Latest / Sometimes There's Side Eye / STSE# 83: Should We "Save Them All"?
Transcript
- 0:12Welcome to Sometimes There's Side Eye, a podcast about two
- 0:16friends having real and unfiltered conversations about
- 0:19dogs and people listen as we talk about our lives with dogs,
- 0:23training, behavior, share some laughs and a whole lot of
- 0:27banter. I'm Heather.
- 0:30And I'm Christy. What are we talking about this
- 0:32week, Christy? This week, we're talking about
- 0:36the Save Them All movement and what that means for dogs in our
- 0:41community and people. Kind of where we stand.
- 0:43Yeah. And.
- 0:44What do we think? Christy, what do you think,
- 0:47Heather? Oh no, this is your topic so.
- 0:50You have to. Start off.
- 0:53I would like to say this is not my topic.
- 0:55I just asked if we had done this before and I do think on several
- 1:00episodes we've. Touched.
- 1:03On we've addressed, yeah, touched on the, the save them
- 1:06all movement and kind of where we stand on it.
- 1:09I think we have a similar stance the two of us.
- 1:13I would say I you gotta go ahead.
- 1:15I feel like this topic is relevant right now because we
- 1:22just did an episode on mandatory spay and neuter, which came up
- 1:26because of things that are going on with the Miranda Sanctuary
- 1:31rescue situation in California where there are a lot of missing
- 1:36dogs presumed dead. And then or in a case where
- 1:41there's a big dog fighting bust or there's a pandemic, you know,
- 1:46anything that affects dogs at large and people, I feel like
- 1:51the topics, the big topics come and re re emerge, you know, And
- 1:57so after last week's or our last episode, Christie said to me,
- 2:03Hey, have we ever done save them all?
- 2:04And I'm like, I mean, not technically.
- 2:06So I think that it's worth dedicating a little bit of chat
- 2:11time to talk about this topic and why we feel the way we feel
- 2:15about it. So here we are.
- 2:18And it feels really weird to like that anyone would not be on
- 2:22board with Save Them All. Of course we want to save every
- 2:25dog. That would be the goal.
- 2:27What could possibly go wrong with that?
- 2:29And that's where Heather and I come in and say there are some
- 2:32problems with Save Them All. And can I just can I just also I
- 2:37feel like save them all and no kill sort of go hand in hand,
- 2:41like having a no kill shelter. So I just wanted to kind of note
- 2:45that they sort of go hand in hand and we're kind of talking
- 2:48about that belief system as a whole.
- 2:52And we'll probably use those two.
- 2:54Interchangeably. Yeah.
- 2:56Yeah. So carry on, Christy.
- 2:58Yeah, I, I am often surprised, I'll be honest, that anyone who
- 3:03has volunteered a significant amount in rescue or worked in
- 3:08rescue is pro no kill or save them all.
- 3:13Because I think Heather and I have seen some things in rescue,
- 3:19in sheltering where we've said I don't think that dog should be
- 3:23released to the public. I wouldn't want that dog to live
- 3:27next to me. And I definitely don't want just
- 3:30a random member of the public to have that dog.
- 3:35Isn't that so key? That's such a key piece because
- 3:39the average person, when you think about all the people who
- 3:44are going to rescue, and when I say rescue, I mean adopt A dog
- 3:49from a municipal shelter, a private shelter, a private
- 3:52rescue group, all breed rescue, I don't care rescue.
- 3:56When the average people who are going to rescue are people who
- 4:00are just looking for a family pet, that's what they're looking
- 4:03for. And the expectation when they go
- 4:08look for that family pet is that this animal is safe.
- 4:14Yeah, that feels like a low bar, I'll be honest.
- 4:18And it feels like something we should definitely be meeting.
- 4:20I, I think a lot of people don't realize that, you know, the, the
- 4:26world's top trainers, even if every top trainer in the US only
- 4:34adopted dogs, it would still be a fraction of the amount of
- 4:40people adopting from the shelter.
- 4:41So we don't have millions of trainers coming forward and
- 4:44saying, well, we just want to adopt your hardest case so that
- 4:48we can change them. What we have is your next door
- 4:51neighbor, your grandma, your mom.
- 4:54Your brother, Your nephew. Your grandchild, all those
- 4:58people who are saying I just want to give a home, a really
- 5:02great loving home to a great loving dog.
- 5:06And that's what I want people to get at the shelter.
- 5:09And I'm not against. I'm not saying shelter dogs have
- 5:12to be perfect by any. No, no, or.
- 5:15Never have a behavior issue. I do think we have to be very
- 5:20honest about if we know what those behaviors issues are that
- 5:25we have the, you know, that we address them or let people know
- 5:28what they're getting into. And I, I think different
- 5:31behavior issues for different people matter more or less.
- 5:36So I do think you can fit the right person with the right
- 5:40behavior issues, so to speak. You know, like somebody.
- 5:43Shall we call them quirks? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 5:47And it may be, oh, this dog hates children.
- 5:50Well, guess what? The person who is adopting them
- 5:53also hates children. And yeah, but that's fine.
- 5:56You know, they're not going out of their way to attack children.
- 5:59They just don't like them, you know?
- 6:01And and we may be able to find the perfect fit for that now
- 6:05when we have a dog who is hunting children.
- 6:08Well, that's different. That's different and we
- 6:11shouldn't be releasing that into the public, no, and we shouldn't
- 6:16be advocating for them to sit be saved.
- 6:19No, and we shouldn't let them sit in a shelter for hundreds of
- 6:24days. For what?
- 6:26Yeah, what I find a lot of people think is that there's
- 6:30these really great sanctuaries that are somewhere out there
- 6:37that all these really tough dogs can go to and live on 100 acres
- 6:42by themselves, but those don't exist.
- 6:46I mean, they see best friends, so they think, well, there's
- 6:49like hundreds and hundreds of places like best friends out in
- 6:53the world. And and surely there are plenty
- 6:58of farms where a dog can go and have place to run and not come
- 7:05into contact with people with other people or neighbors or I
- 7:10mean, these, these it's like, it's like the Unicorn places,
- 7:14right? Do they exist?
- 7:16Sure, but. Are they plentiful?
- 7:18Number. Are they plentiful #1 #2 do the
- 7:22people that own them, are they under some contractual agreement
- 7:25to take these dogs? No.
- 7:28They also doesn't have great dogs.
- 7:30They do. It's like I say, and I've said
- 7:32before, can I deal with XYZ behavior problem?
- 7:37Yeah. Do I want to?
- 7:39No, I don't. I'm tired.
- 7:42And even if I'm not tired, I don't have to.
- 7:45We are all entitled to have what we want to have, right?
- 7:49But. But thereby comes the honesty as
- 7:51well, yes. Yeah.
- 7:54Honesty on our part about what we're capable of and what we're
- 7:57willing to take on, and then honesty on the part of whomever
- 8:01you're getting the dog from. I don't care.
- 8:03Adoption, purchase, whatever. There there is the the element
- 8:08of honesty there. I don't want this episode to
- 8:11feel like we're busting on shelter dogs because it's really
- 8:14not about that. It's about us as humans doing
- 8:19right by dogs and right by our communities.
- 8:23And that's really what why save them all?
- 8:28And no kill grinds my gears because it's like this mantra.
- 8:34And it's like, well, what does that really mean?
- 8:36Have you thought about it? Yeah, and here's the thing.
- 8:41What I found is a lot of places that say save them all, we also
- 8:47have these rules about not taking in aggressive dogs.
- 8:52So they say save them all, but don't put them, don't give them
- 8:56to us. We won't take a dog that has
- 8:59nine bites. Don't give me the hard cases.
- 9:02So don't give them to me, but you should save them all.
- 9:06Yeah. And I don't know where.
- 9:08Like where do people think that those resources are coming from?
- 9:13But that's also a way for places to be able to have good stats in
- 9:18regards to no kill, right? And and then get more funding
- 9:23and and be able to be like we are the saviors because they're
- 9:28not taking the hard cases and the car that the dogs that
- 9:31should be euthanized. And we're going to say dogs like
- 9:33there's cats too. There's all animals, right, that
- 9:36are not behaviorally OK, we're a dog, but we're a dog, we're dog
- 9:40people. So they're not taking the cases
- 9:44that they then have to quote UN quote, do the right thing by.
- 9:47And so then it allows them to keep their numbers really tight
- 9:50and pretty and go by the no kill movement.
- 9:54So that's another reason why I think no kill and save them all
- 9:58go hand in hand and I just hate them both.
- 10:03Yeah, yeah. And I think sometimes when
- 10:08people think of sanctuaries, they think, oh, this dog can
- 10:12just live its days out in a sanctuary, but that takes a lot
- 10:16of money. I have a friend who says who did
- 10:19send a dog to a sanctuary situation that she couldn't.
- 10:23She had him short term as a foster trying to kind of
- 10:27intercede for him. She knew it was way above her,
- 10:31her level of availability for him.
- 10:33She did find a really great place for him, sanctuary for
- 10:38him. But then she she sponsored him
- 10:41the rest of his life. Really.
- 10:44So that was her commitment was not like a down payment not but
- 10:48like monthly payments to sponsor this dog.
- 10:52And they don't have a lot of people who do that, but they
- 10:56need that because honestly, if you think about it, people say
- 11:01like, Oh, well, I gave this rescue $5000 to take my dog or
- 11:04the sanctuary $5000. It's not the last the life of
- 11:09that dog, $10,000 is not going to last the life of that dog.
- 11:13So you have to think about where are they going to get funds
- 11:16then? And some of them are really
- 11:18great about using social media to get funds or, or being well
- 11:23recognized within the community. But also there's not.
- 11:28There's a lot that don't do that.
- 11:30But OK, here's where I am going to be the extreme What are we
- 11:37keeping those dogs alive for? Yeah, so in this situation, it
- 11:42wasn't an aggression issue. It was the dog was paralyzed on
- 11:46the back end, still full of life, still super happy, but she
- 11:49knew she couldn't care for it full time the way it needed.
- 11:53These people have experience and specifically take in dogs like
- 11:57that and have revamped their home to do to have that, to have
- 12:03it easily accessible for dogs with disabilities.
- 12:06I don't. So so the dogs living in a home
- 12:09now like. In a sanctuary, OK Sanctuary is
- 12:13also a home. OK, OK I guess I guess that
- 12:17feels better. I just, I really struggle with
- 12:22us as humans having dogs in sanctuaries living isolated
- 12:29lives. I guess that would be aggression
- 12:32cases and and dogs that can't right that can't live safe in
- 12:38our society and being sent to a sanctuary to live a isolated
- 12:45life for what? Like I just, I don't get it.
- 12:50Just so we as humans can feel better that they're still
- 12:54breathing. OK, devil's advocate.
- 13:00Sure, always. I mean, is it different than
- 13:05people who maybe do breedings and keep their dogs in kennels
- 13:11runs? I'm, I don't know, I guess it
- 13:16depends on the circumstances. How how are they interacting
- 13:21with their dogs? Are they working their dogs?
- 13:23Are they are they rotating their dogs in their home?
- 13:26It's like, what does that look like?
- 13:29I think that there are people who can do that really well and
- 13:32people who can do it really poorly.
- 13:34And but but. And I think the same thing with
- 13:38sanctuaries. If you look at Best Friends,
- 13:41they do it really well Where they have dogs who get out on
- 13:45hikes and go to overnight stays with people and all these
- 13:50things, and they do get a lot of attention.
- 13:54And I don't think those dogs are wanting.
- 13:57Like when we took a dog from Best Friends and it stayed
- 14:01overnight with us. When we got back, it was like
- 14:04peace out, I'm home. I love that place, but that's
- 14:08like, this dog is happy to be back.
- 14:11Best Friends is the cream of the crop, yes.
- 14:13It is the IT. Is it really is.
- 14:17And so I guess for me too, if somebody's breeding and like
- 14:24you're saying with a kennel setup and whatever, they are
- 14:27responsible for their dog. They are not where they have 500
- 14:34dogs and there's an overpopulation.
- 14:37It's, it's their personal dogs that they are producing or
- 14:41purchasing and then caring for and doing whatever.
- 14:45Whereas do we have an overpopulation of dogs that are
- 14:51not, can't safely live in homes? Clearly we do.
- 14:55I mean, we do. And and they an overpopulation,
- 14:58but we do have a population of dogs.
- 15:01That are. Are not safe to be in home, I
- 15:04would say kind of so if I think about volunteering in the
- 15:08shelter, I would say I met thousands, hundreds of really
- 15:15amazing dogs, like hundreds of just the best dogs ever.
- 15:21And I can remember probably 4 that I was very concerned about.
- 15:28So 4 out of hundreds like I don't think an overpopulation,
- 15:32but that is that is a population.
- 15:35Would you say it's fair that you've only met those dogs in a
- 15:38snapshot of time and only a snapshot of circumstances, so
- 15:41you don't really know who they are and what they can handle?
- 15:44Oh, absolutely. Yes.
- 15:46OK. I think I, I, I get into this
- 15:51weird place where I want to err on the side of safety for humans
- 15:59and our community, right? Sure, I don't want to say at all
- 16:03costs, but damn near all costs. And then I get in this weird
- 16:09place of where I'm like well to me personally I would rather
- 16:15have a dog have a peaceful rest forever then not get to live a
- 16:25life with. A good life.
- 16:28Like I don't want them to struggle.
- 16:30I don't want, I don't want dogs. Like what?
- 16:33Do you mean like you don't want them in a a kennel bouncing off
- 16:39the walls just for to say the fact we saved them and then they
- 16:43yeah, we spent 10 years. I, I, I just I I cannot get OK
- 16:50with that. Yeah, and and that's what saved
- 16:54them all. And no.
- 16:55Kill is. To a degree, if you extrapolate
- 16:58it, that is where we are. And then if we are so hell bent
- 17:02on making sure every single dog, every single dog that comes
- 17:06through the shelter is adopted out, there is no way that we are
- 17:10not putting unsafe animals into our communities.
- 17:14There's no way. Yeah, because if you interacted
- 17:18with hundreds and there were four, let's extrapolate that to
- 17:21the population of shelter dogs across the country.
- 17:26You know what I'm saying? That's scary.
- 17:31And that's. I mean that right there is why I
- 17:33have an issue with it. I, I think one of the litmus
- 17:38tests we always used at the shelter was just the simple
- 17:42thing, like, would I be comfortable with this dog living
- 17:45next door to me? And if we said no, then like,
- 17:50maybe we shouldn't be pushing this dog, you know, out to the
- 17:53community. I will never forget.
- 17:56I don't know if you were there when we were doing scent work
- 17:59for shelter dogs and the shelter asked me to do it with a
- 18:05specific dog that had been a long timer and was really
- 18:09struggling in its kennel. And the dog did great at scent
- 18:13work, but the dog also I I had to basically it went for me and
- 18:21thankfully I was a skilled handler and straight armed my
- 18:26arm so that his body was away from my body and he did not get.
- 18:31Me, we were so young and we were so fast.
- 18:34And we were so fast. That talk scared the shit out of
- 18:38me. Yeah, yeah.
- 18:40And, and there was one like, yeah, that I went for a guy,
- 18:44Like a member of the public bent down to say hi.
- 18:48And I saw the dog going. And another volunteer had the
- 18:52dog. And I saw what was happening.
- 18:54And I grabbed that leash before it could get to the guy's face.
- 18:57And I was like, this dog is not safe for the public.
- 19:01Yep. Yeah, I mean, I remember walking
- 19:04through and one of the behavior team people would always come to
- 19:08me and say we got a Rottweiler, can you come and see it?
- 19:11And would want to know my opinion because it was my breed.
- 19:14And a lot of people have a really hard time reading
- 19:15Rottweilers for whatever reason. And so I would always go and see
- 19:21them and be like, because I don't want a shifty Rottweiler
- 19:26on the streets for so many reasons, not just because I love
- 19:30the breed, but because they're a big fucking powerful dog.
- 19:33They. Are, yeah.
- 19:35And nobody wants that going wrong.
- 19:38So yeah, it's just tough. I I get back to this whole I
- 19:44don't understand the mentality of I don't care.
- 19:51I will put every single dog up ahead of any human.
- 19:58Yeah. And we're not those people.
- 20:00We, we value human beings. We value their life and their
- 20:05their comforts too, their their right to safety in their own
- 20:09homes, in their neighborhoods, all of that.
- 20:13Their children, the neighbor's children, whatever I.
- 20:17I don't even like kids, but I think they deserve to be safe.
- 20:21I mean I think they deserve not to be attacked by a freaking dog
- 20:24from the neighbor like. Come on.
- 20:27I don't like kids either, but I don't want them getting
- 20:29attacked. Unless you're a friend with
- 20:32children and then we like your kids.
- 20:35Christy I don't have friends with children for a particular
- 20:40reason. No, seriously, I was like, I
- 20:43can't. I think all my friends.
- 20:44Actually, that's not true. I did.
- 20:46I did just think of a friend with children that I like.
- 20:48So we're all good. There you go.
- 20:51No, but seriously, I, I really, really just struggle with with
- 20:56that. And, and I think you bring up an
- 20:58interesting point of how are you a shelter volunteer or shelter
- 21:03worker or rescue, whatever? We're kind of throwing them all
- 21:07in the same hat and you've never encountered that one dog that
- 21:11made you question just one. That one dog that made me
- 21:16question is save them all really, really working here?
- 21:20Is this dog the dog that could change the way you think about
- 21:26what's OK and what's not? I also.
- 21:28Think sometimes like the idea, sometimes the idea of something
- 21:33is. Is better and makes.
- 21:35You feel happy, but better than what?
- 21:39The reality of that thing is, whether they're about to save
- 21:42them all or you know, the guy you have a crush on or whatever.
- 21:46Like it's just a getting a. French bulldog it all like this
- 21:50seems like a good idea. Why wouldn't it scream it's a
- 21:54French bulldog? But I also think a lot of times
- 21:59with that concept, people are not willing to do what they
- 22:05expect other people to do. So they want save them all and
- 22:11they want someone to take that really aggressive dog, but not
- 22:15them because that would be unsafe with their Pomeranian or
- 22:19in their neighborhood or with their children.
- 22:22But they want someone to take that.
- 22:24Someone should take that burden on.
- 22:27It just can't be them for a variety of reasons.
- 22:30And I understand that that you can't take that on.
- 22:33But also I don't I and this is not just with docs.
- 22:38I so strongly believe this. I don't think we should be
- 22:42telling people to do things we ourselves are not willing to do.
- 22:47I have a perfect example. I helped with the Texas 200,
- 22:51which ended up being much more than 200 in Texas in 2012 and it
- 22:58was basically the hoarding mass breeding operation and all of
- 23:04the dogs were at the Houston Humane Society and the.
- 23:08You helped on the rescue and not yes.
- 23:11I helped on. Oh God, yeah, I helped on the
- 23:13rescue end. We had just moved to Texas and
- 23:16the Rottweiler Club of America came in and was coming through,
- 23:21assessing the dog, stepping in, helping with the rescue efforts,
- 23:25blah, blah, blah. So I was helping assess the
- 23:28dogs, give the dogs IDs, all that shit, and there was this
- 23:32one dog that was a problem. He was going to be extremely
- 23:38difficult to place because he had behavioral problems and he
- 23:44was even hard to handle and it was a problem.
- 23:49And there was a particular volunteer who was just out
- 23:53flipping out about the potential of this dog being euthanized.
- 23:57And we had to make hard choices about those dogs.
- 24:02You're taught. I mean, before puppies even
- 24:04happened, we had over 200 Rottweilers from a Monday to a
- 24:08Tuesday. Boom, 200 Rottweilers.
- 24:10And this dog was not highly adoptable.
- 24:15We couldn't move him across the country.
- 24:17He had to. They all had to be moved to
- 24:19different areas. And this woman just was.
- 24:22And so of another volunteer whipped around and looked at her
- 24:26and said if you want to save him so bad, you take him.
- 24:30And this woman said Oh well I can't for XYZ.
- 24:36Just right. And the other volunteer and
- 24:38looked at her and said, then I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do
- 24:42here. And I was a person who voted for
- 24:44him to be euthanized and he was euthanized.
- 24:47And it was the right call. So it's a perfect example of
- 24:50what you're saying. Sometimes.
- 24:53Hard decisions have to be made and unless you are going to step
- 24:57up and say I'll be the person to take this dog, which would have
- 25:01been would have been a terrible choice, then like what are we
- 25:06doing? What are we doing and I do.
- 25:09Have a kind of an example the other direction, my foster,
- 25:12Julius, when I met him, I, I was like, man, he's a good dog.
- 25:17I really like him. Yeah.
- 25:20And I the behavior that was noted, I knew what they were
- 25:25saying. Like he, they said he was
- 25:27lunging at the door and I was like, that's not lunging to me,
- 25:30that's jumping. He's very excited coming out the
- 25:33door to be let out. And I was like, I don't see that
- 25:36as aggression at all. They noted some other things,
- 25:39just his hair bristled when you touched him and he he did.
- 25:43But it wasn't to me, it wasn't aggression.
- 25:46It was like a lack of human contact.
- 25:48And he was just so stimulated. Couldn't help it.
- 25:52Like his hair would bristle and he'd get excited and he was just
- 25:55so happy to have human contact. And so I saw all these things.
- 25:58And when I read his notes, I was like, I so strongly disagree
- 26:02with this evaluation of him needing to be put to sleep.
- 26:06But also, he was a huge dog in a little kennel.
- 26:10And I, I knew that wasn't fair. I knew he, it wouldn't be long
- 26:14before he went downhill. So I did step in and say, you
- 26:17know what? I I'm going to trust my gut.
- 26:19I think he's a good dog. I'll step in.
- 26:22I would like to foster him. And because he was already on
- 26:25the euthanasia list, they denied me.
- 26:28Yep, the county denied me and I was like, well I don't know that
- 26:33I have other options. And luckily another trusted
- 26:36rescues ended up stepping in literally at the last minute,
- 26:40within the last 59 minutes of his life, stepped in and then,
- 26:45yeah, well, and they took him in and they said we want to
- 26:48evaluate him ourselves 1st. And then once they had evaluated
- 26:52him, they said, yes, OK, you can foster him through us.
- 26:55So, and that's an example of, hey, I, I don't agree with this
- 27:00evaluation. I'm going to put my money where
- 27:02my mouth is and step in and say, I really believe in this dog.
- 27:07And what would you have? Done.
- 27:08If it had gone wrong, if he had been an aggressive dog.
- 27:13I would have been honest about it if he was aggressive.
- 27:16I would have said when I was way off, like, yeah.
- 27:20So two things. One, I think there's a lack of
- 27:24education and I understand that volunteers are volunteers,
- 27:27right? And, and we need to be grateful
- 27:29for everything but the behavior team.
- 27:32We probably need to have good educated people in the behavior
- 27:37team. And, and I understand they don't
- 27:39get paid enough. It's not Gloria's job.
- 27:41Like, I get all of those things, but but still the IT can still
- 27:44be true that we need to have good educated behavior people.
- 27:48We also need to have good, educated, honest behavior
- 27:52people. If if Julius was a danger, you
- 27:57would have gone back to that rescue and said he is a
- 28:00dangerous dog and they would have done the right thing.
- 28:03Yep. Yeah, they.
- 28:04Would have they would. Have.
- 28:06Brought him back, evaluated him, done training to see it, you
- 28:09know, see if that changed anything.
- 28:12But so. Julius is a success story
- 28:16because you followed your gut, but at the same time there were
- 28:19things that were failures that should be like kind of basic
- 28:23things. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think.
- 28:27If you're going to be, hey, you have to save them all.
- 28:30There's no way for you personally to save them all.
- 28:33But I think you also need to be honest that that there's no way
- 28:38for all anyone to save them all because those dogs don't belong
- 28:43in your everyday neighborhood with your everyday owner.
- 28:48And I think I think we would be wise to to realize that.
- 28:53I don't know. I think we just.
- 28:54Would be wise to kind of take a really serious, deep look at the
- 28:59state of dogs overall and how do we do right by our communities,
- 29:05our humans and our dogs alike. And sometimes that's making
- 29:11really, really hard choices that we don't want to make.
- 29:13But it's the right choice at the end of the day.
- 29:17If there is a dog who's got issues, that is not safe.
- 29:22The best thing for everyone, the dog included, is for the dog to
- 29:28be euthanized. And that's a reality of where we
- 29:32are. You know, not everyone makes it.
- 29:34Like, that's sad, but it's true. Not everyone makes it.
- 29:38And so we just have to be like a bit more honest as a community
- 29:44about what we want our community to look like.
- 29:48Yeah, I also think, I think the the all and how you raise them
- 29:52kind of gets lumped in there too, that maybe we can fix all
- 29:57of the dogs through the right training or enough love.
- 30:01Every dog is fixable. And I don't know, correct me if
- 30:05I'm wrong, I'll defer to you because you would know better on
- 30:08the breeding end. But do you feel like breeders
- 30:11understand that sometimes things just aren't wired correctly?
- 30:15Or do you think there's Yeah, I I.
- 30:18Think that there are some, I think it's not 5050.
- 30:21I don't know what the average would be, but I think most do
- 30:24understand that and that the ones that don't understand that
- 30:28are wearing rose colored glasses that it's like it never happened
- 30:32to them sort of thing. I also do think that it depends
- 30:35on breed. Because like.
- 30:39For you to have a pug that has severe aggression would be like
- 30:43super fucking wacky and that's just not part of their
- 30:46temperament. Whereas so whereas A pug person
- 30:50would be like this is an anomaly.
- 30:52Like I'm not OK with this because it's really against
- 30:54their breed. They actually I think would be
- 30:58more tend to be like we're going to call that out immediately,
- 31:02whereas somebody who's breeding an AM staff, an American
- 31:05Staffordshire terrier would be more accepting of it because
- 31:08it's in their heritage. So I do think it depends there
- 31:11too. Yeah.
- 31:15I I think about the people, like you said, that are like, well,
- 31:20we can love it out. We can train it out.
- 31:22We can, we can fix it right. And that just makes me think
- 31:27about all. I mean, I've probably read
- 31:30hundreds at this point of stories on losing Lulu, the
- 31:34behavioral euthanasia support group page.
- 31:37And if you read five of those stories and all of the things
- 31:43that people did to try to quote UN quote, fix their dogs, it is
- 31:49on believable. I mean, the the lengths that
- 31:54these people went to to try to make it work.
- 31:57Years, some thousands and thousands of dollars, ten
- 32:02different veterinarians, trainers, you know, completely
- 32:06adjusting their lifestyle, no longer having people in their
- 32:09home, just the ends of the earth.
- 32:12And at the end of the day, they're on that page because
- 32:15they could not save that dog. Nothing could save them, right?
- 32:19So clearly we have a problem and breed doesn't matter.
- 32:23Origin of those dogs don't matter.
- 32:25There are dogs from ethical breeders on there.
- 32:27There are dogs from shelters. There are dogs from the
- 32:29reservation. There are dogs from other
- 32:31countries. There are dogs from everywhere.
- 32:34Sometimes shit just goes wrong. And.
- 32:40And. It's not always just, it's not
- 32:42always because the puppy was abused.
- 32:46I think. That's a misnomer, like everyone
- 32:48thinks. Oh, well, it's it's all in how
- 32:51you raise them. It's, you know, and maybe they
- 32:53can't get past that abuse. Well, I think it's.
- 32:56Not that fault, but also. I take offense to.
- 32:59That because I busted my ass to raise Lucy with every single
- 33:03thing that I could, socialization, training,
- 33:06everything, and she's aggressive, was aggressive,
- 33:09right? So like I take issue with that.
- 33:12I did everything and genetics were not on my side.
- 33:15And so I agree, like you, it's not all in how we raise them.
- 33:20And I'm a person who used to say that I I didn't know better.
- 33:23I thought that I was part of that whole culture, and then it
- 33:29happened to me, yeah. I would say Trish Mcmillan's
- 33:32very clear. She had a puppy she raised from
- 33:35the moment it was born, kept it and it was extremely aggressive
- 33:41to the point she put it to sleep.
- 33:43And then she has this dog fighting dog who is just a dud
- 33:49in the dog fighting world. Really.
- 33:51Genetics were on his side to be aggressive, all the things.
- 33:55Right, we don't he. Was an anomaly in the other
- 33:58direction that you know, and she, she said people would tell
- 34:02her all the time, Oh, it's all in how you raise them.
- 34:05And she's like his owner. His first owner isn't jail for
- 34:10abusing and killing dogs. It's not how you raise them.
- 34:15Yeah, she's like, yeah. And here he is.
- 34:17In my house with chickens, yeah, if you.
- 34:20Bring up Trish thinking about which we haven't brought this up
- 34:24in a while, actually thinking about her story of the perils of
- 34:28adopting out marginal dogs. I'd probably just butchered that
- 34:31once again. And we can link it.
- 34:33I'll link it. But there there is a price to be
- 34:37paid right when we save them all.
- 34:42And. That means that there is a dog
- 34:45that goes into the community with a family that is dangerous,
- 34:49and dangerous can mean whatever it means to you.
- 34:52If that dog is unsafe in our community and those people
- 34:56adopted that dog, you now have that dog.
- 35:02Just like Lucy was a wonderful ambassador for adopted pit
- 35:06bulls, that dog is a terrible ambassador for adopted shelter
- 35:10dogs. And all of the people that know
- 35:13that dog's story and interact with that dog and feel unsafe
- 35:17around that dog are now having an experience that could
- 35:21potentially stop them from adopting in the future.
- 35:24And that, if nothing else, can get you to wrap your brain
- 35:29around why save them all does not is not a good idea.
- 35:33That alone, if you are a shelter dog advocate, that should do it.
- 35:39You're going. It's stopping people from
- 35:40adopting. Yeah.
- 35:43Yeah, in the grand scheme of things, we want to help dogs out
- 35:49large. We want to make the world better
- 35:52for all the dogs and their community.
- 35:54But people and dogs alike, oh, now they're animals.
- 35:57All the animals alike, you know? But when we when we forgo the
- 36:06safety of 100 dogs to save one, I was just.
- 36:12Thinking that. Doing the right thing?
- 36:15Yep, When we sacrifice. Many for the sake of one.
- 36:18What do we do? What are we gaining?
- 36:20What are we doing? Yeah.
- 36:23If you've enjoyed this episode, subscribe, rate and share us
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- 36:34Thanks for listening. Everybody talk to you next time.
- 36:38Bye. Bye.