Police animal shelter adoption?

Submitted by otterinprogress t3_yglcza in rva

Without giving too much away, because pet adoption is strangely competitive…

My husband and I are interested in adopting a specific young dog from one of the county police shelters. This is a stray who has been held for the appropriate amount of time to try and reunite them with their original family, but the effort was unsuccessful and no one has claimed them.

Because of this, there is no history on the animal - but as I said they’re only about 1 year old.

The representative I spoke with reported this dog is seemingly friendly, calm in the shelter/kennel, and by all indications was a family pet prior to becoming a stray.

Because of how the police shelter operates, this dog has not been socialized and there’s no true indication of how it will interact with other dogs or cats.

We have one dog-friendly cat at home, and specifically want a dog who can at least interact with other dogs without being aggressive. We do not have any intention of getting a second dog, ever, but do enjoy taking pets to parks, on hikes, and if their temperament seems appropriate and other animals seem to be interacting appropriately - the occasional dog park or group play time with family/friends’ dogs. They don’t have to be instant best friends, this dog just needs to not be in attack mode around other dogs.

All this being said, there’s really no way to gauge this dog’s temperament with other animals until the adoption has taken place.

Have you had experience adopting a young dog with a relatively unknown history? How did it turn out?

With respect, please stay on topic. I’m not here to argue the merits (or lack thereof) of police shelters, county animal control, families who abandon pets, families who do not microchip their pets, dog parks, leash laws, or whether or not you feel we’re prepared to take on an adoptive pet. I know my household, my history, and my capacity to care for a pet and provide them a loving home. Having a pet is a privilege, not a right, and I treat it as such.

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ellipumpkinpuff t1_iu9fhdu wrote

I have adopted two dogs with unknown histories and they ended up doing well with our cats (one is more dog savvy than the other but the less savvy one is able to easily jump up and get away if needed). Neither of the dogs were “cat tested” the way that they do it at a place like RACC we were just told they seemed to do ok with smaller animals.

I would just say it’s true that you don’t ultimately know what you’ll get personality wise and have to decide when getting any pet if you’re willing to do some training. We just had to do some trial and error on things like dog parks and see how it went after getting to know the animal.

Shelters give the rule of 3s: https://www.rescuedogs101.com/bringing-new-dog-home-3-3-3-rule/ this has a nice info graphic.

Lastly I’ll just say we got shepherd mixes and they were true to the breed in terms of personality. It’s not always an exact match with breed and temperament but it can give an idea of what you’ll get and how easy training will be.

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otterinprogress OP t1_iu9gzns wrote

Thanks! Great insights here - I agree about breed specific traits being “a thing” for a reason.

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ellipumpkinpuff t1_iu9hlqc wrote

Absolutely. And it’s funny I would’ve had the same criteria you listed but our first dog ended up not being good with other dogs but he was my shadow and best friend.. sometimes you connect and then your criteria changes. We couldn’t bring him out to hang with friends but when I was home there was no better companion by my side! Hope you find a good fit for you and your family soon!

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otterinprogress OP t1_iu9j5uh wrote

Thanks! My husband brought his 6 year old pointer into our relationship, and I/we lived with that dog another 8 years. She was wonderful with people but could have zero interaction with other dogs - not even on walks.

I vowed to never knowingly get another dog-aggressive dog again. It’s a serious dealbreaker for me.

Now if my dog were to (god forbid) get attacked and become dog-aggressive over the course of our having them, it would be another story. Otherwise, I’m doing everything in my power with socialization, training, and medication to never experience years of somewhat lonely pet companionship ever again. It’s an oxymoron (“lonely companionship”), but it’s true.

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gracetw22 t1_iua80rl wrote

Yes, I actually bred and showed great danes for 10+ years and was very thoughtful and analytical about pedigrees and history of my dogs. One of them died and I was heartbroken and I got a call from a friend of the manager of the norfolk pound who was looking for a special person to adopt a cute little street urchin who had been living outside for an unknown amount of time and had 0 known history. I was a little worried because of how much thought I had put into socializing puppies and knowing their backgrounds but I will tell you he is just the bomb diggity. Look at this dignified boy: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3zWIshhcj3/

He was definitely significantly older than we all guessed, just so underweight he looked like a puppy but really was just starved. He has some health issues that maybe could have been prevented by more thoughtful breeding (embark suggests his parents were full siblings) but overall 10/10 street gremlin adoption experience, would snatch a stinky wrinkle baby out of jain again.

Any new dog you won't know whether they are going to be good with cats until you figure out if they will be good with cats. I think you can probably get a decent idea by just meeting them and gauging the overall energy level, prey drive with maybe a flirt pole or something, etc.

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csteven71 t1_iuaaddr wrote

We got our Aussie from Charlotte animal control back in the day. He had been a stray. He’s been a great dog. Was about 1.5 when we got hi.

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gdtrfb804 t1_iu9ek5s wrote

I don't know how these "police shelters" work, but at RACC, you can bring your other pets in to meet the new guy before you commit. Can't you do that here?

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otterinprogress OP t1_iu9gtdd wrote

You can bring your pet, which can work fine for dogs but does not work for cats. When a house cat is taken out of its home, it’s entire personality changes and it’s agitated. So, it’s not a good idea for us to bring our cat to the shelter.

In theory I could ask to borrow a friends dog, but do not want to be in that position.

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abbieos t1_iuax61u wrote

How about bringing a friends or relatives dog to the shelter and see how he/she is.

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cantaloupe-490 t1_iubedxu wrote

I got my dog from RACC after many months of interacting with him there as a volunteer. I helped with his temperament test and supervised him in play groups. I knew him as well as you could possibly know a shelter dog.

He was a 100% different dog at home, for better and worse. At the shelter, he only ever interacted with people who were confident with dogs and friendly. He's great with that type of person, but is not good with people who are afraid of him or give off kind of unstable or macho vibes. He went from good with most dogs, to dog reactive except in very structured interactions. He can get along great with dogs, but he needs a structured introduction with humans who know what they're doing. He will fight a dog that approaches him while he's on leash.

But I said for better too, right? In the shelter, he was really sketchy with other non-dog animals. In my home, he did great with my guinea pigs under supervision, and is pretty much good with any non-dog animal except cats. He was also problematically high energy in the shelter and is a lazy couch potato at home.

Ultimately, I don't regret anything. My dog is my best friend and the good far outweighs the bad. The biggest change I'd make next time is to only get a fully grown, 2+ year adult dog, because then at least their personalities are done changing and you have a better sense for what you're getting. Although to be honest, I love teen dog energy and will probably break my own rule.

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refeikamme t1_iuct695 wrote

honestly "cat tests" aren't always accurate anyways so don't feel like you're missing out on something that would give you foolproof insight. if you are able to meet and play with the dog, a possible tell is how they react towards small quick objects like a ball moving across the floor. sometimes it's easy to tell the difference between happy excited ball play vs very intense focus and drive towards the moving object that would likely translate to a small animal like a cat. you can also try to tell how well they respond to correction. obviously being corrected by you is different than being corrected by a cat, but some dogs are much more docile and submissive to corrections and others can get overstimulated by it and it can actually increase their energy and intensity. and then not to state the obvious but when you bring this dog home make sure to do very slow introductions, set up a baby gate if possible so they are able to observe each other from a distance, keep a leash dragging so you are able to quickly grab the dog if needed, make sure the cat has places in the house it can access away from the dog, etc.

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