Wordless Wednesday
What’s wrong with this picture?
P.S. Know the answer? Add your response to the comment box. And for some great ideas about what you can do with a baby pool, check out last week’s Wordless Wednesday.
UPDATE, October 5: Short answer to this question: A lot. Complete details, including what this agency did to fix the situation: Check the comment box.
Related links:
UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program Dog Run Cleaning Protocol
UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program on Facebook
Housing for Health, Wellness, and Success
Tags: Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ Guidelines for Shelter Standards, Shelter Health, Wordless Wednesday
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Scott Facey Says:
A lead should never be left on a dog in a kennel or crate.
Chris Arnott Says:
The kennel is wet and disgusting (a breeding ground for disease!)the poor pup is subsequently wet and gross(is that poop or food in the lower left corner? ew), the pup has a slip lead still attached to him and well, the obvious part is he is at the shelter in the first place! We need a forever home, STAT!
Brenna Jennings Says:
That this dog doesn’t live at my house.
Caitlin Barry Says:
Seconding (thirding?) what’s already been said. Not only does the kennel have standing water, but the dog is wet, too. I have no idea what temperature the kennel is, but if it’s cold, the dog has no chance of warming up and is probably at a higher risk of contracting kennel cough or something worse. The slip lead is also clearly a problem.
Eryn Buchanan Says:
Poor baby they should not have left it in a critical stage let alone a cage animals don’t deserve this
chuck Says:
Where is this dog ? can i adopt him?
Pune Dracker, Shelters' Edge editor Says:
We knew you’d have a lot to say about this one–and that’s why we got the scoop for you from Kate F. Hurley, DVM, MPVM, Director of UC Davis’ Koret Shelter Medicine Program. Dr. Hurley was on a consulting visit at this agency when the photo was taken.
“Obviously there’s a lot wrong with this picture,” says Dr. Hurley. “This cute dog looks like he’s been groomed fairly recently and may well have an owner looking for him and/or shows good potential for adoption if he can stay healthy. However, he’s facing some challenges.”
“The run is wet, the dog is obviously cold and miserable,” continues Dr. Hurley, “and a slip lead has been left on him while in the run. There’s also a few wet pieces of food or feces in the run, which shouldn’t be there if the run has just been cleaned.”
“While it might be easy to chalk this up to an uncaring staff, there was more going on here. One issue was design: this shelter was designed with indoor/outdoor runs that did not have a gate to the outdoor side of the run. The only way to ‘clean’ the outdoor half was to spray with a hose through the chain link from the outside or crawl from the inside through the guillotine door, hose and poop scooper in hand. Another issue was crowding: although you can’t see it in this run, almost all the runs housed multiple dogs, and were never emptied to permit thorough cleaning and drying. The combination of poor cleaning and overcrowding naturally led to a high level of disease (as some of you have predicted). Caring for lots of sick dogs took even more staff time and a vicious cycle was created, where staff never had time to get caught up with basic care, nor were they able to keep up with crucial tasks to move dogs smoothly through the shelter. Some dogs had to wait quite awhile for things like behavior evaluation or spay/neuter surgery – and the longer they waited, the more crowded the shelter got, and the less able staff was to keep up or catch up.”
“Here’s the good news,” continues Dr. Hurley. “With one big push, they were able to get caught up and reduce the crowding so they could have only one dog per run. They did this by investing in extra staff time for the catch-up period and a big effort to get dogs out to rescue or transfer partners. Once they got the population down through this one-time effort, they were able to maintain their new lower population. They were able to keep only one dog per run and leave one run at the end of each ward open, which made it easier to get the runs properly clean and dry (if you’re stuck with single runs or runs that don’t lend themselves to cleaning with the dog in place, check out the recommended cleaning protocol they used here: http://www.sheltermedicine.com/documents/dog-run-cleaning-protocol”
“With fewer dogs in the building, they were also better able to keep up with basics like noticing a slip lead that shouldn’t have been left on a dog. They were able to accomplish all this without any increase in euthanasia–and of course with healthier, happier dogs, they increased the odds that cute dogs like the one in the picture would make it out alive. And the really good news is, not long after this picture was taken, they got a new building with dog runs that can be properly cleaned and dried!”
– Kate F. Hurley, DVM, MPVM, Director, Koret Shelter Medicine Program, UC Davis Center for Companion Animal Health
P.S. Editor’s Note: Koret Shelter Medicine Program has the BEST Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/sheltermedicine
Lori Dickens Says:
The owners of this kennel should be facing a jail sentence!