I’m assuming some of the families that adopted these dogs were able to correct the behavior with some real quality time.
But if anyone was bitten after receiving their new dog the city is open to lawsuits.
1 Statement of Jim Ludwick to the Office of the Inspector General, March 27, 2015There are four more pages like this at the Inspector General's report.EIGHT YEARS AGO, a little dog named Lienda was turned over to a city animal shelter. There was something medically wrong with Lienda, and its owner could not afford the expense of veterinary care.
Our staff fell in love with Lienda. They believed Lienda was so cute that she could easily be adopted if they could only save her life. It appeared there was an intestinal blockage. Our veterinarians discussed it, and they decided to operate on Lienda to see if the blockage could be removed. If not, the plan was to euthanize Lienda; she would not wake up from surgery.
Dr. John Romeo performed the operation, and he was able to save the little dog. It was a good day for ou r veterinary team. “Wagging tail,” a medical note said as Lienda began to recover from surgery. And just as expected, Lienda was quickly adopted into a loving home.
Three months ago, Lienda was horribly killed by a pit bull named Pappy, who had recently been released from a city animal shelter despite a history of aggression and repeatedly failing behavioral tests. During the attack, Pappy also bit Lienda’s owner when she tried to save her beloved little friend.
After the killing, Pappy was returned to the animal shelter, and I personally put him on a euthanasia list for public safety reasons. However, by the end of the day, Pappy had been removed from the euthanasia list on orders of the department director. Later, the director approved giving Pappy to a rescue group, who recently arranged for Pappy to be adopted by a family living on the West Side of Albuquerque.
Pappy was one of 215 dogs who left our animal shelters last year after failing a national-standard behavioral test that reveals dangerous tendencies. Eighty-three of those dogs were reclaimed by their owners; there is little we can do about the reclaim of owned pets. But 100 of the dogs were adopted into households, and 32 of the dogs, like Pappy, were turned over to rescue groups. The live exits accounted for 18 percent of all behavioral test failures. Still another dog who failed the behavioral test is listed on our kennel records as “missing.”
In conversations with me and others, the department director has belittled this issue, including the killing by Pappy and the biting of the owner. She says we should not be concerned if a dog in our shelters has a history of killing, especially if the victim was a small dog. We should become concerned only if the animal has killed large dogs, she told me and an animal-control lieutenant during a meeting in her office about two weeks ago.
In the past several years, our department has achieved successes on many fronts, and there are good reasons for the staff and the public to be pleased. But in reducing our euthanasia rate, mistakes have been made, and not enough has been learned from those mistakes. Our responsibility is not just to the animals staring us in the face as they stand in our cages. We have a responsibility to the animals and children who are out of sight and out of mind as we consider whether we will unleash dogs like Pappy. I believe our department has been negligent in handling that responsibility.
This is an issue that should be considered by the broader community, not by a small number of insiders, behind closed doors at the Animal Welfare Department, during meetings and conversations that are never revealed. That is why I am coming forward with this information, and why I am providing 1,079 internal memos, along with 190 pages of basic kennel records, that shed light on every instance last year when a dog was adopted or given to a rescue group after failing a standard behavioral test. Some of the cases are more dramatic than others, but I am unveiling the entire array of documents so that people can see the full picture and reach their own conclusions. I am proud to be joined in this effort by Carolyn Hidalgo, our department’s principal expert on dog behavior, who is providing her own statement separately.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE CASES you will see as you review the documents:
LuLu, a pit bull, failed behavioral tests three times. She was sent to foster care, but she killed the foster caregiver’s Chihuahua. She bit one of our shelter employees, then a month later bit another of our employees. LuLu was sent to the Lucky Paws adoption store at the Coronado shopping mall. She was adopted.
Sydney, a German shepherd, failed a behavioral test because of aggressiveness. “Lunged, barked, showed teeth,” a note said. Sydney was adopted afterward, but she was returned when she bit a 5-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. She was tested again and failed for being aggressive. Then she was adopted.
Tiger, a pit bull, was “animal aggressive, foamed at the mouth and tried to bite a test dog,” a note said. Ti ger was adopted. Three days later, an officer was called. Tiger was running in the street, and when the officer tried to catch him, Tiger ran into a group of children at an outdoor party and began growling. The officer told everyone to go inside the house, and he was able to capture Tiger. A few weeks later, an officer was called again when Tiger jumped into someone’s backyard. Tiger was growling and charged the officer, but was captured. Tiger was declared dangerous and was returned to the owner as a reclaim.
Kobe, a Labrador Retriever, was considered “very aggressive. … He is a bit scary,” a note said. Kobe was taken to an off- site adoption event. Kobe “went after a little girl and tried to bite her through the cage even though she was about 2 feet away f rom the dog,” a note said. Kobe was formally evaluated, failed the behavioral test and was put on a euthanasia list. But he was removed from the euthanasia list, and by the Christmas holidays he was at the Lucky Paws adoption store in the Coronado shopping mall. “He is not fond of children,” a note said, and four days before Christmas, another note said that Kobe “is now lunging at the glass even with his partition up, barks at people when they look into his kennel, he lunges at small children in his kennel when they peek over, and becomes highly fixated on other dogs when on walks (predatory behavior).” He was given to a rescue group.
Bruno, a pit bull, “is going crazy in kennel. I tried to get him out and he bit my hand twice,” a note said. Another note said that Bruno “almost bit me. … He started charging other kennels and biting at the fence. … This dog appears frustrated in kennel and has a very good chance of biting someone.” He was adopted.
Smokey, a Rhodesian ridgeback, was adopted but was returned two hours later, after trying to kill the family cat. He was considered food aggressive, growled and snapped at an employee, and “should most definitely NOT go home with any children,” various notes said. We gave Smokey to Animal Humane New Mexico.
Sadie , a pit bull, earned a harsh note in her file after failing a behavioral test. “Dog is very animal aggressive!!! Immediately went to attack other dog when she saw the other dog,” the memo said. Sadie was adopted two days later.
Slate, an Australian cattle dog, earned this warning: “no small children or rough big kids. He also doesn’t like men.” And Slate apparently wasn’t fond of women either. He bit a woman on the face at our animal shelter, and he tried to bite another woman as well. Slate was given to a rescue group.
Stackx, a pit bull, failed the behavioral test due to animal aggression. He tried to bite the assessor, then he lunged at another dog, snapping, barking and fixated. He was adopted two days later.
Oden, a pit bull, was adopted by a family but was returned the same day. At the family’s home, Oden leaped from the floor at the father and bit the man’s arm. He snapped at a grandson, and he went after horses in a field. Back at the animal shelter, Oden failed a behavioral test by trying to bite the assessor on three occasions. He was adopted.
Tanuki, a Siberian husky, was returned by an adopter when he killed a neighbor’s cat and was aggressive with a baby. He failed a behavioral test. Then he was adopted, but he was returned after attacking a dog and a cat. Tanuki went to a rescue group.
Taz, a pit bull, injured three employees who were moving him out of his cage. He was “biting and chewing on the fence and pushing at the gate with all teeth showing,” a note said. “Taz aggressively grabbed one employee by the hand at the gate, leaving a small abrasion. Taz attacked another staffer by the leg, grabbing the pants, and tried to yank him into the kennel. … The third employee was injured by the gate as Taz yanked his arm. … He also took blankets tha t he could yank out of the kennel on his way past other dogs, attacking their cages aggressively.” When an attempt was made to conduct a behavioral test, it had to be stopped for safety reasons, and the leash was left on Taz because it was too dangerous to take it off. Taz was adopted.
Mia, an American bulldog, was surrendered to the animal shelter for attacking and killing a dog. She was adopted five days later.
Mamba, a boxer, was surrendered to the animal shelter for killing a puppy. Mamba was adopted 18 days later, and was returned because of behavior problems.
Several things may be at play. The pace and configuration of much of American society has escalated to the point where:
Dogs cannot roam freely any more and are made neurotic by being in houses all day long while owners work;
Owners still acquire large dogs and then keep them pent up in houses all day long;
Because of being away from the house all day, many owners do not assume the proper responsibility to spend time training the dog;
As "authoritarian" behaviors have been replaced by metrosexual, "anything goes" behaviors, owners often do not know how to be an assertive pack leader who can swiftly overrule bad behavior with eye contact and a firm, brief command. You hear people begging their dogs to behave the same way they beg their children to please stop having tantrums in a restaurant. It's pathetic.
As a result, the poor dogs are paying a price. Am I the only townhome owner who has to hear a dog down the block howling and crying all day long until its owners get home? Then there are the owners who believe that shouting at a dog is an acceptable substitute for stopping bad behavior, and they passive-aggressively shout at the dog while continuing to allow the dog to menace a neighbor or a neighbor's small child becasue they are too lazy to take the dog by the collar and restrain them. They think their loud verbal disapproval is sufficient.
I suggest that pounds and shelters should ask about square footage in the home and yard and the owner's experience with dogs before allowing a large, naturally aggressive dog to be placed in a dense urban area or townhome community with an inexperienced or "untrained" owner.
My daughter has worked with a private, non profit rescue organization and fostered a number of rescued dogs (mostly pits and pit mixes).
I can say that in this instance the dogs are carefully vetted and if there are any doubts they are not put up for adoption.
The city’s dog handling facilities and operations are another matter, something of a mess last I heard. But in their case, one of the problems is more that they are probably putting down a number of dogs that don’t need to be.
Dogs have to be vetted on a number of qualities and then potential adopters are sorted by their situations so that the dogs are not put into an environment that conflicts with their personal attributes. Something most clueless dog owners don’t / didn’t do when they got their dogs.