jen ([info]injenius) wrote in [info]stupidpetowners,
2008-04-17 11:42:00
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SPO or SHS (stupid humane society) ?

A woman and her daughter had signed up for a basic obedience class with me and had only come to class maybe twice. I had noticed something was a bit "off" about their dog, but I didn't get a chance to see how the dog turned out through the next few weeks of class because they didn't finish.

Yesterday they came in and I asked how the dog was doing. "Oh, well we ended up having to take her back to the Humane Society..." To which I replied, "Really? Why? It just wasn't working out?"

"Well yes, that and she turned out to be a coyote."


Yes. I typed that correctly. The "dog" they had adopted from the Humane Society as a "miniature German Shepherd mix" turned out to be part-(if not ALL)-coyote. Upon further investiagtion it turns out that the dog had been picked up out in the country (we live in South Texas) and should never have made it onto the adoption floor. The HS staff woman who adopted the dog out (thankfully) no longer works there.

When the woman and her daughter took the "dog" back they said they would release it back into the country (which of course means "we are going to euthanize her as soon as you walk out the door").

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  • 30 comments

[info]scribblekitty

April 17 2008, 16:58:41 UTC 4 years ago

One of the shelters in California near where I was adopted out a GSD-coyote mix once. I was surprised...but it was a pretty awesome dog, so I guess they hoped no-one would realise?

Anyway...yikes. Poor critter :(

[info]crystalviolet35

April 17 2008, 17:03:06 UTC 4 years ago

...

How could they have missed something like this? I say SHS. It wasn't the woman's fault that she was given a coyote. A lot of people don't know how they look and certain breed look similar to wild dogs.

I really do hope they release the poor thing. Do you really think they'll euthanize her? :(

[info]injenius

April 18 2008, 02:53:35 UTC 4 years ago

Our local shelter euthanizes dogs with kennel cough instead of treating them... So the chances are slim that they didn't euthanize her. :(

[info]lilmizzaniml

April 17 2008, 17:12:10 UTC 4 years ago

Where do you teach?

[info]neumeindil

April 17 2008, 17:27:42 UTC 4 years ago

TBF, though, the HS has now taught a wild animal that inside people's houses are food, water, toys and air conditioning. Releasing the animal back into the wild would mean the coyote just shows up on someone's sofa after tearing through the patio screen to get there. :( I suppose it's too late to hope they got her to a sanctuary somewhere?

[info]sithwitch13

April 17 2008, 17:36:42 UTC 4 years ago

Something similar happened to a friend of mine (also in South Texas.) They took their "shepherd mutt" that they'd had for a few years to the vet and discovered that it was a coyote. I have no idea how they got it. I think they might have kept it afterwards, since they'd had it for so long, but I can't remember anymore. (This was about fourteen years back.)

[info]cularien

April 17 2008, 18:05:00 UTC 4 years ago

can you tame/domesticate them? At all? Or are they forever all wild and dangerous?

But wow. That is insane, kinda made me laugh though. How do you miss that?

[info]papilio_luna

April 17 2008, 18:30:23 UTC 4 years ago

The line between a wild and domesticated animal is more than just training. It's largely genetic. So you can tame a wild animal (sometimes) but they'll always be wild. Some people can handle taming and training wild animals, but it's not really a job for just regular folks.

[info]haggardtrish

April 17 2008, 22:13:20 UTC 4 years ago

I think it also depends on when in their life you get them. A friend of mine had a pet raccoon that she'd gotten because its mother was hit by a car or something...basically she'd found a baby raccoon wandering alone in her back yard. She called the vet and asked what she should do about it, and they suggested that she bring him in so he could be "humanely euthanized" since he wouldnt survive without his mother. She didnt like that idea AT ALL and just decided to raise him on her own...he ended up acting basically like a cat.

This same friend also previously had a pet squirrel...because of where she lived at the time she ended up finding a lot of baby animals abandoned in her back yard...

[info]injenius

April 18 2008, 02:54:47 UTC 4 years ago

The reason they returned her was because of her strange behavior. She would attack and scratch people with no warning, and was literally acting like a wild animal.

[info]untimelylove

April 17 2008, 18:12:20 UTC 4 years ago

Definitely SHS, but seriously? Had this lady never seen a picture of a coyote before?

[info]scribblekitty

April 17 2008, 18:34:19 UTC 4 years ago

People call my Blue Heeler a coyote fairly often so I'm going to go with...No.

[info]valkyrii

April 17 2008, 18:44:18 UTC 4 years ago

My ACD looks as ACD as an ACD can look and maybe 1 out of every 6 people that ask actually realize he's not a wolf, coyote, african wild dog, dingo, husky, GSD or just a plain mutt (he's been accused of all of these).

And then I have to explain to them just what an ACD is and that yes, it's actually a REALLY REAL breed.

[info]scribblekitty

April 17 2008, 19:02:08 UTC 4 years ago

Yep, Pi's been called all of those except Husky...and also been called a fox, twice. I boggled at the suggestion he was an African Wild Dog. ARGH people please read more...or at least watch more National Geographic and Discovery Channel! Of COURSE I'm not walking an African Wild Dog down the street in the city! *headdesk*
I get most annoyed by the people who call him an Australian Shepherd though.

Even when I explain the breed I know half of them don't believe me and think I'm making it up. Plus they don't understand him at all anyway because he doesn't act anything like their dog...or most other dogs in fact. Oh, and then there's the ones who hear me say 'They used Dingoes and Collies to create the breed...' and go 'Oh, so he IS a Dingo!. 'Umm, no...that's not what I said...'

I ranted about it somewhere here a while back and someone told me to just tell people that yes, I am actually walking a coyote/dingo/whatever, because it would probably make their day!
I'd be too little worried that might end up with Animal Control on my doorstep though heh - which I certainly don't need, especially with the whole poodle-bite thing going on right now.

[info]valkyrii

April 17 2008, 19:27:57 UTC 4 years ago

I actually had animal control come visit because my neighbors are, well, idiots. They saw Shiloh herding our goats and reported me for "keeping a wild animal" and "abusing the goats". The AC officer was literally in tears laughing once she came out and saw the truth.

And hell, I live in Virginia. It's not like I can just run out in the woods and grab a wolf/coyote/whatever here. Not to mention I live in a rural farming county where it's extremely common to see border collies working and even the occasional ACD or other herding breed. You'd think with Animal Planet, National Geographic and all these other things around today that people would be a little more aware that not all dogs are poodles, beagles and labs.

[info]scribblekitty

April 17 2008, 20:35:51 UTC 4 years ago

Haha herding is animal abuse! Now I've heard (or should that be 'herd'? :P ) it all!

At least it gave the AC officer something to laugh about, because most of their job has little humour in it, I'm sure.

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[info]phoenix1979

4 years ago

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[info]sandystar

April 17 2008, 20:18:47 UTC 4 years ago

I really don't understand this whole business of telling someone else their dog isn't what they think it is. Or coming out with absurd guesses. I joke with my best friend that her dog "looks like" a Dingo. I didn't run up to her and say "OMFG is that a dingo!?!?" because common sense tells me it's prrrrrrrobably not.

[info]scribblekitty

4 years ago

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[info]haggardtrish

4 years ago

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[info]inu_yukai

4 years ago

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[info]cadetsandkings

April 18 2008, 00:05:05 UTC 4 years ago

I always used to think of ACDs when people said Aussies... only now do I think of the Shepherds!

So you aren't crazy, ahahaha/

[info]momentslast

April 21 2008, 19:44:57 UTC 4 years ago

I have a blue heeler mix and whilst most people get it right here in Austin I constantly get asked if she's a dalmatian. I mean.. she looks nothing like one! She's way too small to begin with... When she first came to us she was about 10 weeks and people kept asking me if she was a Chi.

[info]valkyrii

April 17 2008, 18:46:51 UTC 4 years ago

That makes me sad. Did she seem attached to the dog? Err, coyote?

[info]sandystar

April 17 2008, 20:16:35 UTC 4 years ago

OK, I actually laughed out loud here at my desk when I read that this dog was actually a coyote. It's very sad for the family, and extremely sad for the animal that was most likely put to sleep, but MAN! What a stupid mixup!!

[info]plushabilities

April 17 2008, 20:54:40 UTC 4 years ago

I'm not terribly surprised. My grandma has a pin-husky mix who looks EXACTLY like a coyote. She wears a big bandanna so people don't shoot her by mistake.

Still, the behavior differences should have been a MAJOR clue T-T

[info]0405

April 18 2008, 02:44:06 UTC 4 years ago

You should check up and see what happened to the coyote.

[info]sarahthequaint

April 18 2008, 05:59:13 UTC 4 years ago

WOW. What part of south Texas are you from? I'm from a kinda south/more west county, and the humane society euthanizes dogs fairly frequently, IIRC. :(

They should at least attempt to try and find some sort of wildlife safe haven.

[info]injenius

April 18 2008, 12:58:32 UTC 4 years ago

Hidalgo County.
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