Comments on: Ever Noticed How Many Rescue Volunteers Know Nothing About Dogs?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:38:40 +0000

Nope, most experienced rescue people, vet techs, and trainers on here are pretty knowledgeable.
You, however, are an ignoramous who thinks he knows it all, your theories and opinions are positively medieval and have no basis in animal behavior, which is why you were asked to clean out pens, it is far more constructive to have you shovel **** than to volunteer your very dubious “services” as a trainer.
Obviously, the shelter you offered your help to thought so too.

By: houndrnr

houndrnr — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:19:54 +0000

1st You seem to ‘confuse’ Rescue with Animal Shelters! Shelters are usually run by ‘individual county or city government’. They ‘look’ for Volunteers to do just what you put down as ‘too good’ for you to do! Because of the lack of help in those areas, they generally decide that there are too many animals to handle in a healthy environment! Posing possibilities of disease,etc. They are NOT usually interested in ‘retraining’ they only want to hold them till their either ‘found’ by owners or adopted out to new ones. Their sole purpose is to remove free roaming animals from the streets or capture vicious ones.
“Rescue Groups” go into the Animal Shelters & usually specialize in certain ‘Breeds’ to pull out ,with their own money; foster in the members group homes & retrain so that they can be adopted out (or end up loving & keeping them!)
And by the way, I have never had to use anything stronger than a sharp word, a treat, time & love to train any animal I’ve ever had- Maybe you should try Discovery Channel’s ‘Dog Whisper’ show?

By: you bet they die

you bet they die — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:58:26 +0000

They may be volunteers, but a reputable rescue will train those volunteers so they do know about the dogs in their care. I am involved in greyhound rescue in Australia, and all of our volunteers and foster carers are trained and mentored .
All I can add is that I suggest you stay away from those “rescue’s” who are nothing more than bleeding hearts and probably doing more damage to the name “rescue”.

By: Maria P

Maria P — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:44:56 +0000

I totally agree with you, and animalgurl. Some rescue members are really good, those that actually take the time to learn eveything they can about what they are doing. I hate when people say, “oh I love animals” but don’t bother learning anything about them. If you love something you want to know about it. Thats my opinion anyway. But because they work with dogs or whatever, some people think their word is gospel. Same with vets. I know some pretty ignorant vets, with nutrition and breeds and that sort of thing. A load of rescue workers are idiots.
Shell P, then you’ve never had to train anything more than a Border Collie or a Labrador if thats all you had to use! Ha! Anyone could train a nice little working collie with “a sharp word and treats”! Dogs like Dobes and good GSD’s (those Germans know how to make ‘em) challenge everything, annoyingly enough, and theres no point pretending that they don’t, because thats exactly what causes accidents and given them a bad name. “Sharp words and treats” without any real training.
Shell P and everyone else with this opinion, I would LOVE to give you a Yugoslavian Doberman, let you “train” him and see how he obeys you in a field when he see’s a rabbit. Or smells one.
You need to have a dog proof trained before you can say its fully trained, and even then you don’t take any chances. I mean Jeez, you don’t get car without knowing how to drive it! You shouldn’t get a dog without knowing how to train it!
Prongs are NEEDED for some dogs, not all dogs. E-collars are even needed for some dogs, with an unreliable recall for example.
You would thank God for deciding to learn how to use an e-collar on your dog that previously had a picky recall when he gets off his lead in traffic and see’s a cat, and yet comes straight back to you when you call.
Go Frankie!!! (And animalgurl and a few others!)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:38:34 +0000

listen to your self its because they r volenteers. they r not qualified. im a vet assistant and i know what you mean i used to work at a kennel with people that where asshole and so bad they only wanted to get paid. they didnt give a **** about the animals and it pissed me off i wanted to work there for 3 yrs and i finally got hired i got fired in one month cuz i bitched out the boss about how the animals was being treated. but they wasnt qualified so they left everything to me

By: ginbark

ginbark — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:12:50 +0000

I have worked with a rescue for yrs retraining the dogs no one can handle and the rescue had many people that can not tell colors, or a mutt from a purebred, let alone any behavior knowledge. Plus most never write people back. A Lab Rescue I wrote to told me Labs are not good with other dogs and do not do well in a home that rescues dogs. OK, so all the Lab foster homes only have 1 at a time? I don’t think so.

By: Talltail

Talltail — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:41:58 +0000

Some of this is more opinion then actual stupidity. I know many people here in the U.S. that don’t like prong collars. And I don’t care for them, too many people use them the wrong way. I personally use a halti and prefer this over a prong collar. The same with an e-collar. But if you were discussing the issue calmly, then there was no need for them to ban you.
I agree with what you said on the Weims. It is possible that they’ve either never had a problem with a Weim, or never have met one. But as dog rescuers, you would expect them to have encountered this breed many times.
I would love to do volunteer training for my local dog rescue. I know many rescues are reluctant to let people do this. Because the person either doesn’t have a dog training license, or they don’t agree with your training methods. It’s a matter of personal opinion.
I can understand some of what the rescue workers were saying. But it also sounds like you’ve had some bad run-ins with them. But it doesn’t sounds so much like stupidity, as much as it just sounds like a strong difference in opinion.

By: dogsplus

dogsplus — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:16:49 +0000

Well I can tell you that I have been in rescue for over 20 years. Some breed rescues are governed by the breed club itself and some are not. National rescues have so much politics within their own organization and big ego’s that it is pathetic. Not all rescues are alike. There are many smaller rescues popping up that are trying very hard to make a difference. What people don’t understand is that when they inquire about a dog we have, we have evaluated the dog and know what kind of home would be good for the dog. Remember these are abused, abandoned and societies throw a ways. They are not perfect dogs. No not everyone in rescue is a certified trainer but when the choice is put the dog to sleep or put it with someone who can hang on and help until a more experienced volunteer can take the dog then so be it. In a perfect world, everyone would volunteer to help rescued dogs. Unfortunately, most people don’t want to help out because they are busy. Well to be honest, we are busy too, We spend hours transporting dogs that are fostered in our homes and live like part of the family. We run to vets offices daily. We get tons of emails from people who are less than serious because they want the perfect dog. Well honey in rescue there is no perfect dog. The original owners have turned them into the nightmares that we see everyday. We do what we can with the people that are willing to help us. We too have full time jobs, families, homes to take care of and our own pets. We do this in the little spare time we have. There are not enough of us to go around so we just thank our lucky stars for the people that are willing to help. I wish you lived in the US because there are tons of rescues and shelters here who would like to clone you and pass you around.
Sometimes it is hard to be so cheery to people who contact you and want a dog that is housetrained, does not bark, and is basically perfect. We tend to get the calls from the idiots w ho have a 9 yr old dog that they have to get “RID” of because they bought a new pup and it is not working out. Right now I have one sitting in my house whose owner burned him seven times with a lit cigarette. Pardon me for not being cheerful. Yes I have attitude because my job is to make sure the next home that adopts this dog is going to be the final home for him. I will reject any home that even hints that they have dumped a dog or taking it to a shelter for a stupid reason. Sorry to go on but this is a touchy subject and trust me, I could tell you stories that would make your hair stand on end.

By: Dances With Woofs!

Dances With Woofs! — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:58:33 +0000

YES! And cat rescuers as well,and it drives me crazy! They don’t know the first thing about basic care and feeding,can’t pronounce or spell breeds correctly,and think it’s OK to let dogs and cats breed like crazy,as it is “only natural!” Oh,and the story about the collies and greyhounds is awful. Poor dogs – I can’t believe they kill them in such a painful way!

By: Nancy M

Nancy M — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:40:43 +0000

The vast majority of dog owners don’t know anything much at all and rescue workers are simply volunteers – they are not educated to breeds or training or much of anything. There are some, of course, that have an excellent knowledge base but the percentage is sort of like what it out there in the rest of the world, pretty low. Having a differing opinion regarding training tools or techniques doesn’t make one not know anything but it can often exhibit a limited exposure and liking or disliking the use of training tools isn’t an indicator of lack of knowledge or having it either.
Yes, a lot of them are simply very ignorant regarding dogs and are simply just trying to make themselves feel good for ‘helping’ but again, volunteer and often you don’t get to pick and choose the experience level of those that volunteer
add: Thinking the same as someone else is just what they are doing and you and animalgu… and some others are not really any different. Being limited in capabilities to train or on varieties of methodologies is all that their ignorance is based upon and that is what your and animalgu…’s are evidencing as well. The tools do not make the trainer. Anyone that considers a chain training collar a ‘choker’, well, that evidences their lacking. I think the attitude of the rescuers is not much different than your own actually.