I would like to know how you guys find the energy to fight day in and day out.. I applaud you all..
I had a lovely amstaff come into work today. He's a rescue (was rescued as a baby) and has been diagnosed with nasal cancer. He loves people and his owner wanted to give him so extra people time while he still had time, and also try to touch the lives of others.. so he came in and did some supervised visits with my residents.
Lovely dog.. nice temperment.. I did a quick 15 eval before walking around with her to see how he was with the residents and he was wonderful.
My Boss's boss saw him right before he left for the day and pulled me into her office.. and then proceeded to launch a "dangerous breeds can snap, we don't need that here" rant.
Now mind you my boss has a pit (MR. October in the pinup calendar) and we have an open door policy on dogs.. all you need is a rabies certificate to come visit family members..
I of course pushed back.. you don't argue with some people about politics.. you don't argue with some people about religion.. you don't argue with me about dogs..
I explained that any dog that came into the facility could snap on a person since we don't do any form of testing before allowing them to come into the building and visiting with family.. and they visit with other residents.. I explained I bring my dogs in and I'm always on the look out for other dogs since I don't know how they will react since we have no policy in regards to temperment.
Perception came up and I pushed back that we need to change perception.. that that dog is a great ambassador for his breed and that anyone that initially pulled back from him ended up loving him before he left... we don't need to be guenea pigs she said.. I explained temperment testing and how 99% of pits pass it..
Well dogs off the streets can snap at any time. those breeds aren't safe. look at the news.. of course responded with the fact that most pit's in the news aren't really pits and if you looked at a picture or DNA tested now they're probably actually a lab mix.. and if you're going to make that argument that that's like saying any kid that grew up on the streets is going to shoot someone just because of where they came from. I also brought up that in true street pits and fighting pit rings that dogs that are human aggressive were worth nothing to their owners. if they got bit and had to go to the hospital and had to explain what happened multiple times people got suspicous..
She then brought up having people with dangerous breeds fill out an aggression quesitionaire.. (has your dog ever bitten anyone? any dogs? shown aggression etc..) I explained that most of the worst dogs I've ever seen were little dogs temperment wise.. that the only dogs I've ever been bitten by were a boston terrier and a sheltie (not one of ours!) and that if she wanted a questionaire that it needed to be across the board.
She then brought up the cancer issue.. what if the cancer goes to his brain and then he snaps because he's predisposed to snapping based on his breed.. the answer of course was nasal cancer first off doesn't spread to the brain even in humans, if it goes anywhere it goes to the lungs.. second of all they're not predisposed to snapping.. and thirdly how do we know if any dog that comes in has cancer? most people don't know till it's too late that their dog even had cancer so are we going to ban all dogs that haven't been cleared from cancer?
She eased up a little and finally said "you're passionate about this aren't you" and I said I am.. to which she suggested starting a committee to look at animals in the facility and saftey..
I guess it could be a good thing.. at least I know my boss will be on my side.. maybe I can enlighten a few people... and get a safer dog policy in place across the board..
But I am exhausted now..