by Rhea Machado
Volunteer, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Animal Services
Most shelter dogs were loved pets once. Maybe their family had a tragedy, or maybe they chewed a shoe because they were left alone too long. Either way, being left at the shelter is scary and stressful for a dog, and in a strange environment, it is easy to pick up bad habits. Like children, the dogs need structure and training to learn what behaviors are appropriate.
Imagine that you were living in a beautiful home in a nice, quiet neighborhood with a loving family and lots of toys. Life is good! Then, one day your family takes you and drops you off at a strange place. You don’t have your family or your special toys and you are surrounded by what sounds like a frat house during a week-long keg party. Sure you have food, shelter and medical care but it’s scary, lonely and the neighbors are so loud they are keeping you up all night.
Animal shelters across the country and right here in Sarasota are implementing a new program called Open Paw that is geared toward calming and training surrendered dogs.
Founded in January of 2000 by Dr. Ian Dunbar and Kelly Gorman, Open Paw promotes the minimum mental health requirements for shelter animals, educates prospective owners and gives shelter staff and volunteers the tools and training needed to help transform the animals in their care into happier, better behaved, more adoptable pets.
I feel very lucky to be a part of launching this program at our very own Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Animal Services. If you visit the shelter you will see a special row of kennels with dogs in the Open Paw program. There are buckets of kibble and clipboards on each of their kennel gates.
The buckets hold the dog’s food for volunteers, staff and visitors to toss under their kennels for them to snack on–effectively teaching the dogs that visitors in front of their kennels bring good things, namely snacks! The clipboards will tell you about the dog. Think of it as a dating profile, what the dog likes and doesn’t like, their favorite places to walk, etc. Soon the dogs are conditioned to wait calmly at their kennel for the snack they have been taught will soon follow.
But wait there’s more! The that’s just the first step of 4 levels of training. The next two are all about the dogs learning to safely and calmly enter and exit their kennels as well as some basic obedience training. This is where the real fun begins! Now the volunteers are asked to teach the dogs commands like ‘watch me’, ‘sit’, ‘paw’ and more. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing how proud the dogs look with all the praise and attention they get when they learn a new behavior. Ok, seeing them go into wonderful forever homes is the most satisfying but you know what I mean.
The response from this program from the dogs has been amazing. We are just in the beginning stages but I couldn’t be more excited about the progress. At our last Volunteer Training, we talked about how after only four weeks – several of the pups had shown noticeable improvement when in their kennels. Rather than barking and jumping when people and other dogs walked by, they sat calmly and quietly secure in the knowledge that their turn for walks and tummy rubs would be coming soon. They didn’t have to act out for attention! This is what we want to see. These are the dogs that prospective adopter feel comfortable visiting with and bringing home. Dogs need to feel at ease with people walking by, they need some physical exercise, and they need mental stimulation.
This is what Open Paw brings to the shelter. When you come to our shelter you will see our dogs have comfy beds (thank you donors!), toys including peanut butter and kibble filled Kong’s at closing time, and they have trained volunteers and staff walking them and working on their basic obedience. Food, fun, exercise and some brainwork makes for a happy, well-rounded dog in the shelter and at home. Come by the shelter and visit our dogs and see the difference that a little time and attention can bring. And while you are there:
DO
- Toss kibble under the dogs kennel
- Ask a volunteer or staff member about a dog you are interested in
- Ask a volunteer or staff to bring a dog into a play yard or out by the lake to visit. Dogs act much differently outside the shelter, so give them a chance to shine.
DON’T
- Stick fingers or face into the kennel. Nobody likes to have their personal space invaded
- Stare at or wave arms at the dogs. That can be intimidating and scary.
- Go into a kennel or yard with a dog without a volunteer or staff with you. For the dogs, it’s like having an intruder in your house!
You can help! We are looking for more volunteers to come out and assist us with this great program. The more volunteers we have, the more time each dog has with a handler to help them learn the nice (and cute) behaviors that will have potential adopters head over heels for them! Stop by the shelter at 8451 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, FL or visit us online to fill out a volunteer application. We can’t wait to meet you!
I would like to thank our friends at Nate’s Honor Animal Rescue for introducing us to this program and inviting us out for demonstrations, sit in on trainings and for the moral support.
I love our rescue community, and I am proud to be a part of the solution.