How to Choose the Right Dog for Your Family from your Local Animal Shelter
Walk through your local shelter with A PLAN!
Avoiding Common Adoption Mistakes
Step 1: Matching Your Family’s Lifestyle to the Right Type of Dog
Step 2: Meeting and Evaluating Your “Candidate” Dogs
Homeward Bound - Making Your New Dog Feel at Home
Introduction
There are about 5000 animal shelters in the United States. About 5 million dogs enter these shelters each year, and more than half must be euthanized. A surprisingly small percentage of dogs who enter these shelters - only about 15% - are returned to their owners. Some shelters have policies which restrict the killing of dogs for non-medical reasons, but most of these “No-Kill” shelters must frequently turn dogs away because of overcrowding.
Some dogs brought to animal shelters are there because of bad luck such as owner divorce, allergic kids, owner moving to an apartment with a “no dogs” rule, and so on. Others are there for behavioral reasons such as fear, aggression, rowdiness and housebreaking issues.
As professional dog trainers, we at Canine Dimensions frequently visit animal shelters. We have established training programs at local shelters to help teach volunteers how to handle shelter dogs without being injured, and how to evaluate the temperament and personalities of dogs. Our certified dog trainers perform hundreds of temperament tests of shelter dogs each year.
There are simple and very effective methods that you can use to select the dog that’s right for you. What follows is a “system” for picking a good dog for you and your family from the many that you will encounter on trip to your local shelters. Remember, your goal is not to find the perfect dog but rather the dog that's perfect for you. Let's get started!
Fortunately, thousands of dogs are rescued from animal shelters every day and welcomed into loving homes. One of the greatest rewards that we here at Canine Dimensions Home Dog Training frequently experience, is that we can often – through our home dog training programs - keep dogs in their adoptive homes.
Going to the animal shelter can be a heart wrenching experience when you see how many wagging tails are just looking for a good home. If you have decided to adopt a pet dog from a local rescue organization or animal shelter, you are about to save a life! Many people feel that shelter dogs make the best pets. Some of the best dog and owner relationships that we have seen, first started in a local shelter.
But there’s also the other side of the coin – people sometimes go to the shelter and pick the “wrong dog”.
One walk through an animal shelter and you’ll discover that it’s not easy to decide which dogs should be put on your list of candidates. Choosing a dog that’s right for your family is no simple task. You are likely to be overwhelmed by the large number of dogs you will encounter. In fact, without a plan, the odds are against finding one who is a really good match. With so many dogs to choose from, it makes a lot of sense to take a logical approach rather than an emotional one. It’s easy to adopt a dog, but it takes a little effort and work to find the right dog; right for your family, your lifestyle and for your experience level.
We meet families every day who have made the decision to adopt a dog. Canine Dimensions home dog trainers have trained thousands of dogs and their owners. Most times, the dog and its new family can learn to live together happily. Unfortunately, we have also seen people make some very poor choices and end up with aggressive dogs, dogs with serious anxiety and fear issues, and dogs who are simply not a good match for the family. In most cases we have been able to help the owner avoid having to return the dog to the shelter – but this is not always possible.
Walk through your local shelter with A PLAN!
Without a plan, it can be very easy to give up. You may find yourself walking out of the shelter overwhelmed and confused by the number of choices and dogs that look like they would make a good family pet. A common statement heard each day by shelter workers is “I wish I could take all of them!” No one with a heart for animals could feel any other way.
This statement, while well meaning, shows a lack of understanding about one key point – MATCHING YOUR FAMILY TO THE NEW DOG MUST BE DONE CORRECTLY! It’s almost like searching for a spouse – there are many factors that either make us well matched or poorly matched.
Shelter workers sadly report that some adopted dogs are returned to the shelter by their new owners only days or weeks later. You can AVOID this tragedy by applying the system and methods which follow. Knowing how to evaluate dogs before you decide to bring one home will greatly increase your odds of success.
Clients often call our dog trainers and ask for help in finding the right dog. The following strategy has been used to find some really great dogs over the years for them, so let's get started.
Avoiding Common Adoption Mistakes
People who adopt dogs are among the most unselfish, well-intentioned, kind hearted pet lovers and owners on the planet. It takes a good heart to rescue a dog. But over the years we have met many intelligent people who have made disastrously poor choices when deciding which dog to bring home from the shelter. Use your heart to decide that you want to rescue a dog, then, use your head when choosing which one.
Here are some of the most common mistakes people make when deciding which dog to adopt:
Mistake #1: Choosing a Dog With Your Heart (Instead of Your Head)
Don’t adopt on impulse. Follow a plan. Do not make this important decision based solely on emotion.
Mistake #2: “Rescuing” the Fearful, Trembling Dog in the Corner
While a certain amount of fear is common in new arrivals to a shelter, a dog with chronic fear (we’ll teach you how to tell the difference below) is a poor match for anyone but an experienced trainer or behaviorist. We call a dog that is fearful, cowering, and emotionally distraught a “Project Dog”. Don’t take on a “Project Dog” unless you have the time, money, patience and a commitment for training.
Mistake #3: Not Paying Attention to Advice from the Shelter Staff
The shelter staff can often provide quite a bit of valuable information about the dogs under their care. In essence, the shelter staff is acting as the “foster parents” of the dogs there at that time. Before getting into specifics about any particular dog, it's always a good idea to get to know them a little bit first by asking them questions in a friendly and curious manner about how long they have been there and how they came to work at the shelter. Also, remember people that generally like to talk about themselves and also love to give advice. If you encourage them to tell their story and also put in their two cents by allowing them to give their opinion, they can be a source of invaluable information. Asking questions is a great place to start. Engage them in conversation by asking specific questions, and listening carefully to the answers. Many of these people are volunteers who are dedicated to helping people and pets. Take advantage of their knowledge and expertise. Specific questions like, “We have a lot of little kids running in and out of the house all day. Which dogs here would be OK with that?” Try to get specific answers. Those that really bond with certain dogs and want them to get adopted will tell you a lot about the dog if given a chance to give their opinion and advice.
Many shelters and animal adoption centers utilize standardized screening protocols like the ASPCA’s “Meet Your Match” (MYM) tests. Shelter staff uses MYM to assess a number of factors in pet dogs. Things like food aggression, separation anxiety can be identified when the tests are done right. Those multicolored cards used as part of the MYM tests (usually posted in front of each kennel) can give you valuable clues about the dogs in their care. MYM cards say things like “I’m a Goofball” or “I’m a Couch Potato” or “I’m a Teacher’s Pet” and more. These cards represent the results of evaluations that have been done by shelter staff according to ASPCA testing standards.
Be sure to take advantage of the dedication and skill that shelter employees and volunteers possess. But a word of caution, be careful not to make –
Mistake #4: Listening Too Much to Shelter Staff
Ultimately, the decision to add a particular dog to your family is a decision that only you can make. Take good counsel from shelter staff but don’t delegate your decision to anyone else.
Mistake #5: Forgetting to Ask the Most Important Question
Selecting a dog is like any other decision. You start with a big list of choices and you narrow it down to a select few. In dog selection, the single most important factor in separating the wheat from the chaff is this: sociability. Measuring sociability is done by determining the dog's desire to seek out the company of others and seeing how friendly and pleasant the dog is.
Very now and then one of our dog trainers will visit a client who has adopted a profoundly insecure, or unsociable, or sometimes even a downright nasty dog. When we ask them whether they received any input from shelter workers before deciding to take Cujo home with them, we usually get the same answer, “I didn’t ask.”
It’s YOUR JOB to ask the right questions. Be sure to ask this one: “Who’s the friendliest dog you have here?” The answer may be something like, “What do you mean?” Your response: “You know, outgoing, likes everyone, very friendly, family oriented, affectionate” Put these dogs on your short list. So now we have our short list of “recommended candidates” from the shelter staff we do what any smart person does, we verify (you’ll be doing this in Step 2 - Evaluation and Testing). But before you’re ready for the evaluation, be sure you have completed Step 1 -
Step 1: Matching Your Family’s Lifestyle to the Right Type of Dog
Picture the PERFECT dog for your family. Before even thinking about going to the shelter, please do the following - gather everyone together and ask each family member to name the characteristics that make up the perfect dog. Maybe everyone will agree and this will be an easy exercise, but if your family is anything like mine there will be a wide variety of opinions on this subject. In general the most likely answer will be that the perfect dog for your family is a playful but quiet, shaggy but short haired, big but small, male but female, young but not too young, older but not too old lovable dog. This would be a dog your daughter can jog with who also enjoys sitting by the fire with your wife. A calm dog who enjoys playing fetch with your son who also happens to be very smart, but not smart enough to figure out how to open up the trash can.
Try to picture the perfect dog but make a list according to your priorities. You’re probably going to have to compromise on a few things, but starting out by identifying what the perfect dog looks like to your family is a valuable exercise, well worth the time.
We suggested the above exercise – making a list of what you want in a dog - to a family a few years back and after lots of open discussion during the family meeting, they decided the perfect dog for them was – a cat! True story. The process of talking things over helped them realize that their busy lifestyle would make it hard to care for a dog, but a cat was perfect for them.
Another tool to help facilitate your family discussion is the “breed selector quiz.” There are many “breed selector quizzes” online. Take one or two of them and that will give you a good starting point for the breeds that best match your idea of the perfect dog:
Why take the time to research purebred dogs when most of the dogs in shelters are mixed breeds? There are several reasons. Some purebred dogs enter shelters and are immediately placed into foster care by breed-specific rescue organizations. If your choice comes down to a certain breed, contact the local rescue group for that breed. You can find them online by entering the breed and your area into a search engine (e.g. “German Shepherd rescue, NJ”).
Even though most shelter dogs are mixed breeds, there are also quite a few “high mixes” – dogs who are predominantly one breed.
And finally, the process of answering the questions in a breed selector quiz will help everyone in the family agree on what type of dog is right for you – things like size, activity level, shedding and so on – are important to think about, and the breed selector quizzes help you do that.
Once everyone agrees what the “perfect” dog looks like, you are ready to begin your search for that dog. It is likely that there will some compromises along the way, since the perfect dog, like the perfect husband or wife, is hard to find. So, be sure to divide your “wish list” of traits into 2 categories: things that are negotiable, and things that are not. For example, you might decide that size and sex and not that important, but overall friendliness and playfulness are a must.
Groups and Breeds
The American Kennel Club (AKC) has “grouped” the breeds they recognize into the following categories: Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting, Herding and Miscellaneous. Groups of dogs share some common traits. Sporting dogs generally tend to be “biddable”, meaning they are bred to work with man and to do his bidding. Hounds follow their noses. Working dogs include guard dogs like Doberman Pinschers, who tend to be aloof with strangers. Terriers are tenacious and follow movement. Toy breeds are bred for companionship. Herding dogs are bred to “herd” animals.
Within each group, and even within each breed, there is a wide array of temperament and personalities. Each dog is an individual, with a personality and a temperament determined by genetics and environment. So when it comes to temperament and personality, be careful not to stereotype by breed. Instead, use the information you get from shelter staff, along with your own observations and the results of the evaluation process outlined in Step 2, to help you make a decision. (One exception: we suggest that extra care be taken when considering Chows and Chow-mixes for adoption into families with small children. Our trainers have noted a disproportionately high percentage of temperament problems, including aggression, with Chows and Chow-mixes.
WARNING: ANY DOG CAN BITE. The use of the following methods and techniques may result in injury. The reader assumes all risks associated with the use of this material.
Step 2: Meeting and Evaluating Your “Candidate” Dogs
OK, so now you have a picture of the dog you would like to bring home. Be prepared to have all this logic totally swept aside the minute you step foot through the door of your local animal shelter. You will hear barking – lots of barking. You will walk down corridors of cages to your left and right, some with dogs barking furiously, others with dogs sitting politely. You will wish you could take them all home. And none of them, at first glance, fits your “perfect dog” model. Don’t panic. Remember, the dog you might take home will have the “non-negotiable” traits you have identified above, but it is unlikely that any dog will perfectly fit your model. You will be amazed though at how many dogs are close enough to what you are looking for in a dog to consider them.
You ask a few specific questions to the shelter staff, and if you’re lucky, they point you toward a couple of close matches. But the final decision is yours, and now it’s your job to “interview” each of the candidate dogs, just as you would interview a person for a job. These candidates can’t talk, so they must answer your “questions” non-verbally. Dogs communicate in thousands of subtle non-verbal signals handed down from their ancestors, wolves.
Dozens of books have been written on this subject and it takes years of experience to learn to accurately interpret canine body language. However, it is possible for the average person to learn enough to help them evaluate dogs in a shelter setting, and that’s what the following information covers. It teaches you to look for and recognize some signs and signals that dogs display when you meet them for the first time.
If at any point in the test you observe threatening or aggressive behavior, end the test and move on to the next dog.
If things are moving along smoothly and a dog is doing fairly well, run through the complete test with the dog and examine the total score, rather than basing your decision on just one or two test items. A scoring guide is given at the end of the test. Also, for your convenience we have included a matrix or ready made scoring chart right after the scoring guide. You can print it out and use the guide on multiple dogs. This enables you to compare behavior and will give you a written record for reference
The more dogs you evaluate the better you will become at reading their behavior.
You will need to bring a tennis ball, a tug rope and some high-value food treats (e.g. hot dogs, liver treats, etc.). Don’t let the dog see or smell any of these items until it’s time.
A) Approach The Kennel.
3 Points: The dog shows a friendly interest in you. He moves to the front of the cage. Open mouth, happy expression and a nice, low, sweeping wag of the tail, are all good signs. Jumping up on the cage door in a friendly way is another sign of sociability.
2 Points: A high “flag” with the tail, with short fast movement, means the dog is a little too stimulated by your arrival and is possibly warning you to back off.
1 Point: The dog completely ignores you.
0 Points: The dog cowers and moves away, showing fear; or
the dog lunges at the cage door, barks and/or snarls angrily, growls, or freezes up stiffly displaying the whites of his eyes.
B) Ask the kennel worker to bring the dog to the screening area. (Shelters usually have a room or an outside area specifically set aside for these meetings.) Once inside this private screening area, stand about 4 feet from the dog, facing in his direction but not looking directly at him. DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE DOG AND DO NOT TALK TO THE DOG. Wait 30 seconds. During these 30 seconds watch for the following:
3 Points: The dog makes gentle physical contact with you. A sniff, a gentle rub or nudge to get your attention.
2 Points: The dog jumps up on you in a friendly way.
1 Point: The dog ignores you.
0 Points: The dog hides behind the kennel worker, or barks angrily at you, or makes dominant physical contact with you (e.g. a hard nose bump, jumps up and mouths you, etc..)
C) After the 30 seconds have elapsed, stand directly in front of the dog, bend over slightly and make direct eye contact with the dog, saying nothing.
3 Points: A visibly friendly reaction such as a low tail wag, or a move in order to get closer to you or a play bow (front end on floor, rear end in the air).
2 Points: Dog looks away.
1 Point: Dog stares back at you, or barks at you.
0 Points: Angry or fearful reaction, e.g. tail tucked, or a high-held “flagging” tail, or a growl.
D) Pet the dog 3 times - from his neck to his tail - long, slow strokes. Pause exactly 2 seconds between each stroke.
3 Points: Dog moves closer to you or leans up against you between strokes.
2 Points: Dog ignores the petting but stays in place.
1 Point: Dog gets excited, tail wags fast, jumps up to demand more attention.
0 Points: Dog stiffens and/or growls and/or moves away between strokes.
(Note: If the dog is doing well and has been enjoying the meeting so far, proceed with the next step. If not, end the test here. If the dog scores a “0” on any of the following items, end the test immediately.)
E. Crouch down and pet the dog again, while talking softly to the dog.
3 Points: Dog moves closer to you, tail wags.
2 Points: Dog ignores the hug but stays in place.
1 Point: Dog gets excited, tail wags fast, and/or jumps up to demand more attention.
0 Points: Dog stiffens and/or growls and/or moves away.
If the dog scores a “0” in the above item, end the test.
F) Handle the dog’s front paws, gently but firmly, for about 5 seconds each.
3 Points: The dog tolerates this.
0 Points: Stiffening, hackling, growling, barking, mouthing, snapping, excessive startling or fear.
Assuming he has made it this far without showing aggression or excessive nervousness or fear, your candidate dog is now ready to tell you little bit more about himself. That brings us to the final test items:
G) Evaluate the dog’s play drive, prey drive and food drive.
Speak in a pleasant, high pitched voice and move around a bit as you produce the tennis ball. Toss it past him and see if he chases it. Does he ignore it? Does he get it and run away, or bring it back to you? Next, take out the tug rope and “tease” him a bit. See if he will play tug with you. Your goal is to see if his drives match your wish list in terms of activity level. A dog that is “ball crazy” is probably going to enjoy chasing critters in the back yard (prey drive).
A dog that will play tug with a total stranger (you) has pretty good play drive, so he may not be a couch potato if that’s what you’re looking for.
Finally, present a high value food treat such as a piece of hot dog, and ask the dog to sit. If he won’t take the treat he may have been be a bit more stressed by the preceding test items than you had thought. If his interest in you intensifies after he takes the treat, that’s good news - a dog who is very food motivated will be easier to train using positive rewards.
Total possible points = 3 (Score 1 point each for the “right” reaction, i.e. one that matches your desired activity level, on the ball and tug test. Score 1 point if he takes the food treat.)
Now, total all points scored!
Scoring Guide:
18 to 21 Points Excellent
14 to 17 Points Good
9 to 13 Points Fair
Below 9 Poor
Regardless of the above total, the dog has not passed the test if:
The dog showed extreme fear (trembling, shaking, hiding, avoiding contact) at any point; OR
The dog behaved aggressively (growling, snarling, snapping, or prolonged stiffening) at any point; OR
The dog showed little or no sociability (friendliness) during the test. This is an extremely important point. It might take a little while for some dogs to “warm up” but the dog must show some sociability by the end of the test. Look for an overall attitude of friendliness on the part of the dog. There should be a noticeable desire to connect with you. This is an extremely important characteristic. If the dog scored well numerically, but you’re not convinced that he showed sufficient sociability, come back in a day or so and re-test the dog from start to finish.
This may seem like a lot of work, but in the end you are deciding on adding a new member to your family.