Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi, I am a board member, volunteer, and foster mom for a small rural open-admission, non-kill shelter in Virginia. Recently we have had a few difficult cases of dogs with some behavioral problems. We don't feel they should be placed in the community. Some volunteers get upset when the conversation about behavioral euthanasia is brought up, and they ask we look for rescues first. But we know rescues also have limited resources, and we don't want to get a bad reputation about us trying to place difficult dogs into rescues. This shelter doesn't have the resources to rehabilitate or train these animals, and some of us feel euthanasia is the best option to prevent suffering. What are your thought on this topic?

It is such a difficult decision, and nobody in the lifesaving industry wants to kill animals for space. Even if justified by challenging behaviors. But what do we do when there are 100 beds and 200 in need? You cannot make 25 hours in the day and you cannot make 75 cents into a dollar. Turning to rescues is a nice option, but it all depends on that rescue. Some rescues are completely volunteer based (side-gig out of passion) developed to push out the "easy" pets and it seems like now shelters rely on them more to actually save the life of the animal. Seems backwards but times evolve with the needs of the community. Filling up rescues with behavioral cases will bottleneck at some point, and/or rescues will dissolve because they cannot keep up. Yet, here we are. It might be worth checking in with your local rescues to learn what they can and cannot do (if you do not already know). First find out if these rescues are actually a resource for your challenging dogs. Perhaps task the volunteers with contacting trainers in the area that board and work with dogs. Empower the vocal volunteers to be a part of the solution. Ask them to develop and run a program geared for the public to self-rehome their pet. It is very easy to judge a situation where one only knows a small percentage of the problem. Wishing you the best. 

Hi, I am a board member, volunteer, and foster mom for a small rural open-admission, non-kill shelter in Virginia. Recently we have had a few difficult cases of dogs with some behavioral problems. We don't feel they should be placed in the community. Some volunteers get upset when the conversation about behavioral euthanasia is brought up, and they ask we look for rescues first. But we know rescues also have limited resources, and we don't want to get a bad reputation about us trying to place difficult dogs into rescues. This shelter doesn't have the resources to rehabilitate or train these animals, and some of us feel euthanasia is the best option to prevent suffering. What are your thought on this topic?

Hi, I am a board member, volunteer, and foster mom for a small rural open-admission, non-kill shelter in Virginia. Recently we have had a few difficult cases of dogs with some behavioral problems. We don't feel they should be placed in the community. Some volunteers get upset when the conversation about behavioral euthanasia is brought up, and they ask we look for rescues first. But we know rescues also have limited resources, and we don't want to get a bad reputation about us trying to place difficult dogs into rescues. This shelter doesn't have the resources to rehabilitate or train these animals, and some of us feel euthanasia is the best option to prevent suffering. What are your thought on this topic?

#CaseManagement*

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Diana Galarreta Aima
professor
Delta
VA
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Hello Di:

Discussions about behavioral euthanasia continue to be a challenge for everyone involved in sheltering/rescue. As the veterinarian at our rescue, I am the one who ultimately has to perform the euthanasia, when warranted, so I would share the following thoughts and ideas:

1. I think you are right to consider the potential liability, or at least damage to your reputation, in placing a questionable dog in a new home, or even accepting that dog into your care. We recently had someone try to surrender a dog that had bitten over 10 times! They were trying to make their problem into our problem, which is totally unfair. You have the right to say no!
2. Any dog in our care that has questionable behavior is evaluated by an independent trainer who also has a background in behavior. He works with a lot of dogs so his opinion that a dog should not be placed in a home is an important one. 
3. If we consider behavioral euthanasia, it then becomes a group decision, with the trainer, president, head of the animal care team, and me. 
4. Before the euthanasia, everyone involved in caring for the dog is told about the decision. No one wants that to be a surprise. 
5. Things I have said to owners and employees over the years (since I used to work in private practice) include realizing that the dog has mental illness, and that placing the dog in another home could subject him/her to a neglectful or even abusive situation if new owners don't react well to the bad behavior. It is kinder to give that animal a respectful and peaceful passing than to worry about what he/she is doing or how he/she is being treated.

The problem of behavioral euthanasia will never go away. I support you and give you a lot of credit for making the difficult decision to consider euthanasia as a humane alternative. Hope this helps!

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Kirsten Cianci, VMD
Palmetto Animal League
Ridgeland, SC 29936
=^..^=

Original Message:
Sent: 02-12-2025 06:58 AM
From: Di Aima
Subject: When to look for rescues?

Hi, I am a board member, volunteer, and foster mom for a small rural open-admission, non-kill shelter in Virginia. Recently we have had a few difficult cases of dogs with some behavioral problems. We don't feel they should be placed in the community. Some volunteers get upset when the conversation about behavioral euthanasia is brought up, and they ask we look for rescues first. But we know rescues also have limited resources, and we don't want to get a bad reputation about us trying to place difficult dogs into rescues. This shelter doesn't have the resources to rehabilitate or train these animals, and some of us feel euthanasia is the best option to prevent suffering. What are your thought on this topic?

#CaseManagement*

------------------------------
Diana Galarreta Aima
professor
Delta
VA
------------------------------

Hi, I am a board member, volunteer, and foster mom for a small rural open-admission, non-kill shelter in Virginia. Recently we have had a few difficult cases of dogs with some behavioral problems. We don't feel they should be placed in the community. Some volunteers get upset when the conversation about behavioral euthanasia is brought up, and they ask we look for rescues first. But we know rescues also have limited resources, and we don't want to get a bad reputation about us trying to place difficult dogs into rescues. This shelter doesn't have the resources to rehabilitate or train these animals, and some of us feel euthanasia is the best option to prevent suffering. What are your thought on this topic?

Hi, I am a board member, volunteer, and foster mom for a small rural open-admission, non-kill shelter in Virginia. Recently we have had a few difficult cases of dogs with some behavioral problems. We don't feel they should be placed in the community. Some volunteers get upset when the conversation about behavioral euthanasia is brought up, and they ask we look for rescues first. But we know rescues also have limited resources, and we don't want to get a bad reputation about us trying to place difficult dogs into rescues. This shelter doesn't have the resources to rehabilitate or train these animals, and some of us feel euthanasia is the best option to prevent suffering. What are your thought on this topic?

I run a rescue that serves shelters in a high-euthanasia region.  I have thoughts.  They won't be popular, but shelter folks need someone to tell y'all the truth...

•   Volunteers --  I don't want to hear from random shelter volunteers.  Yes, I said it.  Why?  Because over the years, I've learned I can't trust random volunteers to give me honest behavior assessments and complete medical notes.  They "shade" the truth to try to get the dog out.  Some of them outright lie -- totally hiding the issues.  I have long-term relationships with placement directors and a few "super volunteers" who are people I've known for years.  They're people I trust to always tell me the unvarnished truth about an animal.   We have years of history, in some cases.  Unless the volunteer is sent to me with an introduction that I can trust this person b/c they're known to a trusted contact, I'm deleting their messages. And any shelter that allows volunteers to lie to me goes on my "lying shelter blacklist" -- I'll never pull from them, and I tell all our transport partners to be very wary of dealing with them.   Be very, very careful about turning your volunteers loose with rescues with whom you want to have a long-term relationship--the volunteers could easily burn that relationship!
• Rescues aren't the solution for human-aggressive dogs.   We all have dogs, families, kids, neighbors, etc. that we would like to keep safe.   The number of people who have the skills to rehab a truly aggressive dog is tiny -- and most who have the skills charge big bucks for it and don't offer it to rescues for free.   BUT....I've also seen some very poor shelter temperament assessments that over-identified problems.  Breed matters -- "reading" a Pit is different from "reading" a German Shepherd--or a Dachshund or an Akita.  Having access to breed specialists who know the quirks can be a huge help--people highly skilled at reading one breed may miss OR over-identify problems in a different breed.  So develop community resources of trusted experts who will come and give you a second (or third or fourth) opinion, when you spot red flags.   Some breeds are also TERRIBLE in shelter environments, and they may need a "weekend foster" with a skilled volunteer or staff member to get a good read on them.
• I do not like to work with shelter placement professionals who only ever call me when they have an aggressive dog.   I learned a long time ago that I'd rather spend a lot of money fixing medical issues on dogs with great temperaments than spend a lot of money trying and failing to fix a face-biter.   When ANY rescue has  to euthanize a fostered dog bc it has attacked a person in the home, it blows up the rescue -- someone has to sit in the room sobbing while the dog crosses over, someone gets blamed by a foster family, and someone gets attacked on social media for doing the right thing.  It's awful.  Please, please, please don't do that to your rescue partners.
•  I love shelter professionals who take the time to develop a productive, reciprocal relationship.  For example,  they help me match the open foster home (other dogs, kids, cats, whatever) so that we pull the "right" dog for that home's activity and skill set.   They don't say things like "pulling a friendly/young/purebred dog doesn't help me" and instead say "yay! we opened a cage so I don't have to euthanize some other dog tonight!"    They also call me first when they have a puppy because we've also pulled their very expensive elderly dogs with medical needs and HBC dogs needing ortho surgery -- it's literally their way of saying "hope the adoption fee on this one helps y'all pay for all those expensive dogs you pulled from us recently."  They also know that the rescue becomes the safety net for life, so if that pup gets returned, the rescue will handle rehoming.   Reciprocal relationships keep your rescues strong -- and strong rescues can do more to help you.
•  I know of a rescue who took in a dangerous behavior rehab dog from a local shelter that thought his issues were minor.  They weren't minor.  He was very dangerous. The rescue put about $2000 into that dog for board certified DVM/Behaviorist visits, meds, multiple trainers, etc.  It was wasted money.  The foster volunteer was allowed to keep working on him for over a year, and when she was done, the dog was euthanized, as the vet behaviorist had told her that this dog  would never be adoptable.  That foster home had someone with highly advanced training skills, and it wasn't enough.  In that year, that same rescue could have had SIX  OR MORE adoptable dogs flow through that home instead.  That means that there were six dogs with good temperaments at various shelters who were euthanized so for this nonsense could happen.  It was a monumental waste of resources in a region where there are many dogs being put down to make space in open-intake shelters.    No....just no. 

Hi, I am a board member, volunteer, and foster mom for a small rural open-admission, non-kill shelter in Virginia. Recently we have had a few difficult cases of dogs with some behavioral problems. We don't feel they should be placed in the community. Some volunteers get upset when the conversation about behavioral euthanasia is brought up, and they ask we look for rescues first. But we know rescues also have limited resources, and we don't want to get a bad reputation about us trying to place difficult dogs into rescues. This shelter doesn't have the resources to rehabilitate or train these animals, and some of us feel euthanasia is the best option to prevent suffering. What are your thought on this topic?