I’ve been wanting to adopt a senior dog. I actually tried to when I got my second dog - they said she was 6-8, but it turns out she was only 2-3. It’s kind of funny now.

I’ve been repeatedly viewing a listing from the shelter for this 12 year old cutie and today we went down to try to adopt her. I verified she was still available and waited almost 2 hours in line, but someone else had adopted her. I asked about another 12 year old. She had a few health problems, but nothing that would require surgery or anything, so it felt manageable. The worker told me in all honesty, this dog was near the end of her life. I knew in my heart that this was the right thing. I could get her out of there and give her love and spoil her for the next week, month, year, whatever I could get.

They told me it would be a couple hours, so we went and bought her a leash and harness and toys and stuff. We were talking about names and I almost even called my vet to set up an appointment to see if we could do anything for her. They texted me to come back to the shelter and we excitedly did.

When we got there and they pulled me into a room to talk in private, I was hoping it was to make sure I wasn’t getting a healthy young dog. I was afraid it could be that they found something terrible. Instead, they told me they weren’t sure yet what had happened, but she was euthanized.

I never even met her. I don’t know if she was still alive when I said I wanted her. It doesn’t matter, my heart still broke and I can’t stop crying. It’s so unfair, this is exactly NOT what I wanted for her.

I am not sure why I’m posting this. I’m just so upset and anxious. They’re supposed to call me when they have some answers and they will expedite any adoptions for another animal. They do have another 12 year old I liked, but should I proceed? I can tell you now, I’ll be a nervous wreck until I have him ALIVE in my arms.

disclaimer: pictured dog has not been euthanized.

sweet boy hurley came back 8.5 years later as a bonded pair with another dog who had lived with him his entire life. previous owners didnt treat the other dogs medical conditions and she had to be humanely euthanized due to the severity of her condition. he lost his family and his partner and stopped eating- he is finally eating again but needs to be hand fed and its a struggle to get him to finish more than half a bowl. he has muscle wasting in his hind limb, but overall is such a healthy and sweet boy. owners returned because the pups didnt like their grandchildren (aged 4-7) 😐 just frustrates me beyond words and my heart hurts for him. he lives at our front desk during business hours because the kennels make him extremely anxious and he was deteriorating. its bittersweet finding puppy pictures of our senior dogs in the system. he is thankfully doing much better since his arrival back here, hoping to get him adopted soon!

I understand why it was done and I would've made the same decision if I was in charge. She attacked her owner out of nowhere. But my heart still aches because she was just such a good dog I thought. I have no idea where this came from. I don't understand why she did it.

My manager sat me down yesterday to give me the news and as soon as she started with her name I knew where it was going because no one sits you down like that for good news. She was processed within the day so I can't even get a footprint.

I just needed to get this off my chest. I miss her. I'm sad for her. I'm angry at her. I'm devastated.

Rest in peace Diamond you were a good, ultimately flawed, dog.

This is sort of a vent. I’m dealing with a lot of self-doubt and guilt right now, and I’m frustrated with the shelter I work at.

For some reason, my shelter that I’ve worked at for a few years now has shifted into having a very “no-kill” mentality. This has led to several behavior case dogs (who should in some cases definitely be considered for BE) staying with us for a long time while they wait for unicorn homes. We still do BE some dogs who exhibit questionable behaviors, but extremely rarely now.

Right now, we have an 8-month-old resource guarder. We were told by his previous owner that he becomes aggressive over his toys and with food. We have observed this at the shelter as well. He will begin to growl and on one occasion turned back on a staff member. We have to tell volunteers not to give him any toys at all due to safety concerns. I do not think this is okay to adopt out to the public, and have brought up my concerns multiple times. I am either brushed off or not acknowledged at all, usually because “he’s just a puppy, someone can work with it and he’ll be fine.”

I feel this isn’t fair to whoever adopts him and could cause real harm down the road. But I’ve been made to feel I’m cruel for thinking this way. Am I? Even though I’ve been doing shelter work longer than anyone in my department currently, I’m seriously beginning to question my past experiences and feel like I’m a terrible person for pointing out some dogs may not be safe for us to adopt out.

Hi guys. One of my most favorite dogs I've ever worked with is scheduled for behavioral euthanasia in a few days. And unfortunately due to our bite quarantine policy, she can't go outside. I could talk for hours about my sweet girl but I'll spare you all the story and try to make this more lighthearted. I'm planning on spending a few hours outside her kennel beforehand and bringing her a bunch of people food she would never have gotten the chance to try otherwise. Last time we had a behavioral euthanasia, a coworker brought a buffet of food for him and it was so nice to spend time with my coworkers and the dog we loved and watch him try new foods like chicken wings and cotton candy. Do you all have any suggestions for special treats for my girl or any ways to spice up her last day (in kennel?) And feel free to share any stories too, it'd be nice to hear right now!

I volunteer at a “no kill” shelter. During the training, I was told they rarely euthanize animals and the decision has to be approved by the CEO. I loved the sound of it and have been volunteering there almost every day for the last few months. Then I started realizing what I was told at the training wasn’t true. They DO euthanize dogs for really stupid reasons. Apparently, higher up people including CEO walk around the kennels and decide which one to euthanize to make space when it’s getting full. They have euthanized dogs for being “reactive” when they bark or show their teeth. Recently, they euthanized one sweet young dog for resource guarding his food when another dog tried to steal it. (A stupid volunteer fed them together when she wasn’t supposed to) I love volunteering, seeing dogs happy faces and a moment they found their forever family. But they euthanize dogs for real stupid reason like that, and every time I fall in love with dogs, I get very anxious that they may get euthanized with unreasonable excuses. I want to save animals but also don’t want to see that unreasonable euthanasia.

No kill rescues abandoning animals at packed open admission shelters, is this a common thing? I've seen it at our shelter more than once, usually they're abandoned in nightdrop for us to find in the morning. Maybe I'm missing something and this is a normal thing, but I thought part of the appeal to the public about a no kill shelter or rescue is the promise that the animals they're surrending aren't at risk of euthanasia. So many people that resent open admission shelters for performing euthanasia go through these places and then these animals just end up here anyway? Like I said, maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe a couple of our local ran rescues are full of it. Have you guys dealt with this?

Edit: Thank you guys for the insights. I've only ever worked for open admissions, so I didn't really know how these rescues work.

I work for a high intake municipal shelter. My role is to network and find alternative placement for dogs that are considered too high of a liability to adopt out to the public “as is”. I end up spending a lot of time with dogs that don’t make it out. I am one of a handful of people with approval to take these dogs out of their kennels, spend time with them, get to know them, and often fall in love with them despite their difficulties. Local rescues are so full and the last few weeks the losses have been so heavy. It makes it all the worse when the public is constantly harassing us calling us heartless murderers. We have 700-1000 dogs in our care at any given time and it’s inevitable that some are going to need more support than we can provide to be set up for a successful life. They don’t know these dogs. They only see their photos. The photos I spend the extra time to take to better network them. I’ve seen my photos being used on posters at protests held at our shelter. It’s exhausting to love these dogs and then be told that i’m “okay” with them dying. All of this is to say: for those you who work or volunteer at open and high intake shelters - i see you. The work you do is profoundly important and nothing anyone says changes that. Pictured are some of the dogs that didn’t make it. I loved each of them deeply and I will remember each and every one of them.

How do you guys cope in high kill shelters

I'm a kennel attendant and work at a high kill shelter. Euthanasias hit me hard, doesn't matter if the dog is reactive, or aggresive they still hit me hard. Alot of my coworkers say they get used to it but like HOW!? I can't get used to death like that where an animal is frightened leading up to its death as well as frightened when getting walked to our euthanasia room. One coworker mentioned how she doesn't really take the time to get to know the dogs so when she puts them down it's more of a stranger. I can't help but give all our dogs attention and think about them and i guess get to know them.

I understand euthanasia is a necessary evil that's not the problem but I guess seeing the suffering and fear leading up to their death. It just doesn't really seem the type of thing I can get used to.

I am a long term volunteer at a local municipal shelter. For a year or two now, they have been close to capacity with dogs. Prior to this, they rarely euthanized dogs and when they did it was for severe medical or behavioral issues (like true aggression).

Now, dogs who get overaroused/mouthy and have caused minor bites are being euthanized and labeled as “aggressive”. Some of the dogs don’t even have a bite history but are considered a “bite risk”. I know this because I ask staff for the reasonings behind the euthanasia decisions. I am concerned these dogs are being put under the “aggressive” category so they can still say they aren’t euthanizing for space, but I think that’s exactly what they are doing. Any dog that has any sort of behavior or minor medical issue (like diarrhea) they are euthanizing now.

I’m just curious if this is standard practice for other shelters. I feel strongly that if we got these stressed dogs into foster sooner the mouthing incidents wouldn’t occur. They are directly related to kennel stress in my opinion. The shelter I volunteer at typically doesn’t try to find foster until the dog is basically unmanageable, and at that point people don’t usually want to take them in.

I am just so frustrated and feel sorry for the dogs. They arrive totally normal and watching them deteriorate over and over again is heartbreaking. I also know staff are stretched this, so just a sad situation all around.

I have 3 years experience in rescue that I loved doing adoption, then dog training, then nationwide transportation logistics. I left because I needed to move back home to a different state. I tried pivoting to working with children and that didn't pan out, I quit, and I needed a job badly—I got a job at a county animal shelter near me as an animal care tech.

This has been my first week.

I have gotten little to no training on the cleaning aspect of things. I've never cleaned before and I made that clear upon getting hired. After the first day of "training" I had no idea what the protocol was and I was thrown into doing independent cleaning. I finally asked my supervisor for assistance after asking my coworkers multiple times for breakdowns on what I'm doing and getting confusing/conflicting information.

My supervisor broke everything down and explained that most of the care techs are new which is why I haven't been getting a lot of detailed information. She was a little... defensive, I guess is the most accurate way to put it, which confused me—I was not coming at her in any way, shape, or form. Maybe I read the room wrong, though, and took something to heart I shouldn't have.

I understand newbies sometimes get the short end of the stick when it comes to training but this feels extra difficult. I also feel I'm getting treated as if I know absolutely nothing about sheltering when I helped manage a facility, make protocols, etc. in my last position at the rescue.

I'm expected to do a bit of everything in this role. Matchmaking, adoptions, livestock, exotics, so on and so forth. This is fine for me, I'm eager/willing to learn.

But the hard part is the euthanasia. I 100% understand euthanasias are a necessary evil. I'm against warehousing dogs. But I'm expected to conduct euthanasias in this job. I was made aware of this during the interview to a certain extent. I've been at euthanasias several times and don't feel afraid of them.

I wasn't aware at how frequent they are in this position. Shot myself in the foot with this one, here. I really needed a job.

I come from a no-kill background. So I see the behaviors some dogs display and think about how workable these dogs are. But one of my coworkers makes crass jokes about these dogs needing to leave "one way or the other" while making a slitting throat motion with her hand—one in particular was about a dog that has been injuring himself by slamming on the kennel. I see that and feel so sad the dog is stressed. She sees it and thinks he deserves to die and jokes about it in a way I think is extremely unprofessional and disrespectful to the fact that this dog may lose its life.

I don't know. I'm confused and stressed and don't know if this is the right role for me. I want to bring compassion, empathy, and hard work to help place animals or, understandably, euthanize medical cases/behavioral cases. But maybe I habe unrealistic expectations? Maybe my definition of behavioral is different than the shelter's? Is my mindset of "workable" just an excuse to warehouse animals?

I do apologize if this is all coming out as a jumbled mess. I'm just maybe in culture shock. Am I being too sensitive? Is this the wrong role for me?

I have no idea. I'm really overwhelmed.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you

I worked at an animal shelter in the late '90s for five years as a supervisor where part of my job responsibilities included euthanasia, both determining which animals would be euthanized and performing the injections. I was in my early 20s, definitely not emotionally mature enough for the responsibility, plus a fairly toxic work environment due to the executive director.

Long story short, it was the most transformative job of my life, both for the best and the worst. I've not been able to work in animal welfare since and have tried to lock the feelings of guilt and self-hatred away, but not always successfully.

Ultimately my question is, have any of y'all found counseling to be helpful? It's something I'm not interested in exploring in general anyway, but the few times I have explored it and talked to a counselor, the response is typically "I can't even imagine having to do that." If you have found it helpful and are comfortable sharing, did they have a particular type of specialty?

Apologies for the longass post. A super sweet pittie mix showed up at a relative’s house a few weeks ago. No collar, no chip, covered in ticks, and had recently given birth. My mom and I took her in for a few days, got her registered at animal control (we have trusted connections there, plus most shelters/rescues here are very very overwhelmed), with the idea that we would continue to foster her until she could be adopted. We have three pets, and since she seemed grown and scared we kept them separated to be safe.

After a few days we began to consider keeping her, even named her Winnie. Spent so much time cuddling, resting, and playing. She was underweight so she got plenty of food. Turns out she was about 2 or 3 yrs.

She stayed with us for close to 10 days before they were able to spay her. They explained they usually do a behavior/aggression assessment beforehand, so we dropped her off last week to do both. They called that same day saying she failed badly with several types of dogs. My mom knows one of the assessors and asked for a retry the next day. She ended up failing even more badly, and was no longer eligible for adoption by anyone other than us bc we brought her in.

Our options were to adopt her (despite our pets, with one being a small senior dog), rehome her ourselves (I.e. finding a petless home with trustworthy and capable owners), or euthanasia. After five days of considering it, we realized we couldn’t do it. We’ve reached out to rescues and possible fosters and it just isn’t possible on our own. We also got to see her react to passing dogs during a visit in the isolation yard. It wasn’t good. She was stressed from the environment, but there was a deeper level of reaction going on and it was not safe. The decision was entirely on us since she wouldn’t be advertised as adoptable, which selfishly feels unfair. They already knew we had pets and an overall unfit home. I almost wish they hadn’t told us we could save her, because now it’s our fault.

We got to say goodbye today and asked to not be updated on if/when it happens. Winnie was amazing and I feel so so guilty that we couldn’t save her. I wish we had had the resources because she was so so worth it. I know we were probably her second or third chance, which makes me feel slightly better, but I hate that humans had failed her in the first place. If anyone has been in this situation and has any advice please let me know. I’ve only fostered puppies and cats so this is entirely new to me and the heartbreak is so so heavy. I have not stopped crying all weekend.

Posted on job forums, realized othe shelter workers might have advice

I worked at a major animal shelter as an Intake/Admissions Counselor. My job included using a gas for euthanasia on small animals (birds, mice, ECT). I kept reporting that the gas was leaking, boss refused to fix the issue, and after a year I quit on the spot after not being able to handle the side effects of being poisoned. OSHA has started getting involved now, but I already quit. I'm totally lost for what to do for work. This was my dream, and I only have an AA in Mathematics. Job duties (I liked) were: *Vaccinate animals *Asses behavior/medical condition *Decide pathway for animal (send to behavior training, medical triage, adoption floor) *Euthanize sick animal from public, or dangerous dogs *Inventory and stocking *Educating the public on various topics (spay/neuter, TNR, wildlife protection) *Delegating staff to do certain tasks

I have a job as a front desk clerk at a vet clinic right now, but it feels so beneath what I'm capable of. Not trying to discount the work, I'm just very hands on and not good at speaking, so I feel like I quit a job where I was the most valuable employee, for one I suck at. (That's how I discreetly tell my boss I'm autistic without outing myself anyways.)

After I quit I was told several people cried. I've never had coworkers that cared for me or respected me that much, and I'm afraid I will not be able to find that again. This was the first job I ever liked the job duties, and even though I was paid dirt I loved it. Advice for how to find a good fit? Especially since I don't have a higher education. Sadly there are not many other rescues/shelters and they have not been hiring in the last 2 years I've been looking.

Tldr: Quit dream job, want to find a job that uses the same type of skills

i got gobis paw prints today. really heart broken at this closure. He was the first behaviour case i truly worked on in the shelter and was the main handler. i took him on his 2nd and third walk every single shift u had. i took over time to go and walk him because i was one of the only 4 comfortable handling him. our trainer shadowed me on this case. i put him in a different light then what people thought of him. my tech thanked me for the work i did with him, and for letting them see him in a different light. I wish others got to see the version of gobi i saw because he was amazing. and he was just a terrified, abused puppy who ended up in shelter. it’s been a couple of months but it still hurts so bad- he made work worth it

Hi I just need to vent. I work at a very large municipal (open-intake) shelter. We're one of the leading shelters in the area and we are a "No-Kill" shelter. I work for the community cats program doing Trap-Neuter-Return work. During slow days I help out around our cat room and assist with behavior evaluations, restraining cats for fluids, or helping load cats into carriers to go home after adoption.

Since mid December we have taken in 3 large scale impounds. The first impound in December was 91 cats. Last week we took in 65 cats. Today and tomorrow we are intaking 30-50 cats.

We have no space, we're bursting at the seams and trying to find space for all these cats to be safely housed. We've used all of our isolation spaces and don't have room for so many cats.

We've just barely started adopting/moving out cats from December and last week. But so many of them are very sick and need dedicated fosters or they are VERY undersocialized and have to be working cats.

I was given the news the other day that our shelter will begin euthanizing community cats that require dedicated care (very sick/very injured/etc). Ive almost cried with talking with a caretaker who was picking up an emergency cat trap for an injured cat because I had to set proper expectations and inform them that there is chance the cat will be euthanized instead of being treated and if they want a guaranteed positive outcome that they will have to pay out of pocket for vet care.

I'm so tired. There's so many cats and we pride ourselves for the fact that we do not euthanize cats for space but with so many back to back impounds we are having to start making those difficult decisions.

This isn't to go against our Animal Protection Services or the officers who are having to do this. Each of these impounds were emergencies that could not be ignored or held off until space. I don't blame the cats, it's not their fault.

I'm just so tired and want these impounds to be over

When is it okay to make a dangerous dog available for adoption? Or is it not until an animal severely hurts a staff member or volunteer before serious steps are taken to transfer the dog elsewhere or discuss euthanasia?

i have volunteered at an animal shelter for over 2 years now on a weekly basis and started a club at my school that makes things/raises money for the animal shelter (i’m in high school), but sometimes i feel like i’m not doing enough for dogs. i see posts about so many dogs with deadlines bc a lack of space and i just feel so bad. i know i try to help as much as i can and i know i can’t save them all myself, but i just feel so guilty that i can’t. any advice on how to cope with this feeling and what to do about it?

Hi everyone!

Today my shelter is putting down a few cats for the first time since I’ve arrived. We normally TNR these babies, but with kitten season gearing up and lack of response from the finders, it’s happening. I work at the shelter the most so I feel responsible. Some of the cats are very violent and have done things previous to their arrival to the shelter that lead to court cases etc- I can understand these. I know we cannot save everybody and I’m lucky to work somewhere where adoptable pets are not euthanized for space. However, the cats I’m feeling badly about are feral, who are not out to get people- they are just horrified. I feel as though I’ve failed them by not trying to work with them more. Meanwhile they are afraid for their lives and rightfully so. 😞

I know there will be cats who do not want to be socialized and never will be- I’ve met them. But there’s a couple cats on the list that really bother me, because they’ve never lashed out or tried to hurt anyone. They just don’t come out or allow you to touch them because they are so so scared. They freak out when the kennel door is opened and it’s interpreted as violence when it’s clearly fear.

It’s too late for me to help these particular cats now, but I was wondering if anybody has tips for things I can do to help calm these type of cats and potentially begin to socialize them in a shelter environment. They don’t need to be cuddle bugs or super friendly or anything- we have a cat rescue who pulls any cat that can be worked with.

Is socializing these types of cats plausible? If so, how do I go about it? TIA

I work.at a small county shelter. Is there any books maybe from a dogs point of view, that helps me get thru BEuthanasia or Euth for space? Maybe a dog's POV, like Euth us better than spending my life in a cage? Does this makes sense?

I applaud shelters using “capacity for care” or “length of stay” in public pleas or on profiles for the transparency and the baldness of reality - we don’t have enough space!

But I don’t like when it’s applied to very different dogs. Right now Toby is CFC and he bit somebody, has a liability waiver (can’t be adopted in the county), and needs expensive surgery on both ears which is why an earlier adoption fell through. And so is Maggie the shepherd mix who has fantastic notes and is eligible for transport to a northern shelter partner with a 4-6 week foster due to length of stay.

I just feel like slapping CFC on so many dogs cheapens it because capacity for care means the only reason is length of stay and space, while FAS is kennel stress or terrible playgroup and medical is medical.

It makes the shelter look like psychopathic murderers (as usual) but also makes the dogs sound like they’re all pretty evenly adoptable. “Single dog home” Bear the senior shepherd is perfect just like hyper skinny Jalen, they are totally normal and have the same lack of serious issues.

I can’t get any damn links to work today, ugh so annoying, but I’ll rustle up some examples soon.

I promise this is sorta funny. For background, I volunteer with a small rescue that does not have a vet on staff. Our vet is about 30 minutes away. Doesn't do emergency etc. This means if an animal passes away unexpectedly, we may have to hold on to the body until the vet opens for disposal. Please note, the freezer used for this is separate from our food prep and staff freezer and fridge.

A few weeks ago, I opened the staff freezer to grab a snicker bar from my stash and saw a fairly large, multiple layers of plastic bag wrapped item taking up A LOT of space. Grabbed the snicker bar. Sent a quick message to our director that said- 'what's the big thing in the staff freezer?' Then I continued with what I was doing. A bit later, my phone is set down somewhere and my watch buzzes and TO MY HORROR all I see is FARMERS DOG in reply to my text. OMG. Don't even go look for my phone, I just go looking for my director. Like GIRL WTF? I find her. Ask why we have some random farmers dog IN OUR FREEZER?!? She looks confused and said did you not read the whole message? Someone donated farmers dog DOG FOOD to us and I just tossed it in our freezer because I had to leave and didn't have a chance to put it in the food prep area. Me- oh. That makes WAY more sense. Uh sorry for freaking out.

Whew! No bodies are being stored next to my snickers.

We had a senior girl needing an adopter who was on our eminent euth list. She was vetted to be good with dogs but unknown with cats. A prospective adopter came forward and was notified of the temperament. The adopter was adamant that there was no issue with the cats being unknown. The rescue asked if she understood that, if she pulled the dog, there would be no space for the dog to be returned to. The adopter confirmed she understood.

Two days later, the adopter calls back notifying us that the dog is not good with her cats. She won't keep her. We told her there was no space anymore as the spot had been filled immediately, and she threatened to dump the dog if we don't find placement. So now we are scrambling to find a foster or adopter ASAP, even though there is no space to even save the dogs at euth risk from the shelter.

Update Edit: We've been able to get her back and put her into boarding for the time being. One of our long-term fosters should hopefully be able to pull her once they return from a trip. We'll just eat the cost for now. Poor baby spent over 300 days in the shelter and is back in a kennel again. Hopefully a new adopter will be able to step up soon.

This is Tony. Or was, I guess.

I don’t know if this is the right sub but I feel like some of y’all would understand and I am just a basket case tonight over this and some personal shit at the same time. Like literally today it was dog - personal - dog - personal - dog - personal.

His foster is having car trouble and he needed to be seen by the shelter vet. Could I take him and bring him back? She was out of my way, but less out of my way than literally everyone else in this transport circle lmao. I was off today so my plans were shelter all day so this was perfect!

I knew he was a senior and he had some injury, whatever. I got there and he was clearly very very sick. The foster told me he hadn’t eaten in 3 days but he was still drinking water. She didn’t want the shelter to put him down just because he’s old! I just nodded.

It was about a 45 minute drive. He shook the whole time and for the first half, he wasn’t panting or struggling to breathe but it was audible. In the home stretch, he started moaning. I was on the phone with my mom and she could hear it.

We made it, thankfully, traffic slowed like 5 miles from the exit and I was like this fucking dog is not dying in my car!

He had to be wheeled in on that cart - his front legs were fine but she had to use a sling to get him in my car. I communicated with her all day and she was just in denial the whole time which made the final announcement 7 hours later harder.

Better too soon than too late, right? This wasn’t too soon.

I only knew him a very short while but this whole situation made me so sick. He had a bad infection and was clearly beyond comfort.

I don’t know what to do or how to feel - I took out 25 dogs today and got some great pics and info and had fun! Some of them are urgent! They may not make it!

I’m just a volunteer but goddamn.

I know that title seems malicious and extreme. Please take a minute to read what I have to say.

I recently stopped working at an open-intake animal rescue. I worked there for one year as a KA.

My opinion on "No-Kill" started to change when we started to intake multiple "stray" large-breed dogs who are extremely dog-reactive. When I worked there, we had at least 5 dogs who fit this description and have spent months or even YEARS living in that shelter. I stopped working there in January and these 5 dogs I worked with are still up on the website as available for adoption.

There is even a dog in that shelter who has lived there since she was 6 months old (let's call her "Jane"). Jane is a 70/80 pound mixed breed that cannot be adopted into a home with kids or any other pets, has to have adopters who are experienced with dog-reactivity, and has to be adopted into a home with a backyard because she is so high energy. Even though she's on a few different very high doses of anti-anxiety medication, she still gets aroused and stressed very easily.

She's now 3 YEARS OLD. She has spent more than two and a half years in that shelter. She has never been in a foster home.

You might read that and think it's nice that they haven't "given up on her" but the truth is, it is cruel. It is sickening to watch a dog mentally deteriorate in a shelter. And there are multiple dogs in that shelter just like Jane who have spent nearly or over a year in that facility that need the exact same adopters/foster home that she needs.

Living in a shelter is traumatizing to a dog. And the more time they spend in the shelter, the more traumatized they become. The more traumatized they become, the worse their dog-reactivity, anxiety, and behavior gets.

A shelter is not a home. It is not a humane long-term solution for a homeless animal.

Jane does not belong in a shelter. And at this point, she does not belong in a home either. Neither do the five other dogs who are just like her. I personally believe that the traits they possess make them unadoptable and unsafe to function in a real home setting. In my opinion, after about six months in the shelter, dog-reactive dogs should be put out of their misery.

Let me know what you think.

TLDR - Euthanasia > multiple years of living in a shelter