Successful Dog Adoption Book

Dog expert Sternberg advocates a point of view that once would have been considered entirely commonsense and inarguable: Animal shelters should do everything in their power to avoid releasing dangerous dogs into the community, and dogs who are demonstrably violent should only go to professional trainers who can handle them or be humanely euthanized.

However, those who actively follow the dangerous dog issue will know that this is no longer the reality in the canine community. Today's environment is littered with social media campaigns on behalf of dogs who maul and kill other pets or people, and those vicious dogs who are caught before they can do significant harm are bemoaned and eternally memorialized. Meanwhile, the tens of thousands of stable, non-dangerous animals who are euthanized annually receive little to no mention from this crowd.

It should come as little surprise, then, that Sternberg is a controversial figure, for simply saying that violent aggression is not an OK behavior trait in companion dogs. It is not difficult to find naysayers who actually go as far as to publically wish for her death.

For more level-headed individuals, this book offers a through and well-written examination of why to choose a shelter dog and how to adopt a pet who will be the best match for you and your household. Choosing wisely will help keep adopted dogs in their homes and prevent them from being relinquished later on because of behavior problems. It will also help adopters avoid dogs who are aggressive, which is the most serious and difficult behavior problem of them all.

The directors and staff of animal shelters should read Successful Dog Adoption as well. Sadly, some shelters have weakened their hard-earned reputation by passing off aggressive dogs for adoption, hiding individual dogs' behavioral history from potential adopters, and deliberately lying about dog breeds. If shelters want to remain trusted community services and steer customers away from puppy mills and backyard breeders, they will concentrate on the advice offered in materials such as this. No one wants to hear that the risky dog you released for adoption just because you wanted to keep your euthanasia numbers down has just scalped a child or disemboweled the neighbor's beagle. Increasingly, shelters are being held liable for these tragedies, as well.