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The Everyday Trainer Podcast
The Everyday Trainer Podcast
River's Journey: Navigating Shelter Dogs, Rescuing, and Tough Conversations
Trigger warning: This is a heavy episode that features topics such as behavioral euthanasia.
As the door to another adventure in dog rescue swings open, we find ourselves in a chaotic whirlwind of emotions, underscored by River's tale, a Malinois narrowly rescued from euthanasia. Imagine the rollercoaster of emotions as we grapple with nurturing him back to health amidst the clamor of living out of vans with 7 personal dogs. Yet, woven through this chaos is a testament to the power of community and the unseen heroes like Zara, who make such rescues possible. Join us as we unravel the delicate balance of responsibility and joy, even amidst the chaos of family visits and dog-filled living vans.
Tackling the thorny issues of rehoming and responsible dog ownership, we delve into the responsibilities that owners and trainers face when managing canine behavioral challenges. From confronting the stark realities of behavioral euthanasia to exploring River's potential new roles, we emphasize the need for education and commitment in preventing abandonment.
To watch River's training journey, join our community and get access to exclusive training videos and guides.
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Hello, hello and welcome back to the Everyday Trainer podcast. My name is Meg and I am a dog trainer. Today's episode is all about shelters and the rescue system and fosters. I'm going to go in depth on my experience with River, the Malinois that I recently pulled from a shelter in LA, and we are nursing back to health and getting him trained up to find him a good home. So I'm going to talk to you all about that, my experience, but also some tips if you're bringing home your own rescue dog. So you guys know the drill Grab yourself a tasty drink and meet me back here. All right, y'all, welcome back, welcome back.
Speaker 1:I have actually tried to record this podcast about. This would be the fourth time, so I didn't have a podcast last week because of that reason. I recorded this a million times and I was like meh, don't like it, meh, don't like it, meh, don't like it. This is like a very emotional thing for me, like I've never like rescued. Well, no, that's not true. I like have Gretchen, who I quote, like rescued, but I've never rescued. Well, no, that's not true. I have Gretchen, who I quote, rescued, but I've never pulled a dog from a shelter that was getting ready to get euthanized. If you've heard my story about Gretchen, it's very similar, but she was actually in a home, so she had been passed around in people's homes multiple times and I don't think the rescue was able to take take her back and so essentially their only option was to euthanize her. So I took in Gretchen before she was going to get euthanized, and River, who is the Malinois that we just took in kind of, has a similar story.
Speaker 1:So I, first and foremost, I am not a save all the dogs type of person like that. I'm not unrealistic, I'm not like hyper emotional surrounding these things. I have a very realistic viewpoint on it and that I don't think all dogs should be saved. I think you know I believe in things like behavioral euthanasia. I've met dogs that needed to be behaviorally euthanized because they were so unsafe. Like I understand that shelters get overcrowded and dogs have to be euthanized. There's just so many dogs out there. To have this like mindset of, oh, the dogs need to be saved is just a little bit unrealistic. So going into it, just I do not have that viewpoint. Now, that's not to say that I I want to save dogs, you know, like I genuinely do, but I do think that we should put our effort into saving dogs, that one, first and foremost, most important are safe. They're safe to live amongst people in society, and two are healthy and worth investing time and money and training into.
Speaker 1:So how I came across River is my friend, shane Murray, actually reposted a video of him. So one of the volunteers at the shelter would go and post the dogs that were getting ready to get put down for the day and for whatever it was. I saw him and I like I just started crying and like I'm not crying and like I'm not that person, like I am not the person who's like on these pages, like oh my gosh, this poor dog's getting put down, like I'm not that and I'm not even like an emotional person I would say. So I saw this and I literally started crying and I was like I don't know why, but like I have to save this dog, like I am responsible for getting this dog out of the shelter. So I saw the post and I reposted it. I was like, all right, whoever can get this dog out, like I'm giving them free training, and I had a few people who were like, oh, I don't think I'm going to be able to get there in time, blah, blah, blah. And I was like all right, and so I reached out to our retreat group chat.
Speaker 1:So the Joshua Tree retreat that we just did, we all have a group chat of everybody. And I have a couple of people in there who are from LA and I was like, hey, can anybody go and pull this dog for me? And I will take it. And I will take it, but like I can't drive from the Bay Area to LA in time to be able to pull this dog, and so Zara, the wonderful earth angel that she is, she's in the LA area and she was like, oh, my gosh, yes, she's all about saving dogs. She was like if I can't get a rescue to pull him, I will go and pull him and we can, like you know, take care of it. I was like amazing.
Speaker 1:So one thing that River came with that has added a lot of complications to this whole endeavor is he came with an upper respiratory infection and it's very, very common that when you go to get a dog, if they have any sort of illness, the shelter will normally say, oh, it's just kennel cough. But the difference between kennel cough and this nasty upper respiratory infection that has been going around for the past I don't know like two years is that kennel cough has this kind of like honky cough, whereas an upper respiratory infection is more of like honky cough, whereas an upper respiratory infection is more of like like the dog, like literally can't breathe, usually comes with like a lot of drainage and River was really sick and you could see that from the post and I think that's what kind of like grabbed my attention from him is like he literally just looked like he had no chance, like he did not look well, he was emaciated, he had boogers running down. Like Malinois are super sensitive dogs and I feel partially responsible for helping get them into good homes because not very many people can handle them. Not very many people can handle a working. Not very many people can handle a working breed like a Malinois or a Shepherd or even, you know, a Pit Bull or like a Staffie. You know they're more intense dogs and so I think that it's my job as a dog trainer to step up when I can and pull a dog like that to be able to help him. So the post was super sad. He's basically just like hunched over, like laying down.
Speaker 1:I had a few of the shelter volunteers actually reach out and message me because they saw that I was trying to get this dog pulled from the shelter and they were like he's super sick, like we don't know if he's gonna make it. He's not doing well, he's only been here for 10 days but he's regressed like so much. We've never seen a dog like deteriorate this much in such a short time. And I was like okay. So I, to be honest, had no plan for this dog. I just knew that like I would be able to do something, like if anybody could, I have the connections, I have the resources, like I can do something for this dog. So I was like all right, first steps. First, let's just pull this dog from the shelter.
Speaker 1:So my good friend Zara went to the shelter, put the deposit down on him and they're like yeah, we can't release him to you today. You have to come back in a couple of days after the vet has like released him. And she was like okay, great. And they're like but since you like put the deposit down, we're not going to put him down. So she called me, she let me know hey, they don't want to release him like that he needs to be seen by the vet first. So it's going to be a couple days. They're going to call me whenever he's ready. I was like, all right, sweet.
Speaker 1:In the meantime a few of the shelter volunteers messaged me and they said that after Zara had left the shelter tried to put him down. And I guess it happens all the time where people will come in, they put a deposit down on a dog and then they never show back up. And so this volunteer had to convince the people who work at the shelter that, like he does have a chance that somebody is actually going to come and get him. She was like, no, like there's a trainer who's lined up, she's going to take him. Like she's been talking about him, don't put him down. Like he actually has a chance. So God bless this volunteer. She was able to talk them out of putting him down. Even after we went in there and put, you know, the money down and said that we were going to come get him, she was able to make sure that they didn't put him down. So a few days later Zara gets a call. We're good to go and pick him up. She goes and picks him up.
Speaker 1:I give her the lowdown of the upper respiratory stuff. So, if you don't know, there's an upper respiratory infection going around, dogs around, kind of like the back end of COVID and it's basically like COVID for dogs and it can be antibiotic resistant. It's like really tough to get rid of and it is killing dogs. So it's, you know, this is a pretty severe thing that we were taking on. So I told Zara I was like, listen, like do not bring this dog in your home. You need to bring a change of clothes and a plastic bag. When you get out of your car, you need to like sanitize everything. You need to change your clothes, walk inside and immediately go into the shower. Like do not touch anything, do not like get anything infected, because you don't want your own dogs getting this. And also, like you need to sanitize your car. You need to make sure that, like everything is just completely sanitized for your own dog's health and safety. So I gave her the lowdown on that. She took all the precautions, made sure that she wasn't putting her own dogs at risk.
Speaker 1:But for us we have a lot of dogs, so I have four personal dogs Zoe, lucy, minka and Millie is a co-own with the breeder, so she's actually going to be going back to the breeder here very soon, so I unfortunately won't have her for much longer. I'll probably get her back after she's done, but we're just going to kind of see how that goes. Walter, his German Shepherd, and Hawk, his Malinois. And then we also have another foster, which is something that I'll bring up later in this episode, but that's Mink. So Mink is a staffie who was brought to me last year and she's a tough one. I genuinely am unsure of what I'm going to do with her, but we have her in our care as well. So that's five dogs under my care, two dogs under Toma's, seven dogs plus this dog who is now sick, and we're living out of two vans.
Speaker 1:Toma, the love of my life. We're honestly made for each other. Because I did not even ask him if he was okay with saving this dog, I just made sure that everything was lined up when I was talking to Zara and she was like yep, I'm going to go pull him, and I was like great, so I'm sitting in a coffee shop with Toma and I show him like the dog and he's like I know, I saw like I feel horrible, like poor thing, and I was like we're going to rescue him. And he was like OK, no questions asked, like we love that. So he was like all right, what are we going to do?
Speaker 1:And I was like well, I'm asking around to see if anybody who doesn't have a dog would be willing to house him for us until he's not as contagious, until he's better, until we can get him on antibiotics for a couple weeks. But if we can't which that's a big ask. You know, especially in the dog world, like everybody has dogs, so it's hard to find people who don't have dogs, who are willing to like house a sick Malinois and I like offered to take care of him. You know, I'm not just going to like leave them with this dog that they have to take care of, but yeah, so I was like reaching out to people. I had a few people who were like asking around. They're like yeah, we'll get back to you, we'll let you know. But I was like all right, worst case scenario my van is the quarantine van, your dog holds all of our dogs. And Toma has a bigger van. He has like the extended version, so we're able to keep more dogs in his van. So I was like all right, great, like we'll keep all of our dogs in your van and then you drive down and get River and in my van I'll take your van and take care of all of our dogs. So it was a lot.
Speaker 1:But at the time Toma's parents came in town. Toma is from Montreal, so his parents came very far to come and meet me and visit us, and I was, we were also watching Mike and Aaron's dogs with Primal Canine, so all of their dogs plus all of my dogs plus this new dog, plus Toma's parents were in town. I was like, okay, great, like amazing timing, right. So I was like all right, toma, if you like, why don't you go get River? Because then you can go and hang out with your parents, because they don't have dogs, right, we don't have to worry about like him getting any dogs sick. You get to see your parents.
Speaker 1:I'll come and like go out to dinner with you guys. Like I'll come meet you guys, but I can't leave the house because I have all of our personal dogs to take care of, plus all of Mike and Aaron's personal dogs to take care of. So I was like I'll just, I'll just be in dog trainer mode. You know, like I'll take care of all of the dogs. You go hang out with your parents. I'll come meet up with you guys, it'll be fine. So I stayed at the house and I was on dog duty and very, very quickly I realized how burnt out I actually am.
Speaker 1:Over taking care of dogs Like it is exhausting. And I can handle our seven, which sounds absolutely crazy. But my four all get along. So I'm able to let all four of those out at once and you know I can walk them all together at once. So that's not bad. But everybody else is crate and rotate.
Speaker 1:Like is crate and rotate. Hawk comes out separately. Hawk can actually come out with all of my dogs. Um, walter sometimes can, but every once in a while like Walter gives me the middle finger and like doesn't want to listen to me and he's he's too like pushy with my dogs to the point where, like they have to correct him and it's just not worth it for me because Walter doesn't always take corrections. So like, for example, he'll like sniff Minka's butt forever and then Minka will get pissed and like turn around and snap at him and if Walter's in a mood, he'll snap back at her and then it's a fight and it's like it's not worth it to me when I'm by myself, like I do not want to fucking break apart a dog fight, you know. So when I'm by myself it's create and rotate with them.
Speaker 1:But my four dogs, they're super easy, like I can just let them out, don't have to worry about them. So we have our seven that I'm creating and rotating, and then all of mike and aaron's I think we were taking care of nine of them. They're all crate and rotate, and so it just brought me back to days at the doghouse where my entire life all day long is just pottying dogs, treadmilling dogs, walking dogs, like that's it. That's literally all you do. You wake up in the morning and before you even get to go to the bathroom you have to take out dogs, and I only did that for like I don't know five days. They were gone for 10 days.
Speaker 1:Toma was there for five days and like Toma, toma has energy for days. You know, like I don't want to say he loves taking care of the dogs, but he loves having a job and so he is much better at that than I am, whereas me I have been doing that for seven years and I am so burnt out and I really thought that I was feeling a lot better. I was like I've like gotten a break from the dog house I'm not taking care of other people's dogs all day long Like I actually get to do things that I enjoy with my dogs. I'm you know, I'm doing creative things now, Like I'm you know I'm doing creative things now like I'm building websites and I'm doing consulting for dog trainers and like I'm doing all of these things. So I'm feeling fulfilled. I can take care of dogs for five days.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I was so exhausted, so so exhausted, so I was basically just like at the house the entire time for those five days, just because we had so many dogs that you're just constantly rotating and when you have young dogs, like you need to make sure that you don't leave them for too long. So I would just like leave and go and meet up with Toma's parents and we'd go to dinner, and then I would go back to the house and, you know, shower and sanitize and all of that sort of stuff. Dinner, and then I would go back to the house and, you know, shower and sanitize and all of that sort of stuff. But I didn't have any contact with River for the first five days well, probably longer than that, but the first five days, like I did not see River at all because I didn't want to be in contact with him at all. Me and Toma did not touch the same things. So there is this added level of like stress to that in that, okay, I'm taking care of this many dogs. Plus, we have this sick dog that like I cannot like I was so neurotic about it I cannot touch anything that Toma has touched. If he's touched this dog and we haven't like sanitized like I do not let my dogs go near the van, like I do not touch my van, so that level of paranoia was super fun. Plus, you know working all of these dogs, plus driving Toma's van.
Speaker 1:Toma's van is so different from my van. I am so incredibly spoiled with my van. I love my van and I've always grown up with like shitty beater cars and this is my first like real nice car and, don't get me wrong, my payment is like as much as a freaking house payment, but like I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love my van. It's a 2022 Mercedes Sprinter van. Like it's so nice and it drives like a car Toma has, I think like a 2016, which you would think, oh, 2016 is not that old. Oh my God. Driving his van is like driving a school bus. It is the brakes Like I could slam, and they are just like so heavy, like so squishy, whereas with with mine, you can literally like one big toe on the brake and like the van stops. And so I have all this stress of taking care of all of their dogs, making sure that I don't touch anything that Toma has touched. Plus, I'm driving his van, which is not like driving my van at all, and I actually got it stuck at the bottom of Mike and Aaron's driveway and I had to have somebody come out and like unwedge Toma's van.
Speaker 1:It was like it was such a shit show. So, basically, why I've had to record this podcast a million times is because I recorded a podcast when I was at Mike and Aaron's and I just kept crying in the podcast and I was like, well, that's not very like cute of me, we're going to redo this one. And so, like the next day, I tried to record it again and it was like I was just like so emotional and it was just like it was not a good podcast. I might, I might like release it just for funsies, but I get into like way too much of personal stuff and talk about how, like the past two years, I was in like this shit, like situation ship that like burnt me out and blah, blah, blah, and it was just coming from a very emotional place but I was burnt out and it's really crazy to me to see that.
Speaker 1:You know, I've taken so much time off Like the last dogs. I mean July, august, I was in Costa Rica, september we left Orlando to drive to Joshua Tree and we've been on the road ever since. So August, september, october, I've taken a solid three months off and it's crazy to me how quickly I got back into burnout after just taking care of that many dogs for five days. So I've just been like emotionally recovering for that and I kind of seem I'm not trying to like bitch, but I know that there are so many people out there that are in the dog training industry that feel this Like even when you do get a break, it, it feels like it's never enough and I was honestly like I was feeling good, like I was like oh, I'm ready to train dogs again like let's look into a rental, let's find a space, like I'm ready to open up a facility, let's do this. And then I was taking care of all their dogs and Toma's, like Meg, you're not ready, like you, you're not ready, like, look at you and I was like in tears, basically like the past two weeks, you know. So I don't know, I I'll let you know if I find out the solution to, uh, the burnout that comes with that.
Speaker 1:But I do think a big part of this too was just like the emotional toll that comes from taking in a dog like this, like aside from him, from him being really sick. It's tough knowing that. You know, I saved this one dog, but there are so many dogs out there that are not as fortunate and I get it Like I understand the system and that there are so many dogs. But something's got to change Genuinely, something really has to change with the shelter world, with the rescue world. I've tried to rescue dogs in the past and they wouldn't let me adopt them because I'm a trainer and because I use tools like e-collars. It's almost like people would rather see dogs get put down than use quote aversives and I don't love using that term because I don't think that these tools are necessarily like aversive. But yeah, I think this system around rescues really like something has to change.
Speaker 1:I don't think that people should just be allowed to drop dogs off no questions asked. I'm unsure if I wasn't. I just wasn't given the information about River. But I have no idea where River came from or his backstory or why he was dropped off, and that's the other thing too that that is that needs to be highlighted is you know, when you do rescue a dog, you don't know what you're getting Like. You literally have no idea. I all I knew about River was what I heard from the volunteers who were saying, oh, he's super sweet, he's super sweet. And I was like, all right, he's sick, but if he can be handled, at least he's not like a man eater, you know. But I've also gotten that story from the people who rescued Mink who Mink is not super sweet, you know. And so I was like, all right, I really have no idea what I'm getting into.
Speaker 1:River is. He's probably about 90 pounds right now. I think he was 77 when we picked him up from the shelter. He's a big fucking Malinois, like he's a big dog, but luckily we have connections in the industry that we can find him a good home. So our options for him currently are well, we're getting him better. He's actually doing so much better, he's feeling much, much better, and I know that because he's starting to act up and bark and destroy his bed and his crate and not wanting to get into his crate and I'm like, oh, here we go, now starts the board and train with us, the board and train with us.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I didn't really know what I was getting. All I knew is that I was getting this like big Malinois, and when you get dogs from shelters, you just don't know what you're getting. And I think our role as dog trainers if you're a dog trainer and you're listening to this is to utilize training, not just to have a trained dog. Right, like having a trained dog, great, you know all that. But the most important thing is, when your dog is trained, they're much less likely to end up back into the shelter. I was just speaking to one of my virtual shadow program students and she was like Meg, I need your advice.
Speaker 1:One of my clients just took their dog in because he nipped somebody. It was a very avoidable bite. We had been working so hard and they just took the dog to the shelter, dropped him off. The shelter knew that. Or the shelter told them like hey, he's most likely not going to get adopted because he has a bite and he's going to get put down. And the owner was like sad about it but like still just dropped the dog off and didn't actually like talk to the trainer first. Right, didn't reach out to her. What didn't say, hey, this thing happened, like what can we do? Nope, just, you know, took the dog in knowing that the dog would get put down.
Speaker 1:In my eyes, I don't. I personally I don't think that should be allowed. I don't think you should just pawn off that very difficult decision on shelter workers. I think that it like. I think that person, if they didn't want to take responsibility for the dog, they should have to put the dog down. And I'm not against behavioral euthanasia at all. I am all for the safety of humans above dogs. If a dog is a risk, I don't think that they should be around. I've seen people ruin their lives over trying to train and keep dogs that are just, quite frankly, unsafe to exist in society and it takes so much toll on the people and I hate that and I don't like that. I don't like the guilt that comes from it. However, I think you shouldn't just be allowed to drop your dog off knowing that they're going to get euthanized. I think you should be the one there doing that with them, because you're the one making that decision. And just to put that on shelter workers is just. I hate that so much. So, as trainers, like it's our job to train dogs so that they don't have these behavioral issues and we educate owners on the dogs that they have so that they're not just dumping their dogs at shelters when, let's say, they're pulling on leash, or, you know, at shelters, when, let's say they're pulling on leash, or you know, doing unruly behaviors, chewing your couch.
Speaker 1:I had a client of mine who wanted to get rid of her dog because the dog chewed up something sentimental. She said I can't do it anymore. Meg, can you help me find a home for him? I said no, that's your dog. Like he should have been crated. He can't be out of the crate. Like he can't just live in the house. Well, neither can Minka, neither can Millie. If I left them out in my house, they would destroy everything. Like you just have dogs like that. You know, zoe and Lucy are fine, but some dogs just can't be left out in the house.
Speaker 1:And, as trainers, like we have to educate our owners on the dogs that they have and what sort of management that they need to be able to keep that dog in that house. Because, let's face it, if you're rehoming a dog, the chances of that dog actually staying and not ending back up at a shelter is tough. And I've had to rehome a lot of client dogs and luckily we've placed them with really good families. I had a person who had to rehome their dog. They just they couldn't do it, like they didn't have the lifestyle for it. And they realized that and you know, I was the one who actually reached out to them and I was like, hey, you know, do you want me to help you find somewhere for this dog? And they were like yes, like we just can't do it. And I was like that's okay. You know, like I never want to guilt people into that, because when you make people feel guilty about having to rehome their dogs, they will just take the dog to the shelter, whereas, like, if you make it an open conversation with owners of like hey, make it an open conversation with owners of like, hey, I get it, you know no guilt here, but let's do the responsible thing and let's find a good home for this dog so that this dog doesn't end up in the shelter getting euthanized. You know, so I have rehomed a lot of dogs, uh, you know, I'm very grateful for that. I'm very grateful for all of the connections that we have and that's sort of what we hope to do with river. So we're getting him all better and we're gonna figure out what sort of home we want to put him in. So for malinois, we have a lot of options. We can put him in a protection home. So, depending on who we find for him, if they want like a personal protection dog or if they want to do sports with him, we can sort of intro that stuff. We also have connections for people who are interested in doing detection with him. So we have to test his drive and see if he's got some like search, so that he's like willing to, let's say, for example, like search for a ball. So if I show him a ball, so if I show him a ball and then hide that ball, will he search for it? That's what I'm looking for with a detection dog with a detection dog.
Speaker 1:Personally, I think he would make a killer PPD. He's very protective. He's a little more dominant, but not in a forward way, but he is very like he's a leaner. He'll position his body in front of me if somebody's talking to me. I feel so safe with this dog. I know that nobody is going to come up to me when I have this dog, because he is massive and he's got this like very intense, like presence to him. He's a really really cool dog. Like if I didn't have so many dogs, I would probably keep him. He's really really cool. But he's also like very chill. Which is why I think he would make a really good protection dog is because he has an off switch and he can just like chill and hang out and he's not like super nervy, but he's a really really cool dog. I love him. Not like super nervy, but he's a really really cool dog. I love him, yeah, so I'm really excited to get started training on him.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to put some basic training on him just so that I'm able to manage him a little bit more. He's starting to test me with things like the crate. He doesn't want to go into the crate anymore. So he's like putting up a fight with me and I have to like fight him to get into the crate. He's not super food motivated. We've been overfeeding him to put weight on him so now he's like man, I don't really care about food, like I'm watching him. Right now he's outside of my van and I have a bowl of food there and he's like not touching it. He was just like flipping the bowl around and he's like not touching it. He was just like flipping the bowl around. So we want to build up his food drive and see what he's got, see what he's got as far as his genetics go.
Speaker 1:But I'm very hopeful that we can find a really, really good home for him. And that's the cool thing about these working breeds is, if you have the right connections, there's no reason why we as trainers can't pull these working line dogs and find good homes for them, because there's so many people out there who want a protection dog or need a detection dog for a company or you know things like that, and there are so many Malinois and shepherds that are in the shelters who would make amazing dogs so down the line, that's something that Toma and I want to do. I'm a little hesitant to get involved with the rescue world because I know that there's a lot of drama that goes on with it and it's just anytime you work with animals like it gets a little crazy. And dog trainers don't get me wrong, dog trainers are fucking crazy. But I've heard that rescues are even wilder and I've had my fair share of experience just working with rescues as a dog trainer and I will not do it again. So something that me and Tomo want to do is we want to open a rescue where we take in dogs for working potential and place them with trainers who essentially raise and train them and then we can find homes for them after the dog is already trained. And I think that's kind of our job as trainers is. I think that if each of us took in a dog and trained it and found a home for that dog like we could house, we could home a lot of shelter dogs, dogs, and especially with them being trained and having the support of a trainer, they wouldn't end up back in the shelters.
Speaker 1:And that's a big problem is that people get rescue dogs. They don't know what they're getting. They think or are told that with love and affection their dog. You know that's all their dog needs, right, you saved this dog's life. All he needs is love and affection and a good, cozy home and he'll be perfect. But that's just not the case. And even with River, like if River went to anybody else. He's a very sweet dog, don't get me wrong, but he drags me down the street and he has a prong collar on. He fights me to get into the crate, like sometimes I can't physically get him into the crate, and it's not like I can lure him into the crate, but like he has to go into the crate. I can't just have this dog loose like in my van while I'm driving. That's so unsafe. Like he has to go into the crate. It's not a matter of like oh, we can take our time and make this like a positive experience. It's like no, not everybody has that.
Speaker 1:And when you pull a dog from a shelter and you don't know what you're getting, it's important that you set up your structure with that dog right away and that you have a training plan in place. So what I mean by that is before I ever even got River, I knew he was sick and I knew that we weren't going to see his true personality until he got better. So I wanted to make sure that I was doing all of these things while he was sick and a little more manageable. Like, hey, you go into the crate. I know you don't feel good, but this is a non-negotiable you have to go into the crate. And he would go into the crate just fine. I wouldn't really have to fight him. Hey, you cannot lean on me, right? I'm not going to allow you to lean on me. It can be a form of possession and that can progress very quickly. He's very cuddly. He wants to lay in bed with me. I'm not going to let him lay in bed with me because I just don't know what type of dog that he is.
Speaker 1:So a few tips for you. If you are bringing home a shelter dog, first and foremost, make sure that that dog is healthy, especially if you have other dogs in the home. So I would suggest keeping that dog separate for at least two weeks to make sure that that dog is healthy. It seems ridiculous. And two weeks you're going to be like, oh my God, meg, that's literally forever. I promise you it's not, especially when you are thinking of the safety of your current, current dog. You know, two weeks, I don't care, right? Like two weeks of me and Toma being quarantined. I don't care, it's worth it because I don't ever want to put the like health of my dogs at risk, right? So I will sacrifice these two weeks with River of us just living in my van together. Oh, I guess I should mention that me and Toma switched because I couldn't drive his van anymore, so we switched back. We just went somewhere, showered and then, like, swapped vans back so I could have my van. So I currently have River, which is why I'm talking about, like, having to wrestle him to get him into the crate.
Speaker 1:But if you're bringing home a shelter dog, keep that dog in a separate room for two weeks and start your structure right away. I know that they just came from a shelter and I know that you feel bad for them, but the best thing that you can do for them to ensure that you know things work out is keep them separate and just monitor what type of dog you took in, because you don't know that dog, right? So are they fighting you to get into the crate? Do they lean against you all the time? Are they demanding? Are they pushy Like? What behaviors are you starting to see in the very beginning? It usually takes about a week for a dog to really warm up with somebody. So if I were to, let's say, sleep with River and we started that off right in our first two weeks, oh, but he's sick. Like he can sleep in bed with me, it's fine. Then what would I do when he is feeling better? I can't sleep in bed with him all the time. Is he going to lose his mind when he's not sleeping in bed with me? Because that's how we started our relationship off. So I err on the side of more structure in the beginning and then, as you get to know the dog, we can sort of ease up on that.
Speaker 1:So I had a friend recently who had a dog in a pretty aggressive dog and I think it was a situation like that. They got this dog and the dog was a little possessive. A leaner slept in bed with them and then the dog started blocking the door. The dog would block the door when people would try to leave. The dog was just becoming very controlling and eventually it progressed to forward aggression, very, very forward aggression with this dog. So imagine if I let River get away with being pushy in these little moments it can really really snowball. And then what happens with that dog? The owner says moments it can really really snowball. And then what happens with that dog? The owner says, oh, I can't do this anymore. And they drop them back off at the shelter or, you know, unfortunately they behaviorally euthanize them.
Speaker 1:So not only are we looking out for the safety of your other dogs, but we want to make sure that we're actually getting a clear picture of the dog that we have and setting the tone for you know the structure that we want to put in place. It's a lot easier to add more freedom in than to add more structure in and kind of fight the initial freedom that we gave them. So monitor the dog's health, safety and behavior first and foremost. Then, whenever you are looking to integrate you know, your other dog with your new rescue dog, do it very slowly, take your time. A dog is a lifetime investment, right, so we can take our time with it. We're going to have that dog for, you know, 10 plus years, so take your time integrating your current dog and your new dog. We're looking for loose, floppy body language. If body language is stiff, we need to incorporate some neutrality training. So maybe have a friend take your dog, you take the new rescue dog, go for a walk together. Just get them used to existing around each other without directly interacting.
Speaker 1:I've had a client of mine who has tried to adopt multiple dogs before and they have a very drivey staffy and you know I trained this dog years ago. They were one of my first clients and they went to the rescue, adopted a rescue dog, brought it home immediately, lets this dog off in the house with their other dog. Their other dog attacked the dog. Right, that's a strange dog in that dog's house. It's a little unfair. So then I get a phone call. Meg, she's aggressive, she attacked this new shelter dog. I said well, how did you introduce them? Well, we just brought them inside. I'm like OK, well, that's your problem there, right? So they tried to do this multiple times. The same thing happened every time and not only is this not great for your current dog, but also those poor rescue dogs that are having to come into the house and just be like attacked by their other dog is so wildly unfair and then they just get sent back.
Speaker 1:So don't do that. Have structure in place, have management in place, put the dogs on place. Have them in separate rooms, have them in crates next to each other. Just get them around each other without directly interacting. Whenever I do board and train programs with dogs, I do not allow the dogs to directly interact with each other for at least two weeks Two weeks. If they can't nicely hang out in crates next to each other, they're not going to nicely play with each other. So first test out how well they're going to get along when there's no pressure, when there's no social pressure there. Have the dogs in crates. And if you're not crate training dogs, I definitely recommend crate training dogs for everybody's safety.
Speaker 1:Now my next piece of advice is, before you even take a dog in, make sure that it's a breed that you understand and you know about. Before River was taken by us, some older woman came in and said I'm here for that Malinois. And the employees at the shelter were like uh, are you sure? Are you sure you want the Malinois? And she was like yeah, and they're like do you know anything like about the breed? And they're like she's like no, and they're like actually you should take this lab. So make sure that you understand the breed that you're getting before you just go and get the dog.
Speaker 1:I'll talk a little bit about Mink. Mink is a dog who has been with me for about a year now and I never want to like bash the rescue that got her. But basically they pulled a bunch of dogs off the euthanasia list, which I don't love Like. I know that I did that with River, but I knew that I could handle him. Like if you don't have the resources, you shouldn't pull dogs off the youth list, especially like behavioral dogs. So Mink is, without a doubt, a behavioral dog and when they reached out to me it was very much like oh, she's great, she's super sweet, she just pulls on the leash and she's dog reactive. And I was like, okay, well, like I deal with that all the time, you know, like that's really no problem. You know, yeah, we can do a board and train.
Speaker 1:So they dropped the dog off for a board and train and they had a volunteer drop her off. She was not in a crate and she shredded the back of this volunteer's car. The volunteer grabs the leash. She was on a flat buckle collar. I was standing outside the front of my house grabs her leash. She is popping off because my neighbor's outside with another dog and so is one of my trainers. She's losing it. She's on her hind legs like she wants to murder the dogs around her. The volunteer hands are over to me pulls away.
Speaker 1:So I'm standing there with this very jacked staffy that wants to just nuke all of the other dogs around them and and I'm just standing there and I'm like, okay, so we bring her inside, we put her in a crate, whatever. This is not a safe dog. She is so so far from safe. And the reason why that they said that she was like oh, so sweet, it's because they never asked her to do anything. And that's a big thing that I see, especially with rescues, is they get these dogs and they either have harnesses on them or they're just like free roaming everywhere and they're fine as long as they get to do what they want when they want to do it. But the fact of the matter is that's not how life works. You have to have a leash on you, you have to go into the crate. You cannot just free roam around my house and never be told what to do.
Speaker 1:So Mink was a very, very tough dog. Immediately we were able to make some progress with her, but it was almost like we would take two steps forward, three steps back every day and she is severely dog aggressive, to the point where she attacked Gretchen through the crate. So Mink was outside of the crate and I was letting her back in from the backyard and she just beelined to Gretchen's crate and pretty much ripped the Rufflin door off. Luckily I was able to get to Mink before she got in the crate, but if she got in Gretchen's crate she would have killed her without a doubt. No doubt in my mind. She would have killed her and I don't like to talk about Mink in this way because it paints her out to be a monster. But I also can't home her with anybody, with her being this way and I've tried everything. I have tried e-caller training her. She redirects with an e-caller.
Speaker 1:She gets extremely uncomfy when we use food in training. It creates too much conflict. If I try to lure her or reward her with food, she gets possessive and stiff over the food and stiff over the food she redirects with prong collar. So all we've been doing with her is existing. That's literally all we can do, and she has shredded the rufflin that she's in to the point where we have to buy her a new crate and if I buy her a metal crate she's going to hurt herself because she's already hurting herself on a plastic crate. So she's going to do the same thing to a metal crate and I'm honestly like I'm at a loss of what to do with her.
Speaker 1:I feel very attached to her because she is. She's sweet with me as long as I don't correct her or tell her what to do, but she is very, very unsafe with other dogs. If another dog comes up to us she will attack them and pretty much my only way out of that is to muzzle her 24 7. But even with a muzzle she is still losing her mind, right, like physically she can't hurt another dog, but she is still just. She looks rabid basically, and I've, you know, as a dog trainer, like I've tried as much as I can and I, you know, I've had her for a year and we've made a lot of progress. I can handle her now, I can pet her.
Speaker 1:And what really changed things for us is she got sick. She got a hot spot from just a regular collar. If you know staffies or like pit bulls, they have super sensitive skin and she got a gnarly hot spot from just like a regular collar, I think. She was, like, allergic to the material and so I had to clean it out, you know, twice a day, every day. And we got very close during that period because we had to learn hey, you can't eat me, you can't eat me, like, you can't do this. And she was so bad in the beginning that I couldn't even have any of my trainers handle her. Basically, all they could do was open the door, let her out, bring her back in, that's it, like that's all that they could do.
Speaker 1:And there are dogs out there that, like they exist, there are dogs that are out there like this, and there are people trying to re-home these dogs and that's why I started the beginning of this podcast with that and that like, hey guys, you know, I don't believe that all dogs should be saved. I don't necessarily think that there is a home for mink and it sucks and it breaks my heart and when it comes down to it, I might have to make a very, very difficult decision of behavioral euthanasia. But it's not coming from a place of laziness, it's not coming from a place of, you know, like, oh, she's just a sweet cuppy cake, like we just got to find her the right home, like it's coming from a place of. It's my responsibility, this dog is my responsibility and if I'm not comfortable giving her to somebody else, then it's my responsibility. To make the difficult decision of behavioral euthanasia past with Gretchen. That's something that I've had to think about before.
Speaker 1:I'm very fortunate in that I have somebody that I trust, that Gretchen trusts, that can handle her safely and Gretchen's really not that bad. I don't try, like I don't want to paint her out to be a monster, but I do want to be very realistic about like she is a dog who has bitten multiple people and in my eyes that's an unsafe dog, you know. But I'm very fortunate. And then I have somebody you know who is back at the dog house, who loves Gretchen and takes good care of her and she's actually been able to integrate her with some of her dogs, where that's something that I couldn't do. You know, just the personality of my dogs didn't mix very well with Gretchen. So you, you know, at the end of the day she is my responsibility and if anything changes with that situation, like I will take Gretchen back and I will, you know, manage her and take care of her and do everything that I can in my power.
Speaker 1:But as far as Mink goes, there are a lot of rescues that are adopting these dogs to people and I never want to shame somebody who has actually put in the work to try, right To try to help a dog that has these behavioral issues. We don't want to shame people for having to behaviorally euthanize dogs. We don't want to shame people for having to rehome dogs, but there should be an emphasis on making sure that if it's your dog, you are taking on that responsibility. We're not just dumping it at a shelter. We're not just, you know, saying, oh, this dog is super, super sweet when it's not. We're being very transparent about what the dog is, what the dog has done, and we're taking responsibility for it, whether that means investing into a trainer or making the very difficult decision for behavioral euthanasia. You know, like it's a, it's a real thing and I think we do need to talk about it. And it's a very difficult decision that I'll have to make here with Mink very soon. And if I had to make that very difficult decision and then on top of that I was getting bullied online, which I'm sure will come with it and I understand that, but I just I hate to see it, you know, and I hate to see negativity in this industry especially and industry especially. And I have another situation One of my good friends, he has a behavioral dog.
Speaker 1:This dog has bitten somebody and the dog is around four years old now and has progressed in his aggression and he recently moved. So me and him moved around the same time. He's in Arizona now. Toma and I went and stopped by and saw him. We were like, oh, take him out, let's see how he does, because he's in a new home, you're with dog trainers, we'll be fine, we can handle him, we can handle him.
Speaker 1:So my friend took him out, took the dog out and the dog, toma, was sitting like at the counter at like a bar stool, not even looking at the dog. The dog is fine with me because I like grew up with him. But the dog forwardly like muzzle, punched Toma like multiple times and luckily he had like a long sleeve on, but it was very, very forward. And my poor friend was like so defeated, right, because we were like, oh, let's see, like how he does. And then this dog just like forwardly attacked Toma and we're like shit, like that was out of nowhere, like it's not like Toma was looking at nowhere, like it's not like Toma was looking at him, it's not like Toma tried to touch him or like engage with him, it was. He came down the stairs and he muzzle punched Toma and you know like he also has to make the very difficult decision of what he's going to do with his dog.
Speaker 1:And he's done training. He's done training. He's done training with us. He's tried every possible thing you can and at the end of the day, a stable dog does not bite people under any circumstance. So I will never shame him or shame anybody else who has to rehome their dog or behaviorally euthanize their dog.
Speaker 1:That is unstable. If a dog has bitten somebody, it's our responsibility as the dog trainer to have that conversation of are you able to safely manage this dog? If you not, you need to look at other options, because it's your job as this dog's owner to make sure that this dog either ends up in a home with somebody who can manage the dog and for my friend, he has a girlfriend who has a child. Is he willing to put that child's safety at risk over this dog? It's a very real, real conversation that you're real, not necessarily conversation, but a real thing that he has to handle episode. And I only talk about these things because it is heavy and it is uncomfortable and nobody wants to talk about it. But I think like if anybody's going to do it, it's going to be me. Behavioral euthanasia is not fun. Having to rehome unsafe dogs is not fun. But I do think that these things can be avoided if we know what we're getting into, especially when it comes to rescuing dogs safe. The other dog in my house is safe. People who encounter this dog is safe.
Speaker 1:Until I fully know who this dog is and I can put the proper training on the dog. So for River, for example, proper training for him right now is I just need him to not drag me down the street. I don't know how he does with other dogs. We haven't let him interact with any of other dogs because he's sick. You know I'm not going to sleep in bed with him because I don't know if he is possessive. He's starting to show signs like that. But I'm going to stick with my structure from day one and if you stick with that, if you stick with you know I don't know this dog, whether you got the dog from a rescue or a, it's a little bit different.
Speaker 1:If you're going to like a breeder, you're able to predict a dog's temperament more, and I'm a big advocate for responsibly bred dogs. We don't want to get dogs from backyard breeders, and you know getting rescue dogs as long as you know what you're getting. You know I don't like the narrative of like oh, this is just a sweet little puppy cake that just needs a loving home, and a lot of times that's not what they need. You know anybody could save that about River because he's cuddly. But the second you try to tell him what to do, he uses his body to get what he wants. Right, he's using all of his force to not go into the crater, drag me down the street or whatever it may be. You know he's not a sweet little cuppy cake who just needs love and affection. If that were the case, these dogs wouldn't end up in the shelters. So I have a very realistic approach as far as you. You know rescuing dogs go, I hope, to be involved in the world to a bigger capacity. Someday We'll just kind of, you know, see what that looks like and see where this crazy journey takes me.
Speaker 1:So for now it's just me and River in the van hanging out. He's doing much, much better. He's been on antibiotics for about two weeks now, so I don't believe that he's contagious anymore. He's not like coughing or anything, but we're just going to keep up with his antibiotics until I'm 100% certain that he is not going to get anybody sick, and even after then we'll probably take another two weeks until we integrate him with any of our dogs and really, really no rush there. I do want to get him into a home, but I want to implement some training with him first and, speaking of that, I'm going to be recording our entire training process with River, our entire training process with River.
Speaker 1:So if you would like to watch that and if you would like to hear a few more exclusive podcast episodes, join our community. You can check out the link on my website. We've got the option to get a free seven days to our community. We've got everything from loose lead walking to e-collar conditioning everything that you need to train your dog at home plus an awesome community of trainers, like-minded owners who are there to support you along the way. So it's more than just courses. It really is a community of awesome people. So I'll include the link in the show notes for our community.
Speaker 1:I'm also putting something together for a fund for rescue dogs. I'm not sure what that looks like yet but of course I'll keep you guys in the loop. As that happens, I know a lot of you guys have reached out, you know, asking how you can help support River or support the shelter that he came from. I'm not really sure about that yet, but I do want to, you know, take this as an opportunity to put something together to help dogs in need. So I'll keep you in touch on that. And a little housekeeping and a little housekeeping.
Speaker 1:January I believe January 6th is our next virtual shadow program. So we just wrapped up our last virtual shadow program of the year. We had an awesome group of people and we're going to open up our next one the start of January. So applications for that are already open. Check out the website, the everyday trainercom, to apply for that and schedule your phone call with us. You can also see all of our other resources on the website.
Speaker 1:So if you haven't already, go and check out my website.
Speaker 1:I have lots of good stuff on there. We've got blog posts, we've got the podcast on there, all the stuff that we've got going on all the stuff that we've got going on. And lastly, tori and I have teamed up to help dog trainers. So we've started another business called the Trainers Collective and essentially it's a little community of dog trainers growing their businesses. So we are offering consulting, community builds if you want to build your own community website builds pretty much everything that you see we do with the Everyday Trainer we can help you do in your own dog training business. So if you want to check that out, you can visit trainerscollectivecom and schedule a call with us. As always. Thank you guys, so so much for being here. I apologize for, you know, getting this podcast out to you so late. I always try to be as consistent as possible but you know, sometimes I'm just having a nervous breakdown and I'm like, hey, maybe this isn't the best thing to release. So thank you guys so much and we'll see you back here next week.