Day 253 - Beagle

Today I scolded a Beagle owner, well, foster mother. The Beagle howls. And howls and howls. And while this is a typical Beagle trait, it's annoying and can be manageable. However, despite taking a class to learn how to work with the dog, the foster mom ignored the behavior (I don't see HOW any one can actually IGNORE the irritating behavior) and let the dog continue to be a nuisance ALL DAY.

The dog was brought in to my place of work today with hopes of being adopted and after the first ten minutes of howling and baying, I approached the handler and showed him and his wife how to re-direct the dog's behavior with great success. Or, at least success on my part. As soon as I walked away, the handler continued to ignore the behavior and the incessant baying continued. Shortly afterwards, another trainer approached the odd couple, and again showed the human of the pair, how to work to avoid the noise.

Two hours into my day, I found myself literally on the other side of the building being annoyed and distracted by the Beagle's constant baying. After finishing my tasks at hand, I stomped across the store to find the source of the baying and found the mom and dog team half way down a store aisle, doing NOTHING except allowing the dog to pull on the end of his leash towards another dog, all while barking and howling at it. I immediately stepped up, told the dog to LEAVE IT (which he did) and asked the foster flunky, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?". She gave me a lame story on how she was trying to avoid the other dog (can't see how that was possible), and I blurted out, "He's NEVER going to get adopted like this! You've had him as a foster for over a year and this is WHY!".

After my little outburst, I realized the schoolmarm in me is becoming quite good at addressing outstanding issues and subsequently, the dog was relatively quiet thanks in part to the foster mom actually working with him to avoid the unwanted behavior and more so to avoid another scolding from me. I don't understand why someone would let their dog, even if it's a short term investment (a foster versus permanent addition) act like, and be a nuisance. If you had a toddler out in public, wouldn't you take some type of corrective action if it was crying for hours on end? Change it, soothe it, feed it, or if all else failed, take it back home? Why is a dog different? Why is it okay for one's dog to be a nuisance, but not a child? And sadly, in this case, the foster mom's lack of working with and correcting the dog is negating it's future for a forever home! Shouldn't "orphans" be on their best behavior? Shouldn't we as humans set these animals up for success and do the best we can by them, so we can have the best for them? I really think people should have to have a license to have both children and pets!

(Hopping off of my soapbox now.)