 1015 anyhow. She was such a blessing to us and to so many others! I came to the thought that even had I known she would have only been in our world so such a short time I would I jumped at the chance to have spent that time with us.

We never know how much time we have.

So, here is Moon.”

There is a organization called Dogs Deserve Better that works with amazing heart to educate about unchaining dogs, to offer care and support to pet owners trying to take proper care of their dogs, and rescues chained-ones when they can. Please take the time to visit them at http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/

The economy is hitting the pet-owner very hard.

There are many fewer options for folks with pets that those families without pets when hard times come. I listen to many of their stories everyday on the telephone here at Animal Aid (www.animalaidpdx.org). We provide counseling relating to re-homing as well as limited no-interest loans for emergency veterinary care.

We’ve been working with another local organization called the PAW Team (http://www.portlandanimalwelfareteam.org/index.php) to serve the pet-owning homeless in the Portland metro area. We strive to provide access to low cost spay and neuter and offer loans for urgent pet care and PAW Team offers: quarterly wellness clinics (volunteer vets and techs doing the work) to give vaccinations, parasite control, food/bedding/collars to the folks on the streets with their pets (or in transitional housing).

There are so few people shelters that will take pets in with their people. The Oregon Humane Society (www.oregonhumane.org) offers temporary foster care for pets belonging to folks escaping domestic violence or to pets displaced by natural disaster but there are so many more in-need! American Humane Association has started a pilot program to help women’s shelters look into the possibility of opening their doors to pets as well as their owners – Pets and Women’s Shelters (http://www.americanhumane.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lk_PAWS) but that is still only a one segment of the population in need of help…

SANTA BARBARA, California (CNN) -- Barbara Harvey climbs into the back of her small Honda sport utility vehicle and snuggles with her two golden retrievers, her head nestled on a pillow propped against the driver's seat.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/index.html

Abandonment of pets is way up (I’ve read 12 – 24 %) this year in our metro area.
Animal abandonment on the upswing in county http://www.theoutlookonline.com/news/story.php?story_id=121099987056950400

There is not enough shelter space for them, and not all shelters are playing fair through the media -

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Police cited a woman who was caught on a security camera dumping two animals out of her car in front of the Oregon Humane Society, officers said… http://www.kptv.com/news/15970641/detail.html ... "We don't charge a mandatory fee for bringing an animal to us, so there's no excuse for endangering an animal by dumping it in a very busy parking lot next to a very busy street," OHS Executive Director Sharon Harmon said...If you ever have an animal you feel you can't take care of you can take stray dogs to the Multnomah County Animal Service Center that's located on the Columbia River Highway in Troutdale.

Oregon Humane currently has a very long waiting period due to the number of people looking to relinquish their pets. Normally this would be a consult appointment 3 to 6 weeks out now it is up to 12 weeks out.

We are being crushed by a combination of lack of affordable housing/pet-friendly rentals, economic down-swing, and pet over population.

Rio's safety tip, "Never play with cats toys"!

And someday soon I will tell the story of "Rio and the Jingleball" or "Near Death Experience First Thing in the Morning..."

needing some humor, passing this along...

I can't recall where this came from to begin with (if anyone does, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due). This is one of the most hilarious dog related bits I've ever read. It is long, but take the time as it is most certainly worth it.

edited: ah-ha! found it http://littera-abactor.livejournal.com/7748.html
My thanks go out to the "Minion of the Universe" http://littera-abactor.livejournal.com/profile

...any lab owners out there?

Dog: I is starving.
Me: Actually, no. You aren't starving. You get two very good meals a day. And treats. And Best Beloved fed you extra food while I was gone.
Dog: STARVING.
Me: I saw you get fed not four hours ago! You are not starving.
Dog: Pity me, a sad and tragic creature, for I can barely walk, I am so starving. WOE.
Me: I am now ignoring you.
Dog: STARVING.
Dog: Did you hear me? I is starving.
Dog: Are you seriously ignoring me? Fine.

[There is a pause, during which the dog exits the room in a pointed manner.]

[From the kitchen, there comes a noise like someone is eating a baseball bat.]

Me, yelling: What the hell are you doing?
Me: *makes haste for the kitchen and finds dog there*
Dog: *picks up entire raw sweet potato, which is what was causing the baseball bat noise, and flees for the bedroom*
Me: *chases dog, retrieves most of sweet potato, less the portion which has disappeared into dog's gullet*
Dog: See? STARVING.
Me: ...That can't be good for you. It's a RAW SWEET POTATO.
Dog: I had to do it. I haven't been fed. Ever.
Me: You realize you aren't normal. Normal dogs don't steal raw sweet potatoes.
Dog, sadly: I was badly brought up.
Me: Yes. Yes, you were.
Dog: By people who starved me.
Me: Oh, no. I am not doing this again.
Me: *exits the room, bearing sweet potato*

[There is a pause.]

[There is a noise like someone is trying to eat a baseball bat very very quietly.]

Me: Oh, for the love of GOD.
Me: *heads off to the kitchen*
Dog: I am not eating a raw sweet potato.
Me: You have sweet potato parts all over your snout.
Dog: But you don't actually SEE a raw sweet potato, do you? So maybe that's just - um. A birthmark.
Me: Did you seriously eat a whole sweet potato?
Dog: You don't listen. I told you, I wasn't eating a sweet potato.
Me, searching around fruitlessly: Look. NO MORE SWEET POTATOES.
Me: Oh, what am I saying? This is you we're talking about, here. *goes to hide all the sweet potatoes that are left - which isn't many - in the fridge, because some people cannot be trusted*
Dog: *attempts to look thwarted*
Dog: *does not succeed, because her tail is wagging so hard small cyclones are forming in the kitchen*
Me: *has a very bad feeling about this*

[There is a pause, during which I do not even bother trying to return to what I was doing. I just stand in the computer room, waiting.]

[There is, as I wholly expected, a baseball-bat-eating noise.]

Me, stomping back to the kitchen: OKAY. GIVE ME THE DAMNED SWEET POTATO.
Dog, looking up guiltily: What sweet potato?
Me: THE ONE IN YOUR MOUTH.
Dog: Oh, did you want this? I just, um. Found it. Lying here.
Me: *confiscates the sweet potato and deposits it in the locking trashcan*
Me: Let us say no more about this.
Dog: ...Nooooo! They be stealin' my sweet potato!

[I attempt to remember what I was doing before the sweet potato episode.]

[Some ten minutes later, I succeed, and return to it.]

[NOT ONE MINUTE LATER, I hear a noise with which I have become all too familiar.]

Me, bonking head on desk: Arg.
Me, arriving in kitchen: How did you even get another sweet potato?
Dog, smugly: I have my ways.
Me: Are you punishing me for being away for several days? I was at a FUNERAL, you know. It wasn't FUN.
Dog: How would I know? You didn't take me. You left me here with only one human to look after my needs. One human is NOT ENOUGH.
Me: *shuts dog in bedroom, conducts a sweep of the kitchen to track down all remaining sweet potatoes, wipes up random sweet potato particles from floor, eradicates all traces of sweet potato from house*
Me: *lets dog out*
Dog, sulkily: Oh, so you think you've won.

[I watch her go about her business with the same sense of overwhelming doom that heroines of Victorian novels get when they meet Count Sinistrus Grimblack for the first time.]

[Half an hour later, there is a wetter, juicier eating noise, as though someone was eating a very moist baseball bat.]

Me, wearily: What NOW?
Dog, hunched over the remains of a butternut squash: *says something garbled because her mouth is full*
Me: Okay. Fine.
Me: *stomps over, empties entire vegetable bowl into trash*
Me: WE JUST WON'T HAVE ANY ROOT VEGETABLES ANYMORE. THERE. ARE YOU HAPPY?
Dog: I'm not even remotely sorry. I told you I was hungry. And you went to a funeral without me.
Me: ARRRRRRRRG.

[A half-hour later, there is another baseball-bat-eating noise from the kitchen. The dog, who apparently does not know how to win gracefully, has found another sweet potato, or possibly caused one to materialize from the Rift.]

Me, hauling chewed sweet potato parts from the mouth of a dog very reluctant to part with them: Oh my god how is this my life?
Dog: Don't you think it would just be easier to feed me?
Me: EVERYONE GO TO THE BEDROOM AND STAY THERE. EAT NOTHING.
Dog: Actually, I feel...um...not so good.
Dog: *throws up* *vomit is very bright orange*

[Unfortunate details ensue.]

Some time later:
Me, attempting to rescue something from the wreckage: So. What have we learned from this?
Dog: Sweet potatoes are yummy!
Other Dog, looking thoughtful: I should pay more attention to crunching noises. Sweet potatoes are probably yummy.
Me: I need a lobotomy.

moved to reply to Dumping article

Our local newpaper (the Oregonian) ran a Community Writers piece about animal abandonment. The title was "City Cousins, shelter is a better fate" and opened with, "City pet owners are lucky. Sure, they have to deal with neighbors and the nearest off-leash park may be miles away. But they have the advantage of getting to choose their pets. Then, some of those City Cousins dump their unwanted pets in the country."

http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianopinion/2008/05/the_dark_side_of_dumping_unwan.html

Her ending, “I wish someone would invent a sort of recycling system for these pets - oh, wait! That would be the Humane Society, wouldn't it? Why, I ask myself, does my City Cousin dump unwanted pets on a country road rather than taking the animal to the Humane Society? I'm not sure.”, made me stand up and be counted by writing a reply.

I was only allowed 150 words. There is a longer version from which this was distilled from below.

"Susan Clark’s May 11 letter asks why her “City Cousin dump[s] unwanted pets … rather than taking the animal to the Humane Society.” Here’s why.

Oregon Humane Society cannot be Ms. Clark’s “recycling system” because the job is too large. OHS requires appointments pre-surrender interviews, three to eight weeks out. It doesn’t accept every animal, telling many owners that if left, their animal will be euthanized.

The only local shelter accepting all pets is Washington County’s Bonnie Hays, which is small and often euthanizes pets for capacity reasons. Some small shelters and rescue organizations serve Portland, but these have waiting lists. County animal services only accept strays.

Many pet owners cannot keep their pets for reasons beyond their control. The current economy has increased demand for animal re-homing services.

Portland’s animal-welfare organizations do great work, but they need help, primarily through public education about responsible pet ownership and spaying/neutering."

I’ll let you know if it is published…

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Options for Animal Surrender: as more non-profit humane societies limit their admission there are fewer alternatives for owner-released pets.

Susan Clark’s letter of May 11 asks why her “City Cousin dump[s] unwanted pets on a country road rather than taking the animal to the Humane Society.” Here is why.

The “Humane Society” is not a single organization; it is many local organizations with some principles in common. In Oregon, the best-known humane society is Oregon Humane Society (“OHS”) in North Portland. OHS cannot fill the role of what Ms. Clark calls a “recycling system” by taking in pets surrendered by their owners, for placement in new homes. This job is too large for OHS’s capacity. For that reason, OHS does not accept every animal that owners seek to surrender. Instead it requires an appointment for an interview, typically three to eight weeks out. It does not accept every animal at the interview, instead telling many owners that their animal, if surrendered there, will be euthanized. OHS also requests a donation of $45 to $100 for each surrendered pet.

So, what alternatives does a pet owner have, if they cannot wait three to eight weeks or if OHS refuses to accept their pet for re-homing? The only local open-admission shelter (meaning it accepts all surrendered pets) is Bonnie Hays, in Washington County. This shelter charges $10 - $40 for surrendering a pet. Bonnie Hays is a small shelter, however, and if the incoming animals overwhelm its kennel space and it cannot place them in new homes as fast as they come in, they are euthanized. There are a few small shelters and breed-specific rescue organizations in the Portland region, but these usually have long waiting listing for surrendering a pet. And Multnomah County Animal Services (“MCAS”) does not accept owner-surrendered animals, only strays – and then, only if citizens bring them to the shelter. (Citizens interested in these issues can attend a series of public hearings in July with the City of Portland Animal Services Task Force, a temporary organization exploring the creation of an Animal Control agency for the city, separate from MCAS. For further information contact county commissioner Leonard or commissioner Wheeler’s offices.)

Many pet owners want to keep their pets, and often go to remarkable lengths to do so. Sometimes, however, they simply cannot. The circumstances I have outlined leave many pet owners – faced with eviction, entering prison, moving for a job, or helping out after the original owner’s death – with difficult choices. They may not be able to wait up to eight weeks for an interview, or they may have been told that OHS will not seek to re-home their pet. They may not be physically able to get to Bonnie Hays, or dread the certain death that faces many pets surrendered there. The current economic environment, especially, the surge in people leaving their homes (rented and owned) has noticeably exacerbated the demand for services to re-home these animals.

I do not mean in any way to demean any of the animal-welfare organizations in the Portland region; they do great work. However, their task is Sisyphean: it is more than they can hope to accomplish. They need all the help anyone can give them, but even more, they need public support in the form of education about responsible pet ownership, including spaying/neutering, basic veterinary care, and behavior modification. These can help turn the tide of pet over-population and the crime of animal abandonment.

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We must come together to serve

I’ve been involved in a number of sides of animal welfare: volunteered with Alley Cats and Bide-a-Wee when I was a teen, volunteered latter at a county shelter in Santa Cruz, worked at open admission non-profit humane societies with contracts for animal control and at a county shelter, as well as volunteering with a breed rescue group and currently working at a limited admission shelter that provides a range of services from sheltering and re-homing cats to offering no-interest loans for emergency veterinary care.

I am a member of two local groups that are working for a better future for our animals in the Metro Portland area. One is a shelter reform group, mostly very strongly “no-kill” in philosophy, and the other is a city task force putting together recommendations for changes in city animal services.

I listen to a lot of conversations and debates on the different ways that animal welfare organizations should/ought to be serving their community.

I try to open people’s eyes to the reality of pet over-population and the hard road that most animal welfare workers face.

I often ask folks to read “One at a Time – A Week in an American Animal Shelter” for a clear vision of what it is like. If you haven’t read this book, I strongly suggest it. It is also a blessing of a tool to those that work in animal welfare to explain what their days look and feel like to friends and family. It is not easy to explain to outsiders the stress and strain of just doing you job… http://novoiceunheard.org/OneAtATime.htm

Here is a bravely written article about a day in the life of a shelter that sheds light and pushes back the shadows.

“Tough morning ritual -

Although many employees dread mornings in the office, few face workplace stress like Malmberg and shelter services coordinator Bill Motteler do.

Their grim task is to decide whose time has expired. At about 8 each morning, they must roam the cages and select animals for euthanasia…”

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/050408/HEA_BFHKNRMO.022.php

We need the public to understand. We need all the various groups to understand. We need to understand each other. Sharing, openly and honestly with compassion, can bring us together.

Shame on Hills Huzzah for Castor & Pollux

Hills has a shelter partner program where they offer free food to feed sheltered animals. The shelter benefits as the animals in their care get a steady supply of the same food rather than the hit-and-miss mix of donated food that so many shelters must rely on.

http://www.hillspet.com/hillspet/portal/shelterProPortal.hjsp

However, they must enter a contract to:

• exclusively feed and endorse Science Diet® pet foods
• give away a free 4 or 5 lb bag of Science Diet® and education materials to each adopter
• enter into a 2-year contractual agreement
• provide Hill’s with names and addresses of adopters within 1 month of adoption

The shelters understood that they would be getting the decent mid-range level of food that Hills sells: there are better foods (premium) and are lots of much worse foods out there.

Turns out that they are not getting what they thought they were getting and some shelters are reporting an up-swing in food allergy related issues with their pets.

Hmmmm – could be from all that corn?

It has now been made clear that the food that is donated as Hills food is not the same quality as the food that is sold to the public. It is much higher in corn (which is the grain most likely to cause allergic reactions in dogs and cats). In fact, corn is the first ingredient!

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/70400.htm

One the other end of the spectrum is a smallish locally owned pet food company supporting an open admission (or nearly so, well talk about that another day in another post) by donating their high grade dry product to fee all the shelter’s pets.

A round of applauses (and thank you notes, I’ve sent one myself) should go out to Castor and Pollux (http://www.castorpolluxpet.com) for their generosity to the Humane Society for Southwest Washington (http://www.southwesthumane.org).

For Hills reply to questions about their corny donations, read their letter below:

Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc.
Phone: 866-283-1217
E-mail: shelters@hillspet.com

Dear Shelter Partner,

Recently we have received several inquiries regarding the Hill’s® Science Diet® canine pet food (SKU 6960, 50-lb bag) that is provided through the feeding program partnership. This formula uses corn as the first ingredient instead of meat, which is different than Science Diet® products sold at retail.

Please be assured, the “corn first” formula adheres to the high standards of all Science Diet® pet foods and is made with the high-quality ingredients Hill’s Pet Nutrition is known for. In fact, there are only insignificant nutritional differences between the “corn first” and “meat first” products (see attached table for nutritional content). Both products are precisely balanced for the adult lifestage and have a clinically proven antioxidant blend to strengthen the immune system. The different foods simply deliver the nutritional content of protein and other essential nutrients through different ingredients.

Did You Know?
Corn contains:
Quality proteins for muscle and tissue growth
The highest digestibility of carbohydrates for energy compared to any other grain
Essential fatty acids for healthy skin and coat
Beta-carotene, Vitamin E and lutein–nature’s antioxidants

The “meat first” food was created in response to the consumer perception that a “meat first” product is superior, which is not the case. In addition, the “corn first” product can be produced more cost efficiently, which allows us to support a significantly higher number of shelters and has helped us to save nearly 1 million dogs and cats each year. We thank you for your continued partnership and for all you do to improve the lives of pets in your care. If you have any other questions regarding this pet food, please contact a team member at 1-866-283-1217.

Sincerely,

Your Hill’s Science Diet Shelter Nutrition Partnership Team

still having an issue with the links...

Marin Humane's Pet Partnership Program
http://www.marinhumanesociety.org/ProgramsServices/PetPartnership.html

New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/science/06dumb.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5124&en=ac91b2ae04c7301e&ex=1367726400&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Dog's Mind:
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB275

Smart dogs, dumb dogs, shut-down dogs, dogs that don't want to learn.

So much of this has little to do with the dogs. The teachers need to be involved as much as the learners do.

Yes, one needs to find out what motivates each dog. Yes, environment can make it easier or hard to learn. Working with shelter dogs as much as I have has certainly shown all these things to be true. Dogs that have never been allowed to learn new skills (by being kept isolated, by being punished for trying new behaviors for example) can have a much rougher time of it.

We once had an amazing dog. Her name was River. She became my first Delta Pet Partner (www.deltasociety.org) .

River came out of the Madera County shelter through Pet Partnership Program run by Marin Humane Society (http://www.marinhumanesociety.org/ProgramsServices/PetPartnership.html). MHS goes to over crowded rural shelters and harvests potential pets for placement through their shelters, giving these animals a second chance. There is some controversy about taking the best prospects for adoption out of area but most of these pets don't have much hope of finding home where they are at all. MHS also takes in some pets in need of veterinary care that the small shelters can't provide.

Back to River - we guess she spent most of her life (she was about 6 when she came to us) as an outside dog. She had no clue about being a house pet, no idea what a leash was, what house training was, simply coming into small rooms without panic was a challenge for her.

She was clever in a number of ways, finding hidden items and new routes of escape were two of her specialties. Learning clues and house training however...it took a long while, patience and understand her but we worked together and learned together. Once she figured out how to learn in the context of dog training, offer behaviors and being rewarded for them, it all came at a rush. We succeeded together. There was a lot of "hotdog therapy" involved in this process.

Different animals learn in different ways. Finding a way to help them focus, be willing to be creative and offering them what motivates are the keys really - dog, cat, person, fish, anything with a nervous system really!

I'm reflected on this mostly about shelter pets but also as to motivating our various branches and groups of animal welfare to work together. I'll be asking myself a lot of questions to help solve this question.

Ideas are more than welcome!

Interesting article on animal learning from the times states,
"Dr. Dukas hypothesizes that any animal with a nervous system can learn. Even in cases where scientists have failed to document learning in a species, he thinks they should not be too quick to rule it out. “Is it because I’m not a good teacher or because the animal doesn’t learn?” Dr. Dukas asked."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/science/06dumb.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5124&en=ac91b2ae04c7301e&ex=1367726400&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

How do dogs learn - Dog's Mind by Bruce Fogle

http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB275

trying these links again

About Animal Aid, Inc:

http://www.oregonlive.com/living/oregonian/deb_wood/index.ssf?/bas

http://www.animalaidpdx.org

HSUS pet friendly housing and foreclosure:

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/renting_with_pets_the_online_resource_for_rental_managers_and_pet_owners/

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/renting_with_pets_the_online_resource_for_rental_managers_and_pet_owners/finding_animalfriendly_rental_housing/

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pets_related_news_and_events/foreclosure_pets_grant_fund.html

Interesting study on landlord/tenant issues relating to pet-ownership:

http://www.firepaw.org/CompanionAnimalRentersPetFriendly.pdf

laughing and crying at work one day

I get a lot of calls here at Animal Aid (www.animalaidpdx.org) from folks needed a lot of very different kinds of help from re-homing pets, to spay and neuter questions, to looking for pet friendly housing, people on the streets looking for vaccinations for their pets, to emergency situations like cats poisoned or dogs hit by cars – you get the picture.

Today there were two calls from opposite ends of the spectrum that really got to me, one had me in tears and the other had me laughing out loud.

The first was a gentleman who’s 20 year old poodle had reached the end of his life. His story came out as we talked. The old dog (Freddy) had been blind for a number or years, mostly deaf, and now could no longer walk. The man was complete beside himself, lost. He lived alone but for his companion pets. This dog’s brother (Barnie) has passed on earlier this year. His third dog had been a parting gift from a friend from who had died last year. He had promised to look after this dog for the man when death took him away.

He didn’t know where to go. He wanted just one more day to say good-bye and then he knew the time had come for parting. I found him a place to do, non-profit veterinary hospital downtown that does euthanasia procedures gratis when a pet is suffering. He needed to be with Freddy when the time came. He needed to take his body home to burry him next to his canine brother Barnie. They would both share the yard with the gentleman’s wife’s ashes. He said they’ll all be together now.

The gentleman has been fighting against AIDS for ten years. He is wheel chair bound. He is on a limited income. He felt so deeply grateful for all this pets had done for him. “They give us so much, and ask so little. This last kindness, this parting gift of a gentle death is the hardest thing for us to give them but it is such a blessing when the time comes”, I told him. We wept together.

The other call had me crackling, just a hour or so latter. Their was a very harassed, tired sounding man slowly giving his name and contact information, including his mailing address; while all whole time in the background this cat is YOWLING! You know the kind of sound, a desperate cat in heat cry. The caller pauses now and again after a particularly loud scream and then starts again with a sign. At the end of his call he says, “I need help getting a cat spayed…”. It was beautiful. It could have been a radio ad for our organization or any other that promotes spaying and neutering to overcome pet over population.

I was glad of the second call. I have helped the cat owner set up and appointment to get Miss Kitty her surgery tomorrow.


Our organization got a short mention in our local paper today, down at the very bottom page two: http://www.oregonlive.com/living/oregonian/deb_wood/index.ssf?/base/living/1210024508125750.xml&coll=7


We are seeing a nasty upturn on pets abandoned in apartments when renters move on, and the owner surrender numbers have jumped since last year at all the local shelters.

HSUS acknowledges what is going on - foreclosures and financial crisis http://www.hsus.org/pets/pets_related_news_and_events/foreclosure_pets_grant_fund.html
for renters http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/renting_with_pets_the_online_resource_for_rental_managers_and_pet_owners/opening_doors_and_minds_to_pets.html for for landlords http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/renting_with_pets_the_online_resource_for_rental_managers_and_pet_owners/index.html

Very interesting paper written relating to rentals that take pets and those that don't:
http://www.firepaw.org/CompanionAnimalRentersPetFriendly.pdf

I've been thinking that I need to put together some sort of packet for pet-owners as to how to make a pet resume and how to be a good pet-owning tenant...

Too many folks are losing their places and having an ugly time trying to get pet-friendly rentals.

For years, I was the sort of dog-less dog-lover that would frequent dog parks. If you spent anytime at these places, you’ll have seen folks like me. Yes, I threw balls for other people’s dogs. I petted those dogs, happy of the fur and the wags, watched them run, and marveled at their body language and play styles.

Situation finally changed enough that I was able to bring a dog back into my life. I started scouring Petfinder, the local shelters and rescues looking for the right dog to fit into our life. We were two working adults, an elementary school aged boy and a difficult cat; we would need a special dog. There were telephone calls and interviews, fidgety long drives with my son to meet dogs that were not the right one. At the end of one such drive there was a foster home with six herding dog mixes and a couple of resident dogs. The dog we were there to meet was a narrow little cattledog mix with bright darting eyes. He took right to my son, seemed fine with cats and made fantastic eye contact. I was sold!

He was not who we thought he was. He was not who his foster thought he was. He was a deeply un-easy paranoid dog, likely with very limited socialization when he was young. He had major digestive issues and was hyper-sensitive. We quickly learned these things: no raising of hands, no loud voices, don’t drop anything, kitchen floor was right out so we used the backdoor for the first several months with him, fast motions were very frightening to him, most other dogs made him nervous, many men made him retreat and cringe if not lip curl and urinate, stress put him into hunger strikes…but he was smart and tried. We tried too.

Many years of work along this road, Rio is much better but he will never be a normal dog. He is not all together trust worthy and has landed bites, never broken skin. He is fear reactive not aggressive but will advance if he has been pushed beyond his limits (these limits vary wildly and are difficult to predict). He is a complete mess without the comfort of another dog he trusts.

He would not have passed a behavior assessment. He came through a small county shelter. Rescue pulled him as the county agency did not think they could place him. Before that he was a tick covered cowering stray.

If I had known then what I know now, what I have had to learn to live with this dog, I would never have adopted him.

It sounds ugly, and it hurts to say, but he probably should never have been placed. We are very devoted to him, I love this crazy little dog, but it will never be easy to live with him and he is so often beside himself trying to cope.

Living, and yes loving, this dog has led me into animal welfare; first by learning how to try and understand and help him through training and behavior modification work. That led into volunteer at shelters and finally to being employed in the field for about five years now. I have worked cleaning kennels and catteries, adoption counseling, as an outreach coordinator, as a humane educator and as a behavior specialist. I’ve studied through coursework, books and internships to get where I am now.

Rio is still with us and his quality of life is fairly good. Would I give him up? Would I have him euthanized? No, I know him, love him, am responsible for him….now.

Should he have been adopted out? No, I don’t think so.

Well structured behavior evaluations, done by qualified specialists, help find which pets belong in which sorts of families. Should they make euthanasia decisions? No, they are tools that help professionals make that call, along with all sorts of other information about the pet and the resources that the organization responsible for the pet has to put forward toward this pet.

Organizations need to be responsible for the pets in their care, as well as to the community they serve and the households they place their adopted pets into.

The results of these evaluations help the adoption counselors place the right dog in the right home and help the public not just fall for the cute furry face but learn more about the dog they are inviting into their homes and their hearts.

Meet-your-Match (http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=adopt_mym) is a great program, designed carefully to do just that – help place the right pet with the right person. There are a number of other basic assessment tools being used at shelters around the nation as well, Assess-a-Pet (http://www.suesternberg.com/00assess.html) and SAFER (http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aspcapromym_landing) are the most popular. There are far too many shelters doing terrible jobs using these tools or making their own up on a wing and a prayer. This cost lives and ruins trust.

Bark magazine ran an interesting article about the controversy that has sprung up about using behavior assessments in shelters (http://thebark.com/ezine/features_specialFeatures/specialFeatures_04.html).

Whether they are called behavior evaluations or temperament testing, they are a real hot button in the field. I strongly stand by them as important tools, when preformed correctly by trained staff and when the information is used in context and not as a stand alone set of facts.

Rio has led me here. All the pets I’ve worked with at shelters have led me here. I am still learning, still striving and some days struggling to learn; I am still following them.

"A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog." - Jack London