TLDR; People need to realize when they’re adopting shelter dogs for the sake of giving the dog a better life, versus when they’re adopting dogs to tell people “he’s a rescue” and be showered with praise about what a great fucking service they’re doing.
Honestly, why do some people adopt dogs. Don’t get me wrong, I fucking love dogs. I work at a vet clinic, if I didn’t love dogs that would be weird. But some people don’t deserve dogs, and seem to just get them to say “look at me, I have a dog”. It’s fucked and I hate them.
Why, you may ask (or not. I’m just writing this for me. No one probably cares). Like I said, I work in a vet clinic, just a small little thing with one tiny, quiet-natured vet and her husband taking care of most things. There are 4 employees including me, 4 girls who are in school for various things and who only have knowledge in what our lovely vet has taught us. We are in no way vet-techs or vets ourselves; just kids with a love of animals looking for extra cash. Emphasis on love for animals. So, getting to my point. The husband (we’ll call him B) has this cute little doberman mix puppy. He’s a rescue, and is about 7 months old and is named Chevy. Chevy’s a good pup, and he stays at the clinic. Like, all the time. I have never seen B take him home once, and neither have the other girls, even on the days we’re closed. He just sits in that tiny clinic, in a small 8x8 foot area all day and night. But that’s only when the clinic is closed. When it’s open, he’s in the way. So he’s confined to a much smaller, maybe 6x6 foot area. And when he gets really rambunctious, he’s confined to the cat boarding room which he pretty much only has room to lie down. It’s fucked.
Besides not being given room to move, his playtime consists of 2 or 3 walks if he’s lucky or we’re not busy, for about 10 minutes at a time. 10. Minutes. FOR A FUCKING DOBERMAN PUPPY. So, obviously, he’s full of energy all the time, and is not trained at all. He jumps on us girls, because we need to pass him frequently for supplies and extra meds. And he’s getting to be really fucking big. We can handle the jumping, but now he’s started biting. And not like well-adjusted puppies who are a little mouthy and gently put your arm in their mouth for attention or gently playing, he fucking BITES. Not hard enough to break skin (yet), so according to B it’s just “playful and harmless”, but hard enough that I have raised welts on my arms after a shift. He will also grab our arms and pull them down to his level as if he’s grabbing and wrestling with a chew toy, not an actual feeling being. He’s also loud as hell, which is a problem in such a small clinic when surgeries are happening. It’s stressful as it is for both patients and us without a stressed out, bored puppy barking. I’ve brought this up with B pretty much every time he has bitten me, and ask B to take Chevy out when surgeries are on, but he insists on staying in case Doc needs help. Like, dude. I know I’ve only been here a month, but I know how to monitor a surgery and how to pass things to Doc.
Don’t get me wrong. Chevy is a great dog, he’s just not in the right environment. Like, stop being a fucking prick and give your dog to someone else. You’re obviously incapable of caring for him, and obviously don’t actually care for him for that matter. I’ve offered to take him to the park conveniently located 5 seconds away during my lunch breaks, but apparently it will “confuse him and he’ll forget who the alpha is”. Fuck off. And yes, I’ve asked why they keep him there. Ready for this shit? They have a 5 year old kid, and are worried Chevy is going to hurt her. Like???? If you payed attention to him and took him on longer walks where he can run around and tire himself out, I can almost guarantee there wouldn’t be any problem with behavioural stuff. He’s a smart dog. You’re an idiot owner.
If anyone has gotten this far, thanks. Any advice? This is a great job so I don’t really want to leave unless it becomes too much, and I love Doc. She’s amazing. But Chevy needs to be controlled in a positive environment where he can get his energy out. So any tactful advice that could possibly get B to consider re-homing/properly training Chevy would be A+.
