06/11/2026
Portland we need your help
Part 3 (check our page for all parts)
Jasmin was in and out of MCAS for 8 months before they killed her.
I remember her flyer well. It was around the holidays and one of the volunteers had taken a photo of her with a little glitter snowflake headband
Jasmin first came to DoveLewis as an injured dog. It was later learned that she had been involved in a fight with her owner’s partner’s dog and had been severely injured.
She was surrendered to MCAS and noted as loving all people but being indifferent towards other dogs and never seeking them out. It was also noted that she was anxious around loud noises like yelling.
Unfortunately, the MCAS shelter is not a place for a dog like Jasmin to go to because there are no quiet rooms and not even a trainer on staff or as a volunteer to access her behavioral needs. Instead, she was thrust into chaos from the very beginning, but with the instruction of 300mg of trazadone administered twice a day along with clonidine to help mask her stress.
When Jasmin was out on foster, she did great. She also had positive notes from volunteers. There seemed to have been some disagreement about how to read some of her body language but again, without a staff trainer on site, this is to be expected
She had one quick adoption failure due to her fence reactivity to the neighborhood dog. She was noted as being sweet with all family members but needed a “only dog” household.
Even MCAS vet staff noted the “fence fighting” and made their own recommendation for a “no dog” household.
Keeping in mind the circumstances surrounding Jasmin’s unfortunate lead up to being at the shelter: she was severely attacked by another dog while her owner and the other dog’s owner were arguing- essentially two of her known triggers coming together. This was a catalyst for her having a big life event- one that could never be explained to her. One day she was injured by a single dog and the next she was at a noisy, chaotic shelter with lots of dogs.
I think most reading this post could agree that Jasmin should have only been adopted out to a household as an only dog…
TBC