Before anyone gets all worked up at seeing a little dog apparently being suspended in mid-air by a shelter worker with a noose around the neck and fistful of rump skin, let me reassure you that Rhonda McLendon, the director at the Lukfin shelter where the photo was taken, has already seen the image and cleared everyone involved. She says the dog was fearful and snappy and the method of restraint in the photo “is a proper method with an animal that’s trying to bite.”
According to McLendon this method is not harmful to the dog.
“It doesn’t cause pain if you lift equally in the front and the back that’s why the dog is actually upright in the picture.”
A veterinarian found the dog was not harmed by the handling and also endorsed the method of restraint in the photo.
After conducting a full investigation and taking the dog to the vet the director at the City of Lufkin Animal Control has determined that there was no wrong doing on any part, by any of the staff.
Feeling reassured? Me neither. The notion that grabbing a fistful of ass while holding a noose around a dog’s neck somehow negates the fact that the dog has a delicate windpipe, not meant to hold the animal’s body weight – or half the body weight – does not make sense. A dog is not a table that as long as you lift equally from both sides, won’t split down the middle. A dog has living parts. And emotions. Further, anyone who has ever inadvertently grabbed the skin over the hips of a dog knows that dogs do not like this. It scares them. It scares already fearful dogs even more. Add in being simultaneously hung by a noose around the neck and voila – you have abusive treatment at the hands of shelter staff, to my mind at least.
Ms. McLendon did fault the staff member for using poor judgment – not in handling the dog in the manner depicted – but for posting the photo on PetHarbor so the public could see it.
Out of interest, I flipped through the Lufkin AC listings on PetHarbor to see how they hold other small dogs for photos. Here a few currently on the site:
(Thank you Clarice for sending me this story.)