Animal Services puts best ‘unwanted’ paws forward

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This article was published 15/01/2023 (1189 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Animal Services is starting a new campaign to find its “most unwanted” dogs homes with experienced owners.

When Hank, a two-year-old bullmastiff mix sat in the Animal Services shelter for six months, its employees knew it had to get creative. Hank wasn’t the most obviously adoptable dog — it was a little protective and had some signs of cage aggression.

Over the months, Hank was passed over by potential forever families — a pattern Animal Services often notes with “difficult” dogs, especially as adoptions wane post-pandemic and shelters remain overfilled.

“We have a handful of dogs like Hank that aren’t so perfect. And the idea came of how can we showcase these dogs? Because if the community doesn’t want them, we’re not just going to sit on a private collection of dogs nobody wants,” said Leland Gordon, general manager of Winnipeg Animal Services.

The “Winnipeg’s most unwanted” poster plan was hatched: Animal Services published a Wild West-style poster with a photo of Hank on its social media, explaining he had been waiting too long at the shelter.

Within days, he was adopted.

“The idea is, let’s get some attention on these dogs that are sitting in our system. Still adoptable dogs, still loving dogs, to get the public’s attention, which is exactly what those posters did, and try to get a good match,” Gordon said.

The City of Winnipeg department also works with dogs with special needs, emotional issues, medical problems or high anxiety to try and get them socialized as well as possible in preparation for life with a family.

In the past, dogs with some of these issues would have been euthanized to make space. Gordon said 12 years ago, Animal Services euthanized 400 dogs a year; now, it’s around 15.

“I think our community can be proud of that, that we’re trying to do as much as we can to work with these dogs, to save these dogs. And it’s not only (dogs) with behavioural issues, but it’s also with medical issues,” he said.

“Winnipeg’s most unwanted” posters featuring more of Animal Services’ longest stays will begin rolling out on social media within the next week.

Animal shelters quickly hitting capacity has been a particular problem as COVID-19 pandemic rules relax. As people returned to in-person work, adopted pets were returned to shelters, and other were less inclined to adopt.

Rescue groups have had trouble raising the money needed to support the animals they take in as inflation, too, has taken its toll.

The problem is nationwide, but Manitoba’s high population of at-risk dogs in northern communities has been uniquely affected.

Animal Services used to adopt out around 100 northern dogs a year pre-pandemic. Manitoba rescues would often adopt out these dogs to other provinces, but those provinces have shelters at capacity and low levels of interest from the public, too.

None of this matters to Hank, however, who is now comfortably at home with owner Dillon Reynolds, who saw the social media post and felt compelled to meet the dog.

“I basically saw him online, and fell in love with him, and I’m steadily falling in love with him more and more every day,” he said.

It wasn’t an easy decision, and it came after several visits and some apprehension on Reynolds’ part. A week later, Hank is comfortably lounging, playing and enjoying life in a home much larger than the 3.5 x six-foot kennel he resided in for so long.

“He’s wary of strangers, he’s not fully adapted to people,” Reynolds said. “But once he warms up to you, oh my goodness, he’s just a teddy bear.”

Reynolds is an experienced dog owner and trainer. While the Animal Services posts might tug at your heartstrings, Reynolds said getting a dog with special needs takes time, work and financial stability.

“Just be mindful of what you can and can not provide for the dog, and if you can’t, then don’t do it,” he said.

“But if you can, and you’re willing to put the time and the work in, you’re going to have a friend until the end of its life, which is what all dogs deserve.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca