I like to frequently come out of my office to see what’s going on in the shelter and to chat with staff and visitors.  But some days, I wish I hadn’t.  Today, I watched as a couple of people were walking shelter dogs through the parking lot.  One dog started to bark at another dog and the person handling the barking dog screamed at the dog to stop.  He made no attempt to remove the dog from the situation.  As he berated the dog, the dog strained more and more and was getting increasingly agitated.  The other dog began to bark too, understandably.  The person walking that dog proceeded to smack the dog on the muzzle which also agitated the dog more.  Neither of these people made any attempts to move the dogs apart.  I tried to stand between the dogs to block their views and give the walkers a little coaching but when it was obvious that they weren’t listening to me, I had to go inside.  I watched from the window as one man walked up the hill and the other person followed, causing even more agitation to the situation!  Dog fights get started this way.

We are deeply appreciative of the people who come to walk dogs here and we try to instruct them to keep dogs at a safe distance.  But some people fail to listen.  I wish that they understood a few things:  1) If a dog fight occurs, someone may get hurt and one of the dogs will now be labeled as “not dog friendly” and that will diminish its chances of adoption. 2) Yelling at and/or hitting an already agitated dog will only make the dog more agitated and will escalate aggression.  The dog will have an even greater reaction when he sees another dog in the future.  You are teaching a dog NOTHING when you yell at it or hit it.  The dog cannot reason that he is getting hit because he’s barking. 3) Removing the dog from the situation will help the dog to calm down and behave better.  A calm dog is a better-behaved dog.

I'm so disappointed in the behaviors of these people, especially the one who smacked the dog.  I thought he was a loving, compassionate and intelligent person.

I’m back in my office now, envisioning myself smacking those guys on their muzzles!! Oh, never mind, I guess I need to practice what I preach, huh?