Vilma-- While I wholeheartedly agree that we need to give rescues every chance, I'd like to point out that sometimes dogs come into rescue for a good reason. One thing rescue groups for Berners will have to consider as this breed grows more popular and begin suffering even more from health and temperament issues due to poor breeding choices on top of trouble spots already existing in our breed is when to say no, or when to euthanize.
Remember, aggressive dogs are a great liability risk for the club. A placed dog which bites and injuries a new family member or friend visiting can rebound on the club resources legally. I guess I am concerned about this due to my own work with Pyr rescue, and even Newf rescue. I've had one foster dog from each breed which had to be euthanized due to aggression issues. It was heartbreaking but the only right choice for the dog, the club, and any potential family. Currently, Berners enjoy high placement status and even problematic dogs have good homes waiting; Newfs are not in quite as much demand but are quite easy to place. Pyrs do not enjoy popular demand and my small club often resorts to newspaper adverts to try and generate potential homes; we have about 25 dogs a year come through the club, and it seems like about 1 in 25 needs to be euthanized for aggression issues. Given how poorly bred, trained, socialized, and managed the rescue dogs often are, this does not seem like a terrible statistic to me. This year, our club had a nightmare litter be sold through a pet store in the area. Something like four or five Pyrs were turned into rescue (or attempted to be turned in) due to multiple bite incidents. They were littermates from a Dakota puppy farm; by the third one, we were just telling the family's we were sorry, it was not their fault, and to take the dog to the vet for euthanasia. I do think it is in the best interests of the dog and club for the dog to be fostered by someone knowledgeable, but, please keep in mind sometimes there really is only one real option for the sake of the dogs and the people involved. More than one foster caretaker in my club has had a hospital trip due to an aggressive foster dog--one of our club co-chairs was very seriously injured and hospitalized while making an in-home visit for a potential rescue turn-in. Wow, I sound really pessimistic, don't I? I think that is in part because I believe Berners have a little less resilience in terms of being poorly bred, badly socialized, etc. than Pyrs. I think as fanciers we need to really put some thought into where we will draw the behavior problem line and why. Best luck with your rescue dog. Eileen Morgan The Mare's Nest http://www.enter.net/~edlehman --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003
