I received an email on Saturday from the woman who adopted Gabe that they returned him to TLAC. I had to give myself a few days to cool off before I could write about it or talk about it.
She sent me multiple emails while I was away with pictures, going on and on about how much she loved him and what a great dog he is. When I got back last week, I sent her an email thanking her for the updates and the work she had done with him. Her reply was not as positive. I asked her if everything was still ok and reminded her that she still hadn't used the private lessons we set up for her at a huge discount ($20). She said that everything was still ok, she'd had a health issue and they hadn't done the private lessons because their new apartment required a higher deposit for him than they had originally thought. I offered to find the money for her because I knew that Gabe really, really needs those lessons. He is still quite reactive and those lessons are the only way that I can see him learning to relax instead of bark in stressful situations. He'd made a lot of progress in his first 3 lessons and he really should have had the next 3 as soon as she adopted him. She took me up on the offer to pay for the lessons and assured me that everything was ok, it was just difficult.
That was Friday. On Saturday, she sent the email that she'd taken him back to TLAC. I couldn't have been more clear with her that if things didn't work out, that she needed to give him back to me and NOT take him to TLAC. She said that he'd damaged their new apartment and they couldn't afford it. It sounds like they left him unattended, uncrated in a their brand new apartment. I suppose I should at least be relieved that she told me and I was able to work on getting him out of there.
Not surprisingly, TLAC wouldn't give him back to me. I had to find a rescue group to pull him. Thanks to GSD rescue and lots of awesome people in Austin, I was able to get him on Tuesday night.
I've since learned from the trainer that she was doing really well in the group class we arranged for them. The husband, however, seemed to really not like the dog and was very critical of her and the dog during the most recent class. I think that her health issue, Gabe's challenges, and her husband's dislike of the dog were just too much.
His behavior isn't too bad right now. I can tell that she was working with him. So, even though the situation is incredibly disappointing, I had to leave town anyway, so I'm going to look at it as free foster care for him while I was gone and try to learn something from this.
So, what have I learned? What would I do differently? First, I would ensure that all adults in the household understand the dog's issues. I told her about them, but he wasn't around for that conversation. It would be impossible for one person to handle all of the burden of a dog with issues, especially if the other person is so unsupportive.
I would also do more follow-up with the training. I wish I'd asked sooner about the private lessons and found help for them.
But the main issue is that he just wasn't ready. He'd made a lot of progress, but ideally, I should have had him for at least another month and gotten his reactivity down even more before sending him off with someone with very little experience. I'm happy that I'll get that chance now. It feels really good to have him back.
4 comments:
Why *wouldn't* TLAC give him back to you? Were they that anxious to kill him?
That's a good question. I will attempt to piece together the reasons that TLAC decided that Gabe couldn't go back into the adoption program (it's not like I have anything official for their reason to kill him).
1. This was his 3rd time at the shelter.
2. He has known reactivity problems.
3. TLAC has a very detailed owner surrender form. His last owners indicated that he growls and barks at children. Which he does, but he also growls and barks at all people and animals he doesn't know (although he's gotten much better). They also indicated that he might have some food guarding issues. I've never seen any evidence of that, but that's what they put on the form.
It doesn't take much for a dog to get euthanized at TLAC. I guess that this was just too much.
Oh, one more thing, they also indicated that he was nipping at the heals of their young children when they were playing. My toddler niece stayed with us one weekend when we fostered Gabe the first time and he was incredibly respectful of her. I think he just needs owners with some experience who won't allow that kind of behavior.
Did you know that Dorinda put in writing at the last AAC meeting that animals selected for adoption were NEVER killed for time, that they were kept until adopted?
I promptly put in FOI requests for all the emails from Amber Rowland concerning animals killed in the adoption program.
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