? For orher rescue's on this forum

How sad!  I don't have any advice (I'm sure someone will be along shortly) but I hope you are able to help some of those poor pups (and you are a peach for trying)!

What area of the country are you in?

What area of the country are you in?

Florida, in the armpit of the county Putnam to be exact.
 
Any idea's how to approach them without offending them would be wonderful?

Oh geez, what a difficult situation you're in.  Have you tried speaking to the "powers at be" yet?  It seems obvious, but that's where I'd start.  Appealing to them and making a case that they could  consider.  Then I'd move out to the community and try to rally some support via a petition maybe?  

I have put an article together to address the needs of this shelter for equipment, supplies etc, and will then send in another article to the local paper addressing this issue to the citizens. It has to be an out cry from the residences to extend their hours for adoption, and with this it may help me extend the days before they are put down and may buy me more time to get them out. I hope anyway.
 
I looked at all the caged animals in the shelter...the cast-offs of human society. Some one sent this to me and this is just how I feel when I go to this place. The major problem is they need more room, bigger land area where kennels can be built. Eventually we are or have our eyes on creating another shelter in this God Forsaken TOWN!

I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal.   And I was angry.
"God," I said, "this is terrible!  Why don't you do something?"
God was silent for a moment and then  spoke softly and said,
"I have, I created you."  ~Jim Willis 1999~ 

Angel- if you go to petfinder and put in your zip code, it should pull up adoptable dogs in your area and the rescues they are in.  Maybe you could approach those rescues and see if they can save a few of the real adoptable dogs...  I can't believe they only have five days!!!

You could just say that sometmes if an owner is out of town or somethinng they may need more time than that.
 
I dont see how you could offend them by asking, it would seem they are aware they are hardly giving them a shot.

This is always a complicated issue.  I have worked with the high kill shelter in our area. 

The changes I was able to make include:

Moving from shotgun euthanasia to injectable. (doesn't sound like much of a success, but it really was)

I got them to agree to be more selective in the euthanasia process by introducing temperament test. (I do them for free).  That way all the dogs in cages are adoptable. 

I got them to agree to not euthanize if there was a single open cage. 

So bunches of dogs are still being euthanized, but a bunch more are getting adopted out.  They have become the shelter to check if you are looking for a dog, because there are always dogs there that will make great pets.

I am curious, why 7 days as opposed to 5.  What percent of dogs will be saved with this change?  Does it have enough of an impact to support the cost. 
 
How would one of the rescues fund pulling these dogs? 
 
Part of the key to making changes is really understanding the logistics of making the change, and also understanding the actual real impact the change will have.

Do they euthanize dogs in your shelter even if there is space open?

I cannot agree more with mrgmfoster. Everything she (he?) said is spot on!


Temprement testing would be so awesome for helping adoptability and you know the dogs you're sending out are safe.

Our shelter uses Emily Weiss's SAFER test and another popular one is Sue Sternberg's ASSESS-A-PET...

mrgmfoster, which do you use?

You might want to focus on the rescues, and ask them to send a volunteer to your shelter more often to pull dogs, rather than trying to get the shelter to extend the time - often that's a money issue, and harder to accomplish, which is why Mic's approaches are probably going to be more successful.  Try to establish a training, as well as a behavioral evaluation program, at the shelter, so that few dogs are returned once adopted.  Find a volunteer grantwriter who might be willing to help them with a spay/neuter or new shelter project.  A spay/neuter education campaign would be a great idea, and you could try to get the shelter to cooperate - it has to be hard on their workers to be having to kill so many.  A TV investigative reporter might be willing to help you if the shelters were not identified - just the problem...
Maybe establish contact between your shelter and a northeastern rescue group that will take dogs and move them north where people are waiting for great family dogs - we have too many of the aggressive large breed mixes in our shelters, and families with kids usually reject them anyway, but then they can't find what they do want, which is a family-friendly medium size dog, so they go out and buy.  Partnerships like this are already saving many great dogs and puppies that would otherwise be PTS. 
It sounds as thought you are going to be a great asset to this shelter and the dogs of your area)

Great idea Anne!  Contacting rescues out of state (especially on the east coast) will be so beneficial.
 
I use a modified version of the SAFER test.
 
Forpaws...temperament testing is somethig that anyone can learn to do with a little practice.  Why don't you offer to do it?

 
I am curious, why 7 days as opposed to 5.  What percent of dogs will be saved with this change?  Does it have enough of an impact to support the cost. 

  Mic, I am grabbing at straws. It seems an extended two days can give the rescue's that are not in the immediate area time enough to travel up here to pull the adoptable ones. Most of the rescue's in my area are full and have no room, to include myself in this bunch. So relying on other rescue's from around the State of Florida time enough to obtain them would help extend the time limitations. As it is they euthanize three times a week as it is. The other problem is they want the pictures of these adoptable pets put up on their website, but the problem with that is once it goes to the web master to place them on the site, they are already euthanized. What is the point of having a website to go to.  On the news last night, Jax's is cutting theirs to three days for cats, five days for dogs that do not have collars, and seven days for the ones that do have tags or collars.

 
 

Do they euthanize dogs in your shelter even if there is space open?

Yes, they do regardless of open space or not. Three times a week is the scheduled euthanization. Sad isn't it.
There was an Australian Shep which was abandoned by the owner, friendly, very adoptable, yet they would not extend his D-Day enough for the Aussie rescue to obtain him. There was no sence in this in my mind.
 

  Try to establish a training, as well as a behavioral evaluation program, at the shelter, so that few dogs are returned once adopted.

This is something they are bucking at this point. They do not want to hire anyone nor do they want to train one of their employee's to do this either. They even bulk at having a certified trainer, as a volunteer who would do this for them at NO charge. Am working on it and eventually am going to have this implimented into the program.
 
There is a lot of work to be done here to make this shelter more user friendly to the public. Their hours need to be changed for the general public to come and adopt a pet. As it stands now, they are open Mon-Fri from 2-4pm and closed on weekends. Where is the logic in this?  Your normal jon q public works those hours and is unable to come to the shelter to look for a pet to adopt.
Eventually, we as a collective group who have banded together are working on the very things you mention with grants, trying to bring in a new shelter to help them. Their property is very small for the volumes of pet's that are brought on a daily basis. It was built back in the 60's when the pet population was not as large as it is today. They have three buildings with some having five runs on either side and the other buildings have less than that on either side. Cramped quarters to say the least.
I realize it is not a boarding facility and they do not get paid to keep the runs clean, but it should be done just for the health of the pets there. I have seen the dogs and cats left in their own squaller for days at a time before they hose out the run with the animal in the run. When they do this, they soak the animal down and their run is inches deep in water, left to dry on it's own. I realize this is a holding pen for animals at large for the safety of the citizens in this county. But the conditions are deplorable, the place is run down.
 This is not healthy for the dogs. Yet they scream they need volunteer's and when you provide them with the bodies, they turn them away saying "It's a liablity" This shelter is under the control of the State of Florida and is managed by the Sherrif of Putnam County.
I and other's are going to make an appointment to speak with the Sherrif of this town to see what changes we can make, what improvements we can make inside their kennels. Which a lot of them need repaired badly, not safe for the AC officer nor is it safe for the pet inside that run either. Just so much to be done at this shelter. I am overwhelmed, sleepless nights, and banging my head against a sheep skin rug. I know these changes can be made and I am realistic, in that we cannot save them all. And thankful for the ones we can rescue out of there. And I realize it is going to take months if not years to get this shelter up and running smoothly for the employee's and citizens alike.
Once we get the land and the approval for a new shelter to be built, still under them, implimentation of programs, for low cost spay/neuter programs can be initiated, training programs within the prison system can be started for the hard to deal with dogs that have some behavior problems with training can be over come, and much more can be done.
However, Anne, I like the idea of getting those grants into effect now for spay and neuter and other things that can be done now. I will get my grant writter on it today.
I submitted an article to our local newspaper addressing the need of supplies, equipment and building materials to fix the immediate needs of this shelter now. I have also approached several business's which are willing to donate things needed and have allowed me to put box's out for citizens to donate goods needed, now.
We had a news group come out and interview this shelter in regard to the Bullies that are being PTS within hours of receiving them. They don't even stand a chance. They wont even adopt them out or allow a reputable rescue to pull them either. The reasoning, "Because we don't know their background and cannot take a risk of a potential maul" I asked them, so you know the background of all the other dogs and cats pulled in, right? There was a red nosed 3 month old pitbull puppy who they would not allow me to pull nor anyone else either because of his breed. In my eye's this guy could have been saved because he was young, friendly, and just as sweet as can be. Yet, they put him down because of his breed. This is another issue we are trying to get turned around. Not all of the Pit's and mixes brought in are mean or have been used to fight either. We are trying to get them to allow reputable rescue's to pull them, background checks on people who want to adopt them, and a large fee to adopt them.
First things first. One step at a time. If I don't go insane first!

Mic, I do. And it saved one dog from being put down. They said he was aggressive and mean. A Border Collie. They gathered near his run to watch me and get a laugh when he lunged at the gate.

He didn't, because I approached him in a non threatening manner and was able to go into his run to temperment test him. They were
astounded, jaws hit the floor etc. I was able to pull him and deliver to the Border Collie rescue close by. The coordinator said the last three days he had been there he growled at them, snapped at them and would charge at the gate when one walked by. His owner had passed away and that is why he was in their shelter.
I asked them how they approached him. They were reaching over his head, standing tall, and used their straight stick when they entered his run. Well if you came at me like that I also would take it as a threat that I am being attacked.
I had this dog doing sit stays, down stays, and he even offered his paw when he sat. Obviously he had been basic trained from what I could tell. His potential has yet to be seen and am sure I will get a review from the rescue that took him in so kindly on short notice.
 
This is one part of the problem of not knowing the body language or how to approach a caged dog with most of the employee's there. If a dog stands at the gate and barks at them, they deem the animal unadoptable. News, flash, dogs bark to let you know intruder allert, etc. If the dog cower's in the corner, they deem it unadoptable. Some are and some are not adoptable. I agree, but in my experience, I have seen some that are scared out of their minds, don't know where they are, or why they are there. And with the right approach, they come around.