A quick Google search for the definition of the word "temperament" brings up this:
tem·per·a·mentˈtemp(ə)rəmənt/noun1. a person's or animal's nature, especially as it permanently affects their behavior."she had an artistic temperament"synonyms: disposition, nature, character, personality, makeup, constitution, mind, spirit
People look for different things when searching for a dog to adopt. Some want athletic dogs to join them when they hike, run, bike ride, etc. Others (like myself) want low energy, couch potatoes that like Netflix marathons and naps. Though we're all looking for something specific in our canine companions, what most of us have in common is that we want a dog that is confident, friendly, affectionate, and eager to please. What we don't want is a dog with fear aggression, resource guarding tendencies, or a bite history.
It's not unusual for dogs to act out of character when they're in a shelter environment. Sometimes they act subdued but turn out to be happy-go-lucky when they get adopted. Sometimes they act hyper but turn out to have a nice medium energy level. And sometimes they show some minor aggressiveness and food/toy guarding when they're in the shelter but once they get home it disappears.
I have learned that if a dog is mildly aggressive in a shelter environment that it isn't necessarily a death sentence . Some shelters and most rescues have foster volunteers and those people willingly bring animals into their home to find out if their behavior in the shelter is their true temperament or if the stress of being lost/surrendered, being stuck in a kennel (no matter how nice it may be), and the vibes of the other dogs are causing him or her to act out uncharacteristically. I've brought a couple of these dogs home myself (as a matter of fact, I just fostered a scared Chihuahua puppy that my parents were interested in adopting...she went home with them today!) and I've been happily able to report that once they arrived they turned out to be really great, confident, happy dogs. As much as I'd like to be able to say it always turns out that way, I can't. Sadly, some dogs turn out to be unadoptable because their behavior doesn't change outside of the shelter.
No one likes to be the person to decide that an animal needs to be put to sleep. Most shelters (if they don't have space constraints) and rescues will try a lot of things to rehabilitate an aggressive dog before they take that step. However, it's important to know that some things can't be trained away. They can be managed with training, but they cannot be cured.
For example, a dog with a high prey drive can be taught not to act on that drive when his owner is present. But, if a squirrel were to dart across the yard when the dog is out there alone, his training is going to take a back seat to his inherent need to chase it. A dog who is intolerant of other dogs, or selectively tolerant, can be taught not to act out when in the presence of other dogs when accompanied by their owner, but that same dog is not likely to show restraint if left to his own devices.
One of the most disappointing experiences I ever had was with an all breed rescue that adopted out a pit bull type dog with a bite history. I met this dog at the rescue compound, which was the nicest one I've ever had the pleasure of working at. He was known to all of the volunteers as one we should be cautious of. He radiated a "stay away from me" vibe that I can only describe as menacing. To be honest, even though I was one of a handful of people who was allowed to interact with him, he scared me, and I didn't choose to interact with him very much, and never alone.
Unfortunately, many people who are not around dogs as much as rescue volunteers are often don't pick up on those vibes. This was the case for one family with a 12 year old boy. They met the dog, decided they liked him, and they adopted him. When he met them he didn't act out, he was kind of aloof in a way pit bull dogs are usually not. They thought he would become more attentive and friendly once they got him home, so off he went. Well meaning volunteers were thrilled because this particular dog had been in their shelter for a couple of years and he was finally getting a home of his own. Within the first week he bit the 12 year old boy. The boy was now afraid of the dog (and rightly so) and when the parents called the rescue to find out what they should do...instead of taking the dog back...they offered to pay for training. And the parents agreed! I was adamant that we needed to get that dog back to keep the boy safe but I was ignored and it was then that I chose to sever my ties with them.
Another example of a dog with a dangerous temperament was one of my own. Brandy was a rottweiler I purchased from a breeder before I got involved in rescue. We brought her home when she was three months old. She had the sweetest disposition! Unfortunately, by the time she was seven months old we discovered that she was born without hip sockets and she needed a lot of surgery.
We got her a total hip replacement on one side first. The surgeon would not do both at the same time. Recovery time for one hip was 12 weeks and it was to be done in confinement. She was crated for literally 12 weeks post surgery. The day after she got the all clear to come out of the crate she tore the ACL in her opposite knee. She went back into surgery for a TPLO and then spent another six weeks on crate rest. I don't know if her sweet disposition disappeared because she was not really the sweet dog we thought she was but rather behaving that way because she was in pain, if she had gone "cage crazy", or if she had been put under too many times in her short life and wound up with some brain damage. All I know is that she started attacking Jezebel. I broke up multiple fights between them and Brandy drew blood on me AND Jezebel multiple times. And she started biting people, seemingly without warning. I know they say that there's ALWAYS a warning, but I assure you, she did not give any indication she was going to bite when she did. A person could walk by her and she would chomp down on their arm, and then carry on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Of course, after that first time we should have known she was intolerant of strangers, but the person I was living with at the time chose not to err on the side of caution and more than one person wound up getting bitten by her. His reasoning was that there were just punctures that didn't bleed very much, and besides, the people she bit were dog people, so it was OK. (I never claimed to be a good judge of character.)
I decided to hire a trainer to help me get rid of this behavior. I interviewed five of them and chose a lady that I felt the most comfortable with. She assured me that there were very few dogs that could not be "fixed". We worked out a plan and started training.
Brandy LOVED training! She loved working, she loved the praise, she was smart as a whip and caught on to everything fast. I was relieved and very hopeful that she would turn out to be the good dog I thought she was when I bought her. Unfortunately, that was not to be. The trainer witnessed her hair trigger aggression towards strangers and the way she would suddenly go on the offense, then go right back to happily working on her training. The trainer admitted that this was one of those dogs she wouldn't be able to fix.
While I was trying to decide what to do with her, since her breeder refused to take her back, we had the incident that decided it all for us. Brandy and Jezebel were on a crate-and-rotate schedule. Since the weather was nice, Jezzy was outside and Brandy was inside with me. Brandy barked and growled her fool head off at the back door and I was nearby in the kitchen. Brandy, reaching the end of her rope, walked away from the door (no longer barking or growling) and BIT ME on my leg. She sank her teeth into the outside of my right leg. Her bottom teeth punctured and tore the creases behind my knee and I wound up in the ER. The wounds were severe and took six months to heal. I should have put her to sleep the first, second, or third time she bit someone instead of thinking I could cure her biting through training.
Temperament trumps training. Always. Look again at the definition of the word. Permanently affects behavior. I've learned the hard way that they can't all be saved. I wish everyone involved in rescue understood that. It's up to us to only find homes for those that will not harm people or other animals. People count on us to do the right thing. It's not playing God. It's keeping people safe and saving animals with perfectly awesome temperaments from being put to death because of what a few unstable ones have done. It's saving good dogs who might not make it out of the shelter instead of wasting resources on dogs that will linger until someone is willing to deal with problem behavior.
If we don't do the right thing and put dangerous dogs to sleep, how can we expect the average dog owner to do it? I know people make a living promising to cure dogs of aggression, and they are easy to believe. That's why it's so important that we understand what is temperament and what is not.
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