When I was a kid growing up in the 60s, there were some hard and fast rules that most kids (pretty well all that I knew) lived by. They included "be home when the streetlights come on", "clean underwear in case you get hit by a bus", oh, and yeah, NEVER APPROACH A STRANGE DOG.
Yeah, animal/human interaction was covered pretty well, truth be told.
1. Never approach a strange dog. If the owner is there (which in those days was not at all the norm, as dogs ran free way back when), then you ASK them can you pet the dog.
2. Let the dog sniff you, watch their reaction, and NEVER put your face near theirs.
There were lots of others too, but what it came down to was PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
Kids were taught to be cautious and to respect boundaries. Parents taught kids personal responsibility and as parents, took on the task of TEACHING their kids how to interact with animals. Unlike today apparently... where, along with getting rid of all playground equipment, throwing all responsibility for socialization, health care, physical activity AND academics on the shoulders of schools and ensuring that YOUR child is NEVER in the wrong, it has also become a necessity that every dog out there MUST be able to tolerate whatever unwelcome, ill-intentioned and boorish behaviour you or your child chooses to inflict.
and yeah, the RESPONSIBLITY lies with the ADULT.
Dogs are well, dogs. They do dog things. They react like DOGS.
I am NOT saying that kids "deserve" to get bitten nor that parents mean to set their kids up for the same or for that matter, themselves.
BUT, assuming that you can walk into any given shelter and pick a dog that no matter WHAT will NOT bite, show aggression or learn to adapt to your home is at best naive, at worst, criminal ...and dogs around the country are dying because of that attitude.
The SAFER temperament test does NOTHING to establish whether any given dog is somehow NOT going to do dog things, react dog-ways.... all it does is give one the ILLUSION of being able to predict a behaviour that in many instances is so beyond what is "normal" for an animal, that it is ludicrous to think that any self-respecting organization or individual gives it creedance.
Take a dog, throw in a pinch of abuse, a cup of neglect, a quart of fear and then mix with a new environment, strangers and isolation. Then take that dog, give it food (keeping in mind, the dog was probably never socialized correctly in the first place and in the case of many shelter dogs, probably was used to being food-deprived), then start poking that dog with a plastic hand... one held by a stranger. SNATCH that dish away from this sad, scared, lonely, confused and frightened dog.... then act surprised that it growls or otherwise reacts and mark it for death...
Oh, and let's ignore the realities of the dog breed (or if a mutt, breeds) and their natural, inbred tendencies towards certain behaviours - let's not count that. I mean, after all, so many potential adopters do - basing their "choices" on the look of a dog with little to no insight into the realities of the breed they find so adorable.
For instance, another part of the SAFER experience... the "hug" test... yeah... HUG that dog tight - you know the same one that you don't know, that you have yet to establish a relationship with - get right in there in their personal space and threaten them by enveloping them in a big old HUG .... you just want to see if they're open to it right?
All three of my dogs are rescues .. two german shepherds and one terrier.
I am, hands down a "shepherd" person - LOVE the breed... and that mean understanding that shepherds are PACK... that shepherds are PROTECTIVE... that shepherds are not, for the most part, interested in casual interactions with people outside the pack .. which means I understood when I took on my dogs (a year apart) that I KNEW I needed to establish a relationship with them. They were NOT going to allow me - nor would I even think - about getting all up close and personal with these dogs until we had worked out that we were in this together ... until I establish trust and they had learned to look to me as the leader... I knew that I needed to prove myself and provide them with loving, firm leadership in order to reassure them that we were PACK, that they were secure, that they had a place and a role.
That mean lots of time and patience.. it meant sitting down with my kids and going over how the dogs were to be handled, how the kids were to handle themselvse vis-a-vis the dogs; establishing routines and rules and predactibility and cause and effect. Consistency, firmness and routine all paid off and today we have these great dogs ... who are wonderful with US... but outside our pack, I continue to monitor them closely as it is MY responsiblity as a dog-owner to ensure the public - even the idiotic public like the people who come barelling up and try to throw their arms around their necks (especially my 92 lb black male who for some reason, people find irrisstable) - are protected against their OWN irresponsible and criminal behaviour so MY dogs don't suffer the consequences.
But what drives me into a frenzy is the number of organizations that are adopting the SAFER test as an effective way of 'assessing' dogs ... 80% of which end up getting killed. Dogs which with the RIGHT owner could have long, fulfilling and happy lives. Dogs that just need a chance to show people how wonderful they can be.
There ARE no guarantees when it comes to ANY dog - yeah, not even those very few that 'pass' that stupid test ....because dogs, like people, and react to circumstance and their behaviour can change depending on their treatment and the manner in which they integrate into a home. Dogs have personalities, not just intrinsic to their breed but to their own individual sense of self.
And I don't object, on principle, to a temperament test - but to one based on the assessment of a qualified canine expert, one based on realistic goals tempered with an understanding that the shelter environment is artificial, frightening and unnatural. Assessments based on familiarity, interaction and understanding as well as the necessity of installing basic skills in the handler and the dog.
All I'm saying is give a dog a chance... I mean, the REAL dog .. not the imaginary, Hollywood-fuelled "perfect" dog.
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