09/22/2026
This is an open and honest post that hopefully will help other rescues, shelters, and the general public, but all in a different way.
Last week we were asked to help a
shelter we had never helped before. They had asked, but we had never had fosters available for the specific dogs in need. Last week, there were a pair of brothers about two years old, we were told their back story and that they were nice dogs, but obviously stressed. Pics did not show any physical signs of body language that could give us clues to personality, as they often can.
When transport arrived on Friday to get them, there were blatant signs of aggression, the shelter acted as if they had never seen the behavior from them before and the savvy transporter thought maybe they just needed to decompress. The trip back had enough red flags that we decided it was better and safer for them to decompress with our trainer than in their committed foster homes. It was bad. Bad enough that it was simply too dangerous to have them with people and they were equally aggressive to one another and honestly, often aggressive to imaginary things. It was extreme. In situations like this we make very educated assumptions that there is poor genetic wiring. Everyone wants to blame humans for making dogs like that, but these behaviors were not the byproduct of a past environment. Poor wiring is not something we can rehabilitate. And even if we didn’t think it was poor wiring, they were simply too dangerous. Period. Humans come first. We will never put our foster homes at risk, not their people or their dogs. And I can promise you that any dog living in that headspace is miserable and deserves to not have to live that way.
I’m sharing this story for multiple reasons.
1. So that every rescue out there who ends up in the same position (and everyone will at least once) does not feel shame for having to euthanize mentally ill and dangerous dogs. There is no shame in that. You have ended their suffering humanely and you have also put the humans in your community and your program first by not putting them at risk.
2. I find it hard to believe that this shelter did not see this behavior prior to transport arriving. When shelters are not transparent about dog behavior to rescues or adopters, they destroy trust across the board. An adopter who experiences dangerous behavior is likely not going to want to rescue again. And a rescue is only going to work with a shelter that wasn’t transparent once. One and done.
3. But I’m not putting that blame
solely on the shelters because they are struggling and I promise you, few humans in this world are
scrutinized more than shelter workers. The pressure put on them by the public and the culture of a “no kill nation” is dumbfounding. They are not the enemy. They are the ones in the trenches trying to keep their heads above water. Especially our rural shelters who have poor facility conditions and no resources…..yet everyone is screaming at them not to euthanize dogs. It is irresponsible not to humanely euthanize dogs who are a danger to humans and other dogs. And for everyone who types “send them to a sanctuary”….no. I’m sorry, that’s not living, that’s existing. If you are so dangerous no one can handle you and you are stuck living your life out in a 10x10 kennel while your brain misfires making you extremely angry 99% of the time…that’s just cruel to make anything suffer that way. So remember before you post that every dog deserves to live….we need to change that thought process to “every dog deserves to live well and happy” and that’s not always possible. When it’s not, shelter workers and rescue volunteers should never feel guilt or shame when making the best choice for the dog and the community. We have to start supporting the humans in animal welfare as much as we support the dogs.
See you in the stars boys, I hate that life dealt you that hand, but I sure am glad we were able to release you into the peace that all living things deserve.
