Mean mutts turn into good dogs ready for adoption from shelter
New training program improves chances of finding forever home
Born on the mean streets of Philadelphia and locked in a cage at a young age, Benny the pit bull had a bad attitude.
While dogs around him at the animal shelter wagged their tails with delight when potential adopters approached, Benny crouched in the corner of his enclosure and growled, scaring away any chance of finding a forever home.
In a crowded animal shelter, being labeled an aggressive dog can mean a lifetime locked in a cage, or worse. According to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as many as 670,000 of the 3.3 million dogs who enter shelters annually are euthanized, often because they’re deemed too aggressive to be pets.
Benny, it seemed, was headed for death row.
Luckily for him, word of Benny’s plight reached the Lehigh County Humane-Society in Allentown last month, where a new program to turn even the most ill-mannered mutts into very good dogs was underway.
“The behaviors that I saw when I met Benny, especially the growling, that was fear,” said Lucas Holland, a certified dog trainer who recently joined the Humane-Society’s staff. “But to the average person, growling looks like aggression. He looks like a scary dog.”
Volunteers brought Benny to the Humane Society where, under Holland’s guidance, he learned to walk on a leash and obey simple commands. As he began to trust humans, his growling and hiding decreased. Soon, the 3-year old gray and white pittie will be ready for adoption.
“It’ s amazing what
Lucas and his team have done with dogs like Benny, “said Deirdre Snyder, the Humane-Society’s director of development. “He’s literally saving their lives.”
Holland, 33, of Germansville, has loved working with dogs for as long as he can remember, but wasn’t sure how to turn his hobby into a career. That changed earlier this year, when Facebook videos of Holland training his five dogs caught the attention of Hal Warner, the Humane Society’s executive director.
“They were, to say the least, fascinating to watch. I kept tabs on his videos as he updated them over the next few months and I just grew increasingly interested in the idea of bringing a certified trainer on board at LCHS,” Warner said.
Unlike many shelters, the Lehigh County Humane Society accepts pit bulls and other breeds that can have a reputation for aggression. But dogs from even the cuddliest breeds will repel adopters if they lack social skills and basic training, Warner said.
“Many of these dogs are great animals but don’t ‘show’ well because they have never been given a real shot at life.”
Adding a community dog training program was one of Warner’s long-term goals for the independent nonprofit, which has shifted much of its focus in recent years to keeping animals in their homes and out of the shelter, with initiatives like a low-cost community veterinary clinic and a trap, neuter, return program for feral cats.
Last month, the shelter reached a milestone of sterilizing 1,000 free-roaming cats with the help of the volunteer group Let’s Trap Around the Lehigh Valley, preventing the births of tens of thousands of kittens in the Allentown area.
Warner reached out to Holland to talk about starting a dog training program. Holland told him that his goal in life was to open a dog training academy. Also, due to the pandemic, he’d just lost his job as a personal care aide, so he was available immediately.
“It really was fate,” Warner said.
Holland started as a kennel technician while he completed the 300 hours of training required to become certified through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. He now spends his days working with dogs like Tootsie Roll, a 4-monthold pit bull mix who was taken from her mother too young, and as a result, has behavioral issues, like snapping at other dogs.
“She was in a foster home, but it didn’t work out with the family’s dog, and they brought her back,” said Holland, as Tootsie Roll ran excitedly around the Humane Society’s outdoor play area on a recent afternoon. “She should have been socialized by her mother and litter mates, but since she wasn’t, wehave to teach her, or she’s just going to keep coming back.”
Keeping dogs in homes
Holland develops a personalized training program for each dog, which he and team members Jennifer Ganey, Angel Vega and Julio Ruiz guide the dogs through. Adog’s behavior is evaluated daily, and must be consistently improved before they get the green light to meet adopters.
According to a 2015 ASPCA study, about 6% of pets — about 6.1 million animals over five years — were “rehomed” after being adopted. While housing problems among pet owners who rent is the most prevalent reason for rehoming, behavioral issues are high on the list of reasons people give up their dogs. The organization concluded that intervention and prevention programs like dog training classes could increase retention rates.
Educating potential adopters about dog behavior may also help, researchers at Tufts University Center for Shelter Dogs found. Letting visitors know that some dogs may behave aggressively in response to the stress of being in a shelter, while others might perform repetitive behaviors, bark more or have bathroom issues, helps adopters understand that most shelter dogs’ bad manners are temporary.
Holland, who admitted occasionally getting into trouble as a young man before discovering his inner dog whisperer, said he hopes the Lehigh County Humane Society’s new training program will change the outcomes of the shelter dogs that most people have given up on.
“I believe people deserve a second chance, and these dogs deserve a second chance,” he said. “They have a lot of love to give.”