There’s a story people like to tell about rescue dogs. The easy version is that they came from neglect, somebody didn’t care enough, the problem was obvious, and somebody should have prevented it. Sometimes that’s exactly what happened, but it isn’t the whole story. Dogs also enter shelters and rescues because housing disappears, money runs…
“I’ve had dogs all my life.” Good. That experience matters, but it still doesn’t mean you should get a German Shepherd. There’s a confidence that sometimes comes with having lived with dogs for twenty or thirty years. You know how to feed one, walk one, train one and live with the mess. You’ve dealt with…
Featured image: An illustrative view of a long-haired German Shepherd in a calm, home-like behaviour assessment setting. It is not a photograph of the Vancouver Island Animal Behaviour Centre. A dog behaves badly in a shelter. That sounds simple enough until you ask what, exactly, we’ve learned about the dog. We’ve learned something. The behaviour…