Why is it that

Been perusing the photos from the Bay Area Animal Shelter in Green Bay Wisconsin on Petfinder today and they have a listing for a Sheba Inu.........mmmkay.

Tena

That's the breed a groomer told me my shepherd mix was!!  He weighs about 65 pounds and he is most likely a GSD/Lab mix.  I told her I was pretty sure that he was NOT a Sheba Inu but she just walked away shaking her head at my ignorance.

 Emma was a Beagle mix. The SHELTER had her tail docked. Go freaking figure. PRT have a terrible reputation, around here.

JackieG

I feel your pain, I had to grit my teeth a lot when I was shelter searching. Some of the stories I was told just curled my hair.  On the one hand, I really admired these people for the work they did but I didn't admire the attitude that some had of knowing everything there was to know about dogs and cats.  At one no-kill shelter, I was talking to the director about a certain dog.  I was told that this dog absolutely HATED cats and would kill any cat she could.  Then this woman told me that the dog had been adopted out, BY THIS SHELTER, two different times to people who owned cats!  When I asked her why they would adopt a dog out to a cat owning family, knowing about the cat issue, her reply was that they told the two different families to keep the dog and cat separated!  Unfortunately, the dog tore a screen door down and killed one family's cat.  This was just one story she related about different dogs and their "history" of failed adoptions.  Poor dogs are often doomed to a life in a no-kill shelter because of this sort of blindness in the shelter workers.  I firmly believe (and will take all the flaming directed my way) that some dogs would be better off dead than living in a small kennel their entire life.  Especially the ones who get adopted out to the wrong home and brought back time and again.  OK, my rant is over. 

Shelter people on here feel free to correct any misconceptions I have developed.  I truly feel that working in or volunteering at a shelter has got to be one of the most emotionally painful and hopefully rewarding jobs in the world.  

This topic seems to be tabu on this forum. No one wants to think badly of people who volunteer in a shelter, because, "I just don't know how you can do this, it's so sad, you are so great for volunteering, blah, blah, blah....." I heard this time and time again when volunteering at my local Humane Society, some people actually had tears in their eyes as they said it. And I completely understand. I *never* thought I would be able to volunteer because I thought I would be a basket case crying all the time, but I got over it and focused on the good that we were doing toward helping the animals find their new *forever* home while making their stay at the shelter as comfortable as possible.

It felt so great working with the animals, I especially enjoyed working with the shy dogs and for some reason, I was able to get most of the scared/shy dogs to come to me and open up when others couldn't. The jealousy and rivalry within the volunteer group was intolerable. Everyone was an expert, people would compete in terms of who brought in the *best* treats, people were bossy and rude, lots of egos around........

It really became an issue for me when a very large, pit looking dog, who everyone knew didn't like men was taken into the intro room *with a male potential adopter* and the dog lunged at him. The dog was euthanized the next day. It was a clear example of miscommunication between staff and volunteers and never should have happened. Many dogs were obviously incorrectly labeled a particular breed or mix and if anyone said anything about it, people would actually gang up on that person and run them off. The shelter lost many good volunteers because of this, myself included.

Unfortunately, some people start out volunteering with good intentions, then, for whatever reason, control issues, insecurities, they turn into these monsters who, even though they will say they have the best interest of the animals at heart, become these pushy, know-it-all dog whisperers and get completely out of control. Part of the problem is that the shelter staff and directors don't do anything about it because they are so desperate for volunteers that they turn a blind eye, but then complain when they can't keep good people around. Um, hello???? I was there three nights a week after work and at least 6 hours every Saturday....then I would come home and take care of my dogs. I worked out an arrangement with the local Salvation Army and was able to buy nice comforters and blankets for the dogs for super cheap. Half the time the dogs never got to use them - I think because it was a hassle to clean them, but I would always go around and hand them out. I also brought lots of toys and stuffed animals for them, but some people had a beef with that too. I mean, seriously, if that's what I want to spend my money on, why aren't you glad that I'm doing it? It's for the animals!!!!

The bottom line is, yes, it happens all the time at this particular shelter. Dogs are incorrectly labeled and dogs are adopted out to the wrong homes because there's almost a competition between volunteers regarding who can get the most animals adopted (many of those animals are returned, two of them were found dumped on the highway and starving recently) and animals *are* euthanized unnecessarily. There is no such thing as a *no-kill* shelter. I don't care what anybody says.

Sorry, touchy subject for me..........

Liesje

Where I volunteered, anything with darker pigment on the face and/or *** ears was a German Shepherd. 

Sorry - OT - but you can't say "*** eared"? ***-eared? prickeared? are any of these getting through?

p r i c k e a r e d

Sunshine girl, thanks so much for posting your experiences.  I wanted to volunteer at a few of the shelters but I just couldn't see myself not getting into a hassle about certain issues.  How incredibly sad that people like you are treated so shabbily that they end up quitting.  I was told at one shelter that I wasn't welcome back because I told the director that these two dogs should be PTS because they were so incredibly terrified that NO ONE had ever been able to take either one for a walk.  They were cowering in the very back and shivering in terror because we were standing in front of their kennel talking.  These dogs had "lived" like this for six YEARS.  I suggested they be PTS to make room for adoptable dogs and that was the end of that.

 MissT they seemed to have updated their website. All the cats are gone except for 1. I hope that isnt a bad thing.

kle1986

 MissT they seemed to have updated their website. All the cats are gone except for 1. I hope that isnt a bad thing.

Ooooo, I hope not! I;m looking now........

.........Wow......Some of the dogs are gone too.......hopefully they all got adopted.......

I've worked at a couple of animal shelters and most of the people there aren't very knowledgeable about dog breeds. One time that really stands out to me is when a blue Doberman puppy came in and one of the girls that I worked with proudly informed everyone that it was a Weimaraner.

Chuffy

Liesje

Where I volunteered, anything with darker pigment on the face and/or *** ears was a German Shepherd. 

 

Sorry - OT - but you can't say "*** eared"? ***-eared? prickeared? are any of these getting through?

p r i c k e a r e d

Nope, it always filters P-R-I-C-K eared and I forget.

Luvntzus

I've worked at a couple of animal shelters and most of the people there aren't very knowledgeable about dog breeds. One time that really stands out to me is when a blue Doberman puppy came in and one of the girls that I worked with proudly informed everyone that it was a Weimaraner.

Hehe thats funny.....I've noticed quite a few dogs that are clearly Chow mix, they're calling them Collies, retrievers, BC's, ect. How do you get a Weim out of a Dobie? Were it's ears natural? Or no tan points? Hmmm..

misstrouble

 How do you get a Weim out of a Dobie? Were it's ears natural? Or no tan points? Hmmm..

I do not know.  lol It was a puppy that didn't have it's ears cropped, but it did have tan points and it was pretty obviously a Doberman, to me anyway...

A lot of time shelters DON'T have the time to go through and ID every breed, in every dog. Not all shelter staff knows a lot about breeds - but I don't think it's a fair assumption to say ALL don't know anything.

I work in a shelter, I've worked in shelters for the past 4 1/2 years. I know quiet a lot about different breeds/dogs. I spend a lot of my time at home researching different breeds, asking questions - learning, but a lot of shelter staff doesn't have time for that. They are there because they love animals, and if labeling a dog lab mix, instead of hound/lab/shepherd/terrier is easier, and gives them more time with the animals - why is it such a problem? There seems to be a lot of people with concern about this, but no one doing anything about it.

I have a huge problem with shelters saying a dog is NOT a certain breed - in hopes of it getting adopted faster. Most commonly this happens with pits.

Most shelters don't know where their dogs came from - some are owner surrenders, some are strays, some are dumped on the front door step. Saying it cannot be this breed, because they aren't common in my area - is not always true. People relocate. People get dogs from neighboring counties, states even.

Shelter staff seem to know more about an individual dog - rather than the breed. I see no problem with that - even breed standards of temperment vary so greatly these days.

Hehehe.....were these the days **before** blue/tan Pits? That is funny thou.

I'm also seeing a lot of 'Hounds' that are yellow/white......drop ears-not long, but drop, white bodies, and yellow/tan patches. Other then color, they all look Lab and ?. I don't see any hound in them......hmmmm

I agree, knowing more about the dog is more important then knowing the breed. But I do find if odd when a 20lbs blonde Terrier mix is labled 'Lab'. Also, calling a dog a Smooth Collie when it is clearly a Pit Bull is crazy. In understanding that most shelter workers do not have time to research a breed, much less have time to think about those odd looking pups at the shelter. I live in a military town, dogs are brought here almost daily from other state, cities, and coutries. Still, when you think about all the mix's in shelters, most did not come from good homes, many never had a home, the probability that they are indeed a more uncommon breed is very low. The dogs that are turned in by there owners, generaly are labeled correctly.