My friend Anya has been a volunteer with 20 years of experience - since adolescence, when she started looking for a house abandoned dogs in their village of the Leningrad region with self-walking and cage-chain content. Wherever she moves, she helps shelters or participates in curatorial and volunteer activities, recruiting, curing and accommodating dogs.
No matter how the fashion for purebred dogs has changed over the years, shelters and volunteer organizations have the same problems. Some are dismantled instantly, others have to be actively promoted, and still others sit in open-air cages until the very last days without a single chance of being attached. Anya and I talked and "gave birth" material about what kind of dogs find it difficult to find a home, and why they are in no hurry to take them from shelters.
1. "Scary and expressionless": black dogs
The most obvious and widespread category of unclaimed pets in the whole world, in connection with which the International Day of the Black Dog was even established. Some consider a black dog to be scary or ordinary, others believe bad omens associated with this image.
In fact, black dogs are often simply overlooked. They are not visible against the background of lighter relatives, whose mimicry, smile, expression of joy are easy to read. A black dog sometimes becomes a big black spot, and if it is large and shaggy, then its chances become even less.
“We should be red-haired or white, but not black” - I've heard it a million times!
2. "Like a trash heap": almost a shepherd dog and a gray top
Perhaps the most common category in any shelter. These dogs do not have a bright personality, and they are very difficult to attach. They usually fall in love with them after personal acquaintance with repeated visits. The whole problem is that such "almost shepherd dogs" live in garbage dumps, industrial zones, so people strongly associate them with dirty, shabby, hungry stray dogs.
“Image for many is everything! Many people are embarrassed to go in beautiful clothes with such an ordinary ugly dog, whose origin and past are easily read in its appearance. It's a matter of status. But such people do not want to give away any dog. "
3. "Pony dogs": massive, large, heavy
A big volunteer pain is the size of the dog. The grown-up tailed "little cats" fly away like hot cakes, and for the puppies there is always the same question: "How will he grow up?" Can you guarantee that he will not grow above 30 cm? " If the dog has already grown big, then often, no matter how beautiful it is, people insist that their apartment will be too small for such a "pony".
“There are a lot of discarded purebred Alabai. There are many applicants for them, but usually only in the aviary and for the protection of the site. Curators, however, insist on living in an apartment or in-house, which potential owners do not agree to. So they sit on overexposure for years. "
4. Don't be born beautiful: long-haired and fluffy
Even very beautiful fluffy dogs are good for many only in the picture. And there is a reason for that: not everyone will agree that wool will fly all over the house, and the pet also needs to be washed and combed out. These are unnecessary problems. In addition, animals are often returned due to allergies, so many, when selecting a potential pet, look at short-haired dogs or charismatic non-shedding wire-haired "bearded" dogs.
5. Killer Dogs: Purebred or Mestizo and Fighting Breeds Phenotypes
Although the myth of the killer dogs is gradually dispelled, it remains tenacious for people who have never dealt with such breeds. Even a hint of distant kinship with a pit bull or amstaff scares potential owners. People believe that if such a dog was sent to a shelter, it is not without reason, and no one wants to face sudden aggression.
“The best solution for volunteers is to assign such a dog not to a shelter, but for home overexposure and immediately actively promote in hot pursuit so that the dog does not stay too long. And immediately make a reservation for people who are familiar with the breed. "
6. No longer puppies: older and older
In addition to the size of the dog, there is another volunteer pain. This age is a problem that gets worse every month. Puppies quickly understand, dogs after a year are more difficult to attach, a three-year-old dog is harder to attach than a one-year-old, and after 5 years, many do not even look towards these homeless people, looking after whom younger.
Old dogs are another story. In shelters, animals most often eat cheap food, and such food, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle, leaves an imprint on the dog's appearance. By the age of 8-10, she looks, to put it mildly, unpresentable, has excess weight, problems with joints and a gray face. For such, the chances of a house tend to zero.
7. "Torn from the clutches of death": dogs with a medical history
A cured dog is happiness for the volunteer and his followers on Instagram. But for potential owners, the anamnesis is of great importance. It is useless to write that a paw injury does not cause any inconvenience to the dog, because no one knows when it will make itself felt, and the owner will "get paid".
"In dogs, as in humans, it is better to be young, healthy and never sick than healthy, but once recovered."
8. "Ugly": funny, strange, "special"
For zoodefenders, all dogs are beautiful. But people who come to the shelter, even without the hope of finding the phenotype of a purebred pet, are often interested in dogs with a cute or dispensable appearance.
Mestizos are dogs whose genetics sometimes give surprises, and there are individuals with an unusual appearance. It can be very short legs, undershot, protruding tongue, which do not affect health in any way. But to some it seems like a funny "highlight", while others - a defect that they do not want to put up with.
“It’s very offensive when you offer a dog with perfect behavior and completely ready to go home, but in response you hear something like:“ Oh, can I have someone else? We would be more beautiful! ""
9. "Bark, Howl and Vandal": Dogs with Problematic Behavior
Dogs, like humans, absorb the rules of behavior from puppyhood. If she was not raised in the first months or years of her life, the pattern becomes fixed, and it becomes especially difficult to fight with it. You have to involve dog handlers and zoopsychologists, which means a waste of time and a lot of money. Sometimes in PR posts they don't write about the dog's problems, or they mention them in passing.
“It so happens that people are seriously interested in a dog, but when they hear that it has bitten someone in the past, destroyed a home, does not like men or children, they immediately abandon it. It doesn't matter how cute, pretty and compact she is. And this is really a problem, because within the framework of the shelter it is difficult to find opportunities for re-educating the dog to prepare for the home. It is time and money that is never enough. In addition, it is preferable when this process takes place on the territory of the owner, with whom the dog interacts. "
10. "I drink and pee": not accustomed to the toilet (walking)
This item can be combined with the previous one, but still it should stand separately. Toilet training and walking is the cornerstone of attachment. Sometimes people want a little puppy who already knows where to go to the toilet. Or a dog from an open-air cage, which itself would ask to go outside. But miracles do not happen!
“An adult dog living in a shelter enclosure, like a one and a half month old puppy picked up on the track, simply physically cannot know the rules of behavior at home, where they have never lived! It's a shame when the lack of home living skills becomes the reason for the refusal of a beautiful and intelligent dog. But people just don't want to take a steam bath, preferring everything ready. "
"The slogan" Take from the shelter, do not buy! " plays a cruel joke with people. For many, a shelter dog is just a free pet that they don't spend money on when buying from a breeder. But this is not at all true! I often argue with colleagues and fight against the silence of the canine problems that sooner or later surface in a new home. The dog will still be returned or thrown away. Forewarned - forearmed.
Having decided to take a "free" dog from a shelter, you must be willing to pay with your time, nerves, forces, tears, money for a dog handler, a zoopsychologist, new skirting boards, wallpaper, laminate, sofa and door upholstery. There are no free dogs. It doesn't matter if you decide to take the maltipa from an elite breeder or Sharik caught in an industrial zone near Moscow. "
