When our dog attacked our daughter two weeks ago, I thought it was inevitable that he would be euthanized at the end of his 10-day waiting period. After all, he attacked a child and bit her multiple times – all unprovoked. Surely, if any dog needed to be put down it would be one that’s aggressive toward humans – especially when unprovoked.
Apparently, that is not the case.
Last night I found out that Will was re-evaluated after his hold and was deemed adoptable. Yes, adoptable. As in, able to be adopted out to another family. A “no children household” policy is, quite frankly, bullsh*t. Will he never, ever have contact with children again? EVER? Will he never, ever act that way toward an adult? EVER? Will his new owners keep him in a bubble? And even if they do, HELLO! WE were his owners and he attacked one of us! The smallest one at that.
When Super Dad surrendered him on April 9th, he wrote it all down, he talked with the intake person, the intake person wrote it down – this was not some secret we were keeping from them. He attacked. Unprovoked. Plain and simple.
If the word of the surrendering owner, especially ones who have fostered three other dogs through the same organization, is not believed or is completely disregarded, I have absolutely no faith in ACCT’s ability to discern which dogs are adoptable and which are not.
Now, for all of you naysayers who are thinking, but surely, “attack” is an exaggeration. Let me tell you now – you have no idea what it’s like to watch a dog, a dog you love and trust, bite your four-year old daughter multiple times and have to pull him off of her to get him to stop. This was not a nip. This was not provoked. This was not play.
We have all, all five of us, been nipped in play at some point or another since we adopted him in August. He broke the skin on my arm not two weeks after he was here when he jumped up at me. It was not in aggression, it was not an attack, and I never took it that way. However…the events of April 9th were an attack.
End of story.
If we, even for a moment, thought that ACCT would try to adopt him out again, we would have kept him here, in his crate, until we could get an appointment to have him euthanized ourselves. We opted for surrendering him to ACCT that night, because we did want our children to be in fear in their own home until we could get that vet appointment. I sincerely regret the decision to bring him back to ACCT now.
I have sent emails outlining the events again and will wait to hear back. But quite honestly, it makes no difference at this point. Any organization that makes the reckless, dangerous decision that such a dog is eligible for re-adoption, even if it’s only for a day, has lost my faith and trust.
And support.
UPDATE: I received word back this afternoon that, in light of this information, Will will be put to sleep today due to his history of aggression and lack of space at the shelter. Also, effective immediately, per the Executive Director, all dogs with bite histories will not be available for public adoption.
I’m glad to hear it and relieved that Will will finally be at peace. Because, as crazy as it may seem, I still love that dog.
One Great Mom 
Ugh. Such an awful situation made worse. No fun.
Ugh! I had a similar situation with acct also. It’s been a few years but I fostered a dog for them, I had him about 2 weeks when basically out of nowhere, he broke out of a locked crate and attacked my adult sister. If I wasn’t there this dog would have literally killed her. he had her on the ground dragging her by her legs. By the time I finally got him off of her, she was in shock. She ended up with multiple sutures and when she stood up, the fat just fell out of her legs not to mention all the secondary issues after. When I informed them of what happened I was treated poorly, mostly ignored and eventually they tried to say this was my fault!. This dog was with my sister everyday so its not like he didn’t know her. I hope your daughter feels better soon and does not change hee feelings towards dogs.
I am so, so sorry that happened to you and your sister! That’s completely unacceptable and absurd! I hope your sister is doing okay now and doesn’t have any lasting damage. =(
If you really loved that dog you would have taken him to a vet to be euthanized and not dumped him at a shelter to let him sit in a cage surrounded by strangers until the time came to euthanize him. I do not disagree that the dog should not be adopted out, however, to dump the dog at the shelter and make it someone else’s responsibility to euthanize him is just wrong. I have quite a few dogs and if i ever felt one needed to be euthanized, I’d take him to my vet so the dog could go peacefully with me by his side. I’d NEVER dump a dog at the shelter and put him through hell like that. I worked at multiple shelters and did all of the euthanasia for years, and let me tell you, its not something i’d ever put one of my own dogs through. Can you imagine the terror your poor dog has gone through??? if you really “loved” your dog, you would have made his ending a little more peaceful for him.
Good for you, Candice. I’m glad you’d choose to not traumatize your dog that attacked your four year old and, instead, traumatize your four year old (and your other children) even more by having said dog in the house until you could get a vet appointment to euthanize him. That would be a responsible parenting thing to do. Because, after all, the dog’s feelings are much more important than your children. Good call.