Labels, and why they suck.
Two weeks ago, we pulled Lee Roy out of a central Florida shelter. He was beyond his alloted time, and was actually 2 weeks past his due date. Apparently, he was a super “friendly” guy and the shelter workers were determined to get him out. Well, some of them.
I was immediately drawn to Lee Roy, his energy was amazing. While the other dogs were barking like mad at anything that moved, Lee Roy would watch us walk up and down the kennel. He pressed his face against the wire to find us after we’d left his range of sight while looking at the other dogs and when we’d come back in viewing range, his tail would slowly start to move. I knealt down in front of his kennel, his eyes closed and he pressed up against the kennel door as if he was hoping he’d melt right through and into our arms. I stood up, turned to the volunteer and asked to take Lee Roy into the play yard. I could already see what was happening, he was becoming a DF dog. The man explained that Lee Roy had heartworms and the treatment is expensive. I prefer to keep a low profile at shelters, so I just smiled and said okay rather than get into a discussion about knowing the ins and outs of treating dogs for heartworms. We took him out into the yard and it was sheer bliss. He ripped through the grass and lept through the air, eyes closed, sucking in the sweet smell of freedom. The volunteer gave us a bone and I attempted to test Lee Roy’s skills. Sit? Check. Paw? Got it. Other Paw? NICE! Down? Wow. Even my dogs fight the dreaded “down.” Not Lee Roy. He wasn’t even interested in the treat. He gleefully took it from my hands and dropped it as he pranced away to inspect the other side of the play yard.
I asked the volunteer if he knew whether or not Lee Roy was dog tolerant; “Don’t know.” From our initial evaluation, we’d seen no issues of dog “aggression” but I always like to get as much information as I can, whether its accurate or not. I called a friend who frequents this shelter and she explained how she’d heard Lee Roy was “dog aggressive.” She explained that a rescue had come forward to evaluate the dog and he’d “attacked” another dog. That was all the information she had, so I asked her to do some digging for me. Meanwhile, I spoke with an employee at the shelter and asked what he knew about my big block head. “Not great with dogs.” Can you elaborate? “We had him with an intact male, the male mounted him, and he turned around and ‘snapped’ at the dog. We don’t recommend he goes to a home with dominant males.” I asked if Lee Roy continued to go after the dog or if it was a quick correction. He replied that it was quick. Okay, so Lee Roy was mounted by an intact male attempting to establish dominance, Lee Roy turned and corrected the dog for the unwanted behavior and then returned to skipping through the yard, ignoring the other dog. He nodded. Not only were they convincing people of not adopting Lee Roy because of his medical issues, they had now wrongfully labeled him a “dog aggressive” dog. No adopters were interested, and now no rescues were interested. Evaluating a dog in a shelter situation isn’t always easy. Dogs are stressed, anxious, it isn’t exactly a desirable location for an accurate evaluation. We put Lee Roy back and left.
I couldn’t get my mind off of him. I just kept thinking about how he’s being condemned for a misunderstanding, or better yet, labeled by someone ignorant to dog language. Apparently, Lee Roy’s “owners” were coming to get him. They lived 5 hours south and some how Lee Roy wound up at this central Florida shelter. They were “no shows” twice already, but the shelter gave them another chance. That entire day I was on pins and needles praying the owners didn’t come. Heartworms, ear infection, they don’t care about this dog. I’m already emotionally invested, I want him now. Not only do I want to save his life, I want to slap the shelter in the face with the pictures of him playing with his foster siblings we’re planning on taking. I couldn’t take it. I had Allie call the shelter to see if he was available. “Yes. He’s here. But you should know, he’s extremely animal aggressive.” Allie thanked her and hung up. The family didn’t show…once again, and it was finally the day for us to pick Lee Roy up. I sat down to do the paperwork and the woman looked at me and said “Do you know he’s extremely animal aggressive?” I nodded and said I did. There is no use arguing with these people, I’m not going to win and I just want the damn dog. I was finally done and I had butterflies in my stomach as I walked over to the clinic to pick him up. I handed the tech Lee Roy’s paperwork as I patiently waited. He looked at it and asked if the front desk had told me about his issues with other animals. Jiminy Christmas, people! No wonder he’s not adopted! Why don’t you just throw a hazmat suit on him and tell everyone he’s got SARS. I grabbed him and took off. I had a martingale on him and we walked through the parking lot. He tugged for a moment, and I gave him a quick correction and he straightened out, never pulling again. We got to the car and headed off on our journey 2 hours south to his foster home.
Lee Roy has been in his foster home for 2 weeks now. The first week he was kept seperated from the other dogs while he adjusted to Joe and Kim’s house and rules, plus he was quarantined in case of any medical issues. Lee Roy is now integrated with the pack. He was properly introduced to them in a controlled environment and he’s thriving. Lee Roy loves dogs, he’s living with a female and two males and is doing fantastic.
We don’t like to be labeled ourselves, we don’t like when people label our dogs…so why do we think its okay to do it to others? If we would have listened to everyone and their multiple labels that they slapped on our boy, he’d be dead. But, he’s not…and I. Love. This. Dog.
Yuppers Erica….yay!
Great post! I have encountered similar situations when going to look at dogs in shelters. Condemned to die by a label given by ONE volunteer on ONE occasion, that is quickly embellished like a game of ‘Telephone’, and the next thing you know, a dog is labeled “aggressive” or “rescue only” — despite actually having a stellar temperament and being highly adoptable. I wondered if anyone else noticed the frequency of this … and it’s nice to see I’m not the only one. So glad you used your head and rescued Lee Roy!
I love these stories. My tender heart jumps with glee to know a wonderful dog has a wonderful home.
Please send that shelter an e-mail with pictures of Lee-Roy and his new pack-mates for us! Oh and don’t forget to put a “BOO YA, IN YOUR STUPID FACES!!!!!!!!!” at the bottom hahaha
I mean seriously, if I was minding my own business and another person I didn’t know tried to get that close to me, I would push them away and possibly even hit them, without a second thought. Does that mean that I’m dangerous and should be kept in a padded cell for the rest of my days? What a bunch of nonsense.
Damn skippy!
i worked at a guide dog school for the blind, and they were the worst labelers i’ve ever encountered. i worked with the dogs who had failed the program, either from allergies or chasing squirrels or being easily distracted or the dreaded ‘dog aggression.’ these dogs that were labeled as DA were then immediately taken out of their play groups with 11 other dogs and forced to play by themselves. now, if you are a kennel worker, and you have to chose how to split the time in the play yard – how much time do you think that 1 dog got verses the 11 that were still allowed to play together? hardly any. and even worse, their time in the yard would be when the workers were busy either cleaning or on break or doing something else. and then once the worker was free, that DA dog would go away and the 11 would come back out. the DA dogs got zip time with actual human contact… it broke my heart. so when they would come to my part of the kennels, with the other failed dogs, i would get a history on the dogs and then a lot of times ‘play dumb’ and introduce him to the other dogs anyway. i can’t even tell you – i’d say 90% of the time i’d have that dog playing with all 11 other dogs and the other 10% i’d have him playing with at least 1 other dog, if not more. they were so quick to label, it was ridiculous. if a dog snapped, they were DA – if a dog growled, they were DA, if a dog looked at another dog weird, they were DA. and then, the school gave up on them. i’m glad i didn’t give up. because when it came time for those dogs to get adopted out, i was able to tell the adoption volunteers the truth – that the dog might have had a bad day, but he was playing with 11 other dogs, he was eating next to other dogs, he was sleeping in a kennel with another dog. i’m sure they still had to tell the family the official reason that the dog had failed, but at least they could then go on to say, ‘but we have worked with the dog and we trust him and his kennel person adores him.’ and i just picture that label peeling off the dog and floating away in little pieces in the wind. i will never claim to be a brilliant dog trainer – that would be a lie. but i was patient. and i was soft. and i was kind. and i took the time to get to know my dogs. and i had hope. and i looked my dog in the eye and said ‘you can do this.’ i cannot train a dog to be a guide dog for a blind person. i cannot train a dog to do aerial frisbee jumps. i cannot train a dog to sniff out bombs. but i can help him to play nice with his friends. and i’ll take that skill over the others any day of the week.
thank you for saving lee roy and for having faith in all the dogs that other people give up on. thank you for trying and telling them ‘you can do this.’
I did pit rescue for 5 years in Rhode island and had the same problem with labeling these poor dogs..I couldn’t stand it. Some dogs were being put down for the stupidest reasons and it infuriated me..i kept 4 and had them until they passed away..I have had a terrible 7months,I lost 2 of my beloved pits,because they are all about the same age,it’s heartbreaking.now I found out my Peggy sue has a heart tumor. We are doing everything we can,I take all of them to a holistic vet,she’s on alot of supplements,I want to keep her as long as possible unless she starts having pain or doesn’t look well but I will rescue another pit because they get the bad rap. I will take older dogs that have a harder time finding homes or a dog with supposed issues . Leroy is gorgeous and is blessed to have you,because you ignored the label they put on him:)
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Sounds like we need some help in our Central Florida shelters…Shouldn’t those folks know better than anyone about animal behavior and signals? How many animals are dying because of this?!?!? Not fair, and NOT OK! It is their responsibility to do whatever it takes to get these animals a forever home. Sounds like no one but you wanted to get the extra mile for Lee Roy and save his precious life…
Great post Dolly and Erica. I. Cried.
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How else is a dog suppose to communicate? It is not as if he can turn and politely say “Pardon me, but I prefer you not mount me. Please, respect my space”. My super sweet and gentle lab mix gave the same correction to a pushy boxer at the dog park and 5 minutes later was back over there seeing if the boxer wanted to play. Corrections to other dogs do not make an animal DA. Sigh.
Watch out Erica! He’s mauling your face there!
Thanks for rescuing him! He looks like a big sweetheart.
I’m so glad you didn’t give up on Lee Roy like the “owners” and the shelter did. He will love for the rest of his life!
This pit bull lover here in Boise thanks you for keeping Ghent faith. I have never understood the dog aggressive label if only tested in a scary shelter enviroment. That isn’t a true self. It’s like when I was in school I did great day to say but on tests I was so nervous I often did a poor job. A dog’s life shouldn’t depend on one label and they shouldn’t be so willing to flaunt it. Offer a sideline comment of “it was a shelter test introduce other dogs properly” educate them how offer training tips advice numbers of those who can help. Don’t sign a death warrant because of a stressed out test.
Thank you again for seeing the dog not the label and saving this amazing baby!