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Monday, February 6, 2012

Rules EVERY shelter (or pound) should live by - from Bad Rap blog

In a story on Olive, a forgotten and neglected pitbull, Bad Rap blog (an incredible spokesblog for bully breeds), came up with 5 rules that ALL progressive shelters should follow.  These are taken (with Bad Rap's permission) from their blog :

The Five Freedoms


Progressive shelters follow the 'Five Freedoms' as a basis for humane care of their animals. It was originally drafted in Britain way back in the 1960's as a best practices guideline for housing farm animals. Zoos refer to it as a guidepost for their operations, as well. The Center for Shelter Dogs promotes the Five Freedoms and explains that understanding a dogs' basic needs "will enable shelter staff and organizations to not only manage the (dogs') stress, but all to improve their welfare by addressing their needs."

Five Freedoms for Captive and Kenneled Animals
  1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst – by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor.
  2. Freedom from Discomfort – by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
  3. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease – by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
  4. Freedom to Express Normal Behavior – by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal's own kind.
  5. Freedom from Fear and Distress – by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

Freedom to enjoy the company of an animal's own kind gets skipped in most busy shelters. Dogs are highly social creatures who've evolved as a species to depend on relationship for their very survival, not only with other dogs, but with humans. (Recent science tells us that their domestication started as long as 33,ooo years ago. Link) It's not surprising that behaviors will degrade when they're denied opportunities to socialize.

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Since last week, I have thought long and often about Hades - and to a lesser extent - Bandit and the cruel and abusive manner in which they have (were) treated by organizations which purport on other levels to be proponents for animal welfare.  TAS has the ability to investigage cruelty  allegations (as did THS, once upon a  time) ; I know that in ANY other circumstance, if either organization had been told about a dog that was locked up, with no access to proper exercise, no opportunity to engage in "normal" behaviour, no chance to be who that animal was mean to be - we would be reading about how that dog was 'saved' from a horrific life.
Both Bandit and Hades were 'failed' on several levels - Bandit ultimately paying with his life; Hades currently continuing a sad, lonely approximation of existence (becuase I can't call it life).
Rule No. 1 - FAIL - simply feeding and watering isn't enough because a diet to "maintain full health and vigor" requires more than food.  It requires exercise, fresh air and a chance to stretch limbs and work off excess energy.
Rule No. 2 - FAIL - there is absolutely NO way that any animal could have a degree of comfort by being enclosed by steel walls for day after dreary day.  It is mentioned he has "toys" but without someone with whom to interact, toys are useless.  Physically, Hades' muscles must, at this juncture, be almost atrophed - and I have no doubt he is probably stiff and sore.
Rule No. 3 - PASS - I guess - but I wonder how many times he was vetted in the past year? How many times was his health monitored?  Certaintly his emotional and spiritual health were neglected.
Rule No. 4 - CATASTRPHIC FAIL - This dog has been isolated, ignored and forgotten.  I don't know what his capability was before his incarceration to interact with other dogs - but some effort to allow him some kind of emotional interaction - to even have interaction removed from direct contact - could only have helped.  Dogs are pack animals.  He has been denied not only interaction and the comfort of his own kind, but even a substitute pack (which is common when dogs and humans interact) would have at least have allowed him a measure of "normality".
Rule No. 5 - CATASTROPIC FAIL - Mentally, this dog must be the most painful emotional morass.  Neglected, forlorn, without a positive word or person with whom to bond, he must feel bewildered, angry and depressed. 
I don't know Hades story.
I don't know if he could have been rehabiliated - or will ever have the opportunity to try.
I have read that he has failed to interact positively with anyone with whom he has been in contact - even those who reguarly feed and water him - but frankly, I don't know how he was approached, whether those who have dealt with him did so with preconceived fears and dislike, whether they did so in an effort to engage him positively, whether there were those who sought to establish some kind of bond.. none of these questions have I answers for.
I just know that knowng this dog is living this awful life is keeping me awake at night.
And this is not how I believe ANY dog (or animal) deserves to be treated, Court orders be damned.

11 comments:

  1. Again, a great article which hits home for anyone who cares about animals.

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    1. well, Blooper is playing with comments again! So I'll try this again.

      I have been told - but have not been able to verify - that Hades was released to a rescue organization. I am hopeful (but not entirely sure) that this poor dog has been given a second chance. Thank you Synth for this update. It underlines what my own experience has been with dogs that have bitten - that in almost every case, the bite is the result of HUMAN error.

      I'm shocked as hell that TAS (it is actually TORONTO ANIMAL SERVICES - TAS - NOT Toronto Humane Society - THS) that has had Hades) would lie about him! that is awful! I certaintly don't think an isolated bite warrants the hell that dog was exposed to for the past year - and I particularly dislike the secrecy surrounding the entire issue. If there are legitimate reasons why a dog is being isolated like that, then own up to it and be honest about it.

      NO animal - even a genuinely unrehabilitative animal - should be relegated to that kind of existence. It actually IS kinder to have them euthanized (my opinion).

      In this case, it certainly does NOT sound like Hades was unable to be rehabilitated but there is NO excuse for the reality that no effort was made to do so.

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  3. okay well toronto animal services, Mark had also told me he was released to a rescue.. which obviously isnt what Mark had wanted.. he wanted his dog back that he was lied to about for so long.. but its a small victory in that Hades didnt end up getting destroyed which is the best outcome we could have hoped for.. Ive known Hades his entire life.. right when my friend Brittany brought him home.. her and I were room mates, she gave him to Mark because she realized she wasnt ready for a dog after having him only a week not because he was a bad dog.. he was only a month old puppy when she got him ...he used to play with my dog Delilah and run and play and was one of the hippest dogs you ever met.. everytime you came into marks place when hades was full grown he would jump up on you with his enormous paws and lick your face (Hades is huge).. hes a Sao Migel Fila. pure bread.. I linked Mark and Brittany to this blog.. i thought they would like to read it..and feedback aswell. i hope thats alright. I just honestly think someone should be blamed for what happened to Hades.. I want to know justice happened.. and the people responsible for leaving Hades locked up for a year and LYING to mark telling him they killed him... that something happens to them.. it just doesnt seem fair to take the life away from a dog who was such a happy dog and turn him into the bad guy.. and force him into solice.. He probably sat there wondering why mark abandoned him.. why he was all alone and it wasnt by marks choice but because they told him he had been destroyed.. its disgusting. and its not the first instance of it happening , it happens a lot more then you think .. its just not publisized as those two cases were ...and i honestly think its because we are poor. we dress like street kids.. we squeegy and panhandle and because of that society walks all over us and expect nothing to ever come out of it in regards to them getting caught doing something like that.. i really wish someone could advocate for Hades and make his case publisized more so then it is to pass like a Hades law or something saying animal shelters and pounds cant do things like this anymore and that the people wont stand for it. I am not highly educated , I have never been to college or even finished highschool.. but i know the difference between right and wrong and what was done to Hades is plain wrong.

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  4. Synth, you're completely right - I was absolutely stunned when I learned about Hades. I have volunteered at the Toronto Humane Society for years - and Tim Trow kept a lab/am staff mix (also with a bite order on him) locked up in the upstairs for YEARS - way longer than Hades. the only difference was, Bandit had some freedom of movement in Tim's office and was let in and out of their roottop (open to the air) patio - so only marginally better.

    I feel really bad for your friend, Mark as well. It must have been quite a shock to him to discover the dog he thought had been killed was alive and living an awful life in a cage.

    And good, compassionate dog ownership has NOTHING to do with education, money or anything else - I know that for a fact!

    I also already know we'll get almost nowhere - TAS will hide behind the court order (as they have done and as Tim did) and assert "nothing we could do".

    I think the person I'm most grateful to is Justice Lynette Stethem who resurrected his case and demanded that something be done with the dog. Kudos to her for her compassion.

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  5. yeah well thankyou so much for writing this article. and letting people know.. it was nice to be able to tell someone Hades story.

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  6. Synth mentioned me in her above comment as the original owner of Hades... When we had lived together, I was in search of a puppy, so I had browsed kijiji for about a month and found the ad posted about "Sao Miguel Fila puppies," one of those being Hades. When I went to pick up the puppy, what I had found when I got there was 3 puppies and their parents being kept in an outdoor kennel in very poor conditions. Their water dish was filthy, the kennel was covered in feces, it was wet, no shelter from the rain.. it made me very happy to be able to get Hades out of there. I had him for about a week and was supposed to be moving out of the province, and had to take a plane which wouldn't allow me to bring Hades unless he had all his vaccinations, and with him being so young, he only had his first set. Synth had told me that her friend Mark was looking for a dog so we called him up and he was so grateful that I could give Hades to him. It broke my heart but I knew it was the right thing to do. After all, Mark is wonderful with dogs, he's around people that have dogs all the time. I had seen Mark around from time to time with Hades and he was so good to him. Hades was a very loyal companion as well. When I heard that Hades was seized from Mark and taken into TAS, it put me into shock as to why it happened. I was told a few months later that Hades was put down and then it was in February when a news article popped up that I had learned otherwise. Recently, I had been told by Synth that Mark had won in court. This made me really happy but then I had to pause for a second, as I thought about the conditions he is being kept in, and still don't know any further information. What Synth said about making a "Hades law" I think is a wonderful idea. Like she said, they are poor, dress like street kids, they squeegy and pan handle, but they sure as hell take better care of their dogs then some people that actually have homes, and money. When it comes to them, their dogs mean company when you have no one else, protection from people trying to hurt you, and overall, their dogs are their best friends.
    -Britt

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  7. Thanks for the background, Brittany. The whole situation was a tragic miscarriage of justice - and the dog paid for it, poor thing. TAS won't tell me the name of teh rescue to whom Hades was released as I would love to follow up there - I may post on craigslist or kiiji to see if anyone knows anything. We need some serious changes to laws here in Ontario (well, in addition getting rid of the very racist BSL) - i would like to see some sort of proviso that dogs with bite orders have to be followed up with in a specified (finite and quick) period of time. Leaving dogs in limbo is unacceptable, punitive and cruel. I DO know that TAS did NOTHING to contravene the law - as Tim Trow, who regularly flaunted and ignored laws, didn't feel able to challenge that particular law either.

    I have written before about streetpeople and their pets - I know that I would like to see a program like they have in Montreal where vets offer pro bono service on a regular basis and go out and about to treat animals that belong to the homeless and those who live on the street.

    My own trainer, Sam, asserts that there are NO better trained dogs, who are "being allowed to be dogs" than those belonging to street people.

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    1. You're very welcome! If you do get any information, as Synth said, to e-mail her and she can let me know of any changes! Of course they won't tell you the name of the rescue of whom Hades was released... they wouldn't want anyone to see the dog firsthand that knows any information of said matter. Hopefully Hades is getting the treatment he really deserves, I wish the best for him wherever he may be.

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  8. Yeah its because of the consistancy that street people have with their dogs.. they grew up with tons of excersize being able to play in parks with tons of other dogs... walking everywhere (well here in montreal atleast) i used to live in ontario but moved to montreal last year..because dogs arnt allowed on buses street cars or subways here in montreal... so we walk everywhereee with our dogs... If you find out anything about Hades you think you could contact me? LVanderheyden@live.ca

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  9. Sam says that street people and their dogs have a truly symbiotic relationship - each relies on the other - which creates an incredibly strong bond and makes for quite wonderful dogs! I will of course email you if I find out anything further!

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