For the past two months, Town Lake Animal Center has maintained a live outcome rate greater than 90%, achieving what many across the country deem “No Kill”. For the community of Austin, this is a huge success, especially in light of increased birth rates typical of the summer months. This means that for every 10 animals leaving the shelter, 9 are entering new, loving homes.
But what is happening to that last animal? He is still being euthanized. In a shelter the size of TLAC, that meant 138 dogs and 100 cats in the last two months were killed. In a recent article in the Austin Chronicle, Director Smith was interviewed:
I can say with conviction that any animal I’ve authorized euthanasia on in the last 60 days was because of health or behavior issues, never mind the amount of space available. If I have minus two cage spaces and 500 really happy, sociable, fabulous, healthy animals, I’m going to put up crates in the other room and have a sale. I’m not going to go euthanize animals that are perfectly healthy. We are not euthanizing healthy animals, period.
Nearly all animal advocates (including this one) agree that euthanasia is appropriate for the small number of animals entering a shelter that are suffering and cannot be helped or dangerously aggressive with a low prognosis for rehabilitation. The problem occurs when the definition of “suffering” or “aggressive” becomes loose. I worry that both definitions, but particularly the aggressive label, are being liberally applied to TLAC animals.
Consider two female dogs recently euthanized for aggression at TLAC; Sasha and Petunia. Both were labeled as pit mixes.
Sasha had recently weaned a litter. When she first arrived at the shelter, she was very frightened and cowered in her kennel. She was umcomfortable with a leash on her neck, likely because she had been chained up (as indicated by a permanent scar on her neck). During her time at TLAC, volunteers gave her glowing comments:
This girl was extremely happy to see people, very waggy and wanted to play while we were in her kennel…She very much loved being petted and even rolled over for some belly rubs.
When I first opened her kennel, she was very excited, wagging and happy. However, when I tried to leash her, she backed up. I finally slipped it over her neck and she planted her feet firmly, refusing to move. I had to carry her to a pen and back, she absolutely will not walk on the leash. Unfortunately, her neck has a clear mark all the way around (probably from a chain) that helps explain why she is so afraid of the leash. However, she was so friendly that I wanted to get her out and give her an opportunity to interact with people so she can start trusting again. In the pen she was very sweet and interactive and enjoyed being pet. She was very calm and well behaved.
She energetically ran up and down the back pen, periodically returning to me for petting and check in. Very housetrained. Back on leash she explored the barn with some hesitancy and then pulled me to explore some more (much more relaxed). Easy to return to kennel, entered immediately and sat for treat.
She is a very affectionate, people oriented dog that needs some work on her confidence. Please stop by and help this girl out!
Unfortunately for her, Sasha was fearful of the staff uniform, and would bark and growl at staff members:
While I was walking by this dog’s kennel, she lunged at the gate and began directed barking as I walked by. I made no action toward her initially but after she began barking I stopped at her kennel. When I stopped she began aggressively barking at the gate and was up on back feet barking at the gate, eyes dialated, ears back and face stiff. I bent down and tried talking to her to calm her down but she just came down with me continuing to bark and growl. I tried to put my hand toward the gate for her to smell but she lunged and snapped at the gate. I see that she has sweet notes in her behavior, but she seems to be very reactive toward me. Possibly the uniform?
Her status was immediately changed to indicate her as an “aggressive” dog. This behavior was repeated a few times, but only with staff members, never volunteers. Her kennel was eventually locked, further discouraging any potential adopters. On July 20th, with the shelter above capacity, Sasha’s luck ran out. She was labeled with behavior problems and euthanized.
Petunia’s behavior report is sparse. Her intake notes were very good, indicating she had no aggression and a low level of fear. One staff member even noted “Dog was very friendly.” A TLAC staff member said:
loves to play with the water when we are spraying down the kennels in the afternoon.
And a volunteer said:
She was very easy to put on a leash and did not pull at all when I walked her. She is definitely housebroken.
Despite these positive notes, a staff member left a slightly negative note in her behavior report. This remark was made only three days after Petunia entered the shelter, when she was likely scared and confused by her new environment.
friendly, waggy presentation in kennel, easily leashed, waggy interest in adjacent dog until that dog barked and lunged @ her, then got tense, responded with intense growling and lunging. Pulled her away, took to an exercise pen. Gave a “skin shudder” each time I petted her back and would not solicit more contact. After a few more pets, she turned and jumped up toward my face several times, forcefully, had to hold her back with my hands. Quick to arouse and little in the way of appropriate social solicitation. When I sat in a chair she approached, I petted a few times, then she did the face-jumping thing again, very aroused. Returning to kennel was difficult because she was very intent on scrabbling with dog in adjacent kennel – I’d get her into kennel, then she’d push very hard to come back out and go directly over to fence fight. This happened 5-6 times, and she began jumping up into my face again because I was frustrating her in her attempts. She will definitely struggle in the shelter environment, needs more positive experiences with people and positive reinforcement for appropriate ways of engaging in play with people, and for non-reactive, non-aggressive behavior with other dogs.
Her status was changed to yellow, indicating “behavioral problems”. There are no other notes in her behavior report, no other incidents or evaluations indicating aggressive behavior. On July 18th, Petunia was euthanized.
Perhaps neither Sasha nor Petunia had behavioral problems, but were instead exhibiting normal dog behavior in a highly stressful environment with unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells and people. Perhaps given more time, someone would have adopted them despite the “black marks” on their reports. Perhaps in a foster home or working with a behaviorist, these issues would have been negligible.
How do we define an aggressive dog that should be euthanized rather than adopted to the public? Do one-time offenses such as growling at staff or other dogs indicate a dog that is hopelessly aggressive with a poor prognosis for rehabilitation?
So what can we do to remedy this and help future Sashas and Petunias? In the short term, TLAC needs more foster homes for adult dogs. This would allow a dog labeled with “behavior problems” an opportunity to socialize outside of the overly stressful environment that is a large, municipal shelter. Then a dog can be more easily evaluated to determine if it is truly aggressive. More volunteers willing to work one on one with these dogs will also help tremendously.
In the long term, TLAC needs a behaviorist that is committed to developing the right programs that will help dogs with minor behavior problems to thrive. Further, the community needs to express their opinion about what is an acceptable definition for an unadoptable dog.