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On Behalf of the Dogs:
The Story of Mamma Dog
By JOHN WELLS, Member, Board of Directors
c/o The Waterville Humane Society
120 Drummond Ave.
Waterville, ME 04901
We called her Mamma Dog. She was about three years old, part shepherd and
half a dozen other breeds when the dog officer found her wandering lost and
confused on a back country road. She was also very pregnant. In fact, she
had her puppies, eight of them I think there were, only a couple of days
after she came to the shelter.
She was a good mother, very patient and tolerant, and all of her puppies
grew healthy and strong and were quickly adopted in their eighth week. But
Mamma Dog was more than just a good parent; she was a special dog in every
respect: intelligent, affectionate, gentle, and clean. The ideal family pet,
all of us at the Humane Society thought.
She just wasn't terribly attractive, not until you knew her, anyway. She
was medium sized, but all long legs and big head, with a spotty, brindle
coat. People visiting the shelter and interested in adopting a dog didn't
even look at her. After a few weeks alone in her cage, Mamma Dog started
losing weight. She spent most of her time curled into a ball at the far side
of her cage, no longer even running to the gate when people entered the
kennel.
We were thrilled when a couple finally did adopt her -- and very
disappointed when Mamma Dog was returned to the shelter three days later.
She never stopped pacing all through the house, the couple said. When they
left her alone, she got into the waste bins and made a mess. They didn't
have the time to deal with all that anxiety, they said. So Mamma Dog went
back to her cage. A few days later another couple adopted her. They wanted a
nice, quiet dog they could take out on their boat with them. But Mamma Dog
was afraid to get onto the boat; she wouldn't even let them catch her to
carry her aboard. That time she was only away from the shelter one week. She
wasn't much interested in her food after she returned the second time.
Unfortunately, Mamma Dog's story isn't unusual. Too many dogs suffer
rejection as she did because people don't have very realistic expectations
when they adopt a dog into their home, or they don't know how to handle
problems when they do arise. The fact is, dogs want nothing more than to
please, but they don't know how to do that until they're shown. Untrained,
they may chew things, they may bark constantly, they may jump up on people,
they may wander off, they may do all kinds of things they shouldn't. With
some patience and time from their owners, they can be trained out of any bad
habit. Unfortunately, too many people don't seem to understand that.
I'd like to work at building this understanding. To this end, I'd like to
ask everyone who does live with and love dogs to write to me about your own
experiences: relating some of the particular problems you've faced and how
you've overcome them -- anything, in short, that you think someone
considering their first dog ought to understand and be prepared for. Stories
about the rewards you've found in having a dog would be helpful, too. Given
a sufficient number of responses, I'd like to report them here in
Local Voices on a regular basis as a public service. I think it
would make a difference, letting people hear from lots of voices that there
really aren't bad dogs, just those who haven't been taught, or, in some
cases, have even been taught the wrong lessons. And that every dog can
learn.
Oh, Mamma Dog? Fortunately, Mamma Dog's story does have a happy ending.
She was adopted a third time, and she is happy today, living with a family
who thinks the world of her. Because they understand about the terrible
problem of pet overpopulation, they had her spayed, too.
Mamma Dog was lucky. Too many deserving dogs aren't that lucky. They need
someone to speak up for them.
Please let me hear from you . . . on behalf of the dogs.
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