Pulling New Dogs



Pulling New DogsYou will need to monitor the shelters you are in charge of daily. is a good tool for this. When a dog comes in as a stray the shelter has to legally keep the dog for four business days. When the owner relinquishes a dog (OTI), those dogs do not have that grace period. However, every shelter has different rules and you need to know what they are. Once a dog has been spotted on you need to start working on lining up a foster home. Once the dog is released from the legal 4 business day hold you will be permitted to see the dog and evaluate them for medical and behavior issues. The decision to pull or not rests with the Executive Director so contact her immediately with all the data you have so she will be ready to make that decision when she needs to. We try to get the dogs spayed/neutered, vaccinated and micro-chipped at the shelters if they offer these services. They are most often less expensive than getting them done elsewhere. The exception is if the shelter has a history of poor medical care. Currently Fresno and all three shelters in Santa Barbara county are on that list.Evaluating dogs at the shelterNo dog should be pulled if you are not comfortable with their behavior especially in cases of aggression. You will need to learn how to deal with aggressive dogs but never, ever take a dog you are not 100% comfortable with. The definition of an aggressive dog is one that is a perfect angel 90% of the time and bites, growls, snaps or snarls the other 10%.We do not accept dogs that have ever bitten anyone severely. This is defined as four punctures in one bite, multiple bites in one instance, tearing, or anything requiring stitches. The reason for this is while we can train dogs to be desensitized to certain triggers we cannot give them back their bite inhibition. If you ever hear of a way to do that please let us know ASAP. Some times medical issues are clearly apparent to you on a visual exam. Often it requires a comprehensive vet exam. However report any medical issues you can see on your evaluation at the shelter. Often the shelter staff or vet can give you a medical report on the dog. Report what it says to the Executive Director but understand they can be wrong and often are so take what they say with a grain of salt.409575032385If the dog has some medical issues and you think we might be able to do some fundraising for him then try to take a picture of him through the bars of the kennel. This is a example of a picture that successfully raised hundreds of dollars to help rescue this senior dog out of the Fresno shelter. Not all shelters allow pictures so you might have to sneak one, like Amy did here, but if you have a good relationship with the staff they might let you without any hassles.Send the picture with all the info to the Executive Director so it can be posted on Facebook with a paypal donation link. As soon as we pull the dog we post that they are safe. We only post dogs we are sure we are going to rescue.Owner Relinquished DogsWe accept owner relinquished dogs as we can. We need to evaluate them in the same manner we do the shelter dogs. We require the owners to sign a release form and ask for all medical and vaccination records. Get these before or when they turn in the dog. No one sends the records after we already have the dog. You can also ask for the vet contact info and contact the vet directly to get the records. Often we can help find a home for a dog if the owners will consent to keep the dog while we are looking for a home. You will need to keep in touch with them and ask that they contact you if they find a home for the dog themselves. These dogs will need to have seen a vet within the last 3 months and meet all our other requirements for current vaccinations, micro chipping, etc. If they need to be seen by a vet, be spayed or neutered, etc. Ask if the owner will be willing to pay for that before we adopt out the dog. We will take care of that under special circumstances. Again, the Executive Director has final say in which dogs we accept for adoption. She has the discretion to delegate this to certain team leads on owner relinquishments.Naming DogsMany dogs come in with a name either given to them by the shelter staff or the owner who relinquished them. We can keep that name or change it. The dog does not care, really! If their name is very common like Lady or Buddy we can either change it completely or give them two names like Lady Rose or Mr. Buddy. If we already have a dog listed with the same name then either change the new dog’s name or give them a double name like Sarah Jane.Flea ControlMost dogs coming in from a shelter have fleas. Any dog going into a foster home or home with an adopter should be flea free. We use several different kinds of flea control depending on the circumstance. There is a product called CapStar that is an oral medication that will kill every flea on the dog within 30 minutes and lasts for 24-48 hours. It is perfect for dogs going into flea free environments or who needs a bath ASAP.There are many topical flea control products out there. They are messy and not all work. Don’t bother with the ones you find at the grocery store or Walmart like Bio Spot. Frontline doesn’t work anymore so don’t waste our money on it. Topical flea controls can also cause seizures in some dogs. If a dog has a history of seizures do not use topical flea control on it. If he has a seizure after applying it then be sure to mark in his medical record not to use them again.Advantage is an excellent inexpensive topical flea control that lasts 30 days. You cannot bath the dog 3 days before or after applying. We purchase the largest dog size then portion it out for our dogs as a cost saving method.Vectra is another topical flea control that we use. We got a great deal on a large quantity so we will use it until it is gone. Elizabeth has it at her house so just ask for some when you need it. It works very well. You have to wait 24 hours before bathing the dog after fortis is an oral flea control that is our favorite flea control method. It costs about $15 per dog per month which is the same as the others if you do the large dog size but without the mess and fuss. It is safer too. The same company makes Trifextis which controls fleas and heartworm in one. We recommend that one for dogs in areas with heartworm.GroomingThe first thing you should do when you get a dog pulled is get him groomed. They are often matted, stinky and with all that hair it is easy for the vet to miss something critical in his exam. It also gives a better presence of our rescue to the vets if we present them clean, flea free dogs. If you can take a before and after picture that would be great but not mandatory.Medical checksEvery dog will have a vet check soon after they are pulled from the shelter and before they go their new home. That exam will include a full exam, Rabies, DHLPP and Bordetella vaccinations, a heartworm test for dogs in areas with heartworm and treating any existing medical conditions. We do not do a routine bloodwork, xrays, fecals or other diagnostic tests unless they are indicated by a problem found with the dog. Any dog that is going to have surgery we do a blood panel on regardless of age.Every dog will be spayed/neutered, vaccinations and micro-chipped before he is adopted out unless the Executive Director gives permission otherwise. If your shelters do not offer these services then you will need to find a low cost clinic in your area.Evaluating dogs for the fosters and adoptersEvery dog must go into a short term foster until he is groomed, vet checked and deemed a good match for their foster home. A back up plan will be needed every time in case the dog will not fit in to the foster home that is waiting for him or a foster calls and requests a dog be removed from that foster home for any reason.New Dog ChecklistThere is a check list with every step for any new dogs coming in.Dog Evaluation/Info FormAn evaluation/info form will need to be filled out for every dog. This form will go to the Executive Director to be part of the dogs’s permanent file. It is used to write up the adoption posting description and includes all the info in summary that we know about the dog. ................
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