Although I would think (and I may be wrong) that most high-drive dogs would not do well in a shelter setting and would be deemed "unadoptable" and euthed. I'm sure the occasionaly drivey dog makes it through, but most are not appropriate for the "typical" dog owner.
We had this discussion at some point, though I'm not entirely sure it was here. I think there are many high drive, working calibur dogs in shelters. I also think that those are the first ones to be put down. When a dog is
born to work and then it ends up in a 6x8 foot wire cage with nothing to do for days on end, they tend to get a little nuts.
Think of it this way - how would Inara be if you ignored her completely for 3 days? Isolate her in a run where she has to amuse herself with one toy and have dogs all over the place barking. I've only met her the one time, but I would be willing to guess that she would be a nut case before the third day is over. When a potential adopter goes through the shelter and meets her she'd be
completely out of control.
Could an experienced person evaluate a dog that is going shelter crazy and see the potential for working ability under all that nuttiness? Maybe, maybe not.
Many people don't know what to look for in a rescue or adult dog. (when looking for performance work). I had a recent foster (Aussie) that came to me overweight, bad structure (for performance-straight back legs, etc), not much drive for anything, low-medium energy...and her first foster mom was just gushing about how she'd make such a great performance dog!
Exactly - and that is why many "performance people" give up on rescue. They hear all about how fantastic the dog is, how they are the
perfect dog for whatever job, then the evaluator takes the time to go meet the dog to find out that they completely wasted their time. I did that once, and it was an hour drive to get to where the dog was.
I guess then, it would behoove professional trainers, to seek out already born "drivey" dogs from shelters, rather than rely on a litter who is to be born
At least they can then see what characteristics the dogs already have, than hoping an unborn litter has the traits they are looking for.
Maybe in an ideal world. I absolutely believe that there are tons of high calibur working dogs in shelters. I also absolutely believe that those dogs are the first dogs to be put down. I also absolutely believe that if those dogs end up in a rescue that they will probably be in that rescue for a while because though there are plenty of people looking for high drive dogs there are
far more who don't want them.
Connor is a great example of a dog that ended up in a shelter who is working calibur. So is Doc. Riggs was dumped back on his breeder because his owner got tired of dealing with him. I don't know what the circumstances of Elmo ending up back with his breeder, but he is a national level agility competitor. Erin's dogs are good examples as well. they
are out there, but they are the minority, and the people who eant them are a much smaller minority.
I don't envy breeders who have to place nice puppies in good homes.
So they had many people lined up, but it wasn't enough...
.
But I think with purebreds, there is sometimes a better support system to take care of these types.
He has no issue picking up noisy objects (keys, water bottles, etc) or metal objects (tin cans, pop cans, etc) or small stuff (rubber bands, bobby pins, etc). But this is hard for our everyday puppy raiser to get their mind around.