A-Z of #Dog Rescue: Botched! — #atozchallenge

You know how they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions? Well, the person who said it first was a dog rescuer. 

Okay, I don’t actually know that. But it must’ve been. And I’m also pretty sure it was a dog rescuer who came up with carpe diem—although, honestly, in rescue it’s more about the moment than the day.

Good intentions are what bring you to the threshold of dog rescuing. But, once you cross over (into the dark side, mwahahahaha...), they'll be about as useful as—I don't know. A title of royalty.

The bad news is it's incredibly easy to botch a dog rescue. Nine times out of ten, though, it's your fault. And that's the good news. It means it's up to you not to botch it.

 BOTCHED #1: THE DOG RAN AWAY 

What you did

• You moved too fast. (Good luck getting close to him/her again.)

Do It Right

The goal is to get the dog to come to you—or, at the very least, to give you permission to come to them. If the dog backs away, stop. Don’t invade their personal space until they’re ready to allow you to.

Or maybe

• You were nervous. Or tense. Or just excited. Animals can smell your adrenaline a mile away—and, to them, it smells of aggression.

Do It Right

Stay calm. Breathe. Get in touch with your zen. Don’t approach until you're in your happy place.

 BOTCHED #2: THE DOG GROWLED OR SNAPPED AT YOU 

What you did

• You invaded his/her space.

Do It Right

See Botched #1

Or maybe

• You looked him/her right in the eye.

Do It Right

For dogs, unlike humans, eye contact is confrontational. Aggressive. Avoid it like the plague. Keep it brief, and make a point of looking away while they’re watching you. That’s a “negotiation” signal, a way of saying, “I’m harmless.”

Or maybe

• You tried to touch him/her too fast.

Do It Right

If you’re within a meter or two, offer your hand to be sniffed. Keep it below their nose level. Stretch out (slowly) your arm, palm up and fingers curled into a loose fist (best way to avoid losing a fingertip).

 BOTCHED #3: THE DOG BIT YOU. OUT OF NOWHERE. 

(It wasn’t out of nowhere. I hate to pop your bubble, honey, but you did it to yourself.)

What you did

• You tried to touch him/her too fast.

Do It Right

See Botched #2

Or maybe

• You tried to pet the top of his/her head.

Do It Right

Your first touch should never—I repeat: never—be on the top of a dog’s head. In dogspeak, especially for dogs with reason to distrust humans, a hand above their heads feels threatening. Safe and friend-making areas to touch are the side of the neck, the underside of the chin, the chest, or the side of their bodies. As you gain acceptance, move to the area around the ears; they love that.

 BOTCHED #4: THE DOG, UNTIL THEN DOCILE AND FRIENDLY, TURNED PSYCHO KILLER WHEN HE SAW THE LEASH 

What you did

• You presented the leash too fast.

Do It Right

Don’t move on to the leash until the dog seems comfortable with you touching him/her. Present it for sniffing (like your hand, everything you present to the dog should be below nose level). Don’t rush. Take your time—and let the dog take his/her time, too. If the dog seems okay with the leash (doesn’t back away), keep going. Slip it around the neck as you continue petting them. Once the leash is in place, and while you’re still petting them, begin to stand. Slowly. Read the dog. Make sure they’re comfortable with everything you’re doing.

 BOTCHED #5: YOU GOT THE MAMA DOG, YOU CAME BACK FOR THE PUPPIES—BUT THEY’RE GONE! 

Well. Good luck finding them without the mom. If they’re under 8 weeks, their instinct will tell them to hide. You won’t get a peep from them. If they’re older, they’ll probably wander off when they get hungry. Best-case scenario, they’ll be picked up by some kid who thinks they’re “cute”. More likely, though, and because there’s no mom around to show them the ropes, they’ll wander into traffic or fall into a drainage pipe or—. Ok. You get the picture. Bad rescuer. Bad, bad.

Do It Right

Don’t get the mama dog until you’ve located the puppies. If you see a lactating female and no puppies in sight, you’ll need to follow / observe until you can pinpoint where she’s got them. And she'll be protective of them, so be careful. The good news is that once you have the puppies, especially if they’re under 8 weeks, chances are Mama won’t bolt, which will make it easier to get her, too.

 BOTCHED #6: YOU INTERFERED WITH AN ONGOING RESCUE ATTEMPT 

Remember what we said about good intentions? A well-meaning but clueless amateur can undo a rescue organization’s work of months in… yeah, pretty quick. 

Do It Right

Watch for signs this dog is being taken care of (see yesterday’s Assessment post), and if s/he looks like s/he hangs out at a regular place, you can ask locals if they know whether someone’s looking after that dog. The easiest (and surest) way, though, is to be in regular contact with your local rescue or shelter. Nowadays, with social media, it’s so easy to snap a pic and post it to Facebook or Twitter and get an instant response.

~ * ~

Sometimes, though, all of the above is a luxury you won’t be able to afford. If a dog is in an immediate life-threatening situation, you won’t have time to wait, to choose your moment, to make friends, to call anyone, even to snap a picture. Saving the dog’s life trumps everything.

But what if it’s a rabid hundred-pound Mastiff trained as an attack dog and scared out of its mind because it just got hit by a car? (And, because Murphy’s Law really is a law, you just know it’ll be a dog like this that needs the most urgent help.)

Come back tomorrow on Monday—we A2Zers get Sundays off for good behavior—for Catch Me (If You Can), a crash course on impossible rescues.