{"id":3272,"date":"2013-07-22T17:07:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T17:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/?p=3272"},"modified":"2015-01-09T03:41:31","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T03:41:31","slug":"animal-services-gets-their-report-card-it-aint-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/?p=3272","title":{"rendered":"Animal Services gets their report card – it ain’t good"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nFriday, June 28th<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have talked about this before, I have rules. I don\u2019t look for dogs to rescue, I don\u2019t chase dogs, the dogs have to come to me. Over the years, dogs, even dog packs, have just shown up in my yard, in my path, at my house. They all seem to know where I live. But this last Friday, as if to say, \u201cyou\u2019re not doing what we want\u201d, the universe took it up a notch.<\/p>\n

Despite traffic, I was on time for work and I had a block left to get to the office; I arrived an hour late to work. It would seem the universe told the dogs where I work.<\/p>\n

\"DownTownWorkDog3e\"<\/a>As I threw on my hazards and got out of the car with a slip leash and dog treats in hand, the police were pulling up on scene. Two fabulous DPD officers helped get the dog into a pocket park where the injured German shepherd dog laid down safely out of traffic. \u00a0I can not say enough about these two officers\u2019 concern for the both the public\u2019s safety and for the welfare of the dog. The three of us and another man, calmly worked for 45 minutes to keep that dog in one spot while we waited for Animal Services to arrive on the scene. We were not sitting idle, we were testing the dog the entire time and trying to get close enough to catch it, but we never pushed the dog enough to make the dog leave. It was more important that the dog stay in the safety of the pocket park under Woodall Rodgers.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about where the dog was for a moment. He was downtown in the tourist filled West End, with access to the mix master, surrounded by busy streets and rush hour traffic.<\/p>\n

Rumor had it that the dog had been spotted on the highway overnight and Animal Services had been dispatched to catch the dog but they could not find the dog. With that knowledge, everyone worked very hard to keep the dog calm and away from the multiple highway entrance and exit ramps.<\/p>\n

For 45 minutes we kept that dog in one spot safely out of traffic. This is an important number. This is not about Animal Service\u2019s response time. 45 minutes is a pretty good response time for Animal Services. This is a compare and contrast number. For 45 minutes, people whose profession is\u00a0 NOT animal capture or animal control, successfully allowed the dog to stop running, to be calm and still, and to stay in one place.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s your contrast: three minutes. Animal Services, our problem solving professional that we have been patiently waiting for, showed up on scene and the dog was gone and running in under three minutes.<\/p>\n

It was the usual DAS (Dallas Animal Services) MO: get the DAS van as close as possible \u2013 that immediately alerted the dog and made him uncomfortable. The DAS officer approached the dog with a dog food bowl. She then got on her stomach and started crawling towards the dog commando style with the bowl \u2013 but head on \u2013 looking the dog directly in the face. There was no attempt to give the dog time, space, or room to react.\u00a0 The dog was showing signs of distress and discomfort \u2013 the DAS officer reached her hand out toward the dog and the dog jumped up and moved.\u00a0 The minute the dog got up, so did the DAS officer, which caused an even bigger reaction from the dog.<\/p>\n

What happen next made me wonder if DAS had ever thought about trying to catch a dog in a downtown environment? Dallas is a pretty big city, I have a dollar that there is NO training or plan for catching or at least directing dogs in a downtown environment. What would have been the best direction to push that dog \u2013 into downtown\u00a0 – into uptown? Away from the DART line? Away from highway access? What\u2019s the answer? The DAS officer just started chasing the dog.<\/p>\n

From the start, it was doomed. Did they really plan on catching an injured dog in an urban heavy traffic environment with ONE officer?<\/p>\n

No attempt was made to communicate with the two DPD officers on scene to help assess the dog\u2019s temperament or injuries, no attempt was made to discuss how the animal had been reacting to approach, no instruction was given to the DPD officers in advance of the dog decided to run,; it was a total sideshow disaster.<\/p>\n

There was nothing behaviorally sound about how the dog was approached. It was a total waste of time, money, and resources and it endangered drivers as the dog was now running \/ being chased through the streets of the West End. As they were chasing the dog passed the Spaghetti Warehouse, I went to move my car and realize I was one minute away from a missing an important meeting. I left the sideshow and drove the half a block to work.<\/p>\n

When I went to help the dog, I had left my cell phone in the car. The lack of phone prevented me from calling in late. When I got to work, my co-workers were about to send out a search party for me.<\/p>\n

Lucky for DAS I accidentally left my phone in the car \u2013 this would have been great to document with photos. I\u2019ll try harder next time to make sure I have my camera. \u00a0I know one of the DPD officers has a picture or two of his partner and me in the grass with the dog \u2013 I will try to get them.<\/p>\n

Once back at work, I started obsessing over whether or not they caught the dog. One of my co-workers reported having seen the dog around 7:30 am and she said that a bike officer was yelling at the dog and chasing it. At that time the dog was not injured. I can only hope that the officer was chasing the dog away from something more dangerous.<\/p>\n

At lunch I called DAS to find out what had happened to the dog \u2013 not helpful. That frustrating communication led to a call to Chris Watts. Chris placed a call to management at DAS. Around 2pm DAS was back out chasing the dog around Hooters for 2 hours. They called off the operation as Friday rush hour traffic was backing up and it was becoming a problem. They said they were going to go out later when it was quieter. \u00a0You can spit to both the House of Blues and the Perot from Hooters –\u00a0 it was a Friday in a hot tourist destination \u2013 who were they kidding?<\/p>\n

I offer to call our wild dog behaviorist <\/a>for help, to email the West End Neighborhood Association and Downtown Dallas Inc (my office is members of both) with instructions about what to do \/ who to call if the dog was spotted, I made myself and a sweep team available to look for the dog \u2013 no word back on any of the offers.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t hear a word back about the dog Friday night or Saturday. Saturday morning I needed to go north, so I went out of my way and drove around the area I knew the dog had been in. It does go against my rules, but I admitted to being a little obsessive about the dog.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard not to after lying in a fire ant bed and being bitten to bits while trying to remain calm and gain a dog\u2019s trust. Oh yeah, I left that fire ant bit out earlier…<\/p>\n

There is a thing about NOT looking a dog in the eye when you are trying to approach them. It\u2019s a good rule of thumb. As I was being casual, and using a behaviorally sound approach to the dog, I was keeping my back to the dog and wasn\u2019t really looking where I was going, it was a big grassy area after all, and I backed myself into a fire ant bed. There was no jumping up and beating them off \u2013 I was much too close to the dog to react at all. They ate me alive.\u00a0 Fire ants literally in my pants \u2013 really universe?<\/p>\n

When a dog relaxes a little and Tasha did this, sometimes they look you in the eye and they will keep eye contact with you as if they are making a deal with you to trust you to help them. That dog made the eyes with me. When they make the eyes, I can\u2019t help it, I\u2019m in.<\/p>\n

So as I\u00a0was telling \u00a0Dr May that I don\u2019t understand why the universe would put that dog in front of me if I wasn\u2019t supposed to help \u2013 it dawned on me what the universes\u00a0was trying to tell me:\u00a0 Everything about DAS field services is the same \u2013 nothing has changed. Tasha<\/a> is still waiting for her change. \u00a0Change is what is going to help this dog and all the dogs like him. The Universe put the dog in front of me because progress had stopped – It\u2019s time to stop making excuses for the people on our little task force and demand some accountability.<\/p>\n

DAS \u2013 here is your report card: \u00a0you and your new field service manager just flunked your real life field services test.\u00a0 In our original presentation toward policy change<\/a>, we identified several issues. From our original presentation, the only official change that has been implemented is temporary darting procedures that have been put in in place to prevent the inappropriately, inhumane, darting of a dog. (yes, we know, the internal \u201cinvestigation\u201d found that DAS did not dart the husky. And OJ didn\u2019t do it either)<\/p>\n

Here are the issues we raised<\/a> \u2013 this same list could have been written on Friday after watching the downtown dog.<\/p>\n

Animal Services\u2019 Field Services (hard to catch and feral dog) Polices are:<\/p>\n