Josie Update, the Resilience of Dogs, and a Rant

Josie continues to amaze us with her transformation. In less than a week she’s gone from being scared and shy to outgoing and playful. She jumps into our laps for hugs and kisses at the mere hint of an invitation. She loves toys, is very playful, and has discovered the joys of romping around with another dog. And although her previous owners reported that she constantly soiled in the house, she has not had one single accident since she’s been here.

Josie wasn’t abused, but she was neglected. It won’t take a lot of work to turn Josie into a first rate companion. Some life experiences with patient guidance and a couple of training classes and she’s going to be an awesome dog for someone.

The main thing I have learned from nearly 20 years of fostering dogs is that they are incredibly resilient individuals. No matter what neglect or abuse is in their background, they focus not on the horror or hardship of the past, but on the joys of the present. “Love the one you’re with.” is surely their motto. We can learn a lot from shelter dogs.

But why the heck does Josie have to be in the situation she finds herself in, where her future, quite literally, depends on a couple of strangers she’s never met determining if she can be safely adopted out to another home? There are a lot of reasons why people have to relinquish their dog to a shelter. But tell the truth, damn it!

People don’t realize that when they cover their embarrassment by spinning the story to make relinquishment the dog’s fault---saying the dog’s a biter or can’t be housebroken or whatever---that they’re putting the animal’s life at stake. A shelter or rescue can not adopt out a dog with those problems and many won’t make a determination for themselves and just take the owner’s word for it.

No rescue group would take our foster dog Jack, for example, because the owner called him a biter. He wasn’t, but he got tagged as one anyhow. Rescue groups should know better, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Thankfully CCHS has people who can recognize the story doesn’t match the animal’s behavior. They also have the skills and resources to make their own determination. In just the last four months we’ve had three foster dogs that supposedly had behavior problems (Sam, Jack, and Josie) when, in fact, they were very nice dogs who had owner problems. That’s why it’s important to give these dogs an objective evaluation and chance to show their true personality.