Meeting a New Shelter Dog Safely

Faith was a wolf hybrid at the PG shelter who did not want pets.

After meeting thousands of animals at my local animal shelter, the most important skill I have developed is quickly assessing animal behavior. For dogs, even half my size, this skill can be life-saving. Before getting into how to evaluate some of the important factors to consider, it is important to understand that they are responding to your behavior, smell, sound, and appearance and interpreting that information through the lens of their own experience. The only part of the equation that you have absolute control over is your behavior, and this may not be enough with every animal you encounter.

The Shelter Environment

Understanding the shelter environment is critical for both the animal and human safety. The animals are often confined to smaller areas than they are accustomed to, interacted with less frequently, and surrounded by other animals who may have something to say about it. This situation is stressful to say the least. Under these conditions, consent is not a luxury, it is a necessity. As a father of seven cats, I treat shelter dogs with the same level of caution as I do my own cats, who are all too happy to harm me if I violate their comfort even for a moment. Keep in mind that the animals at the shelter are essentially in prison because their humans failed them, and due to over-crowding the penalty for this crime might be fatal.

The unfortunate reality is that the shelter environment may actually be a reprieve for some animals. Some have been abused, and many of them arrive there because they are abandoned. Dogs, known for being trainable, achieve this trait by being able to recognize patterns. This inductive capacity is not complimented by the same critical thought that humans are capable of, and can result in faulty conclusions that are difficult to correct. Anecdotally, I’ve noticed that dogs respond differently to me, than the other volunteers. Some will immediately feel threatened by me, others will love me. This could be due to a number of factors, my gender, my skin color, the fact I’m holding a strange black object, my deodorant, or training to protect whoever is holding the leash. Breed has nothing to do with this response, their experience with humans does. Abuse and abandonment of an animal that only wants love is a particularly cruelty that makes a strong impression.

Sparkle is an old blind pup I met this weekend at the PG shelter and did not appreciate a fast approach but accepted all handling so sweetly!

Go Slow With New Dogs

When faced with timid, shy, or fearful dogs, it is important to move slowly. Rapid movement could be perceived as a threat. Carrying treats and toys is always a good safety trick as it can help build trust by a shared positive experience in a relatively short amount of time. These also aid me in re-directing their attention, especially important in the case of an over-stimulated dog.

Sometimes ignoring a dog can build trust. Squatting down and turning your body 90 degree from the animal reduces your overall size and gives the dog an opportunity to approach and inspect you. Leaving a treat out in an open hand is also a good move if the dog is treat motivated. I always do this with a volunteer on the other end of the leash who is observing the dog, just incase. That said, after meeting and photographing over 2,000 shelter dogs, I’ve only needed the other volunteer twice and both times were my own fault.

My Own Mistakes

The first time was a young pup, I was playing with the dog and was a newer volunteer and didn’t understand that I was over-stimulating him. He started to get mouthy and actually wrapped his jaw around my forearm. Thankfully the dog did not mean any harm, and with the help of another volunteer, I was able to de-escalate the interaction. The second was maybe a four or five year old dog. He had a “go slow” sign put up by one of the shelter staff. The walker and I were with him in an off-leash area and she had built up trust with him and was playing with him as we chatted. As he waited for her patiently to give him some attention, I reached down to offer my own. Immediately he jumped up to stick my upper arm into his mouth as a warning, and then barked at me to back-off when he returned to the ground.

Both dogs were capable of causing me severe physical harm and had opportunity to do so, yet neither did. These sorts of behaviors are often used to warn rather than harm and are usually preceded by a long tail of much subtler “no’s” such as turning bodies away, stress yawning or panting, or whale eyes. Noticing these behaviors early can help avoid the escalation which I failed to do in both of these scenarios. I was lucky that another volunteer was there to keep the situation under control, but it is always important to keep in mind that we don’t know the history of the pup who came to the shelter and we should get to know them on their terms, not ours.

Professional Photographer Maya Fiellin with her pup, Cash the Meatball.