Would it be wrong to use COTHers to transport the dog to a more northerly area where shelters are not full and the final COTHer can indicate that they found the dog nearby? I know this may be immoral to some. Rescues transport dogs from high risk areas to lower risk areas all the time. If he made it to a suburban location shelter the odds might be slightly better that he end up with a family that does not have livestock or other pets. Since everyone here has an opinion on what the OP ought to do perhaps some of the “save him” folks want to take action? Simply tossing out another idea… OP you are a good person to help this pup, even if a tough decision is made in the end.
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As someone who lives north of the OP, please don’t bring the dog to my area. We don’t need a a one-eyed, dog/animal aggressive bully mix anymore than any one in Texas does. The people most likely to adopt this dog are the ones that are most ill-equipped to handle it.
I can’t imagine that losing an eye is going to make this dog less aggressive. The OP’s vet should be ashamed of themselves. Too bad no one will read the vet the riot act.
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The vet meant neutering the dog would make it less aggressive. The eye is possibly being removed due to a growth.
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I got that. Maybe it will balance out, losing his nuts and losing his eye, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it nor the life of my other pets.
I had a horse with partial vision in one eye. She had a few screws loose. It wasn’t all the eye, but the sketchy sight didn’t help any.
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I’m in the NE and we’re all full up with pit and pit mixes in the shelters here.
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How can it be illegal to abandon a dog at an animal shelter?! That is their purpose.
I’m aghasted 
that the local publicly funded animal shelter is refusing strays. It’s beyond my comprehension. That is a primary function of their existence. I don’t understand how the public shelter can refuse. If that is happening, what on earth are people supposed to do?
In my experience, it is illegal to keep a dog and not report it to AC and wait for the stray hold before adoption.
Rescue is completely unrealistic. But those saying do that? Well, find OP one. She has tried.
I feel much more leery of euthanizing a dog that isn’t mine, whose owner hasn’t been determined, than turning it in as a stray per traditional protocol.
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my guess is because they have become no kill shelters. Everyone brings in their dogs because they will not be pts. So I am not suprised that all shelters are bursting at the seams.
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When you have funds and room for 50 dogs and you are No Kill and the dogs you have are mostly pitbulls and mixes or old dogs with health problems - there is nothing going out. You don’t get more funding per dog. You just get what donations are given and what is available from the city/ county. So with not much going out there is no room for animals going in. Sometimes it is owners surrendering dogs, sometimes it is strays picked up. And each unspayed female running loose can have 6,8,10+ puppies. It all adds up. Yes it is a problem!
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Well tying up a dog outside after hours is abandonment. Surrendering a dog to the shelter employees isn’t. I’m in the southeast like OP and generally municipal / county shelters’ primary purpose is to house strays picked up by AC. They accept owner surrenders as space permits. Private citizens that pick up strays usually have to go through the owner surrender process.
OP stated she doesn’t have AC / municipal shelter in her county. She said there’s one in a nearby county but that it only accepts animals from its area.
I’m still hopeful that one of the private rescues OP contacted may find room now that the holidays are over.
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We adopted a dog from a dog arfanage in California, and as soon as he saw our new pup, he literally tried to kill her. It took tying him to the doorknob for ten days while she was loose in the house, and only untying him when she was locked in the bedroom. He could reach his easy chair, his bed, the window, and the sofa while tied, but couldn’t attack the other dog.
We walked them on leashes around the ranch, gradually getting closer together until he stopped reacting to her. We also sat with them in the yard, getting as close he was comfortable getting,
All these things involved massive amounts of treats when he didn’t react to the other dog.
For the horses, I used an E-collar twice, and he ignored them. We have a fenced dog yard, which is essential.
He is now best friends with the other dog, but still dog-aggressive, so I work with a dog behaviorist which has been a huge help. It’s like when your hot horse finally has the training and strength to let you channel the energy into good work.
Rehabbing this dog has been a ton of work but incredibly rewarding. Good luck!
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I’m surprised that people are surprised that shelters can’t take every single animal that’s a stray. It’s not like putting a book on a shelf. The dogs need to be evaluated, socialized, exercised, fed, receive proper veterinary care (which may be extensive, especially if the animals haven’t been spayed or neutered or are heartworm positive). Shelters aren’t holding stations.
Also, when new adopters come in, shelters ideally take steps and ask the right questions to match dogs with appropriate homes. If a dog isn’t great with small children, for example, it’s better to do a meet and greet at the shelter and not send home a dog with a family with kids, only to get the dog back with the animal flagged as aggressive when the dog might have been fine with an older couple.
I’ve been looking for a small dog at my local shelter, since rescues can be hit-or-miss, sanity wise. But yes, about 90% of the dogs are pit bulls or bully breeds. It’s a great shelter and really does its best to care for the animals, but space, time, effort, money, and employees (paid and volunteer) are limited.
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But this is why people just turn their dogs loose or tie them to trees in the woods to die.
On my local pet FB page a woman who became suddenly single with two small children had a dog left by her ex. She couldn’t afford to feed her children let alone the dog. The local shelter was full, another shelter was full, she’d posted the dog for free on FB but no takers. At on point she let the dog out to potty and it took off, and she posted that she was alone in the house with two children and couldn’t look for the dog and was out of options. People bashed her pretty good, the dog ended up coming back on its own but she was then stuck with a dog she couldn’t take care of.
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Well, in that situation, the only living being who should be bashed is the POS who left this poor woman with his dog (and I assume his children, without any financial support).
It’s heartbreaking, but shelters still have finite capacities. They also have a responsibility to care for the animals they have, and hopefully to ensure the care is of a standard so the poor animals aren’t mentally and physically fried when and if they do get adopted.
The people bashing her should have reported the POS ex for abandoning HIS animal.
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I would never judge a shelter either way, TBH, because I know how overcommitted many of them are–especially with the economic downturn, many people are struggling. Plus the aging of the population. Though the older, smaller dogs that are turned in by people going into assisted living go quickly, often within hours.
How much of this in most areas is a pit bull overpopulation problem (or bully dog mix) versus a general stray problem? (Genuine question, not an inflammatory trolling question.)
Rescue-wise, many of the smaller, healthier, cuter dogs on Petfinder never seem to get adopted out, making me wonder how legit some (not all) rescues are. Or rescues have senior dogs with health issues have adoption fees of $600+ (I understand that’s to cover costs, but some people will just figure they’ll buy a younger dog, all things being equal.)
Regardless, I agree there aren’t always many great options (i.e., shelters are full, and rescues cherry-pick which dogs to take and may be overcommitted themselves or have weird or over-selective policies).
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I agree that AC should be able to euthanize animals as necessary. It’s a hard hill to climb with the public though. Near ish to me, there was public outcry as a new superintendent over AC made the decision to euthanize 3-5 dogs over the course of a year for behavioral issues. Medically necessary euthanasia had been ongoing but these behavioral cases caused outrage.
At the same time that same AC routinely picks up 5-10 dogs DAILY. With a 7 day stray hold and only a small number of owners that come forward, that is a goodly number of kennels needed just for stray holds.
Naturally AC / shelters could serve more animals if they had more funding. Good luck convincing the voting public to increase taxes to provide more funding.
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For me, my publicly funded, county-run Animal Shelter accepts owner surrenders and of course strays picked up by AC. Strays have a minimum 3-day stray hold, depending on volume. Owner surrenders may be immediately euthanized, depending on volume. Court cases have to warehoused.
I didn’t understand some county-run, tax-funded community shelters moved to no kill. (I thought no-kill were privately funded and in addition to public shelters.) If that’s is how their tax payers voted, I guess they had to. But that’s completely dysfunctional, as we see here.
I’m sorry I said to tie it up outside of a shelter. I have learned here about the animal sheltering situation in other parts of the country. It’s a serious quandary.
I’m imagining if I was in OP’s shoes. Even with all of my dog sport contacts, I don’t have a better alternative than a shelter for this dog. And if shelters refuse, I don’t know what options I have.
I would not have this dog in my home. It isn’t a problem of my making. I’m not going to risk it harming my own. So what on Earth can you do?
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It’s a tough issue, too, because there is also a grey area of dogs who might not be dangerous to humans but have relatively few situations where they’re really comfortable for the average family to be around (will chase livestock so not farm-suitable, but are large, powerful high-energy breeds who will tear apart a house if not constantly exercised and left alone for even a few hours by a working owner). So they sit.
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Sounds like OP has decided to put some time and effort into this dog, taking it one step at a time. I applaud her efforts. I am hoping for a successful outcome.
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In my area, it’s hounds and Pit types. Practically without exception. Puppies and purebred non-bully types are swept up by local rescues even before the public can view them.
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In my area, there aren’t even many hounds! And even the rescues are probably at least half pits.
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