Choosing Obi: Part 1

Deciding which foster dog to rescue has to be a careful decision and the variables that go into the decision change based on the foster parent, their current skill set, and also what is going on in their life at the time.

While I do a pretty good job working with foster dogs who have fear and anxiety issues, it doesn't mean I love doing that kind of work. It can be intense and emotional and finding a good fit  in an adoptive family can take a long time and extra careful screening on my part. Because I tend to ride the line of rescue burnout fairly closely, I rarely feel up to taking a dog who needs a lot of extra emotional care and training. That's a long term commitment and a lot of work.

However after 2 easy house-trained foster dogs in a row, when I recently received an email from the Humane Society of SW Washington in Vancouver, WA they had caught me at a good time.

The email stated that they had a Rat Terrier named Obi at the shelter who was extremely stressed out by the noise and activity and they were looking for a foster spot for him where he could relax more. This is the same shelter where New Rattitude's recently adopted senior foster dog Skeeter was from and I know I can trust the employee who contacted me to give the full story of a dog and not gloss over behavior issues. It's important to know in advance (as much as possible) what you are getting into. A good shelter is going to tell you the truth about a dog so you can make a good decision and building up a network of shelter employees who you trust to evaluate dogs for you is a great resource.

The shelter sent me the owner surrender form, the evaluation form that was filled out by the employee who evaluated him and a basic description of what was happening at the shelter. After reading what she sent, I followed up with several questions about him: How was he with other dogs? Or with strangers? Can he meet another dog on a leash? I also asked for some video of him with people and with another dog. Then I emailed a friend and sent her the paperwork to review so I would have an opinion from someone who was outside the situation but who has a great knowledge of working with fearful dogs.

The only photo they had for me was this tiny little shelter picture but definitely looks like a Rat Terrier. Some shelters are not so great about identifying Rat Terriers and often call them Jack Russells or Chihuahuas.

One of the reasons to get all this information beforehand is that it is almost impossible to say no to a dog once you've met them. It breaks your heart to say no and leave them there so if there was a reason I needed to pass I wanted to know that before I took the trip to meet him. I knew that I didn't want a dog who was so fearful and skittish that I couldn't touch them as I don't currently have the time and energy to give my all to a dog who needs that much work. However, often dogs who are mildly anxious become total train wrecks in the shelter and if that was the case, he could be a very easy dog who was unadoptable in a shelter setting because he was such a mess.

The employee sent me back some great video of Obi and in my next blog post we will talk about what I saw in those videos and how I made my decision.