Shelter Behavior

When people come to a shelter they are thinking of all the cute little puppies that want to play and well behaved dogs that just sit and wag their tails wanting to be pet.  Now let me pull you back down to reality… This is never really the case.  Most of the puppies, while cute and inocent, are normally scared to death.  They are unsocialized animals that were put out by someone, somewhere and they are trying to get use to being around other dogs and people.  So when you see this just remember that it is not because they are crazy, it’s because they do not know any better.  Get them out and play with them.  The more human interaction they have, the better dog they become.  With the older dogs, when they run up to the cage and start barking at you, it’s not because they are aggressive and want to bite you.  They do this to try and get your attention, to show you that they are the better dog and that they want to be petted and played with as well as the others.  Shelter dogs are not aggressive, they just want a good, warm, loving home to call home.