[Dailydrool] Rescues (sorry, kind of long)

[Jane Hay]

I have to take exception to what someone else wrote taking rescues to task
about not disclosing behavioral problems in their foster dogs. I don't think
there is any rescue who doesn't tell the perspective adopter the
*known*issues that a foster dog has. However, things change. There is
always a
honeymoon period with most bassets where they are on their best behavior for
a couple of weeks and then their real personality traits start to come out
as they get more comfortable with their current situation. We've had quite a
few fosters here who behaved completely differently while they were with
us than they did in their new home. I had one sweet boy that was with us for
a couple of months who I was shoving pills down his throat the day after he
came to us. We all pushed him around on the furniture and had him in our
laps with his face in ours. He was the sweetest, most loving dog you could
ever ask for. He had contact with kids (my granddaughter with supervision)
and no problems. Well, the first thing he did was bite one of the children
in the family that he went to. Mind you, he never so much as growled while
he was with us. Our Ginger came to us as a foster and became a permanent
resident when we fell in love with her. She has always been very food
aggressive and has made everyone respect her space but we had no
foreknowledge that she would become Cujo on occasion and would not have been
able to disclose that to someone else if we had let her be adopted. Our
Jersey came to us pretty meek and mild and, after the honeymoon was over,
gave us an education on exactly how stubborn a basset can be. She is the
queen and is sometimes more stubborn than I am!

Rescues can only do so much. We bring in these dogs who are generally
traumatized after having been in a shelter, give them as much love and care
as we can, do our absolute best to find out their personality, and then our
hope is to send them on to a loving home just as quickly as we can to make
room for the next needy dog.  We cannot be expected to keep these dogs for
several months (unless there is a medical need for doing so) and that is
what it would usually take to really find out each dog's complete
personality. How many other basset hounds would be euthanized if we made the
decision to keep each dog a minimum of three or four months?

One of the things that needs to be done more than anything is to educate the
unsuspecting potential basset owner about what they're getting into if they
adopt a basset hound. As wonderful as these dogs are, they are hard headed,
stubborn and can be very willful. If anyone adopting a basset thinks that
they're going to end up with Lassie or a dog that will obey the instant
that they tell them to do something, then they really need to be told that
they need to get a different dog because a basset isn't going to be like
that. I like to fool myself into thinking that the Houndettes do what I ask
them to but I'll be honest and tell you that they're all pretty food
motivated and I use bribery a lot! I have been fortunate enough to take
advantage of a trainer who knows bassets (Dawn Gardner from Happy Hounds Pet
Services who is also a Drooler) who has been a tremendous help with our
Ginger's aggression. I would recommend that anyone who is having behavioral
problems with their hound get some guidance from an experienced trainer,
especially one who is familiar with the breed.

The bottom line is, please don't dis rescues. We're doing everything that we
can to save every hound that we can and we're doing it as responsibly as we
can. I don't know of any rescue or foster parent who will knowingly send
their foster dog to a new family without completely filling them in with as
much information as they can possibly give them about the basset they are
adopting. Believe it or not, we fall in love with every dog we foster and
want the absolute best for them and their future.

Jane & the Houndettes
Jersey (I'm a rescued hound and the Queen. I expect the slaves to cater to
my every wish!)
Shadow (I'm a rescued hound and very meek. I'll do anything that you ask me
to do.)
Suzy (I'm a rescued hound. I'm almost three but the brown truck hasn't
stopped yet.)
Ginger (I'm a rescued hound. I turned three in December but I haven't seen
the brown truck either!)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20100329/96437b54/attachment-0002.htm>