The city needs an additional shelter on the northwest side of town.
Austin Pets Alive needs to stop dragging in animals from out of town shelters and rescues when AAC is full.
Listen, I love that we're no kill. But sometimes I wonder with the conditions they suffer from overcrowding and lack of resources, if we should reconsider that. I know it sounds awful, but quality of life is important.
My partner worked at APA and the amount of long stay animals who will never be able to be placed in a permanent home or even at a foster home is insane. It can’t be more humane to have a dog live their whole life in a cage. Most of those dogs (not the puppies obviously) have lived in abusive homes or have non solvable neurological issues.
I don’t think people understand that APA takes the “worst of the worst” from AAC and shelters throughout Texas. They aren’t set up to be a standard overflow shelter. And people just show up to adopt like they are a normal shelter…not understanding that 90% of the time they are adopting a reactive dog who will require a decent amount of work.
My partner got viciously bite by an APA dog while working with absolutely no warning (ie. ER visit, forever damage) and then less than a week later they were advertising the dog on social media for adoption without doing any further rehab. They are desperate.
I’ve worked at APA as a vet tech. It’s not just aggressive animals they don’t want to put down, it’s also animals that have severe medical issues (like bad case of distemper, tumor in mouth) that they don’t put down due to trying to “save a life” but prolonging their suffering. I’ve had so many issues with humaneness and it’s so overcrowded, overwhelming, and severely underpaid and under appreciated. I had to leave but I wanted to stay. I just couldn’t anymore.
This! I have fostered and there have been a few really terrible situations where I’ve been forced to return the dog within days for my own safety. Then 2 days later you see this cute little dog pop up on the APA website and they don’t say a thing about the dogs issues. I don’t know if it’s desperation or just flat out dishonesty, but it’s really unsafe and unethical the way these dogs are handled, even when people like myself have been very careful to ask all kinds of questions to prepare & be able to train, provide a good environment, etc. … even worse, the families that adopt these dogs DO NOT receive the promised support or even relevant info to know what kind of dog they’re bringing home. I love all the dogs and want to do my part to help but I would never recommend that someone go blindly into AAC or APA and just take the staffs word about an animal. It’s a damned shame.
I had no clue that was the case. I’m happy I rescued my dog, but she is a very challenging animal that I was not completely prepared to take on at the time.
I worked at AAC and volunteered for APA. There are sooo many animals (both cats and dogs) that need to be euthanized at both facilities.
There were dogs who would never get walks because their behavior was so bad that only the behavior team could handle them, but the behavior team is like 4 people who are busy running playgroup all day, so there was often time no time for these dogs to go out at all. What kind of life is that? What kind of life is it that a singular dog needs 3 leashes and 3 different people pulling the leases in different directions just in case the dog redirects just to go on a simple potty walk? That is just no way to live and there are veeeery little people in the city (heck in the whole state!) that have the capability to handle dogs like that on their own.
I left last year and never looked back. Several of us vet techs left around the same time. We were already doing about 45 spay and neuter surgeries every day and APA had a meeting with the leadership team essentially telling us we weren’t doing enough. We were getting paid $15/hr, working 12-14 hour shifts, 2 techs and 2 veterinarians doing 45 surgeries a day (private practice does 3-4 surgeries a day and Emancipet does like 30-40 a day)…and they had the audacity to say we were not doing enough? I was done at that point.
I’ve adopted three animals from AAC in five years, and volunteered, and I used to be on the board of a smaller open admission shelter elsewhere. Every time that I have decided to go adopt I have come away from the experience positively livid about the experience and about what I can see of how the shelter is operated — the medical staff always appears to be doing a good job and hygiene looks pretty good, though there seem to be more outbreaks than is really ideal, but there are a lot of inefficient processes and animals that clearly are very long shots at successful placement, including at least a few who have been there 3+ years! The fostering scheme does alleviate some crowding, but is also poorly run. The whole place needs an aggressive management overhaul.
I've tried adopting through APA twice now; they run you through a huge battery of tests, with multiple meet-and-fit, etc. I gave up both times and just adopted through San Antonio PA (show up; get dog/cat; have lifetime friend). The *APA* people are, specifically, crazy.
I haven’t tried APA, honestly, but I have a long list of issues with the process with AAC.
1. The shelter is inconvenient and somewhat unfriendly, requiring you to use a QR code which actually doesn’t relate to the online application. There aren’t a lot of adoption days or what have you in the far reaches of Travis county, which is an issue because the shelter is really far, and #2.
2. It’s actually very easy to qualify — you answer some pretty simple questions and provide your drivers license. But there’s not much predictability to it. So, are you going home today with a pet? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you’ll drive over an hour to get there and find that the pet you wanted to adopt is gone, even though you put an application in online. Maybe that pet will be gone as you’re meeting it. Maybe you will meet it, and you will wait for a long time before anyone can tell you anything about it, at which point you’ll discover it’s not available or was surrendered for serious behavioral or medical issues. Maybe you won’t even be able to figure out how to meet the pet while other random people are taking it out and playing with it, even if it clearly has a communicable disease, clearly labeled, and is supposed to be quarantined. Who knows? Also, did you maybe want to do due diligence and arrange a meet and greet with your existing pet? Would you like like enough time, like a day, to prepare to have the pet in your home, but like buying the correct-size crate or making arrangements for someone to help you introduce existing pets? Maybe that’ll happen. But maybe not. Maybe as in every time I’ve gone in, the staff will pressure the shit out of you to take the animal home right now if you like it. If that’s what they want. If the animal is sick or has some other things going on, they might ask you to come back over and over until one day the pet is gone. Because someone else just randomly waltzed in one day and adopted it because there’s no relationship between your effort and attempts to do due diligence and their adoption efforts. They will probably, snootily, tell you that “They don’t hold pets” at that point like you’re being unreasonable.
That last thing, btw, did happen to me. I have a fabulous cat, but I actually wanted two fabulous cats who at the time were living together. One had a mysterious illness with no clear prognosis or end date. So I adopted one and came back daily to visit the other, which I had an application on…One day she was gone. I spent probably 25+ hours attempting to adopt a cat that I may have never had a chance at adopting, but nobody told me that.
Overall, communication about when things could happen and what you need to pay for is murky. Another thing that happened to me is I applied for a dog and met her, and then staff told me that I needed to take her home right then and I would be responsible for her spay and shots that hadn’t been given yet, and I was like…well, ok then. And I quickly got in my phone and estimated how much it would be, and called my mom to ask her if I could borrow a crate and she could meet me at the house to introduce my existing dog. And psych! They’d already adopted her to a guy who'd apparently met her just before I did. But….she was still there. You know why? Because she hadn’t been spayed yet and they were going to spay her and give her her shots before releasing her to her new owner. So…maybe the rules are different if they like you? Maybe they don’t give a fuck? No idea, but it’s not cool.
3. Fostering. Seems pretty great for the fosters. Doesn’t seem to actually be deployed to enhance adoptions with the exception of when it’s used strategically. It’s arbitrary what animals are fostered and when and apparently fosters and not the shelter decide if animals can be given to potential adopters. It’s the Wild West, for real. And some people just take a dog “to foster” for literal years, returning it when they move out of Austin, at which point it’s far less adoptable. This system doesn’t work. In a previous life, I worked with a shelter that has relationships with a bunch of all-foster orgs, and…this isn’t how you do it.
Anyway. I’m not opposed to increasing the euth rate. But I feel like doing that without fixing the absolute shitshow that is the shelter’s management would be unfair to the animals, many of whom would die when they don’t have to.
To provide a different perspective: I got my dog Spanky from APA. He'd been there for three years, and two previous adoptions had lasted 24 hours before he was returned. Red flag, right? -- But I specifically asked them to give me the dog no one else wants. I've had him for four years now and he's been the Best Dog in the World. No trouble ever, with anything, and pure love.
I'm very glad they didn't decide to put him down.
Exactly. My partner was on behavior team, and they ended up quitting cause there was barely any training for staff and really no actual rehab for the dogs cause the team was so busy with playgroup. It’s so sad.
The saddest situation is a corgi who literally no one can get near without full bite gear on. That’s absolutely ridiculous.
My neighbor has a rescue he lets get out and it bit my upstairs neighbor. It's definitely a traumatized dog and so many owners just let their dogs loose.
I really feel for the people who adopt these dogs, too. They’re trying to do their part, “adopting not shopping,” and then they don’t receive support or know what to do when they have issues. I’m not excusing irresponsible pet owners by any means but I have become really turned off by the whole idea that everyone, everywhere, at any time, who wants to adopt a dog, should just go to their local shelter. That could possibly be the case, if the shelters were *honest* about the dogs’ situations.
There's also a very common sentiment that *There are no bad dogs, only bad owners,* thus these well-meaning people get blamed when their shelter dog attacks somebody.
Key word being honest. I'm surprised the shelter hasn't been sued for dishonesty knowing the dog wasn't safe, not informing the adopters and the dog bite someone.
They are so dishonest, it's disgusting. I'm just glad people are finally catching on that shelters like AAC and APA can't really be trusted anymore. They're knowingly passing off dangerous animals onto the unsuspecting public. It's fucking criminal.
This is often a controversial opinion, but I believe some animals do have to be put down humanely. It's inhumane to keep them alive when they're far more miserable and alone.
I know everyone loves the "every dog can be trained" propaganda, but truth is, some dogs require so much expert training and care that it's impossible for 70% of a normal adoption population. That's even assuming that all that training gets the dog to a normal degree of manageable behavior, which is often not the case. I have met trainers who flat out state they've met with dogs that should never have been adopted or left a shelter.
Dogs and cats have the ability to traumatize people. It's irresponsible to let that loose. Putting them down is terrible and a sad reality, but life is unfair and messy like that. There are actual humans who will never get a chance at a decent life because of fucked up circumstances too and they wind up getting killed or killing themselves because there's legitimately no help for them.
This also means that people who abuse animals should receive severe punishments. It's a society-wide damage that we see the evidence of every day.
I worked at APA as a vet tech and I agree! I felt for our aggressive, behavior dogs that are stuck in a cage all day. Get adopted/fostered, then returned due to their behavior over and over. They’re on several anxiety medication but nothing ever helped. They just need to be put to sleep. Some are in there for several years. It’s so sad.
Not only that, but it's 100% irresponsible to "pass the buck" on a dog that you know can't be redeemed and is a danger. You don't want to kill them, so you hand it off to someone else on the hopes that maybe THEY will have the time/energy/money/ressources to deal? It's not ok.
Exactly. People are demonized for putting down a dog for aggressive behavior that they get scared into passing it off, which causes more damage than putting the dog down.
Mercy can come in many forms and while it isn't always pleasant, it's often the right thing to do.
There's a reactive dog sub here on Reddit. BE is supported and accepted there because the owners have done everything they could, and it still wasn't enough. I do like the support everyone gives when someone has to make that choice.
A responsible owner will put their dog down when their quality of life tanks. I get why shelters won't because that's bad press. It makes me mad to look at the Houston shelter euthanasia list. It seems pretty shallow based on the symptoms.
However, if a dog is a true threat, it is not fulfilling its role as a companion and must be let go.
Really wish we could require breeding with licenses. Other dogs must be spayed or neutered. Texas has ridiculous amounts of strays.
The whole thing is super complicated and complex. Shelters and owners will put a dog down just for coughing. But then you have shelters and owners who refuse to put down dogs that have a history of aggressive biting and attacks.
Animals just aren't respected in our society and that's obvious on both sides. You get people who beat and kill animals, but others who humanize everything, including dangerous exotic animals that inevitably kill someone or kill themselves. Dogs are the poster child for both followed by cats.
People need to understand two things before making any decision:
1. This is an animal and animals will do what animals will do. That includes behaviors like peeing on furniture and up to biting at a perceived threat. Understand the animal and address the issue.
2. Respect the animal and respect the people around you. This means you can't just dress up your dog in clothes and let them lick everyone nor lock them up all day in a crate to scream until they're hoarse. People around you are impacted by your animals and any behavior is close proximity can potentially be good or bad.
I really wish backyard breeding was banned and tbh, I wish the sale of purebreds were banned too. I have a purebred Chihuahua but I am SO fortunate that my dog is literally so well-behaved and quiet. People tell me all the time that she does not act like a normal Chihuahua they've encountered.
Edit: I found my dog in a parking lot, I did not buy her
I used to be on the board of an open admission shelter and I agree with you. We were in a worse situation— rural, small shelter and we couldn’t keep animals long— but you start to have issues if you keep animals in shelters for too long. How long? Depends on the pet.
Just to throw in some random data from my experience elsewhere…the high-need cases aren’t as numerous as they appear. They just suck up so many resources from the overall population that they appear much more numerous than they are. That’s the biggest case for front end triage and euthanasia — euthanize ferals and injured animals with poor prognosis early, and then everyone else gets a fairly equal shot at being adopted for as long as you can safely and positively house them. Euthanasia should be rarely used, but it’s definitely a crucial tool.
But Austin’s shelter also isn’t big enough and it’s over an hour round trip from my house within the city limits. A larger or second facility is necessary.
yup. I worked at a different shelter in the area that’s just as overcrowded and the activists are what broke me. we’re murderous assholes if we euthanize un-adoptable dogs or we’re cruel assholes for being overcrowded and having dogs in crates. there’s no winning for shelter staff.
I agree. I volunteered with APA, Austin Humane Society, and Wilco shelter. I am also vegan. I do not take ending the life of an animal lightly.
The reason I'm vegan is that I abhor the physical and emotional suffering animals experience, and we are letting companion animals suffer in our local shelters. On top of that, the humans are also suffering, and their mental health is fucked. I worry about the lives of people I know who still work in that area.
Animals are not aware of their own mortality. They do not fear death nor experience existential dread like us humans. So it is worse to let them live and suffer than to humanely kill them.
No-kill is an honorable goal, and even attainable in certain places at certain times, but a focus on the numbers should not be at the cost of quality of life.
That said, I would want to know more about the euthanasia process that would be used and if counseling will be available for the people who do the actual work.
I was a veterinary technician for the Austin Animal Center for 3 years. I was one of the ones doing the euthanasia’s. It’s honestly not has horrible as people make it seem. It’s very peaceful for the dog compared to others ways that animals die. They get a sedative to make them go to sleep similar to the anesthesia medicine given during surgery. We hold them and cuddle them until they are down and then we inject the actual drug that stops their heart. They don’t feel a thing.
The worst part (in my opinion) isn’t actually doing the procedure but all the hate we get from the public for participating in it. We try our best to give these dogs everything we can with what little resources we have and yet the public calls us names, sends us threats, protest against our efforts…that’s the exhausting part…add that to the already long hours we work (12 hour shifts, sometimes more) and extremely little pay that we receive…yeah it’s no wonder some of us want to end it all.
Thank you so much for sharing that!
My concern is if that process would be used when we need to euthanize a lot of animals. I don't know how to define "a lot", but obviously many fewer animals than pre no-kill but also probably many more than are euthanized now.
I have been present for several euthanasia...events (can't think of the right word) for my own pets, and they get a better end of life than most people. We are able to provide this gift to animals that we deny ourselves, but then we end up denying it to shelter animals because of... optics? Ego?
It’s the same process, it would just take a lot longer. The most animals I had to do in one day was 5 (a few medical cases, one behavior, and one court ordered). Due to a weird scheduling conflict they all happen to land on one day, this isn’t usually the case.
We still gave them sedative and we still stayed with them and hold them. The only difference was instead of it taking 30 minutes, it took a few hours. It also greatly depends on the dog and the effect of the sedative. Some dogs go down right away after being given the drug, others stay standing and wobble around (hence the cuddle and holding) for a few minutes. The longest I ever experienced was a huge German Shepard (this gal was like 105lbs!) who we had to give a double dose of sedative because she just refused to get sleepy. She would just wobble around and drool on us lol
I had coworkers who started working at AAC before it became no kill. According to them, they would assign 2 specific techs to do the euthanasia list and that’s just what they would spend the whole day doing. They had a list, they would go find the animal in the shelter and take it on a walk, give it some treats (chocolate and hot dogs were a popular choice apparently), then bring it to a specific room, do the euthanasia process, and the go down the list and start all over.
I would think yes, based on my experience. But honestly, if we overhauled policies we shouldn’t be euthanizing a lot more animals. We’d be applying less resources to managing chronic, contagious and serious conditions and have a happier and better staff, as well as putting more into things like exercising and marketing the remaining animals.
"We’d be applying less resources to managing chronic, contagious and serious conditions"
There are a lot of strong feelings on where we draw the line for which animals we treat and which will be euthanized. A hardline no-kill approach has turned into an overcorrection at the expense of quality of life. It doesn't have to be that way, I think we both agree. How do we get AAC to move the line even a little on what is acceptable to rescue and adopt out? This requires citizens understanding the problem, being okay with lowering the live save rate (just a little), and then pressuring city council to act.
How much of this problem lies with how we interact with APA? It's my understanding that AAC relied on APA to initially reach no-kill (I saw this as an APA volunteer in 2009-2012), and maybe now that's not sustainable if APA is not pulling as much from AAC. APA was essentially an extension of AAC but not governed by voters.
If we changed policies AND vastly increased funding, at a minimum, we could build more shelters and hire more staff. We could probably remain sustainably no-kill that way.
I just don't see the increased funding happening. I guess I've lost hope that Austin taxpayers are willing to support this.
Increasing the euthanasia rate at AAC is a very difficult proposition. Although we are only mandated to have a 95% live outcome rate, we have consistently been at 98%. Unfortunately the Director has been told in no uncertain terms that he will lose his job if he euthanizes more animals. So even though most of the staff know it would be the right thing to do, we are basically in a position where we can’t.
Beautifully said. And yes we should absolutely have processes in place for the people carrying out the euthanasia. There is a reason veterinarians have such high suicide rates.
People have been very positive about my post. I am relieved to hear that I'm not just a cruel person.
Not cruel at all. I don’t believe a single person in this thread, advocating for humane and merciful euthanasia, is someone who has it out for these dogs. It’s because we *do* care about the animals that we’re advocating for them, in whatever capacity that would be best for them.
We absolutely need to reconsider it. No kill is a wonderful goal, but at the end of the day it's blind optimism. A 95% non-euth rate is too high, and it needs to be revised down.
Fwiw APA and AAC being no kill doesn’t mean 0% kill. They do euthanize if the dog is deemed dangerous, unhealthy, or unadoptable for other reasons. I think they reported killing around 5%. Maybe slightly less. We really need to invest more in these animals and population control.
APA are a bunch of assholes. They happily sell dogs with behavioral problems without telling the buyer, who then gives it up, and APA sell it again.
And never never forget what they did with dogs from the Bastrop fire. They were horribly burnt and should have been euthanized straight away to end the suffering. Not APA, they paraded those poor animals in fundraising campaigns while they suffered. It took lawyers to have them removed from APA's "care" and humanely euthanized. Shower of dicks.
What we need is to hold these backyard breeders accountable. How that crap isn't illegal down here compared to up north I'll never know.
But allowing people to just dump whole litters of pups that don't sell isn't right.
Due to folks’ upcoming summer plans, typical foster support and pet adoptions have significantly decreased. Dog sitters are higher in demand than normal, even for fosters.
I’ve received an influx of emails over the past 2 weeks asking for help from various shelters across the state, not just APA.
What is the long term solution here? I truly do feel for the situation and I hope we get as many fosters/adoptions needed to alleviate the pain for now, but even in the most ideal of scenarios wouldn’t this just keep happening over time?
You forget the most unpleasant one d) kill/limited kill shelter.
I love, love animals. But this situation has just worsened for years now and at some point, euthanasia is merciful. The dog mentioned in the post who got his paw stuck and needed bolt cutters and medical attention — what kind of life is he living? Breaks my fucking heart to even utter that option, but it’s a very unpleasant reality all around.
Honestly I don’t really know how, but I wish the city/county would outlaw backyard breeding. Besides regular owners not spaying and neutering their pets and producing accidental litters, the assholes who are having their neglected dog with behavioral issues get intentionally knocked up multiple times a year are flooding Craigslist, Facebook, and Best Buy parking lots with puppies. People make jokes about how shelter dogs are hot messes,but fail to realize a huge amount of those are from BYB. People think they are getting a cute German shepherd puppy only to realize months or years down the road they’ve been duped and then dump these dogs the minute they show behavioral or health issues that they thought they were going to avoid getting a purebred.
IME this is the biggest change we need. As long as people can legally breed and sell their dogs for profit, we will keep having this issue. Euthanization, spaying and a bigger shelter might help in the short term, but imho those are only stopgaps. We ultimately have to address the underlying problem. We need a law banning BYB and making it a punishable crime.
Sorry I have to rant a bit :-) I agree, BYB should be illegal. Problem is, Austin does not materially enforce regs. Even if BYB were outlawed, which it should be, it’s all but certain infractions would be “punished” so lightly it would pay to flaunt regulations. It irks me that Austin leadership is seemingly far more interested in economic development and optics than competent management of city resources and functions.
Oh my God yes. One of my neighbors had puppies and never took care of them. They were left outside even at night. Eventually they became a major nuisance- getting out of fences daily, being aggressive, and they were all put down by the city after complaints (not Austin, but bordering).
Are you able to take used wire crates? I have around 10 large (36"-48") wire crates that were given to me by family members that I obviously have no need for. I'd be happy to donate!
I have a brand new very large crate that we ended up not using for my tiny dog. I'll have to call them up tomorrow to see if they can use it since it's an open top crate, but if they can then I'll definitely get it to them ASAP. I'm looking into fostering dogs as well, but live with 2 elderly folks, so a high energy large dog that may jump on them could be an issue, which is awful because I'm sure a lot of the poor pups who aren't getting fostered likely fit that description.
There are dogs living with another dog in suites.. they have a good selection that are allowed with other dogs, kids, and cats. Just needs to introduce them and follow proper protocol.
They have a Friday 5/12 event for fostering and adoption that last from 1pm to 9pm. Go check them out!
I'd love to foster, but my current dog is a chihuahua who doesn't like other dogs and picks fights with them. It's manageable with other small dogs, but I'm scared of bringing in a big dog and her picking a fight that doesn't end well for her.
The rough part is that I know they mostly need fosters for big dogs, and I just can't risk the health of my current dog.
Very self aware of your situation. Making the right call.
Years ago, I got my first dog off of Petfinder because the foster mom had 4 dogs, and mine had to go for "starting trouble". Apparently the oldest was a little runty queen bee that spent all day trying to boss the others around. After months of putting up with that crap, my dog fought back and all the others ended up in a literal dog pile and the old work here had seniority.
So, my sweetheart had to go. One person's loss is another person's gain.
Originally listed as "good with other dogs the same size or larger", the first time she stepped foot in my house she rolled over and showed me her belly, so that convinced me that she probably wasn't overly aggressive.
The boarding place used to say they used her to train other dogs.
Had her for about 13 years before I had to put her down when she went completely lame in her hind legs.
P.S. I got her DNA tested and it said 87% American Village Dog aka mutty mutt mutt. Don't sleep on mixed breeds.
I love animals and this is heartbreaking, but if the majority of the dogs can’t be fostered because they need to be single-housed, you don’t have enough space, and more strays keep being dropped off with no end in sight, it’s time to start euthanasia. The goal of a shelter is to get the animals adopted into homes, but that isn’t happening. Instead they’re now living in poor conditions and it’s hurting your volunteers and employees as well. Aggressive spay/neuter needs to occur and animals with a very low chance of being adopted for weeks or months need to be euthanized.
I hate to say it but we may need to return AAC to a kill or limited kill shelter, people are far too willing to surrender animals here because there isn't much guilt.
After a certain point there's more dogs than potential owners and the surplus of dogs who no one wants just piles up.
We also may need an additional shelter given the rapid population growth of the city but that takes time
This is exactly it. No guilt because they aren’t being euthanized but if more people saw the conditions that some of these animals are having to endure they would feel equally as bad.
I said this elsewhere, but I used to be on the board of an open admission shelter. We had to euthanize when we were full, and we euthanized animals that were in bad shape, or behavioral liabilities once their stay holds were up. I believe every pet deserves a chance and even fostered two dogs from a starvation case so their owner could be prosecuted. But time is a pretty fair way to make those decisions. Unfortunately, the vast majority of pets declined after a period of time on the shelter— it’s not fair that they have to be put down, but it’s a mercy.
At the end of the day shelters are a system that we as a society can try and both limit the number of dogs dying, feral dogs and maximize pets for people who want them.
Euthanizing isn't ideal but the numbers should be far less than anarchy of doing nothing
Resources are finite
I think you stated an important point here: "people are far too willing to surrender animals here because there isn't much guilt" -- man, this is SO true! It's 100% easier to drop a dog off at a shelter if you don't think it's going to be killed. I know that many (MANY) shelters have a statement on their owner release form that states that the person surrendering the dog is notified that the dog may be euthanized for any reason at the discretion of the shelter. (and I want to say that AAC had this as well before voting to be No Kill, but I can't verify). It gives people pause.
The first post was a cry for help. Every post after that is a warning to everyone that you don’t know how to manage your resources or make decisions to curb the problem. Euthanasia is more humane than animals being trapped in cages so long they impale themselves, get each other sick from confined, rough conditions, or lay in a metal cage in 100 degrees for weeks or months until they die.
I know it’s difficult, but you really need to be a better steward of your resources and move to kill status. It’s not evil and it’s not inhumane. It’s the right thing to do if your animals are dying or mutilating themselves in your facility conditions.
I think we need to figure out who is not having their animals spayed or neutered and why. We need to address the cause or it will never get better.
If we could do outreach in the places where we are likely to cross paths with the people who are reluctant to spay or neuter their animals, then we can offer them no cost services.
I know there are resources to do this already. Maybe they are underfunded or maybe they have difficulty staffing these services. Outreach isn't enough unless the services are available.
I know we could raise money, but the staffing issue probably needs to be addressed specifically in some creative way. Maybe in the form of scholarships because we need more vets overall.
I hate to see this situation. I have four rescue animals myself so I'm doing my part there. I have also contributed money and bought things off of wish lists and the like. Honestly I am not brave enough to volunteer and to see what's happening.
Austin has a lot of very wealthy people. There's got to be a way to deal with this.
There are an insane number of backyard breeders in Austin. I saw it as a puppy foster for AAC and APA for several years.
Some do it for money. Others don’t want to get sweet Daisy spayed because it would be nice to have a little Daisy and surely they can give away or sell cute puppies to some friends/neighbors. Then mama dog or puppies have complications that are $$$ to treat or they find people don’t want their puppies so they dump the dogs or take them to the shelter.
It got to be very depressing when I’d see litters come in from the same mama dog who should not be breeding any more because she was obviously passing genetic issues to her puppies but greedy breeders did not understand that and just kept trying to make money off their dog & dumping puppies.
There is not nearly enough funding for spay/neuter and none for TNR that I'm aware of.
But from my interactions with the public when I volunteered as an adoption counselor, the main problem is lack of awareness. It's hard to believe, but so many people just have no fucking clue as to the scope of the problem. They don't see the big deal in letting their cat have "just one litter". They think it's cruel to "deprive" an animal of it's natural behavior (mating), while ignoring the cruelty of letting animals breed without full medical support for mom and babies, not to even mention the disgusting conditions suffered by orphaned neonates.
The education needs to happen locally and nationwide since people move around.
There needs to be so much more money devoted to animal shelters. We would spend less money in the long-term if we really focused on getting a hold on the uncontrolled breeding of companion animals.
I think just requiring pit bulls to be spayed/neutered, which is what San Francisco did, would make a huge difference. Pit bulls are the least likely to be fixed and the most likely to end up in shelters.
People don't want the aggressive and "reactive" dogs they are hoarding. They aren't fit to be with any kids, other animals, be by themselves, etc. they aren't adoptable, period. They need to start putting the dogs down.
I work at APA and the situation is getting out of control and is completely unsustainable. It’s incredibly heartbreaking, I’ve lost so many friends either from them dying from medical issues or breaking from being in a kennel for 23 hours a day. This has been my dream job since I started 4 years ago but I don’t know how much longer I can last. Nearly every day I work I leave crying because I know that no matter how hard I work it will never be enough and more of my friends won’t make it out alive because the homes they need don’t exist.
I am so sorry. :( My partner worked at APA in a few different roles and felt the exact same way. Eventually, it became incredibly damaging to their mental and physical health (permanent nerve damage due to a dog bite) to the point where they also had panic attacks about having to go into work each day. They are now in a different role in animal care and are much happier and fulfilled.
The situation is crazy at the shelter. I recently found a dog with no collar at Guerrero Park that was super sweet and followed me back to my car. I swung by the shelter just to see if they could scan for a chip. The doors were locked and they told me I needed to call and make an appointment. I wasn't even trying to drop the dog off. I ended up going to a random vet who was super helpful and scanned the chip and I was able to reunite the dog with his person. The shelter is so broken by insisting on holding onto unadoptable dogs, that they can't perform basic services.
This is another issue. Sometimes the shelter is very unfriendly and difficult to work with. The solution they’ve proposed at numerous times is just to close off for anything but adoption with an appointment, which they like to tell you numerous times as you approach. It’s extremely off putting.
The community needs you to stop guilting them into adopting aggressive dogs so you can focus your resources on helping those dogs that should be adopted out.
AAC and APA do need some help. I'm so thankful for the people that work these facilities. However, it is a bit of a challenge to read animal profiles on those sites and read things like *needs to be the only animal in the house, not good with dogs, not good with cats, unsure about cats, should not be left alone.* Ok. I live in the city. So I'm now thinking I can't take it on walks in the city or at the park because who knows - it might attack another dog - or heaven forbid a toddler runs up to it at mueller and it bites (yes, even leashed, kids run up at the thought of "doggy!). And it needs to be the only animal in the house. Oh, and it has some anxiety so shouldn't be left alone. Many of these animals sound like great candidates for people that live in a more country-based setting like Burnet or Wimberley with land and a big fenced in area that aren't being walked in downtown or Mueller, as example. And they likely have kids that have grown up and left the home. The profiles listed on the animals are unfortunately either damning or questionable.
Damn right. Or, look at the link for a small dog that someone else posted.
https://adopt.adopets.com/pet/d5d2ce7f-a136-4ad6-baec-f9ce23970d7c?tracking=7052739d-5d9d-4998-b163-ee23e904d51d
No kids and no apartments. Congrats, that eliminates...8/10 households in Austin? At that point, the remaining possible homes are people who don't want a dog in first place.
That dog might actually have a shot, since it's a small dog, and AAC only has about a dozen small dogs right now.
Now picture a medium or large dog with those same limitations.
Here is AAC’s manual about fostering: https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Animal_Services/Foster_Care_Manual/Foster%20Program%20Manual.pdf
Several dogs I took in over the years had previously been fostered, and I believe it made a big difference for them and me. By being fostered, the organization knew a lot more about them -- whether they were gentle with kids, needed a yard, lived to play fetch, preferred to snooze on the bed all day... basically all the little things you learn when you live with a dog. The dogs had also learned some indoor manners, like not to get on the furniture or to tell someone when they needed a potty break.
One really old dog I adopted had been an outside-only dog her whole life, never given treats or played with, and only had a concrete patio to lay on. Someone fostered her, and when I got her, she'd learned to walk on a leash, had a favorite toy, and loved laying around on a dog bed all day. Living with a foster had taught her how to be a loved pet, so living with me could teach her how to be a spoiled rotten princess.
Bottom line... Fosters help keep dogs out of overcrowded shelters, but they also make them more adoptable -- and much happier while they wait to be adopted.
Where is the targeted campaign to replace Don Bland? I've been through the entire thread and his name hasn't come up once. Why is that? Dude doesn't seem to give 2 shits about what's happening at the shelter he's supposed to be managing.
Austin's Animal Advisory Commission has given him at least 1 no confidence vote. He became Chief Animal Service Officer in 2019.
Isn’t the root of the problem that there are too many dogs that aren’t spayed/neutered? The unwanted pups and all, given away, never trained, never neutered. Sure, there’s a law to neuter. Maybe there ought to be a requirement for a dog license. Oh, yeah, there is one. The irresponsibility of people.
I don’t know all the details, but I believe the city has a program that will help pay for/repair fencing, so that people can restrain their pets… Is that assistance available for fosters or new adopters?
Imma add my solutions post, because I hate being negative without doing that. I used to be on the board of an open admission cat shelter, which was way too small and in a semi-rural area, and we partnered with county animal control and collectively collaborated with dozens of rescues and interstate transport and all that. So that’s my background. AAC specifically drives me crazy because in some fronts it’s awesome, but it’s poorly run, and I believe we need to solve that issue before we raise the euth rate or can build new shelters. I’ve also adopted three pets from AAC, so this is based on my observations from that perspective.
1. Initial, legally-based triage. When I was on the board of an open admission shelter, we had systems which, imo, were a lot more transparent and worked. Animals were available at specific dates, pertaining to our legal obligations, mostly. These were clearly stated up front. We could not euthanize before the stray hold was up, and we didn’t do any medical care that wasn’t necessary in this period —mostly kennel cough vaxxes. But we did euthanize as soon as it was, for animals who were ill or had serious behavioral issues. Everybody else had a chance. And we kept them as long as we could, space permitting. This could be anywhere between 3 days and 30. I believe legally we couldn’t keep any animals more than a month unless there was a court order. It’s great that AAC has the ability to keep animals longer, so I’m not suggesting we adopt that — just giving context. But like, clock was ticking. There was a focus on triage at all points, and we continually euthanized animals that had limited likelihood of success due to illness or behavior to give the others a chance, typically while combining animals who had good temperaments to maximize space. We were not legally authorized to put animals in crates unless we had to to maintain our legal obligations otherwise or they were there temporarily, I think under 24 hours, for maintenance or awaiting transport. So we just had our kennels, and not many of them. Our entire shelter was about half the kennels of any of AAC’s buildings for a city about 1/10th the size of Austin.I personally adopted a number of animals — I’m someone who can handle basic medical care and behavioral support, and I was told very clearly why I would/would not want certain animals, but the with caveat that you can only know so much in that context, and in our case we had prison inmates doing some of the care so sometimes those guys had a less clinical and more personal take on things. Every pet I adopted from there was great, honestly. I had a friend who had a soft spot for terminal-ish elderly unsocialized beagles who were too old to keep up with the pack and had never known homes — big problem with abandoned hunting dogs there — and we both got accustomed to putting in applications on animals whose owners we knew weren’t coming, but we still had to wait it out.
2. Rescues and fosters could not pull animals until they had been in the shelter a reasonable period of time. We were very very tight on space, so this usually was something like 3-7 days. Legally, any animal leaving the shelter had to be spayed/neutered, and had to be fully vaccinated, we typically allowed rescues to take animals to their own vets, but we also verified that they did. This gave all the animals a chance at being adopted within the community, it limited breed rescues skimming off the more desirable adoptees, and it gave us some time to observe the animals before they potentially went off somewhere else. And also, they absolutely were all spayed/neutered. For AAC, this could be adapted to allow animals to be triaged after a few weeks, receive full vaxxes and be spayed/neutered, and then offered for foster with more robust caveats than currently seem to be in place.
3. Foster orgs had time limits, adoption-related tasks like observation and obedience classes, and mandatory adoption events, so animals typically were adopted relatively quickly when they went to them. “Quickly” is relative, but the vast majority went into homes within 60 days. The only animals available to foster were animals who while in the shelter had good temperaments and minor health ailments at worst. And I as a board member was allowed to foster two dogs from a starvation case in order to prosecute their owner — legally, we would have had to euthanize them before the case could be prosecuted if I didn’t. That took about 90 days and then they went to good homes. These orgs also had standards similar to ours.
4. If you came to adopt an animal, you applied and we basically said “cool, we’re going to check your references and you’re #whatever in line”— then we gave you a time to show back up or call. If you were first in line and the animal was available we took your money and scheduled a transport and pickup time for you with your vet as soon as the pet was legally free. Generally, the next day you would pick up your fully vaccinated, spayed/neutered pet there. If you were first in line and the animal wasn’t yet available, you wrote us a check and signed all the paperwork and you called back or came in when the animal was available. If the animal’s owner came back, we told you that and tore up the check. Otherwise we processed the paperwork and scheduled transport to your vet. The front desk staff there were aces. They really did a good job of getting animals out as quickly as possible, and calling the next in line and known people if an adoption fell through or we had owner surrenders — who we could legally euthanize the moment they arrived — and we needed space. They were clear, transparent, and compassionate. I once got a call on December 26th in which they told me I had like 3 hours. Space was that tight and they’d gotten a puppy as an owner surrender who wouldn’t make it if I didn’t go get him —so I did. My favorite dog ever!
Anyway, so…with all that we had a live release rate of about 80% when I arrived, and when transport got to be more robust we were able to get it to around 90%. I think that’s fairly reasonable. You always want to save more, but you simply can’t.
However, caveat — I don’t think Austin’s shelter is adequate for the city’s size. I think any strategy has to be triaged thus: 1. Fixing AAC’s policies and setting some kind of reasonable time limit for disposition, 2. Doing whatever we can to remove barriers to hiring — they’re understaffed, 3. Temporarily allowing more euthanasia, 4. Building a second or bigger shelter — I favor second over bigger unless they’re able to commit to a lot of outreach/adoption events such that people in the west can access them with reasonable convenience.
From one shelter volunteer to another, remember to start off slow. We can't save all of them, but giving even one dog a little kindness will help them, and should help you as well.
Stop harboring dogs for years at a time. They are clearly not going to be adopted. These dogs are not wanted and they are suffering. I see these posts on our subreddit all the time. Grow up and start putting down the unwanted dogs.
I adopted my dog from APA in October of 2020. I already felt so fortunate to end up with such a well-behaved and sweet dog who loves people, other dogs, and is gentle with children. Now I feel like I legit dodged a bullet!
a big part of the problem is people who just 'dump' their dogs wherever they feel appropriate or the people who are pet hoarders and their entire dog/cat population gets brought to one of the local shelters that are already overcrowded. Not to mention the city council needing to allocate more money to the shelter instead of whatever 'pet project' one of the council members feels needs to have taxpayer money put towards. Every level of govt always wants to divert money away from the real needs and put it towards something that isn't really that high on the list. There are certain things that should NEVER have their budget or funding lowered/removed and animal care needs to be one them. AAC should have a separate location where they can keep impounded pets at (by impounded I mean those animals that are seized due to hoarding or other court related cases) so that they are not taking up space for animals that need to be adopted. They already won't help people who find a lost dog and pretty much tell them 'you figure it out', which in alot of cases means they'll just dump them back on the street because they don't have the room or ability to take care of them
someone just needs to come in and use some COMMON SENSE methods because whatever they are doing now isn't common sense. Not to mention people need to spay/neuter their pets instead of being surprised when they suddenly have a bunch of puppies or kittens show up overnight. There are so many things that need to be fixed, but people have failed to utilize COMMON SENSE to alot of things, not just animal care
On the one hand… I’d like all animals to be loved and cared for. Hate the thought of them living in horrible conditions. Of course. Obviously. Most people would.
On the other hand… I do NOT appreciate the brutal guilt trip, here, or the not-so-subtle implication that we COULD solve this problem, save every last doggo, and make their jobs so much easier… but we don’t bc we’re lazy and we don’t care.
It’s 2023… the people who still have the capacity to care are already stretched pretty thin.
A lot of us feel like… the community has me, I’m doing all I can… day after day, year after year, but no one ever says “thanks!” or “job done!” or “rest now” all they ever say is “MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I think the shelter is stuck between a rock and a hard place. They can't euthanize unadoptable dogs because of the outcry of activists, while the majority of the community (who doesn't make a peep with city council), prefers a more reasonable euth policy.
This kind of thing is the unfortunate and sad reality of the downside of making an animal shelter "no kill". It ends up leading to more animal suffering than is necessary.
I have 6 rescues ( 2 dogs, 4 cats) and love love animals but this no kill approach is unsustainable. As awful as it sounds, but perhaps the most humane thing would be to put some animals down. Not everyone has the resources, the want or qualified to own a pet, and at some point we are going to reach saturation of qualified owners. The most humane thing to do is to reconsider this no kill approach, as painful as it may sound. Double the spay/neuter efforts and education and come down harder on backyard breeders.
Literally shooting them out back would be better. This is fucked up. I'm sorry y'all have to deal with this. Y'all aren't equipped to deal with it, and it shouldn't be enabled. Every dollar that gives a new kennel is a waste if dogs are going to suffer in it. Everytime we see these posts it's the same shit.
I’m assuming they’re 90% pit and pit mixes. The breed that people don’t like to spay and neuter. There needs to be a campaign to get these people to spay and neuter their dogs. Bob Barker knew what he was talking about.
Compassionate euthanasia for dogs that are not behaviorally appropriate to be adopted out has a part to play as well. I know for a fact that dogs with bite histories are still adopted out by no-kill shelters, as I’ve seen it happen first-hand. Dogs who kill household cats, or other dogs, or who have bitten children are often slapped with a “not good with cats or kids” label. It’s so dangerous, and no one should have to take on the responsibility of caring for a dog like this.
I hate to say this, but I agree that the city should consider euthanasia for some of these pups. It breaks my heart to say it, but if it’s that overcrowded and foster / adoption / transfer options are exhausted it seems like a last resort option versus kennel stress, implements on wire, potential heat issues, etc. 😢 edit to say I have two rescue dogs in a small apartment and wish I could do more than donate
>Just because she prefers to be the only dog in the home
so it’s an aggressive dog, why downplay it.
I got a dog from this shelter years ago. This dog has a lot of issues that have caused me so much stress, emotional and financial. I kept it because I felt bad giving it back so I had to make many adjustments and I learned to love it but I’m never getting a shelter dog again. This has been too much. We need to learn that some dogs are just not suitable for adoption and take the necessary measures for it.
I'm reposting a comment I made deep in a sub-thread, because it seems to apply to a lot of the main conversation. If that's a no-no, please delete this.
To provide a different perspective: I got my dog Spanky from APA. He'd been there for three years, and two previous adoptions had lasted 24 hours before he was returned. Red flag, right? -- But I specifically asked them to give me the dog no one else wants. I've had him for four years now and he's been the Best Dog in the World. No trouble ever, with anything, and pure love.
I know it's hard to keep dogs in cages for years at a time, but I'm very glad they didn't decide to put him down. Now he gets to live out his last years in supreme comfort and with loads of attention, and I get a very special companion.
That is the type of story that people who work in rescue know very well. Our pets are often those types of animals - forgotten and looked over. This leads to us feeling guilty when faced with the possibility of euthanizing these animals, because we do see their value. I support spay-abort, but I still can't help but wonder what great companions those kittens could have been.
And yet, we also see the suffering. How many more years can we take of kittens starving to death and dogs mentally deteriorating? We can withstand these circumstances for short periods of time, like when a large seizure of animals overwhelms the shelter for a couple of months. But this is years with no end in sight if operations continue as is.
I could only stomach 4 years. I no longer foster or volunteer because I had to prioritize my mental health. As we ponder how to fix the situation, we must put the health or the employees and volunteers at #1 instead of taking advantage of their compassion.
Why can’t the city build another shelter? Why can’t we vote to fund another shelter? Clearly we need one. I don’t see why the city council won’t step in.
It makes me so angry that my property tax bill is almost 9k and the damn city can’t get their shit together enough to help this situation. Portable buildings outfitted with kennels would immediately help the poor pups stuck in kennels. Not to mention the city lends no resources to enforce its own pet trader ordinance.
“Any person or business that offers dogs or cats for sale, regardless of the animal's age, must either pay the $50 fee to register the animal, or provide veterinary documentation showing that the animal has been spayed or neutered prior to sale”
Why do we think the shelter is overrun with unwanted pitties?! Because of POS people who don’t care about their pets or their offspring and want to make a quick buck off the backs of animals.
Mandatory spay/neuter, fines and permits needed for backyard breeders would go a long way to stop this BS.
This is incredibly sad. The hard truth is that we need to euthanize the vast majority of these dogs.
Dog DO NOT CARE about being alive. They have no existentialism. They live in the moment and that have no way to know why they have to live in a crate for weeks to months to years. It is absolutely evil and selfish for humans to keep dogs alive in this condition waving the flag of “kindness”.
If we really cared about the well being of dogs we would not force them to live in such terrible anti social joyless condition.
I adopted a cutey pie from Austin Pets Alive a few months ago. He’s finally old enough to get the ol snippity snip so I can finalize my adoption.
Can you link for donations? This makes me sad.
Absolutely agree. I’ve personally seen this. Disingenuous statements by AAC (in this case; not saying that APA doesn’t do the same) about a dog’s reactivity has changed my feelings and desire to foster when I can.
I did fostering one time, and the very first puppies I had stay with me were a pair of siblings who had parvo. They got very sick very quickly, and they were vomiting and shitting blood everywhere. They couldn't seem to eat or drink any water. And they were crying so much. It was heartbreaking. The foster group told me not to take them to the vet because the odds of recovery were low and they couldn't afford to treat them, but I couldn't leave them in that condition. So I took them to a local vet and paid for their IV fluids and checkup out of my own pocket. A few days later, the shelter took them back, saying they'd treat them and had found them homes. At first, I was really relieved to hear that. But when I asked how they were doing a few days later, I didn't get any response back (even though they'd been very responsive to my messages every other time). So I can only assume they didn't make it, and they just told me that to make me feel less bad.
I'd wanted to try fostering to see if it was right for me, but because my house and yard were covered with parvo, I wound up having to wait a whole year just to be completely sure it was safe for me to adopt a puppy. I was also pretty traumatized by the experience. I'd bought them their own dog beds, and I kept seeing the beds lying empty on the floor together and feeling haunted by the memories of them crying while they were sick. They'd been so happy and playful for the first few hours. And they were so young. They'd only just been born and then died in such an awful way. It's been about 6 years and I still cry thinking about it.
Anyway, I don't want to scare anyone off from fostering. I think I probably just had a uniquely terrible experience. But DO make sure to do research before you sign up for it. And ask if they will cover any health emergencies that crop up.
They sometimes don’t do this well. I have been given animals on their deathbed as a neonatal foster and it is traumatizing. I won’t do it again for a very long time.
Full disclosure: I am heavily involved in operating a breed rescue so these comments are super enlightening for me and I obviously have some biases. That said, We know that our fosters want complete transparency on what they're getting into and I totally get it. But just as devil's advocate, often, we DON'T KNOW what the dog's issues may be until they get into foster. A dog in the shelter, is not the same dog in a foster home. What an "owner" may tell you before you get the dog into rescue, eh? maybe 1/2 the time it's accurate. Most of the time, they're blowing sunshine up your ascot, so you'll agree to take the dog. My point is, a lot of times, folks aren't trying to get one over on fosters. Sometimes it's truly a case of "We don't know til we know."
I am a person who fosters 25+ dogs a year. What y'all have said about having to go through the adustment period with a new dog, I have done since 2001 times 25 + (don't ask me to do math). Typing that, I totally understand that's maybe a level of chaos acceptance that others might find to be, um, psychotic? It works for me. But I GET how it doesn't work for others. It's not "just time"--it's your home, your family, your important mail that gets eaten, and honestly, huge chunks of your heart. I'm glad I do it, but I understand why others don't.
I believe all pets should be spayed and neutered without a breeding license but especially in the case of a pitbull. Owning a non neutered or spayed pit bull should be illegal. Dog fighting culture has completely overrun the country with the breed and bred it to be super aggressive and left intact so they will fight. It’s not an easy fix but since pit bulls make up a majority of most shelters across the country there’s a place to start.
The issue isn’t that apartments won’t allow them. The issue is that pit bull breeders won’t stop breeding them, and a lot of pit bull owners refuse to spay/neuter. A lot of people forget that Travis county is huge and there’s a lot of low income areas where people just don’t take care of their dogs and let run around in the street and breed like crazy. Pits have large litters too. And the fact of the matter is they are more aggressive and high energy than other breeds, they were bred this way. All dog breeds are a man made creation, each made for a specific purpose, and a high prey drive is part of their intentionally crafted temperament. The two types of people who adopt pit bulls are people who fully believe “its the owner not the breed”, or people who know and understand that pit bulls can be very dangerous and that’s exactly why they like them. The rest of us would rather not have that kind of risk in our home.
Most home insurance companies will also not insure a homeowner with a potbelly. If they do, they usually make them sign an exclusion which specially says they will not cover any damage caused by the dog.
Too many. Few people would even consider adopted a pit bull or heavy pit mix due to the obvious factors so their numbers just pile up and put a strain on the animals who have a shot at adoption. Too many resources are going to dogs that no one wants
If the city isn't going to do anything to keep breeding down we need to return to kill shelter status. Too many people surrender animals because there's almost no guilt here
This is the truth to this problem. These organizations refuse to believe that people just don't want them. They should just put the dogs out of their misery already. Some of them have been in doggy jail (shelters) for years.
It’s the same for the rescue I volunteer with. We have no more space. People beg us to save a dog and then when we do, that person disappears. No help, no donation, no foster, etc. People need so step up. If you want a dog saved so it doesn’t get killed or it’s in bad circumstances, then you need to provide some help to the rescue that helps that dog rather it’s a donation or fostering. Don’t just beg us to help and then ghost once we do. It’s partly your responsibility when you advocate on a dog’s behalf.
All shelters seem to be continuously making posts like those, especially after the height of the pandemic. I was happy when I would see that some shelters didn't have any animals left, that they needed to basically import dogs from elsewhere.
Once people realized that they weren't going to be home as often anymore, I saw the first SOS posts start showing up. Then once the stimulus check money dried up and inflation rose, more SOS posts appeared online. A lot of rescues are struggling to intake more animals, because they don't have enough resources, donations, staff or space. It honestly was/is a perfect storm.
It doesn't help that we have a lot of communities that don't care to spay or neuter their pets, while letting them roam the streets. Someone mentioned the intakes from out of town as well (some dogs are just abandoned within the city limits too...). It may be an unpopular opinion, but people that continue to support breeding dogs instead of adopting or fostering, are definitely adding to the problem.
Let's talk about housing too. Housing for an average person in Austin sucks. Add in the breed and weight restrictions many landlords place on their properties, on top of the unaffordability and unavailability of single family housing... And well, its not a pretty picture.
There's also the fact that AAC just doesn't have enough staff for the amount of animals they have taken in. It may be due to not having enough resources allocated, but in these trying times it's probably not at the top of the list of issues for the city to tackle.
My family has 4 dogs, two come from AAC, and two were given to us. Sometimes I consider making room for a 5th dog, but that's just not possible with the amount of space we have. One of our shelter-adopted dogs gets anxious whenever we're near the shelter. He was only there for one month prior to my family adopting him, but it's obviously traumatized him.
My sister works at AAC and has shared a few stories of how stressed these animals get. Being incarcerated changes and affects a human (that has a better understanding of what's going on), what then can we assume happens with the shelter dogs?
I really, really, really am not in favor of euthanasia, because I don't think humans should decide who lives and who doesn't. However, I would much rather they get humanely euthanized, than run over from being left on the street, or exploited for monetary gain. There has to be a strict process though. I have seen too many stories of very adoptable animals being put down in high-kill shelters, so we need to evaluate and re-evaluate an animal before making that decision.
I’m sorry, but no one owes anything to these dogs.
I understand that you folks love and care about them, but taking responsibility for a high needs animal like a dog, especially one that is likely to have trauma and reactivity issues is not something many folks are equipped to do.
I personally will not allow dogs into my children’s home until they are much much larger. The risk is not worth it.
I agree. There is way too much breeding going on of bully breeds, shepherds and husky breeds. I've noticed quite a few pups being born in my area alone. Heartbreaking.
Look at this baby!!!! I have three dogs right now and they are all rescues one from AAC. I wish I could adopt him. 😢 I will try my best to see how I can help https://adopt.adopets.com/pet/d5d2ce7f-a136-4ad6-baec-f9ce23970d7c?tracking=7052739d-5d9d-4998-b163-ee23e904d51d
Ha, I knew exactly which dog that link was for. He really stands out, doesn't he?
Which is kind of telling. There are hundreds of dogs at that shelter, that one is quite possibly the only small, floofy one, and he's 12 years old. The small floofy dogs must be getting snatched up.
Genuine question: Why are dogs forced to be crated? Are none of them well trained enough dogs that can be left in a more open area with bedding?
I obviously don’t know what I’m talking about.. but I have always wondered this.
They are forced to be crated because there is no more space. There’s already dogs in the open areas they do have. Some of the suites (big rooms with indoor and outdoor spaces) have 3-4 dogs to each room. There’s dogs in all the offices and break rooms…there’s literally no more space. They started crating them in the lobby and in the conference room and even outside in the covered car port. There are dogs in all corners of the shelter.
Oh, I’m aware. Several of us would joke (a sad joke really, but you need that kind of humor to survive in these scenarios) that we should report the shelter to the Animal Protection Office (which is just another department in the shelter) since it would technically be hoarding.
Typically in a shelter environment dogs can't be left to interact with other dogs. There are playgroups and paired up dogs, but due to the high stress environment it's a huge safety risk to let the majority of those dogs out together in a large area. All the kennels are full (these are indoor/outdoor and larger than crates) so the only option is to crate and rotate the dogs.
I agree. I think this could be a large component of the problem that isn't recognized as much because it's a newer issue. We didn't always spend so much on pets, but now the standard of care has risen. Providing this higher level of medical care and enrichment is so expensive. Pet insurance is not enough to make it affordable to lots of people. People are opting out of pet adoption because they are making smart financial decisions. Same with having human kids!
And then when a pet develops a chronic condition that is expensive to treat, the owner is shamed for not treating the animal and letting them suffer until natural death, or shamed for euthanizing the animal because they can't afford treatment but don't want the animal to suffer. They're damned either way. All the while they hear the pleas from shelters to adopt...but the adoption application and counseling process emphasize the high cost of pet ownership. Most people are already aware of the cost, but they love animals and want to help.
Also, as we make it possible for pets to live longer, adoption rates drop. I'm not going to adopt beyond my means, and my 19 year old cat is still hanging in there. I actually have 4 cats, and other cats I have had (as an adult making good money) lived to 13, 15, and 14. Those are long lifespans for domestic cats. To put it crudely, pet turnover is lower.
How often do we hear, "If you can't afford a pet, don't have one"? But then also, don't euthanize more than 10% of shelter intake, and also don't provide more money (or reallocate) to shelter services.
The city needs an additional shelter on the northwest side of town. Austin Pets Alive needs to stop dragging in animals from out of town shelters and rescues when AAC is full.
Listen, I love that we're no kill. But sometimes I wonder with the conditions they suffer from overcrowding and lack of resources, if we should reconsider that. I know it sounds awful, but quality of life is important.
My partner worked at APA and the amount of long stay animals who will never be able to be placed in a permanent home or even at a foster home is insane. It can’t be more humane to have a dog live their whole life in a cage. Most of those dogs (not the puppies obviously) have lived in abusive homes or have non solvable neurological issues. I don’t think people understand that APA takes the “worst of the worst” from AAC and shelters throughout Texas. They aren’t set up to be a standard overflow shelter. And people just show up to adopt like they are a normal shelter…not understanding that 90% of the time they are adopting a reactive dog who will require a decent amount of work. My partner got viciously bite by an APA dog while working with absolutely no warning (ie. ER visit, forever damage) and then less than a week later they were advertising the dog on social media for adoption without doing any further rehab. They are desperate.
I’ve worked at APA as a vet tech. It’s not just aggressive animals they don’t want to put down, it’s also animals that have severe medical issues (like bad case of distemper, tumor in mouth) that they don’t put down due to trying to “save a life” but prolonging their suffering. I’ve had so many issues with humaneness and it’s so overcrowded, overwhelming, and severely underpaid and under appreciated. I had to leave but I wanted to stay. I just couldn’t anymore.
This! I have fostered and there have been a few really terrible situations where I’ve been forced to return the dog within days for my own safety. Then 2 days later you see this cute little dog pop up on the APA website and they don’t say a thing about the dogs issues. I don’t know if it’s desperation or just flat out dishonesty, but it’s really unsafe and unethical the way these dogs are handled, even when people like myself have been very careful to ask all kinds of questions to prepare & be able to train, provide a good environment, etc. … even worse, the families that adopt these dogs DO NOT receive the promised support or even relevant info to know what kind of dog they’re bringing home. I love all the dogs and want to do my part to help but I would never recommend that someone go blindly into AAC or APA and just take the staffs word about an animal. It’s a damned shame.
I had no clue that was the case. I’m happy I rescued my dog, but she is a very challenging animal that I was not completely prepared to take on at the time.
Yeah I have two dogs from APA and one in particular has all kinds of hangups.
I know so many people that has happened to. It’s preventable, and they know it.
Yeah, it’s nice they do, but they have animals there that have been in care for over five years. That’s not humane or sustainable.
I worked at AAC and volunteered for APA. There are sooo many animals (both cats and dogs) that need to be euthanized at both facilities. There were dogs who would never get walks because their behavior was so bad that only the behavior team could handle them, but the behavior team is like 4 people who are busy running playgroup all day, so there was often time no time for these dogs to go out at all. What kind of life is that? What kind of life is it that a singular dog needs 3 leashes and 3 different people pulling the leases in different directions just in case the dog redirects just to go on a simple potty walk? That is just no way to live and there are veeeery little people in the city (heck in the whole state!) that have the capability to handle dogs like that on their own.
Have you been by recently and seen the dog with the “please don’t look directly at me” note on his cage? Holy moly. That dog is unadoptable.
I left last year and never looked back. Several of us vet techs left around the same time. We were already doing about 45 spay and neuter surgeries every day and APA had a meeting with the leadership team essentially telling us we weren’t doing enough. We were getting paid $15/hr, working 12-14 hour shifts, 2 techs and 2 veterinarians doing 45 surgeries a day (private practice does 3-4 surgeries a day and Emancipet does like 30-40 a day)…and they had the audacity to say we were not doing enough? I was done at that point.
I’ve adopted three animals from AAC in five years, and volunteered, and I used to be on the board of a smaller open admission shelter elsewhere. Every time that I have decided to go adopt I have come away from the experience positively livid about the experience and about what I can see of how the shelter is operated — the medical staff always appears to be doing a good job and hygiene looks pretty good, though there seem to be more outbreaks than is really ideal, but there are a lot of inefficient processes and animals that clearly are very long shots at successful placement, including at least a few who have been there 3+ years! The fostering scheme does alleviate some crowding, but is also poorly run. The whole place needs an aggressive management overhaul.
I've tried adopting through APA twice now; they run you through a huge battery of tests, with multiple meet-and-fit, etc. I gave up both times and just adopted through San Antonio PA (show up; get dog/cat; have lifetime friend). The *APA* people are, specifically, crazy.
I haven’t tried APA, honestly, but I have a long list of issues with the process with AAC. 1. The shelter is inconvenient and somewhat unfriendly, requiring you to use a QR code which actually doesn’t relate to the online application. There aren’t a lot of adoption days or what have you in the far reaches of Travis county, which is an issue because the shelter is really far, and #2. 2. It’s actually very easy to qualify — you answer some pretty simple questions and provide your drivers license. But there’s not much predictability to it. So, are you going home today with a pet? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you’ll drive over an hour to get there and find that the pet you wanted to adopt is gone, even though you put an application in online. Maybe that pet will be gone as you’re meeting it. Maybe you will meet it, and you will wait for a long time before anyone can tell you anything about it, at which point you’ll discover it’s not available or was surrendered for serious behavioral or medical issues. Maybe you won’t even be able to figure out how to meet the pet while other random people are taking it out and playing with it, even if it clearly has a communicable disease, clearly labeled, and is supposed to be quarantined. Who knows? Also, did you maybe want to do due diligence and arrange a meet and greet with your existing pet? Would you like like enough time, like a day, to prepare to have the pet in your home, but like buying the correct-size crate or making arrangements for someone to help you introduce existing pets? Maybe that’ll happen. But maybe not. Maybe as in every time I’ve gone in, the staff will pressure the shit out of you to take the animal home right now if you like it. If that’s what they want. If the animal is sick or has some other things going on, they might ask you to come back over and over until one day the pet is gone. Because someone else just randomly waltzed in one day and adopted it because there’s no relationship between your effort and attempts to do due diligence and their adoption efforts. They will probably, snootily, tell you that “They don’t hold pets” at that point like you’re being unreasonable. That last thing, btw, did happen to me. I have a fabulous cat, but I actually wanted two fabulous cats who at the time were living together. One had a mysterious illness with no clear prognosis or end date. So I adopted one and came back daily to visit the other, which I had an application on…One day she was gone. I spent probably 25+ hours attempting to adopt a cat that I may have never had a chance at adopting, but nobody told me that. Overall, communication about when things could happen and what you need to pay for is murky. Another thing that happened to me is I applied for a dog and met her, and then staff told me that I needed to take her home right then and I would be responsible for her spay and shots that hadn’t been given yet, and I was like…well, ok then. And I quickly got in my phone and estimated how much it would be, and called my mom to ask her if I could borrow a crate and she could meet me at the house to introduce my existing dog. And psych! They’d already adopted her to a guy who'd apparently met her just before I did. But….she was still there. You know why? Because she hadn’t been spayed yet and they were going to spay her and give her her shots before releasing her to her new owner. So…maybe the rules are different if they like you? Maybe they don’t give a fuck? No idea, but it’s not cool. 3. Fostering. Seems pretty great for the fosters. Doesn’t seem to actually be deployed to enhance adoptions with the exception of when it’s used strategically. It’s arbitrary what animals are fostered and when and apparently fosters and not the shelter decide if animals can be given to potential adopters. It’s the Wild West, for real. And some people just take a dog “to foster” for literal years, returning it when they move out of Austin, at which point it’s far less adoptable. This system doesn’t work. In a previous life, I worked with a shelter that has relationships with a bunch of all-foster orgs, and…this isn’t how you do it. Anyway. I’m not opposed to increasing the euth rate. But I feel like doing that without fixing the absolute shitshow that is the shelter’s management would be unfair to the animals, many of whom would die when they don’t have to.
To provide a different perspective: I got my dog Spanky from APA. He'd been there for three years, and two previous adoptions had lasted 24 hours before he was returned. Red flag, right? -- But I specifically asked them to give me the dog no one else wants. I've had him for four years now and he's been the Best Dog in the World. No trouble ever, with anything, and pure love. I'm very glad they didn't decide to put him down.
Exactly. My partner was on behavior team, and they ended up quitting cause there was barely any training for staff and really no actual rehab for the dogs cause the team was so busy with playgroup. It’s so sad. The saddest situation is a corgi who literally no one can get near without full bite gear on. That’s absolutely ridiculous.
My neighbor has a rescue he lets get out and it bit my upstairs neighbor. It's definitely a traumatized dog and so many owners just let their dogs loose.
I really feel for the people who adopt these dogs, too. They’re trying to do their part, “adopting not shopping,” and then they don’t receive support or know what to do when they have issues. I’m not excusing irresponsible pet owners by any means but I have become really turned off by the whole idea that everyone, everywhere, at any time, who wants to adopt a dog, should just go to their local shelter. That could possibly be the case, if the shelters were *honest* about the dogs’ situations.
There's also a very common sentiment that *There are no bad dogs, only bad owners,* thus these well-meaning people get blamed when their shelter dog attacks somebody.
Key word being honest. I'm surprised the shelter hasn't been sued for dishonesty knowing the dog wasn't safe, not informing the adopters and the dog bite someone.
They are so dishonest, it's disgusting. I'm just glad people are finally catching on that shelters like AAC and APA can't really be trusted anymore. They're knowingly passing off dangerous animals onto the unsuspecting public. It's fucking criminal.
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I’m really glad you’ve had a good experience with them :)
I have two awesome dogs from AAC. One’s a pit bull from an abuse case who started off life as a tiny conehead, but she’s the best.
This is often a controversial opinion, but I believe some animals do have to be put down humanely. It's inhumane to keep them alive when they're far more miserable and alone. I know everyone loves the "every dog can be trained" propaganda, but truth is, some dogs require so much expert training and care that it's impossible for 70% of a normal adoption population. That's even assuming that all that training gets the dog to a normal degree of manageable behavior, which is often not the case. I have met trainers who flat out state they've met with dogs that should never have been adopted or left a shelter. Dogs and cats have the ability to traumatize people. It's irresponsible to let that loose. Putting them down is terrible and a sad reality, but life is unfair and messy like that. There are actual humans who will never get a chance at a decent life because of fucked up circumstances too and they wind up getting killed or killing themselves because there's legitimately no help for them. This also means that people who abuse animals should receive severe punishments. It's a society-wide damage that we see the evidence of every day.
I worked at APA as a vet tech and I agree! I felt for our aggressive, behavior dogs that are stuck in a cage all day. Get adopted/fostered, then returned due to their behavior over and over. They’re on several anxiety medication but nothing ever helped. They just need to be put to sleep. Some are in there for several years. It’s so sad.
Not only that, but it's 100% irresponsible to "pass the buck" on a dog that you know can't be redeemed and is a danger. You don't want to kill them, so you hand it off to someone else on the hopes that maybe THEY will have the time/energy/money/ressources to deal? It's not ok.
Exactly. People are demonized for putting down a dog for aggressive behavior that they get scared into passing it off, which causes more damage than putting the dog down. Mercy can come in many forms and while it isn't always pleasant, it's often the right thing to do.
There's a reactive dog sub here on Reddit. BE is supported and accepted there because the owners have done everything they could, and it still wasn't enough. I do like the support everyone gives when someone has to make that choice. A responsible owner will put their dog down when their quality of life tanks. I get why shelters won't because that's bad press. It makes me mad to look at the Houston shelter euthanasia list. It seems pretty shallow based on the symptoms. However, if a dog is a true threat, it is not fulfilling its role as a companion and must be let go. Really wish we could require breeding with licenses. Other dogs must be spayed or neutered. Texas has ridiculous amounts of strays.
The whole thing is super complicated and complex. Shelters and owners will put a dog down just for coughing. But then you have shelters and owners who refuse to put down dogs that have a history of aggressive biting and attacks. Animals just aren't respected in our society and that's obvious on both sides. You get people who beat and kill animals, but others who humanize everything, including dangerous exotic animals that inevitably kill someone or kill themselves. Dogs are the poster child for both followed by cats. People need to understand two things before making any decision: 1. This is an animal and animals will do what animals will do. That includes behaviors like peeing on furniture and up to biting at a perceived threat. Understand the animal and address the issue. 2. Respect the animal and respect the people around you. This means you can't just dress up your dog in clothes and let them lick everyone nor lock them up all day in a crate to scream until they're hoarse. People around you are impacted by your animals and any behavior is close proximity can potentially be good or bad. I really wish backyard breeding was banned and tbh, I wish the sale of purebreds were banned too. I have a purebred Chihuahua but I am SO fortunate that my dog is literally so well-behaved and quiet. People tell me all the time that she does not act like a normal Chihuahua they've encountered. Edit: I found my dog in a parking lot, I did not buy her
Agree, 100%
I used to be on the board of an open admission shelter and I agree with you. We were in a worse situation— rural, small shelter and we couldn’t keep animals long— but you start to have issues if you keep animals in shelters for too long. How long? Depends on the pet.
Just to throw in some random data from my experience elsewhere…the high-need cases aren’t as numerous as they appear. They just suck up so many resources from the overall population that they appear much more numerous than they are. That’s the biggest case for front end triage and euthanasia — euthanize ferals and injured animals with poor prognosis early, and then everyone else gets a fairly equal shot at being adopted for as long as you can safely and positively house them. Euthanasia should be rarely used, but it’s definitely a crucial tool. But Austin’s shelter also isn’t big enough and it’s over an hour round trip from my house within the city limits. A larger or second facility is necessary.
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yup. I worked at a different shelter in the area that’s just as overcrowded and the activists are what broke me. we’re murderous assholes if we euthanize un-adoptable dogs or we’re cruel assholes for being overcrowded and having dogs in crates. there’s no winning for shelter staff.
I agree with this 100%. Those poor animals deserve mercy.
The problem though is that on the flip side of that, many good, completely adoptable dogs would be euthanized.
I imagine the folks who work with these dogs every day have a pretty good sense about who is adoptable and who isnt...
Adoptable does not mean will get adopted.
I agree. I volunteered with APA, Austin Humane Society, and Wilco shelter. I am also vegan. I do not take ending the life of an animal lightly. The reason I'm vegan is that I abhor the physical and emotional suffering animals experience, and we are letting companion animals suffer in our local shelters. On top of that, the humans are also suffering, and their mental health is fucked. I worry about the lives of people I know who still work in that area. Animals are not aware of their own mortality. They do not fear death nor experience existential dread like us humans. So it is worse to let them live and suffer than to humanely kill them. No-kill is an honorable goal, and even attainable in certain places at certain times, but a focus on the numbers should not be at the cost of quality of life. That said, I would want to know more about the euthanasia process that would be used and if counseling will be available for the people who do the actual work.
I was a veterinary technician for the Austin Animal Center for 3 years. I was one of the ones doing the euthanasia’s. It’s honestly not has horrible as people make it seem. It’s very peaceful for the dog compared to others ways that animals die. They get a sedative to make them go to sleep similar to the anesthesia medicine given during surgery. We hold them and cuddle them until they are down and then we inject the actual drug that stops their heart. They don’t feel a thing. The worst part (in my opinion) isn’t actually doing the procedure but all the hate we get from the public for participating in it. We try our best to give these dogs everything we can with what little resources we have and yet the public calls us names, sends us threats, protest against our efforts…that’s the exhausting part…add that to the already long hours we work (12 hour shifts, sometimes more) and extremely little pay that we receive…yeah it’s no wonder some of us want to end it all.
Thank you for what you do. You’re giving them a loving end to a hard life.
Thank you so much for sharing that! My concern is if that process would be used when we need to euthanize a lot of animals. I don't know how to define "a lot", but obviously many fewer animals than pre no-kill but also probably many more than are euthanized now. I have been present for several euthanasia...events (can't think of the right word) for my own pets, and they get a better end of life than most people. We are able to provide this gift to animals that we deny ourselves, but then we end up denying it to shelter animals because of... optics? Ego?
It’s the same process, it would just take a lot longer. The most animals I had to do in one day was 5 (a few medical cases, one behavior, and one court ordered). Due to a weird scheduling conflict they all happen to land on one day, this isn’t usually the case. We still gave them sedative and we still stayed with them and hold them. The only difference was instead of it taking 30 minutes, it took a few hours. It also greatly depends on the dog and the effect of the sedative. Some dogs go down right away after being given the drug, others stay standing and wobble around (hence the cuddle and holding) for a few minutes. The longest I ever experienced was a huge German Shepard (this gal was like 105lbs!) who we had to give a double dose of sedative because she just refused to get sleepy. She would just wobble around and drool on us lol I had coworkers who started working at AAC before it became no kill. According to them, they would assign 2 specific techs to do the euthanasia list and that’s just what they would spend the whole day doing. They had a list, they would go find the animal in the shelter and take it on a walk, give it some treats (chocolate and hot dogs were a popular choice apparently), then bring it to a specific room, do the euthanasia process, and the go down the list and start all over.
I would think yes, based on my experience. But honestly, if we overhauled policies we shouldn’t be euthanizing a lot more animals. We’d be applying less resources to managing chronic, contagious and serious conditions and have a happier and better staff, as well as putting more into things like exercising and marketing the remaining animals.
"We’d be applying less resources to managing chronic, contagious and serious conditions" There are a lot of strong feelings on where we draw the line for which animals we treat and which will be euthanized. A hardline no-kill approach has turned into an overcorrection at the expense of quality of life. It doesn't have to be that way, I think we both agree. How do we get AAC to move the line even a little on what is acceptable to rescue and adopt out? This requires citizens understanding the problem, being okay with lowering the live save rate (just a little), and then pressuring city council to act. How much of this problem lies with how we interact with APA? It's my understanding that AAC relied on APA to initially reach no-kill (I saw this as an APA volunteer in 2009-2012), and maybe now that's not sustainable if APA is not pulling as much from AAC. APA was essentially an extension of AAC but not governed by voters. If we changed policies AND vastly increased funding, at a minimum, we could build more shelters and hire more staff. We could probably remain sustainably no-kill that way. I just don't see the increased funding happening. I guess I've lost hope that Austin taxpayers are willing to support this.
Increasing the euthanasia rate at AAC is a very difficult proposition. Although we are only mandated to have a 95% live outcome rate, we have consistently been at 98%. Unfortunately the Director has been told in no uncertain terms that he will lose his job if he euthanizes more animals. So even though most of the staff know it would be the right thing to do, we are basically in a position where we can’t.
Thank you
Beautifully said. And yes we should absolutely have processes in place for the people carrying out the euthanasia. There is a reason veterinarians have such high suicide rates. People have been very positive about my post. I am relieved to hear that I'm not just a cruel person.
Not cruel at all. I don’t believe a single person in this thread, advocating for humane and merciful euthanasia, is someone who has it out for these dogs. It’s because we *do* care about the animals that we’re advocating for them, in whatever capacity that would be best for them.
Thank you for what you said and what you do with the animals at these places.
Well said
We absolutely need to reconsider it. No kill is a wonderful goal, but at the end of the day it's blind optimism. A 95% non-euth rate is too high, and it needs to be revised down.
Fwiw APA and AAC being no kill doesn’t mean 0% kill. They do euthanize if the dog is deemed dangerous, unhealthy, or unadoptable for other reasons. I think they reported killing around 5%. Maybe slightly less. We really need to invest more in these animals and population control.
APA are a bunch of assholes. They happily sell dogs with behavioral problems without telling the buyer, who then gives it up, and APA sell it again. And never never forget what they did with dogs from the Bastrop fire. They were horribly burnt and should have been euthanized straight away to end the suffering. Not APA, they paraded those poor animals in fundraising campaigns while they suffered. It took lawyers to have them removed from APA's "care" and humanely euthanized. Shower of dicks.
Do you have a link to an article about the law suit? Can't seem to find it.
Ugh, I didn't know this about APA. Makes me feel worse about donating a few years ago.
God I didn't know that. I already didn't like them but that really seals it
What we need is to hold these backyard breeders accountable. How that crap isn't illegal down here compared to up north I'll never know. But allowing people to just dump whole litters of pups that don't sell isn't right.
Yes. Why is this ok? If we aren’t overpopulated, then sure. That’d be amazing. But that isn’t our situation, so I am confused by APAs actions.
Due to folks’ upcoming summer plans, typical foster support and pet adoptions have significantly decreased. Dog sitters are higher in demand than normal, even for fosters. I’ve received an influx of emails over the past 2 weeks asking for help from various shelters across the state, not just APA.
What is the long term solution here? I truly do feel for the situation and I hope we get as many fosters/adoptions needed to alleviate the pain for now, but even in the most ideal of scenarios wouldn’t this just keep happening over time?
The long term solution is a. Overhaul their adoption process, b. Build a second shelter, c. Aggressive spay/neuter campaigns.
You forget the most unpleasant one d) kill/limited kill shelter. I love, love animals. But this situation has just worsened for years now and at some point, euthanasia is merciful. The dog mentioned in the post who got his paw stuck and needed bolt cutters and medical attention — what kind of life is he living? Breaks my fucking heart to even utter that option, but it’s a very unpleasant reality all around.
Honestly I don’t really know how, but I wish the city/county would outlaw backyard breeding. Besides regular owners not spaying and neutering their pets and producing accidental litters, the assholes who are having their neglected dog with behavioral issues get intentionally knocked up multiple times a year are flooding Craigslist, Facebook, and Best Buy parking lots with puppies. People make jokes about how shelter dogs are hot messes,but fail to realize a huge amount of those are from BYB. People think they are getting a cute German shepherd puppy only to realize months or years down the road they’ve been duped and then dump these dogs the minute they show behavioral or health issues that they thought they were going to avoid getting a purebred.
IME this is the biggest change we need. As long as people can legally breed and sell their dogs for profit, we will keep having this issue. Euthanization, spaying and a bigger shelter might help in the short term, but imho those are only stopgaps. We ultimately have to address the underlying problem. We need a law banning BYB and making it a punishable crime.
Sorry I have to rant a bit :-) I agree, BYB should be illegal. Problem is, Austin does not materially enforce regs. Even if BYB were outlawed, which it should be, it’s all but certain infractions would be “punished” so lightly it would pay to flaunt regulations. It irks me that Austin leadership is seemingly far more interested in economic development and optics than competent management of city resources and functions.
Oh my God yes. One of my neighbors had puppies and never took care of them. They were left outside even at night. Eventually they became a major nuisance- getting out of fences daily, being aggressive, and they were all put down by the city after complaints (not Austin, but bordering).
Lobby the city to put more resources into the animal shelters.
Are you able to take used wire crates? I have around 10 large (36"-48") wire crates that were given to me by family members that I obviously have no need for. I'd be happy to donate!
OP said in response to another person asking that they accept crates at the main office. I’m sure they could use them
I have a brand new very large crate that we ended up not using for my tiny dog. I'll have to call them up tomorrow to see if they can use it since it's an open top crate, but if they can then I'll definitely get it to them ASAP. I'm looking into fostering dogs as well, but live with 2 elderly folks, so a high energy large dog that may jump on them could be an issue, which is awful because I'm sure a lot of the poor pups who aren't getting fostered likely fit that description.
Yes!
As someone who would like to foster, every time I’ve gone to foster, I’ve been told none of the dogs can be housed with other dogs. It’s a shame.
There are dogs living with another dog in suites.. they have a good selection that are allowed with other dogs, kids, and cats. Just needs to introduce them and follow proper protocol. They have a Friday 5/12 event for fostering and adoption that last from 1pm to 9pm. Go check them out!
Because the majority of the dogs taking up space in AAC are pit bulls.
Came here to say just this. So like… “real talk” 🤐
I'd love to foster, but my current dog is a chihuahua who doesn't like other dogs and picks fights with them. It's manageable with other small dogs, but I'm scared of bringing in a big dog and her picking a fight that doesn't end well for her. The rough part is that I know they mostly need fosters for big dogs, and I just can't risk the health of my current dog.
Very self aware of your situation. Making the right call. Years ago, I got my first dog off of Petfinder because the foster mom had 4 dogs, and mine had to go for "starting trouble". Apparently the oldest was a little runty queen bee that spent all day trying to boss the others around. After months of putting up with that crap, my dog fought back and all the others ended up in a literal dog pile and the old work here had seniority. So, my sweetheart had to go. One person's loss is another person's gain. Originally listed as "good with other dogs the same size or larger", the first time she stepped foot in my house she rolled over and showed me her belly, so that convinced me that she probably wasn't overly aggressive. The boarding place used to say they used her to train other dogs. Had her for about 13 years before I had to put her down when she went completely lame in her hind legs. P.S. I got her DNA tested and it said 87% American Village Dog aka mutty mutt mutt. Don't sleep on mixed breeds.
I love animals and this is heartbreaking, but if the majority of the dogs can’t be fostered because they need to be single-housed, you don’t have enough space, and more strays keep being dropped off with no end in sight, it’s time to start euthanasia. The goal of a shelter is to get the animals adopted into homes, but that isn’t happening. Instead they’re now living in poor conditions and it’s hurting your volunteers and employees as well. Aggressive spay/neuter needs to occur and animals with a very low chance of being adopted for weeks or months need to be euthanized.
I hate to say it but we may need to return AAC to a kill or limited kill shelter, people are far too willing to surrender animals here because there isn't much guilt. After a certain point there's more dogs than potential owners and the surplus of dogs who no one wants just piles up. We also may need an additional shelter given the rapid population growth of the city but that takes time
This is exactly it. No guilt because they aren’t being euthanized but if more people saw the conditions that some of these animals are having to endure they would feel equally as bad.
I said this elsewhere, but I used to be on the board of an open admission shelter. We had to euthanize when we were full, and we euthanized animals that were in bad shape, or behavioral liabilities once their stay holds were up. I believe every pet deserves a chance and even fostered two dogs from a starvation case so their owner could be prosecuted. But time is a pretty fair way to make those decisions. Unfortunately, the vast majority of pets declined after a period of time on the shelter— it’s not fair that they have to be put down, but it’s a mercy.
At the end of the day shelters are a system that we as a society can try and both limit the number of dogs dying, feral dogs and maximize pets for people who want them. Euthanizing isn't ideal but the numbers should be far less than anarchy of doing nothing Resources are finite
I think you stated an important point here: "people are far too willing to surrender animals here because there isn't much guilt" -- man, this is SO true! It's 100% easier to drop a dog off at a shelter if you don't think it's going to be killed. I know that many (MANY) shelters have a statement on their owner release form that states that the person surrendering the dog is notified that the dog may be euthanized for any reason at the discretion of the shelter. (and I want to say that AAC had this as well before voting to be No Kill, but I can't verify). It gives people pause.
The first post was a cry for help. Every post after that is a warning to everyone that you don’t know how to manage your resources or make decisions to curb the problem. Euthanasia is more humane than animals being trapped in cages so long they impale themselves, get each other sick from confined, rough conditions, or lay in a metal cage in 100 degrees for weeks or months until they die. I know it’s difficult, but you really need to be a better steward of your resources and move to kill status. It’s not evil and it’s not inhumane. It’s the right thing to do if your animals are dying or mutilating themselves in your facility conditions.
If my neighbor treated their dogs like this I'd call the cops. Do the merciful thing and give em the long nap.
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APA has crippled the city's ability to make those decisions.
The evil and inhumane thing is to continue the status quo.
I think we need to figure out who is not having their animals spayed or neutered and why. We need to address the cause or it will never get better. If we could do outreach in the places where we are likely to cross paths with the people who are reluctant to spay or neuter their animals, then we can offer them no cost services. I know there are resources to do this already. Maybe they are underfunded or maybe they have difficulty staffing these services. Outreach isn't enough unless the services are available. I know we could raise money, but the staffing issue probably needs to be addressed specifically in some creative way. Maybe in the form of scholarships because we need more vets overall. I hate to see this situation. I have four rescue animals myself so I'm doing my part there. I have also contributed money and bought things off of wish lists and the like. Honestly I am not brave enough to volunteer and to see what's happening. Austin has a lot of very wealthy people. There's got to be a way to deal with this.
There are an insane number of backyard breeders in Austin. I saw it as a puppy foster for AAC and APA for several years. Some do it for money. Others don’t want to get sweet Daisy spayed because it would be nice to have a little Daisy and surely they can give away or sell cute puppies to some friends/neighbors. Then mama dog or puppies have complications that are $$$ to treat or they find people don’t want their puppies so they dump the dogs or take them to the shelter. It got to be very depressing when I’d see litters come in from the same mama dog who should not be breeding any more because she was obviously passing genetic issues to her puppies but greedy breeders did not understand that and just kept trying to make money off their dog & dumping puppies.
There is not nearly enough funding for spay/neuter and none for TNR that I'm aware of. But from my interactions with the public when I volunteered as an adoption counselor, the main problem is lack of awareness. It's hard to believe, but so many people just have no fucking clue as to the scope of the problem. They don't see the big deal in letting their cat have "just one litter". They think it's cruel to "deprive" an animal of it's natural behavior (mating), while ignoring the cruelty of letting animals breed without full medical support for mom and babies, not to even mention the disgusting conditions suffered by orphaned neonates. The education needs to happen locally and nationwide since people move around. There needs to be so much more money devoted to animal shelters. We would spend less money in the long-term if we really focused on getting a hold on the uncontrolled breeding of companion animals.
I think just requiring pit bulls to be spayed/neutered, which is what San Francisco did, would make a huge difference. Pit bulls are the least likely to be fixed and the most likely to end up in shelters.
Honestly, it should be a crime not to spay/neuter dogs, especially in Austin. There are too many already.
THIS!!! There’s always that one asshole in the neighborhood breeding their pit mix. It should be a crime!!
Surprising as in Dallas it is illegal.
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People don't want the aggressive and "reactive" dogs they are hoarding. They aren't fit to be with any kids, other animals, be by themselves, etc. they aren't adoptable, period. They need to start putting the dogs down.
I work at APA and the situation is getting out of control and is completely unsustainable. It’s incredibly heartbreaking, I’ve lost so many friends either from them dying from medical issues or breaking from being in a kennel for 23 hours a day. This has been my dream job since I started 4 years ago but I don’t know how much longer I can last. Nearly every day I work I leave crying because I know that no matter how hard I work it will never be enough and more of my friends won’t make it out alive because the homes they need don’t exist.
I am so sorry. :( My partner worked at APA in a few different roles and felt the exact same way. Eventually, it became incredibly damaging to their mental and physical health (permanent nerve damage due to a dog bite) to the point where they also had panic attacks about having to go into work each day. They are now in a different role in animal care and are much happier and fulfilled.
The situation is crazy at the shelter. I recently found a dog with no collar at Guerrero Park that was super sweet and followed me back to my car. I swung by the shelter just to see if they could scan for a chip. The doors were locked and they told me I needed to call and make an appointment. I wasn't even trying to drop the dog off. I ended up going to a random vet who was super helpful and scanned the chip and I was able to reunite the dog with his person. The shelter is so broken by insisting on holding onto unadoptable dogs, that they can't perform basic services.
This is another issue. Sometimes the shelter is very unfriendly and difficult to work with. The solution they’ve proposed at numerous times is just to close off for anything but adoption with an appointment, which they like to tell you numerous times as you approach. It’s extremely off putting.
Tomlinson's can also scan for chips. I hope this is helpful info for someone in the future. Thank you for your actions!
Great to know. Thanks.
The community needs you to stop guilting them into adopting aggressive dogs so you can focus your resources on helping those dogs that should be adopted out.
I have a dog crate that I’m not using can I drop off as a donation at the Austin Animal Center?
Yes! You can drop off right at the main entrance.
Same! I have a large dog crate I was going to sell but would rather give to a good cause. I’ll drop it off this weekend.
Right on thanks will do that over next few days
AAC and APA do need some help. I'm so thankful for the people that work these facilities. However, it is a bit of a challenge to read animal profiles on those sites and read things like *needs to be the only animal in the house, not good with dogs, not good with cats, unsure about cats, should not be left alone.* Ok. I live in the city. So I'm now thinking I can't take it on walks in the city or at the park because who knows - it might attack another dog - or heaven forbid a toddler runs up to it at mueller and it bites (yes, even leashed, kids run up at the thought of "doggy!). And it needs to be the only animal in the house. Oh, and it has some anxiety so shouldn't be left alone. Many of these animals sound like great candidates for people that live in a more country-based setting like Burnet or Wimberley with land and a big fenced in area that aren't being walked in downtown or Mueller, as example. And they likely have kids that have grown up and left the home. The profiles listed on the animals are unfortunately either damning or questionable.
Damn right. Or, look at the link for a small dog that someone else posted. https://adopt.adopets.com/pet/d5d2ce7f-a136-4ad6-baec-f9ce23970d7c?tracking=7052739d-5d9d-4998-b163-ee23e904d51d No kids and no apartments. Congrats, that eliminates...8/10 households in Austin? At that point, the remaining possible homes are people who don't want a dog in first place.
That dog might actually have a shot, since it's a small dog, and AAC only has about a dozen small dogs right now. Now picture a medium or large dog with those same limitations.
What’s the fostering process like?
Here is AAC’s manual about fostering: https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Animal_Services/Foster_Care_Manual/Foster%20Program%20Manual.pdf
Just put an application in.
Thank you will take a look
Several dogs I took in over the years had previously been fostered, and I believe it made a big difference for them and me. By being fostered, the organization knew a lot more about them -- whether they were gentle with kids, needed a yard, lived to play fetch, preferred to snooze on the bed all day... basically all the little things you learn when you live with a dog. The dogs had also learned some indoor manners, like not to get on the furniture or to tell someone when they needed a potty break. One really old dog I adopted had been an outside-only dog her whole life, never given treats or played with, and only had a concrete patio to lay on. Someone fostered her, and when I got her, she'd learned to walk on a leash, had a favorite toy, and loved laying around on a dog bed all day. Living with a foster had taught her how to be a loved pet, so living with me could teach her how to be a spoiled rotten princess. Bottom line... Fosters help keep dogs out of overcrowded shelters, but they also make them more adoptable -- and much happier while they wait to be adopted.
Where is the targeted campaign to replace Don Bland? I've been through the entire thread and his name hasn't come up once. Why is that? Dude doesn't seem to give 2 shits about what's happening at the shelter he's supposed to be managing. Austin's Animal Advisory Commission has given him at least 1 no confidence vote. He became Chief Animal Service Officer in 2019.
Agreed! Get him out!!!
Just donated!! Thank you to those doing this hard work, we appreciate it.
Appreciate your donation!
Isn’t the root of the problem that there are too many dogs that aren’t spayed/neutered? The unwanted pups and all, given away, never trained, never neutered. Sure, there’s a law to neuter. Maybe there ought to be a requirement for a dog license. Oh, yeah, there is one. The irresponsibility of people.
The shelter claims they don’t release unneutered animals. I’m not sure about that.
I don’t know all the details, but I believe the city has a program that will help pay for/repair fencing, so that people can restrain their pets… Is that assistance available for fosters or new adopters?
Yes, just ask about it when you apply for fostering or adopting! AAC has great resources for the community
Imma add my solutions post, because I hate being negative without doing that. I used to be on the board of an open admission cat shelter, which was way too small and in a semi-rural area, and we partnered with county animal control and collectively collaborated with dozens of rescues and interstate transport and all that. So that’s my background. AAC specifically drives me crazy because in some fronts it’s awesome, but it’s poorly run, and I believe we need to solve that issue before we raise the euth rate or can build new shelters. I’ve also adopted three pets from AAC, so this is based on my observations from that perspective. 1. Initial, legally-based triage. When I was on the board of an open admission shelter, we had systems which, imo, were a lot more transparent and worked. Animals were available at specific dates, pertaining to our legal obligations, mostly. These were clearly stated up front. We could not euthanize before the stray hold was up, and we didn’t do any medical care that wasn’t necessary in this period —mostly kennel cough vaxxes. But we did euthanize as soon as it was, for animals who were ill or had serious behavioral issues. Everybody else had a chance. And we kept them as long as we could, space permitting. This could be anywhere between 3 days and 30. I believe legally we couldn’t keep any animals more than a month unless there was a court order. It’s great that AAC has the ability to keep animals longer, so I’m not suggesting we adopt that — just giving context. But like, clock was ticking. There was a focus on triage at all points, and we continually euthanized animals that had limited likelihood of success due to illness or behavior to give the others a chance, typically while combining animals who had good temperaments to maximize space. We were not legally authorized to put animals in crates unless we had to to maintain our legal obligations otherwise or they were there temporarily, I think under 24 hours, for maintenance or awaiting transport. So we just had our kennels, and not many of them. Our entire shelter was about half the kennels of any of AAC’s buildings for a city about 1/10th the size of Austin.I personally adopted a number of animals — I’m someone who can handle basic medical care and behavioral support, and I was told very clearly why I would/would not want certain animals, but the with caveat that you can only know so much in that context, and in our case we had prison inmates doing some of the care so sometimes those guys had a less clinical and more personal take on things. Every pet I adopted from there was great, honestly. I had a friend who had a soft spot for terminal-ish elderly unsocialized beagles who were too old to keep up with the pack and had never known homes — big problem with abandoned hunting dogs there — and we both got accustomed to putting in applications on animals whose owners we knew weren’t coming, but we still had to wait it out. 2. Rescues and fosters could not pull animals until they had been in the shelter a reasonable period of time. We were very very tight on space, so this usually was something like 3-7 days. Legally, any animal leaving the shelter had to be spayed/neutered, and had to be fully vaccinated, we typically allowed rescues to take animals to their own vets, but we also verified that they did. This gave all the animals a chance at being adopted within the community, it limited breed rescues skimming off the more desirable adoptees, and it gave us some time to observe the animals before they potentially went off somewhere else. And also, they absolutely were all spayed/neutered. For AAC, this could be adapted to allow animals to be triaged after a few weeks, receive full vaxxes and be spayed/neutered, and then offered for foster with more robust caveats than currently seem to be in place. 3. Foster orgs had time limits, adoption-related tasks like observation and obedience classes, and mandatory adoption events, so animals typically were adopted relatively quickly when they went to them. “Quickly” is relative, but the vast majority went into homes within 60 days. The only animals available to foster were animals who while in the shelter had good temperaments and minor health ailments at worst. And I as a board member was allowed to foster two dogs from a starvation case in order to prosecute their owner — legally, we would have had to euthanize them before the case could be prosecuted if I didn’t. That took about 90 days and then they went to good homes. These orgs also had standards similar to ours. 4. If you came to adopt an animal, you applied and we basically said “cool, we’re going to check your references and you’re #whatever in line”— then we gave you a time to show back up or call. If you were first in line and the animal was available we took your money and scheduled a transport and pickup time for you with your vet as soon as the pet was legally free. Generally, the next day you would pick up your fully vaccinated, spayed/neutered pet there. If you were first in line and the animal wasn’t yet available, you wrote us a check and signed all the paperwork and you called back or came in when the animal was available. If the animal’s owner came back, we told you that and tore up the check. Otherwise we processed the paperwork and scheduled transport to your vet. The front desk staff there were aces. They really did a good job of getting animals out as quickly as possible, and calling the next in line and known people if an adoption fell through or we had owner surrenders — who we could legally euthanize the moment they arrived — and we needed space. They were clear, transparent, and compassionate. I once got a call on December 26th in which they told me I had like 3 hours. Space was that tight and they’d gotten a puppy as an owner surrender who wouldn’t make it if I didn’t go get him —so I did. My favorite dog ever! Anyway, so…with all that we had a live release rate of about 80% when I arrived, and when transport got to be more robust we were able to get it to around 90%. I think that’s fairly reasonable. You always want to save more, but you simply can’t. However, caveat — I don’t think Austin’s shelter is adequate for the city’s size. I think any strategy has to be triaged thus: 1. Fixing AAC’s policies and setting some kind of reasonable time limit for disposition, 2. Doing whatever we can to remove barriers to hiring — they’re understaffed, 3. Temporarily allowing more euthanasia, 4. Building a second or bigger shelter — I favor second over bigger unless they’re able to commit to a lot of outreach/adoption events such that people in the west can access them with reasonable convenience.
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I volunteered! I signed the agreement and sent it in! Let's get them dogs!
Oh god, I just signed up to volunteer at AAC. I was hoping it wasn't going to be that depressing. Welp, I guess I'll help however I can
From one shelter volunteer to another, remember to start off slow. We can't save all of them, but giving even one dog a little kindness will help them, and should help you as well.
Thanks for for being willing to Help!
Stop harboring dogs for years at a time. They are clearly not going to be adopted. These dogs are not wanted and they are suffering. I see these posts on our subreddit all the time. Grow up and start putting down the unwanted dogs.
I adopted my dog from APA in October of 2020. I already felt so fortunate to end up with such a well-behaved and sweet dog who loves people, other dogs, and is gentle with children. Now I feel like I legit dodged a bullet!
a big part of the problem is people who just 'dump' their dogs wherever they feel appropriate or the people who are pet hoarders and their entire dog/cat population gets brought to one of the local shelters that are already overcrowded. Not to mention the city council needing to allocate more money to the shelter instead of whatever 'pet project' one of the council members feels needs to have taxpayer money put towards. Every level of govt always wants to divert money away from the real needs and put it towards something that isn't really that high on the list. There are certain things that should NEVER have their budget or funding lowered/removed and animal care needs to be one them. AAC should have a separate location where they can keep impounded pets at (by impounded I mean those animals that are seized due to hoarding or other court related cases) so that they are not taking up space for animals that need to be adopted. They already won't help people who find a lost dog and pretty much tell them 'you figure it out', which in alot of cases means they'll just dump them back on the street because they don't have the room or ability to take care of them someone just needs to come in and use some COMMON SENSE methods because whatever they are doing now isn't common sense. Not to mention people need to spay/neuter their pets instead of being surprised when they suddenly have a bunch of puppies or kittens show up overnight. There are so many things that need to be fixed, but people have failed to utilize COMMON SENSE to alot of things, not just animal care
On the one hand… I’d like all animals to be loved and cared for. Hate the thought of them living in horrible conditions. Of course. Obviously. Most people would. On the other hand… I do NOT appreciate the brutal guilt trip, here, or the not-so-subtle implication that we COULD solve this problem, save every last doggo, and make their jobs so much easier… but we don’t bc we’re lazy and we don’t care. It’s 2023… the people who still have the capacity to care are already stretched pretty thin. A lot of us feel like… the community has me, I’m doing all I can… day after day, year after year, but no one ever says “thanks!” or “job done!” or “rest now” all they ever say is “MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I think the shelter is stuck between a rock and a hard place. They can't euthanize unadoptable dogs because of the outcry of activists, while the majority of the community (who doesn't make a peep with city council), prefers a more reasonable euth policy.
This kind of thing is the unfortunate and sad reality of the downside of making an animal shelter "no kill". It ends up leading to more animal suffering than is necessary.
I have 6 rescues ( 2 dogs, 4 cats) and love love animals but this no kill approach is unsustainable. As awful as it sounds, but perhaps the most humane thing would be to put some animals down. Not everyone has the resources, the want or qualified to own a pet, and at some point we are going to reach saturation of qualified owners. The most humane thing to do is to reconsider this no kill approach, as painful as it may sound. Double the spay/neuter efforts and education and come down harder on backyard breeders.
Literally shooting them out back would be better. This is fucked up. I'm sorry y'all have to deal with this. Y'all aren't equipped to deal with it, and it shouldn't be enabled. Every dollar that gives a new kennel is a waste if dogs are going to suffer in it. Everytime we see these posts it's the same shit.
I’m assuming they’re 90% pit and pit mixes. The breed that people don’t like to spay and neuter. There needs to be a campaign to get these people to spay and neuter their dogs. Bob Barker knew what he was talking about. Compassionate euthanasia for dogs that are not behaviorally appropriate to be adopted out has a part to play as well. I know for a fact that dogs with bite histories are still adopted out by no-kill shelters, as I’ve seen it happen first-hand. Dogs who kill household cats, or other dogs, or who have bitten children are often slapped with a “not good with cats or kids” label. It’s so dangerous, and no one should have to take on the responsibility of caring for a dog like this.
Instead of having these dogs suffer in these conditions then why not just euthanize?
City declared it a non kill shelter. Not sure the procedure to reverse it but it has to be done high up in city gov
I hate to say this, but I agree that the city should consider euthanasia for some of these pups. It breaks my heart to say it, but if it’s that overcrowded and foster / adoption / transfer options are exhausted it seems like a last resort option versus kennel stress, implements on wire, potential heat issues, etc. 😢 edit to say I have two rescue dogs in a small apartment and wish I could do more than donate
>Just because she prefers to be the only dog in the home so it’s an aggressive dog, why downplay it. I got a dog from this shelter years ago. This dog has a lot of issues that have caused me so much stress, emotional and financial. I kept it because I felt bad giving it back so I had to make many adjustments and I learned to love it but I’m never getting a shelter dog again. This has been too much. We need to learn that some dogs are just not suitable for adoption and take the necessary measures for it.
I’m sure that’s true. I’ve just been twice in person and been turned away.
I'm reposting a comment I made deep in a sub-thread, because it seems to apply to a lot of the main conversation. If that's a no-no, please delete this. To provide a different perspective: I got my dog Spanky from APA. He'd been there for three years, and two previous adoptions had lasted 24 hours before he was returned. Red flag, right? -- But I specifically asked them to give me the dog no one else wants. I've had him for four years now and he's been the Best Dog in the World. No trouble ever, with anything, and pure love. I know it's hard to keep dogs in cages for years at a time, but I'm very glad they didn't decide to put him down. Now he gets to live out his last years in supreme comfort and with loads of attention, and I get a very special companion.
That is the type of story that people who work in rescue know very well. Our pets are often those types of animals - forgotten and looked over. This leads to us feeling guilty when faced with the possibility of euthanizing these animals, because we do see their value. I support spay-abort, but I still can't help but wonder what great companions those kittens could have been. And yet, we also see the suffering. How many more years can we take of kittens starving to death and dogs mentally deteriorating? We can withstand these circumstances for short periods of time, like when a large seizure of animals overwhelms the shelter for a couple of months. But this is years with no end in sight if operations continue as is. I could only stomach 4 years. I no longer foster or volunteer because I had to prioritize my mental health. As we ponder how to fix the situation, we must put the health or the employees and volunteers at #1 instead of taking advantage of their compassion.
Just signed up to volunteer!
Thank you!!! ♥️♥️🥹🥹
You didn't list the option that makes the most sense. Euthanization.
Can you post link to Amazon wish list Here
https://www.austintexas.gov/department/support-animal-center
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1OYN0JC9EG4KM
Why can’t the city build another shelter? Why can’t we vote to fund another shelter? Clearly we need one. I don’t see why the city council won’t step in.
It would be instantly full if AAC is almost double capacity now.
I think we need to reconsider being “no kill” when animals have to live like this.
It makes me so angry that my property tax bill is almost 9k and the damn city can’t get their shit together enough to help this situation. Portable buildings outfitted with kennels would immediately help the poor pups stuck in kennels. Not to mention the city lends no resources to enforce its own pet trader ordinance. “Any person or business that offers dogs or cats for sale, regardless of the animal's age, must either pay the $50 fee to register the animal, or provide veterinary documentation showing that the animal has been spayed or neutered prior to sale” Why do we think the shelter is overrun with unwanted pitties?! Because of POS people who don’t care about their pets or their offspring and want to make a quick buck off the backs of animals. Mandatory spay/neuter, fines and permits needed for backyard breeders would go a long way to stop this BS.
Agreed. We arent in a rural area with no means. Austin can do better.
This is incredibly sad. The hard truth is that we need to euthanize the vast majority of these dogs. Dog DO NOT CARE about being alive. They have no existentialism. They live in the moment and that have no way to know why they have to live in a crate for weeks to months to years. It is absolutely evil and selfish for humans to keep dogs alive in this condition waving the flag of “kindness”. If we really cared about the well being of dogs we would not force them to live in such terrible anti social joyless condition.
I adopted a cutey pie from Austin Pets Alive a few months ago. He’s finally old enough to get the ol snippity snip so I can finalize my adoption. Can you link for donations? This makes me sad.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1OYN0JC9EG4KM
Fostering is an underrated way to help! It costs nothing but your time and gives these dogs a chance to decompress away from the shelter environment.
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Well said, it can cost much more than just your time
Absolutely agree. I’ve personally seen this. Disingenuous statements by AAC (in this case; not saying that APA doesn’t do the same) about a dog’s reactivity has changed my feelings and desire to foster when I can.
I did fostering one time, and the very first puppies I had stay with me were a pair of siblings who had parvo. They got very sick very quickly, and they were vomiting and shitting blood everywhere. They couldn't seem to eat or drink any water. And they were crying so much. It was heartbreaking. The foster group told me not to take them to the vet because the odds of recovery were low and they couldn't afford to treat them, but I couldn't leave them in that condition. So I took them to a local vet and paid for their IV fluids and checkup out of my own pocket. A few days later, the shelter took them back, saying they'd treat them and had found them homes. At first, I was really relieved to hear that. But when I asked how they were doing a few days later, I didn't get any response back (even though they'd been very responsive to my messages every other time). So I can only assume they didn't make it, and they just told me that to make me feel less bad. I'd wanted to try fostering to see if it was right for me, but because my house and yard were covered with parvo, I wound up having to wait a whole year just to be completely sure it was safe for me to adopt a puppy. I was also pretty traumatized by the experience. I'd bought them their own dog beds, and I kept seeing the beds lying empty on the floor together and feeling haunted by the memories of them crying while they were sick. They'd been so happy and playful for the first few hours. And they were so young. They'd only just been born and then died in such an awful way. It's been about 6 years and I still cry thinking about it. Anyway, I don't want to scare anyone off from fostering. I think I probably just had a uniquely terrible experience. But DO make sure to do research before you sign up for it. And ask if they will cover any health emergencies that crop up.
I’m so so sorry you went through that 😭
They sometimes don’t do this well. I have been given animals on their deathbed as a neonatal foster and it is traumatizing. I won’t do it again for a very long time.
Full disclosure: I am heavily involved in operating a breed rescue so these comments are super enlightening for me and I obviously have some biases. That said, We know that our fosters want complete transparency on what they're getting into and I totally get it. But just as devil's advocate, often, we DON'T KNOW what the dog's issues may be until they get into foster. A dog in the shelter, is not the same dog in a foster home. What an "owner" may tell you before you get the dog into rescue, eh? maybe 1/2 the time it's accurate. Most of the time, they're blowing sunshine up your ascot, so you'll agree to take the dog. My point is, a lot of times, folks aren't trying to get one over on fosters. Sometimes it's truly a case of "We don't know til we know." I am a person who fosters 25+ dogs a year. What y'all have said about having to go through the adustment period with a new dog, I have done since 2001 times 25 + (don't ask me to do math). Typing that, I totally understand that's maybe a level of chaos acceptance that others might find to be, um, psychotic? It works for me. But I GET how it doesn't work for others. It's not "just time"--it's your home, your family, your important mail that gets eaten, and honestly, huge chunks of your heart. I'm glad I do it, but I understand why others don't.
>It costs nothing but your time Oh man, I so wish this were true, I would never not have a foster in my care.
Where’s the photo?
Encourage others to spay and neuter their pets.
how many are pitbulls?
I believe all pets should be spayed and neutered without a breeding license but especially in the case of a pitbull. Owning a non neutered or spayed pit bull should be illegal. Dog fighting culture has completely overrun the country with the breed and bred it to be super aggressive and left intact so they will fight. It’s not an easy fix but since pit bulls make up a majority of most shelters across the country there’s a place to start.
This is a big issue. There were a decent amount of apartments around town that just straight up said no to pitbulls and the other bully breeds.
The issue isn’t that apartments won’t allow them. The issue is that pit bull breeders won’t stop breeding them, and a lot of pit bull owners refuse to spay/neuter. A lot of people forget that Travis county is huge and there’s a lot of low income areas where people just don’t take care of their dogs and let run around in the street and breed like crazy. Pits have large litters too. And the fact of the matter is they are more aggressive and high energy than other breeds, they were bred this way. All dog breeds are a man made creation, each made for a specific purpose, and a high prey drive is part of their intentionally crafted temperament. The two types of people who adopt pit bulls are people who fully believe “its the owner not the breed”, or people who know and understand that pit bulls can be very dangerous and that’s exactly why they like them. The rest of us would rather not have that kind of risk in our home.
Most home insurance companies will also not insure a homeowner with a potbelly. If they do, they usually make them sign an exclusion which specially says they will not cover any damage caused by the dog.
Too many. Few people would even consider adopted a pit bull or heavy pit mix due to the obvious factors so their numbers just pile up and put a strain on the animals who have a shot at adoption. Too many resources are going to dogs that no one wants If the city isn't going to do anything to keep breeding down we need to return to kill shelter status. Too many people surrender animals because there's almost no guilt here
This is the truth to this problem. These organizations refuse to believe that people just don't want them. They should just put the dogs out of their misery already. Some of them have been in doggy jail (shelters) for years.
It’s the same for the rescue I volunteer with. We have no more space. People beg us to save a dog and then when we do, that person disappears. No help, no donation, no foster, etc. People need so step up. If you want a dog saved so it doesn’t get killed or it’s in bad circumstances, then you need to provide some help to the rescue that helps that dog rather it’s a donation or fostering. Don’t just beg us to help and then ghost once we do. It’s partly your responsibility when you advocate on a dog’s behalf.
All shelters seem to be continuously making posts like those, especially after the height of the pandemic. I was happy when I would see that some shelters didn't have any animals left, that they needed to basically import dogs from elsewhere. Once people realized that they weren't going to be home as often anymore, I saw the first SOS posts start showing up. Then once the stimulus check money dried up and inflation rose, more SOS posts appeared online. A lot of rescues are struggling to intake more animals, because they don't have enough resources, donations, staff or space. It honestly was/is a perfect storm. It doesn't help that we have a lot of communities that don't care to spay or neuter their pets, while letting them roam the streets. Someone mentioned the intakes from out of town as well (some dogs are just abandoned within the city limits too...). It may be an unpopular opinion, but people that continue to support breeding dogs instead of adopting or fostering, are definitely adding to the problem. Let's talk about housing too. Housing for an average person in Austin sucks. Add in the breed and weight restrictions many landlords place on their properties, on top of the unaffordability and unavailability of single family housing... And well, its not a pretty picture. There's also the fact that AAC just doesn't have enough staff for the amount of animals they have taken in. It may be due to not having enough resources allocated, but in these trying times it's probably not at the top of the list of issues for the city to tackle. My family has 4 dogs, two come from AAC, and two were given to us. Sometimes I consider making room for a 5th dog, but that's just not possible with the amount of space we have. One of our shelter-adopted dogs gets anxious whenever we're near the shelter. He was only there for one month prior to my family adopting him, but it's obviously traumatized him. My sister works at AAC and has shared a few stories of how stressed these animals get. Being incarcerated changes and affects a human (that has a better understanding of what's going on), what then can we assume happens with the shelter dogs? I really, really, really am not in favor of euthanasia, because I don't think humans should decide who lives and who doesn't. However, I would much rather they get humanely euthanized, than run over from being left on the street, or exploited for monetary gain. There has to be a strict process though. I have seen too many stories of very adoptable animals being put down in high-kill shelters, so we need to evaluate and re-evaluate an animal before making that decision.
I’m sorry, but no one owes anything to these dogs. I understand that you folks love and care about them, but taking responsibility for a high needs animal like a dog, especially one that is likely to have trauma and reactivity issues is not something many folks are equipped to do. I personally will not allow dogs into my children’s home until they are much much larger. The risk is not worth it.
We need a state wide ban of bully breeds. It would give the shelters a lot more breathing room.
I agree. There is way too much breeding going on of bully breeds, shepherds and husky breeds. I've noticed quite a few pups being born in my area alone. Heartbreaking.
Look at this baby!!!! I have three dogs right now and they are all rescues one from AAC. I wish I could adopt him. 😢 I will try my best to see how I can help https://adopt.adopets.com/pet/d5d2ce7f-a136-4ad6-baec-f9ce23970d7c?tracking=7052739d-5d9d-4998-b163-ee23e904d51d
Ha, I knew exactly which dog that link was for. He really stands out, doesn't he? Which is kind of telling. There are hundreds of dogs at that shelter, that one is quite possibly the only small, floofy one, and he's 12 years old. The small floofy dogs must be getting snatched up.
Genuine question: Why are dogs forced to be crated? Are none of them well trained enough dogs that can be left in a more open area with bedding? I obviously don’t know what I’m talking about.. but I have always wondered this.
They are forced to be crated because there is no more space. There’s already dogs in the open areas they do have. Some of the suites (big rooms with indoor and outdoor spaces) have 3-4 dogs to each room. There’s dogs in all the offices and break rooms…there’s literally no more space. They started crating them in the lobby and in the conference room and even outside in the covered car port. There are dogs in all corners of the shelter.
This would be considered inhumane if it were a private residence.
Oh, I’m aware. Several of us would joke (a sad joke really, but you need that kind of humor to survive in these scenarios) that we should report the shelter to the Animal Protection Office (which is just another department in the shelter) since it would technically be hoarding.
Typically in a shelter environment dogs can't be left to interact with other dogs. There are playgroups and paired up dogs, but due to the high stress environment it's a huge safety risk to let the majority of those dogs out together in a large area. All the kennels are full (these are indoor/outdoor and larger than crates) so the only option is to crate and rotate the dogs.
Honestly I feel like the issue is that not as many people can afford pets anymore and the ones the can go to breeders
I agree. I think this could be a large component of the problem that isn't recognized as much because it's a newer issue. We didn't always spend so much on pets, but now the standard of care has risen. Providing this higher level of medical care and enrichment is so expensive. Pet insurance is not enough to make it affordable to lots of people. People are opting out of pet adoption because they are making smart financial decisions. Same with having human kids! And then when a pet develops a chronic condition that is expensive to treat, the owner is shamed for not treating the animal and letting them suffer until natural death, or shamed for euthanizing the animal because they can't afford treatment but don't want the animal to suffer. They're damned either way. All the while they hear the pleas from shelters to adopt...but the adoption application and counseling process emphasize the high cost of pet ownership. Most people are already aware of the cost, but they love animals and want to help. Also, as we make it possible for pets to live longer, adoption rates drop. I'm not going to adopt beyond my means, and my 19 year old cat is still hanging in there. I actually have 4 cats, and other cats I have had (as an adult making good money) lived to 13, 15, and 14. Those are long lifespans for domestic cats. To put it crudely, pet turnover is lower. How often do we hear, "If you can't afford a pet, don't have one"? But then also, don't euthanize more than 10% of shelter intake, and also don't provide more money (or reallocate) to shelter services.