No Kill vs Train-Wreck Dogs

 This dog is probably a great dog.

Photo and caption by Angela Palance,a tireless advocate for the dogs at the Montgomery County Texas Animal Shelter.

I'll be honest:  I'm not a total convert to Nathan Winograd's vision of a No-Kill Nation.  It's not that I don't want all Shelters to be "no-kill", but it's that I'm not convinced it is an achievable goal.  Or even the right goal.  But Winograd and his supporters brand folks like me as "part of the problem."  We're the "nay-sayers,"  blocking the path to a swoony no-kill paradise where puppies and kittens are loved forever and ever in homes that make PetsMart managers giddy with joy.

Just because I have some reservations, doubts or unanswered questions shouldn't make me the enemy.  I've put a lot of sweat and tears in animal rescue work.  I look at what flows through the doors of the Shelter and wonder what compels us to insist that dogs like the ones below are "adoptable."

Here is a sample of what you'll find in the Adoption Rooms this week:

• Pit Bull mixes with heavy heartworm.
• Untrained, barely socialized young Lab mixes who will yank your arms from the sockets.
• Elderly Labs who aren't housebroken.
• Anxiety-riddled Rat Terriers.
• Chihuahuas that look like genetic mish-mashes.

Checkers  is falling apart in the Shelter. I can't foster him until my husband leaves for his next business trip because this poor little guy is so anxious he just can't stop barking.  It's Shelter stress.

Most of our dogs have at least one and often more health conditions, including (but not limited to) mange, flea dermatitis, giardia, worms, or bad teeth.  And almost all of our dogs come with unknown (and unknowable) health and behavioral histories.

Who in their right mind wants these dogs?  Who on earth can afford to treat and care for these dogs?

And don't think I'm just a heartless cynic.  I know what these dogs cost because I just adopted one, my Miniature Pinscher, Chopper, who joined our pack this summer.  Chopper was an ideal adoptable candidate from our Shelter.  He was already neutered when he arrived, and he received a rabies booster, a heartworm test, microchip, and the Parvo-Distemper shot, plus Strongid for worms.

Chopper, my own personal (and much-loved) train-wreck dog.

However, Chopper is heartworm positive--so I need $400 to $600 to treat that.  He's got one rotten tooth that needs to be pulled at some point (say, $300 or so if I get the tartar scraped while he's under), plus he was positive for giardia.  Once my adoption was final, I spent $300 getting Chopper Vet-checked, including a leptospirosis vaccine, fecal smear, urine culture and a blood work panel to make sure he can handle the heartworm treatment and the tooth-removal.  I bought two antibiotics, heartworm prevention tabs, flea meds and a round of de-wormer.  These were not out-of-the-ordinary expenses.

Nathan Winograd can talk all he wants about "no-kill" policies, but the one hitch in his giddy-up, the thing that he doesn't address in his best-seller "Redemption," is whether all those wonderful Americans who would love to add a pet to their household are actually willing to put in the financial and physical work it takes to bring a Shelter dog around.  At the rate people keep bringing dogs in for owner-surrender, I don't think the American public is near as dog-friendly as Winograd paints it to be.

Li'l Dude, an un-altered Chihuahua boy is my latest foster.  He weighs all of six pounds.  He is anxious and very needy.  While crated for four hours, he managed to bend the wires on this crate with his teeth, and he chewed up the bed into 2-inch pieces of foam, plus, he got the plastic tray scooted part-way out so he could "push" the crate across the room.  He got hold of a cord to a foot control to the sewing machine (after "pushing" the crate) and chewed that up ($89--and I can't tell my husband), then he somehow finagled the door open and left poop surprises upstairs.  He was a very naughty boy.
To top it all off, he's not yet housebroken.  And he's a pushy little guy 'cause he's hung like a Clydesdale and has enough testosterone to equip a baseball team.  Since Li'l Dude needs to gain weight before he can be neutered, it's going to be awhile before he loses his family jewels.  I'm in conversation with a rescue group who might be able to take him.

 Shelter dogs are no bargain.  In fact, they are a gamble. And the Shelter doesn't offer guarantees.

Consider the heartworm issue.  Our Shelter was offering the heartworm treatment vaccine for heartworm positive dogs, but that program has been tabled due to the expense to the County. Most likely, I'll be paying for the treatment at retail prices.  Meanwhile, at the Shelter, our current dog population is running about 40 percent heartworm positive.  So step right up and get yourself a dog, but be prepared to spend some serious money--and shoulder the risks that come with heartworm treatment. At least the dog will love you back.

And just so you don't think I'm totally against the good news as preached by Winograd, I'm signed up to go to the No-Kill Austin conference at the end of September. I'm willing to listen and be convinced.

Nathan Winograd Seminar

Just home from an all-day seminar held in downtown Houston with Nathan Winograd, the renowned and outspoken voice for “No Kill Shelters.” Eight hours later, my head is aching from the statistics, the step-by-steps, the exhortations, and the swell of strong emotions that come from hanging around the rescue-and-shelter crowd all day long.

Much of what Winograd said—and emphasized, and re-emphasized—is found his book, “Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America” (2007), but the whirl of numbers and the constant references to the handful of shelter which have actually implemented the Winograd-style no-kill model makes me feel just a bit like I’m getting a hard-sell.

I know I’m supposed to feel empowered, but instead I feel a bit like I do after watching those infomercials for amazing home-gym sets or the Malibu Pilates chair—yes, it could happen, but probably not in my world.

Sure, I agree that “euthanasia” is a euphemism for killing. I avoid the term “killing” around pre-teens, but don’t hesitate to clarify it to those old enough to face the facts. I totally support Trap-Neuter-Release, although our shelter doesn’t formally offer any such program. And I whole-heartedly agree that changing the bureaucratic system requires patience, persistence and more tenacity than it takes to snatch a pig’s ear away from my miniature pinscher.

But emotions and enthusiasm aside, I wonder if the dedicated, hard-working rescue-and-shelter advocates I work with could set aside the rivalries, squabbles and back-stage tensions that hamper the effectiveness of our own volunteer programs and associated 501 c3 groups. The county’s bureaucratic machine tolerates all our efforts, but I’m not sure how seriously they would take us if we approached them with Winograd’s hard line. My feeling is that the County would just pat our collective heads and wait for us to tear ourselves apart from inter-group struggles.

Winograd mentions the problems of egos among those who control the reins of power. Of course, Winograd is no retiring wall-flower. Most rescuer-and-shelter folk (and I include myself in this group)are not immune to the crippling illness of egomania. I try to stay out of the petty dramas, but I have succumbed to temptation in the past.

I need to mull over Winograd’s message, and peruse his book again (I read it when it first came out a couple years ago). Right now, though, I need a break from saving lives. I simply need to cuddle up with my dogs (including my foster) before tomorrow’s off-site adoption event.
What’s your take on Nathan Winograd’s No-Kill Equation? Leave a comment and let me know.