Going To The Dogs Rescue

03/11/2025

01/31/2025

“We’ve always done it this way” has been used to justify harm for generations. But today, you have the chance to see it differently, to recognize the pattern and break the cycle.

Breaking that cycle isn’t about shame or blame. It starts with seeing the pattern for what it is. That’s all.

Let’s take a look at some commonalities between the justifications used in coercive parenting, controlling relationships, and aversive dog training:

🚩Downplaying harm while justifying control

Parent/Partner: “It’s not abuse, it’s discipline. If I don’t do this, they’ll walk all over me.”

Aversive Trainer: “It’s not punishment, it’s a correction. If I don’t establish dominance, the dog will take over.”

🚩Blaming the victim for the outcome

Parent/Partner: “They made me do it. If they just behaved, I wouldn’t have to punish them.”

Aversive Trainer: “The dog forced my hand. If they did what I trained them, I wouldn’t have to use the prong/shock/choke correction.”

🚩Discrediting alternatives to control

Parent/Partner: “Being soft doesn’t work. You have to be strict or they’ll never learn.”

Aversive Trainer: “Positive reinforcement doesn’t work. Some dogs need to be corrected with pain to understand.”

🚩Invalidating pain to justify control

Parent/Partner: “That didn’t even hurt, you’re just too sensitive.”

Aversive Trainer: “The e-collar is just a tickle. The prong is no worse than a mother ‘correcting’ her puppy.”

🚩Normalizing harm as tradition

Parent/Partner: “I was raised this way, and I turned out fine.”

Aversive Trainer: “We’ve trained dogs like this for decades. Why change now?”

The patterns are too similar to dismiss: fear masquerades as respect, and tradition is used to excuse harm.

By recognizing these parallels, we have a chance to break the cycle of coercion once and for all.

12/21/2024

Training methods are not just a “difference of opinion”. They’re a matter of animal wellbeing and ethics.

In my recent posts, I’ve talked about how shelter dogs inherently experience a lot of stress in their lives and don’t often get their needs met.

On top of that, pain in dogs can go unnoticed in shelters since shelter dogs aren’t being supervised as much as dogs in homes might be, or undiagnosed due to limited resources.

Aversive control also very much removes much needed agency and opportunities to exhibit natural behaviours from dogs who already have so little choice and control in their lives.

In knowing this, subjecting dogs in rescues and shelters to aversive training tools and methods that cause pain, fear, and stress on dogs is detrimental to the dogs’ wellbeing, unethical, unnecessary, and counter-productive.

It is also dangerous for staff, volunteers, potential adopters, and the general public since it is well-documented that increased aggressive behaviours is a fallout of aversive and punishment-based methods. Exacerbating pain through aversive tools and methods on dogs already experiencing pain can also certainly lead to the display of aggressive behaviours.

Sure, there can be situations in shelters and rescues where emergency handling and tools like slipleashes may be needed. However, emergencies aren’t training, and slipleashes should be seen as a temporary safety measure, not a tool for punishing dogs and forcing them into compliance.

And understandably, trying to help dogs find homes asap is important, but finding adopters who prioritise a dog’s wellbeing over how well they comply out of fear is even more important.

It is no longer “rescuing” when the wellbeing of animals is not prioritised.

It is no longer “animal welfare” when needs-deprived animals are deliberately and unnecessarily subjected to more pain, fear, and stress.

As says: “If an animal rescue claims to care about animal welfare, but promotes the use of aversive training, then they actually don’t care about animal welfare.”

I hope in time we will see more rescues and shelters adopt humane and ethical care for dogs because shelter dogs deserve better.

ID: The text says “It should be a bare minimum for rescues to refrain from aversive tools and methods.” On the right is an old photo of Dave, a brown Singapore Special dog with pointy ears, sitting with his mouth slightly open.

05/08/2024

04/09/2024

This gorgeous girl deserves lots of love today. Share her upcoming event on your own FB feeds. Consider going to visit her if you are free or currently seeking a new dog of your own!

Wrigley hopes you got to see something special yesterday with the eclipse happening.🌑 She’s more excited about her adoption event this Saturday at 11 am at . Come meet Wrigley and see just how special this girl is. She is so ready for her family!🏡

04/09/2024

It's 2024, let's drop the whole "I need to be the alpha and show my dog who the boss is because they're descendants of wolves and therefore need a pack leader" act already.

Just sayin. 😎 It honestly just screams 'I need therapy'.

01/17/2024

Today we learned that we lost our dear friend, Ada Simms. Ada, with her kind heart and thoughtful nature, was both a friend and ally in the effort to ensure better animal welfare for pet dogs.

Ada was a tremendous advocate for all dogs, especially when it came to humane treatment and handling. She was a wonderful positive reinforcement trainer who was fierce in her advocacy, while still maintaining an open heart and collegial nature in her dealings with others. This is rarely an easy feat, yet Ada navigated this terrain so gently.

She was ever generous with our foster puppies, many of them enjoying the benefit of her “Land of Yes!” - a carefully constructed pathway where puppies would encounter numerous objects and experiences, all to ensure early exposure and positive associations. We are so grateful she provided that to our puppies, foster families, and adopters in those early days. We’ve always been so proud to stand beside her in the shared belief that dogs deserve better.

Ada, we love you and will miss you terribly. You’ve left this world a better place, and we are all better for having known you. We are forever grateful.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Ada’s family and friends. She was one in a million.

01/16/2024

Over the last couple of years we’ve shifted away from rescue and placement to concentrating on community outreach and how we can assist in keeping owned pets in their homes. Providing support to the community that allows guardians to keep the companion animals they love is not only an area of animal welfare that is lacking, it is also one we are in a unique position to provide with volunteers who have specialized skills from social work to behavior and training.

Having said that, we do have dogs currently in our program. Some are considered forever fosters due to medical and/or behavior. These dogs still need medical care especially as they age. While our mission has changed, the support needed really hasn’t.

All donations go towards supporting these five beautiful faces as well as companion animals in our community that need us. While there are programs locally to support guardians in need, there are often considerable barriers to access for so many. There are no barriers to our services other than when there is a lack of funding.

Over the years we’ve paid for emergency surgeries, spay/neuter, food, crates, straw, weather appropriate housing, etc. We’ve also provided social services navigation assistance, helped navigate legal services, assisted in housing efforts, and offered behavior support. While we may not be pulling/placing dogs, your support is still needed.

Our mission is simple, provide the necessary resources to families so that they can keep their beloved pets and circumvent shelter/rescue surrender.

Please stay tuned for upcoming events, we have big plans for 2024!