Noble’s Story, A Tragic Tail!

Noble was an awesome, massive, 120 lb, 4 ½ foot tall 5 year old purebred great dane. He was surrendered to the shelter by the family who had raised him on a 5 acre piece of land where he had free run of the place, but very limited people interaction and little behavioral training.

We were told that he was surrendered for typical reasons – his family was moving and didn’t have room for him in their new home, they didn’t have time for him, and someone else could give him a better home. The shelter accepted the dog with hopes that he could easily be placed with a family who might otherwise buy a pure-bred great dane puppy.

Noble was still young and rambunctious, and while not a terrible walker, he could be a bit stubborn. I always try to meet the new dogs at the shelter, especially the larger dogs who were often too much for many volunteers to handle. So I was drawn to Noble, and we soon became great friends and regular walking partners.

Placing dogs like this in a shelter is not always easy. Noble’s size meant he would need a good deal of living space. He would need someone to provide him regular exercise — walks would be good enough, but they would need to be a daily routine. Food and medical costs for a dog this size could be beyond many family’s means. Even though the shelter had a tremendous reach into a large client base, finding the right family for this animal was going to be very difficult.

Noble and I developed a close bond during this period. I would take him into the play yard and provide back massages, and enrichment activities playing ball and learning tricks. We became the best of friends, and I would give him calming massages after long walks, ensuring that each day when we met we were happy to see each other.

As weeks at the shelter went by, it became clear how hard it would be for the shelter to provide a healthy environment for such a large dog — the kennels are too small, the constant activity provides little opportunity for rest, limited extended interactions with people, few enrichment opportunities. Noble’s behavior began to deteriorate. First, he began to react negatively when children would stand outside his kennel staring as they often do. Next he became difficult for many of the smaller staff to handle. He often would behave poorly when routine medical care was provided.

Soon, bad interactions with clients who were willing to consider adopting him began. He would react badly with adoption counselors and special handlers were needed to show him to clients. He would occasionally snap at the client, of course ending any chance of that adoption. He would be very reactive when walking past the other dogs. He would be on constant alert and in the tight confines of the shelter hallways he would always be at risk of running into a fast moving or inattentive client, volunteer or staff member. A number of incidents exposed various people to bite risks as his reactivity got worse and worse.

Eventually we got to the point where only a few volunteers could handle him, including me. Some staff could visit him and he treated them well, but they were unable to spend as much time with him as he needed. I began to visit him daily, taking him for the longest walk the shelter environment could afford, taking him through the mixed-use industrial park nearby. Sidewalks, trees and grass are everywhere in this beautiful location, so finding wonderful, relaxing places to walk was easy – away from people, away from traffic, away from the crowded hectic conditions in the shelter. But these daily foray’s could only last for a short time. Even when I could afford to spend an hour with him, this still left the vast majority of Noble’s day in what I can only image was hell for him.

I remember one incident with him that gave me pause and made me appreciate the challenges of working with difficult dogs. As Noble’s reactivity increased in the shelter, our long walks out of the shelter became the only option for getting him out of his kennel. On this day, Noble was suffering from an upper respiratory infection, but knowing how routine bound dogs can be I decided to walk him anyway. We walked a short way out of the shelter, Noble did his business, and then when I tried to proceed on our walk he sat facing me, clearly not happy. I typically don’t give in to the first resistance from a dog, so I tried to proceed again. This time, Noble just looked at me, grabbed my arm in his mouth and proceeded to mouth me, not to the stage of biting, but clearly giving me warnings that he was not going to give in to my suggestion to walk. He continued to hold my arm for a few seconds, until I turned in the direction of the shelter when he got up and joined me. We walked back to the shelter and I put him in his kennel where he threw himself on the floor and fell asleep. Clearly he knew what he needed better than I did!
I must admit, at the moment he began to chew on my arm, I was terrified. Clearly this animal could have caused great damage to me. We were alone, outside the shelter with no aid readily available, and I was at his mercy. Fortunately for me, I was able to figure out what he wanted before he felt the need to amplify his message to me. But this incident made me rethink this situation and recognize how difficult it might be to take a dog like this into a home, mine included. I would never be comfortable with my wife handling him, or with him around strangers, or with him generally around the public. This broke my heart because I knew how loving he could be when he connected with you.

One day a staff member who was a dear friend of Noble was petting him in his kennel. A young child came to the kennel and stood outside staring at this magnificent beast. As many of you know, dogs typically consider an unbroken stare as a challenge, and with his reactivity to children, Noble just snapped. He redirected his explosive energy on the staff member, grabbed her arm and proceeded to bite her multiple times. Her injuries required many stitches, and while she never blamed Noble nor did she want him to suffer because of the situation, clearly this was totally unacceptable behavior and would have ramifications.

Needless to say, the incident had to be reported to the local authorities. The municipal animal control officers came to take him to quarantine. I was helping to handle him while the officers took control and Noble proceeded to break away from me and threaten one of the officers. When the officer tried to escape, Noble pinned him to the ground at the shoulders, and fortunately the officer turned his head when Noble bit and rather than a massive face bite, the officer had his ear clipped. This was a minor injury but could have been much worse. I quickly pulled Noble off of the officer and threw him to the ground where he acquiesced to my direction. The other officer put Noble on the end of a catch pole, put him in their vehicle and after the injured officer was treated by medical staff, they proceeded to take Noble to the municipal shelter. I would never see Noble again.

After about 5 days I received a phone call from one of the administrators at the shelter who explained to me that they had decided that it was best for everyone to authorize euthanasia for Noble. I understood and did not put up a fight. It broke my heart.

Situations like this can occur at shelters, not because of any failing or mistakes at the shelter, but because of the circumstances of the dog’s life. Many dogs develop bad habits in their homes and are surrendered to the shelter. Many have had no help learning to live with people or other dogs. Many don’t thrive in the shelter environment. 

It is possible to help these animals in the shelter with a great deal of love, focused attention and training. It is possible to help the families who take them home to learn to deal with the animal’s quirks and to help the animals learn to be better family members. 

Often, however, the time and resources needed to do this can tax even the wealthiest of private shelters, and is nearly impossible for a municipal shelter. A strong volunteer and foster team can help, but even then there are risks and liabilities to consider that make this less than ideal.

The better solution would be for the animal never to be at the shelter, never to be surrendered, never to be put into this horrible situation. 

We want to achieve this end by helping families who adopt dogs as puppies or as adults to learn how to better integrate into the household, making everyone’s life more enjoyable and getting the most from having a joyful relationship. 

We want to help families learn about the needs of the new family members, and to help the families find the resources — trainers, information, products — to become the best pet parents they can be. 
We want to help make Happy Dogs in Happy Homes.

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