I field phone calls all the time. People calling my dog rescue to take their dog. Or the dog they found. Or the dog they call a stray that they have had for 2 yrs. and now don’t want anymore.
I always ask, “Why are you getting rid of the dog?”. If it is because of a behavioral issue I tell them that the good news is that it is a correctable situation.
I ask if they would keep the dog if the behavior went away. “Of course!” generally seems to be the answer. Aaaahhh. But here is where things go awry. I tell them that they have to change their behavior in order for the dog to change.
Uh…what?
Yep. You have to change how you interact with your dog in order for your dog to change they way it interacts with you. Pretty simple. But 9 out of 10 humans will not change how they do things. We are pig headed. Or lazy. Or arrogant in our ideas. I don’t know why people will not do what is required. But they won’t. It is just easier for them to stay the way THEY are and expect to dog to be different. Or just get rid of the dog.
Case in point. I absolutely JUST got off the phone with a gal who called asking me to take a Chihuahua she found. They have only had the dog 10 days. Can’t find its owner. Her dogs are picking on it. It is perfectly friendly to her snarky little dogs. But her dogs “don’t like it”
So I ask if she would keep the dog if her dogs got along with it. “Well of course!” So I tell her she needs to walk all 3 dogs together. They will start to get along if she walks them together. Well, she can’t do that because she is disabled she says. Don’t know how disabled she is. Don’t know if she is a parapalegic, quadrapalegic, or just doesn’t walk anymore. But she says she doesn’t walk. Well here is a clue to the problem. Her dogs must be frustrated with never getting out to drain their energy. All they are allowed to do is run like little rats around her home and probably bark at every thing that moves in our out of the house and yard. If they got to go for a good long walk every day that behavior would go away. (Something a dog walker could help with. Even if that is just a kid in the neighborhood trying to earn a little extra money by walking dogs).
Now combine that frustration with the arrival of a new dog and holy war breaks out.
Well you can correct your dogs, I tell her. Just give them a little poke with your finger to correct them. Well I’ve done that, she says. I’m tired of doing it. Now mind you it HAS been a whole 10 days she has had to do this correcting. Okay, how about a little squirt bottle? Yes we do that too.
So I continue to suggest things that they can do to gain control of their own little beasts so that the new dog will be integrated into the group. Throughout I can hear her making short little comments. Uh huh. Yeah. Uh huh. Her voice becoming more and more distant.
Yep. She has checked out. Just wanted me to take the dog. Doesn’t want to here how to make it work because that would require her to do something different than she does now. Who possibly has time to correct a dog for bad behavior with either a finger poke or a squirt from a bottle. It is not humanly possible. How ridiculous of me to suggest such a thing.
So when I FINALLY stop talking and suggesting the impossible things she could do to make this situation work out she says. Okay thanks.
I’m quite certain the dog will be on Craigslist or at the pound by Monday.
