[Dailydrool] Behavior

[Marilyn Briggs]

People who work in rescue tend to be definate dog people, with lots of experience and usually multiple dogs. Sometimes behavior is different when someone who has no dog experience takes over-- bad behaviors sometime surface that were not present before.
One of my dogs, Dobi, was supposed to be fostered by my son. He had just purchased his first home, had
roomates, and wanted an older, laid back dog to just kind of "hang out". Fenced yard, dog door-- alone during the day.  Dobi had serious separation anxiety. He howled, he whined, he wanted my son there, even
on the first day. The two roomates (not "dog" people) didn't do anything about the situation but complain. 
Jared took Dobi with him in the car to run errands--he howled and pitched a fit when left in the car for just
a few minutes. Dobi was calm,  lovable and quiet when Jared was there--when he wasn't, he was a 
nightmare. Jared called me after 3 days of trying and said he couldn't do it. Our family has had dogs Jared's entire life, so it isn't like he doesn't know dogs.  
Rather than take Dobi back to the boarding kennel, I took him home. Only foster I have every had that showed no anxiety at all. He settled in the first day, even the first hour,  like he had been here forever. Extremely easy going, not demanding. Not loud. Didn't care if I left him (with my other 2 dogs for company). Only, only bad habit was pawing my arm when I was on the computer and he wanted attention. Got along fabulously with my dogs. The moral of this story is: had I gotten Dobi before Jared, he would have seemed to be the perfect dog. I would not have known about his issues and would have had no way to discover it. The atmosphere at my house was totally different than Jared's--
Another example- we took in an owner surrender who was "attacking" their dachsund. Come to find out, the girlfriend would throw food on the floor on purpose to instigate fights because she wanted the basset gone. He had no issues with other dogs in a foster home with multiple dogs. Did not resource
guard, was fine. My point is, sometimes it is the people that cause the problems. And sometimes it is simply lack of dog experience. 
That said, rescues really do try. We don't want to get the dog back--we want it to be a "forever" home. We disclose any issues we know of.  Even if each dog was evaluated by an expert, it is impossible to expose the dog to every situation that might arise. I have to guess that once in awhile a dog that comes from a breeder develops a bad habit, too.  Not to dis breeders, but it easier to take the
dog back, or pay for training or evaluation, if you sold the dog for $850.00 than if you are a rescue who
is all volunteer, your adoption fees don't begin to cover your costs, and you are saving dogs lives just because you want to save dogs lives. -- The whole point of rescue is giving the dogs another chance. 
Our contract specifies return the dog in 30 days we refund your fee. We get some back. They will have issues in one home, get adopted by someone else and be fine. Part of it is the dog, part of it is the owner-
There are no perfect dogs, and no perfect owners, but you just hope that somehow you make a good match for the basset and they will have a happy home. 

Marilyn Briggs
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