Dogs and cats are the most popular pets and while plenty come from breeders or pure chance, many pet owners-to-be adopt their furry friends from humane societies, like the Humane Society of Northeast Georgia.
What they don’t usually expect to see while cruising for that perfect pet is a human camped out in a kennel with them.
But each year at HSNEGA, volunteers agree to sit in the kennels to raise money towards the rescue pets and their adoptions.
“We couldn’t do what we do here at the Humane Society without our supporters,” said Julie Edwards, executive director for the humane society. “Our vet services pay for themselves with the fees, but our adoption and rescue program does not pay for itself with our adoption fees. We bring out $150-160,000 on adoptions and we probably spend three to four times that rescuing our animals. So this money all goes towards rescue efforts.”
At the time of publication, the humane society had raised just shy of $38,000 towards their goal of $80,000, essentially helping 151 rescues. Development Director Sam Threadgill said if they make their goal, they will slash the fees to adopt dogs in the large dog kennels to zero until the end of August.
Threadgill also said the fundraiser allowed people to come in to the shelter for a different reason than just searching for a pet and allowed the dogs to get some extra socialization prior to finding their “fur-ever” home. This year is also the first year they added a third day for the lock-in.
One major concern for both rescue groups and potential adopters is the family fit, including safety. Concerns arose about breeds and home safety after a pet dog attacked a newborn baby in Hall County earlier this year, killing the infant. The dog was a Husky-mix and had no previous history. But Edwards said don’t be too concerned about whether an entire breed was dangerous.
“In the 70s it was German Shepards, in the 80s it was dobermans, in the 90s there were Rottweilers, and today we have the pit bull,” said Edwards. “But in my opinion, there is no such thing as a bad dog. Every dog is trainable to a certain degree. Now, there are some dogs that may have health issues or even mental issues that may cause them to have problems that can be treated by a vet, but those are few and far between. Most dogs are a product of their circumstance.”
She said certain breeds, like pit bulls and Huskies, may naturally have a stronger prey drive and that can give them a bad reputation.
“Many children that are bitten are at eye level with dogs, so it’s not that they’re a bad dog, it’s that their instinct is to run after things and to chase them,” Edwards said.
Edwards said pets don’t have to leave the family when there’s a new child. She suggested families with children do their research on integrating the family members properly, whether it be a new baby or a new dog. Edwards said she has always felt having a dog in the family helps teach kids responsibility. But, the parent also needs to take responsibility as well.
“Certainly as a parent you need to be very diligent watching your children around dogs and I’ve always told people to never leave a small child, or any child, around the dog for any period of time. And, don’t pull their tail, don’t ride them like a pony, don’t stick your hand near their face when they’re eating. But, there are some humans that would probably bite you if you stuck your hand in their face while they were eating!”
She said training a dog also involves training the human and encouraged owners to stick to training and maintain consistent schedules, as both dogs and kids can benefit from routine.
The importance of training and researching both the breed and how to acclimate new members to the family were things Assistant Director for Hall County Animal Control David Jones echoed. He said parents and guardians need to be sure that pet dogs and even cats can be controlled, so children are protected.
“You have to acclimate the animals slowly to being around a new baby,” said Jones. “When they’re that young, a large dog can just lick the baby in the face and possibly cause the baby to stop breathing. There’s no viciousness in that, but it still could cause the death of a young baby or an infant.”
He also said parents can forget how a jumping dog can cause a problem, so he encouraged keeping a dog secure if parents are unsure how the dog will react, or if it isn’t well-trained.
Jones agreed with Edwards about not leaving babies and small children, even toddlers, unattended. He also said parents should be careful how they scold a pet in front of children, who may mimic the parent’s behavior and cause a negative reaction from the pet.
“We have bites where the dog feels like the baby is ‘beneath him’ in the pecking order, so the first time the baby pops the dog or slaps the dog on the face, the dog give a quick nip to let him know ‘it’s not your place to get on to me,’” said Jones. “There are a lot of different variables that come in to play as to why dogs will bite, even family members. In 2018, we had 337 bites and of those, 210 were family bites, where the family dog bit a family member.”
Statistically, Hall County sees dog or cat bite cases - a puncture that bleeds - every day, but Jones said truly serious bite cases only occurred about once or twice a year - those are the ones that require several stitches or surgery.
Additionally, Jones urged pet owners to make sure all pets in the household were up to date on all of their shots, especially rabies. Rabies vaccine are available at your local vet, the Humane Society, pop-up clinics and other pet-friendly places.
While their organizations operate differently, both Edwards and Jones agreed that education and proper training of a pet secures the best outcome for the whole family. Edwards said with so many types of training out there, owners shouldn’t give up if the first try of training their pet doesn’t go as planned.
She also reminded pet owners that dogs and cats are, well, animals, no matter if you get one from a shelter, a breeder or find one on your street.
“They do bite. They do chase things. They do sometimes potty in the house, because that’s not necessarily always natural for them in their history as an animal, so you have to remember that these are not human beings, they’re animals, and they do need that consistency and that training to live well in your home.” said Edwards. “It’s great that we treat them like part of the family and like humans in some ways, but in other ways we do them a disservice by giving them human feelings and characteristics when they’re not human.”
