I hope this message gets to the person who does the videos. I deeply appreciate your films and commentary about helpful hints with the dogs. My dog Chloe (we rescued her almost a year ago) whines until I put your videos on for her to watch. We watch for about an hour and a half each day. I tell everyone about your channel. I wish there was a way to help our local shelter. Thank you so much for what you do! Keep up the great work!!!
@lilymay4993 that's me: video recorder, editor, promoter, former shelter dog walker (for 2 years), creator of individual dog adoption videos and the shelter lobby videos. It sounds like Chloe gets a lot of benefit from these videos; I'm very happy to hear that! It's such a good thing to rescue dogs instead of getting a puppy mill dog. Most shelters do allow people to volunteer for various things, you might check with your shelter. It's a good way to meet dog experts and learn all sorts of good info. Thanks for spreading the word about this RUclips channel! You're helping other dogs gain enrichment.
The staff and volunteers do give the dogs personal attention on a daily basis, just not within the playgroup yard. It's actually best for the dogs and improves their chance of adoption/fostering.
It's perfectly understandable why dogs are afraid in the yard. Each dog is carrying around a deadly weapon (their teeth) and "personal space" isn't in their vocabulary. The humans are safe, more caring, and have magical hands that can summon treats, drive cars to go places, and do all sorts of other amazing tricks.
Yeah, it's very difficult to avoid interacting with them. You can see us breaking the rules sometimes. The handlers know which dogs can be trusted to not cause problems, including dogs just being in the yard when it happens.
🤣🤣👏🏿🤣🤣 when the one dog tries to 1-up "Ovaltine's" lil couch-corner-digg by trying to digg out the lil kiddie-pool... it's like he said "....uh-huh? Well, I'll show you!" Digg-digg "Damnit! " 😂😂😂 I'm glad yall have this here, keeps my dog 🐕 while I'm gone, but as I 💨 one b4 I go out the door, I caught that lil bit and it had me ROLLING!
Definitely surprised me that warning is true, I played this for my dogs who never really cared about tv screens much. My female dog who has always been wary of strangers was growling and following along. She's never done this with a tv before, couldn't keep the show going because she was getting too concerned and I didn't want her waking up the family and stressing out.
Wow, Ziggy is such a sweetheart! ( She's the girl happily jumping towards the camera operator at 3:50:51 ). It was so cute how she studied the camera in great detail at 3:39:50 😂. I usually don't comment on videos but I hope she's adopted soon ❤... Thank you for the video :)
Yeah, she's a really nice dog! Easy going. The volunteers enjoy working with her. She's still at the shelter but she should get adopted or fostered before long. Thanks for commenting!
I hate that yall can’t interact with them, or pet them. That rule is lame. I see those babies look up at you or stand real close. They’re just looking for some kind of affection or assurance. :(
It's not fun but it's actually a good rule. The dogs do spend time with volunteers on dog walks and enrichment activities, such as when people read books to the dogs. The playgroups are important for dogs to interact with other dogs. It's easier for them to interact with people, but interacting with dogs provides a lot more benefit considering that they spend so much time stuck in their kennels.
Just seems like they could still benefit from some love and pets from people... I saw one the other day, the dog was so damn adorable, wagging her little nub, loving on everyone . She got sprayed in the face for being too close to the fence when they brought another dog in. I understand some of it, but just seemed like the poor pup was being punished for being curious. She was in no way acting aggressive. You could tell she was curious and such a sweetheart. That part really bummed me out.
@@DogPlaygroupStoriesIt’s wonderful that dogs are such social animals. So are people, but they get into more social drama than dogs do, lol, so dogs are better at it.
Still watching daily at my house ! I have some of them I can name all the dogs! Stanley down I know when he coming he would jump on all u guys! The husky that 0:00 talks! That is the cutest thing ever!You all are awesome just know I have all my friends turning it on for there dogs too!
@@KelleyFlanagan-g1u 😀 I miss Stanley Off, but it's great that he was adopted. The dogs in this picture are Luna and Brennan (who you might recognize from other videos). Luna is currently in an isolation kennel for a possible URI (they get treated well over in isolation). Brennan moved from kennel 83 to 217 to live with Lexii 24petconnect.com/PimaAdoptablePets/Details/PIMA/A825209 Magnus (Brennan's long time kennel mate) moved in with Mack in 211 24petconnect.com/PimaAdoptablePets/Details/PIMA/A624505
@@DogPlaygroupStories I am sorry I had a picture of my dog watching the video and he ets up on tv it looked like he was reading the guys list I wanted you to see photo but didn’t know where to send it
Folks, I cannot stress this enough: The Forrest Gump book is SO worth reading! You will sail through it, it's so engaging. And my god the amount of storyline the movie left out is wild. If you can, read it before you rewatch the movie. I promise it's worth it. I'm not even a big reader, can't remember the last book I read in fact, but this one has mass appeal for sure.
They contain a small amount of rocks to make lots of noise. These are mostly used to de-escalate conflicts between dogs to avoid fights. They're also used when dogs are being brought into the yard and taken out of the yard. The other dogs need to keep that area clear and avoid rushing into the catchpen, which causes all sorts of issues.
The volunteers walk the dogs that don't make it to playgroup and they provide whatever attention each dog needs. Playgroups do provide training for dogs who don't have good social skills. Dogs correct bad behavior in other dogs.
Since these are shelter dogs (strays, hoarding cases, etc.) many of them have behavior issues and we might not find out until it's too late. One of those behaviors is resource guarding where dogs fight over toys, food, or attention from a human. That's one reason why we don't interact with the dogs. The other reason is that when we interact with them, they don't interact with each other or it disrupts how they interact with each other. You can even see that happen in some of these videos.
I know this is probably a nit pick, but sometimes, if you're talking about the dogs, it's hard to hear you over the dogs and the other noises. It says the captions are unavailable
Thanks, yeah, I'm actually aware of that. With the voice-overs, I boost the volume and sometimes shift it in time so that the noises don't overlap. But I can't do that with whatever I say during the recording. Back when the videos were about 15 minutes long, I created subtitles, but I can't do it with a 7-hour video. The microphone on the GoPro is facing forward and I'm behind it, so my voice gets dampened.
The American Humane Society considers a shelter that has over a 90% placement rate for animals in their care to be a no kill shelter. Many of the animals come in with with severe medical issues, so even if you eventually place all of your animals you'll still have a placement rate (live release rate) well below 100%. Pima Animal Care Center is at around 91%, so it's a no kill shelter by that definition. And the philosophy of the shelter and it's people are very much "no kill". That being said, the shelter is absolutely overrun with dogs right now with over 500 dogs. There are dogs living in shelter offices, living in pens in the lobby, living in special kennels that are meant for other purposes. And dogs keep coming in way too fast. The shelter is having special events/promotions/waiving fees/etc. everything they can do. With the overcrowding there's a big risk of disease outbreaks and the shelter is currently dealing with potential outbreaks very carefully. The staff and volunteers are doing heroic efforts to avoid dogs being euthanized. Dogs get put on the list and given several days to find a home somewhere and volunteers help try to find some way to place them. Very often rescues accept the dog at the last minute if nothing else is found. If a dog is euthanized, the management of the shelter is very open about it and they don't hide anything. A volunteer or staff member who is friendly with that dog stays with them during the process so they aren't alone. There are dogs on the list right now because there is simply nowhere left to put or place dogs. The shelter gives these dogs time for volunteers and staff to find them homes. They often give the dogs extensions. It's a race against time, trying to place other dogs to free up space and avoid euthanizing any dogs. Historically these times are very rare, but the last 2 years have been extremely bad and this time of year is very bad. Shelters everywhere are full, so transfers are very limited. I've been working with the people at this shelter for 2.5 years and they are extremely compassionate and hard working.
They came into the shelter together as strays, so no one knows. If two dogs have identification numbers that are consecutive (or differ only by two), then they probably came in to the shelter together.
He's doing fine. He was fostered for 2 weeks right after this video was recorded. Here are some of the notes: What words and qualities best describe your foster? (friendly, reserved, cuddly, etc): Friendly, amazing, cuddly, sweet, kind, playful, adventurous, amazing, the best dog ever. Any additional information you'd like to share with us: He’s the best boy ever, the minute someone finds him and chooses him they will love him forever. He is amazing!!!!!
In the earlier videos I added music to parts of the video, but then decided to stop doing it. If I had long sections with no activity at all, I'd consider adding it.
A lot of dogs in the shelter have a difficult time overall. The shelter is noisy and frightening with so many dogs that are agitated (despite all the efforts of the staff and volunteers). Dogs that are unhappy in the playgroup tend to be unhappy in their kennel. The staff will try to move them to a quieter kennel, but with the extreme overcrowding we have, there's not much we can do. Even frightened dogs usually benefit from the playgroups as they get more accustomed to being around other dogs. We certainly try the best we can.
We try to get the dogs out when they want to leave, but there are often multiple things keeping that from happening. If they have a kennel-mate, both dogs need to leave together so we need two playgroup runners. Sometimes other dogs are higher priority at that time.
It's to let them know they're not supposed to be doing something. Ideally the handler should say the word such as "out" and then spray in front of them. If the continue doing it, then they spray the dog's feet. If they still continue, then they spray the dog's back, and eventually face. The shake cans are more for all dogs in the area (or if the spray isn't working on one dog). It closely resembles how the dogs themselves interact, using increasing levels of escalation. Ideally the dogs would learn the keyword meaning and not have to be sprayed eventually. The problem is that the dogs learn that they can get away with bad behavior and the rules are not strictly enforced, so they ignore the spray bottle and consider it just the price of being in the play yard. That's not always the case, but sometimes you'll see that happen.
One of the major things about playgroups is that it's intended to get dogs to correct other dogs, and for the corrected dogs to respect those corrections. So we avoid rushing in to stop a dog that's misbehaving and the other dog doesn't like it (consent is really what it's all about) because we want the annoyed dog to appropriately correct the behavior. Sometimes dogs will over-correct and we handle those situations when they arise.
Emotionally intelligent people would remove the leashes knowing that if those leashes get stepped on or hung up on something while those dogs are running, it will wrench the dogs neck, or worse break it. I’m Sure you have a reason why, but I wouldn’t let my dog stay there just because of that.
These are animal shelter dogs: strays, abuse cases, neglect cases, hoarding cases. Many of them have behavior issues that don't show up right away, often only after they're in the playgroup. Some dogs are conflict driven and will jump into a fight among dogs. It's possible to have several dogs attacking one dog with very little warning. In those cases many dog handlers will rush to the yard and help separate the dogs using the leashes. If you put your hands near a dog's mouth while they're extremely frightened and agitated, you risk getting seriously bitten. Not only does this hurt a lot, but it makes the dog much less adoptable when it gets a bite record. This shelter has worked with many thousands of dogs in these playgroups and there haven't been any issues of dogs being harmed by the leashes. On the other hand.... There's a saying in heavy industrial workplaces that the safety rules are written in blood. The dogs wear leashes based on experience, not someone's feelings. The group that pioneered shelter dog playgroups, Dogs Playing for Life, discovered the importance of drag lines (leashes) with shelter dogs in playgroups, along with many other procedures... again, based on experience with thousands of shelter dogs. They've rolled out playgroups to over 400 different shelters and rescues with fantastic results. Dogs are happier, more sociable, more adoptable, and their lives are greatly improved by these playgroups. Based on my own experience recording these playgroups for the past 2.5 years, I would NOT want to take the leashes off the dogs, except for dogs that meet very specific behavior criteria. Given that we have around 500 dogs in the shelter and dogs are adopted every day and brought to the shelter every day, we don't know which dogs *clearly* meet those criteria. I do advocate for taking the leashes off any 3-legged dogs. Note that I'm a volunteer and not a staff member. I don't speak for the shelter itself.
@@rosieh6933 sure thing! It's really inspiring the work that the staff and volunteers do to help the roughly 18,000 animals that find themselves in the shelter every year.
I would be fired. Theres no way I couldn't at least show some affection. Especially to the ones on the "euth" list. How do you ignore them knowing they'll be put the sleep the next day... Who cares about the rules at that point? So gut wrenching they get euthanized just because they exist :(
I don't think any dogs in these videos were ever euthanized the day after being in a video, or even within a week or so. We have a very high live release rate compared to other shelters. It's never 100% because dogs get brought in with severe medical issues. Right now we're experiencing extreme overcrowding and one dog from a recent video, Ovaltine, is on the list. The staff and volunteers are doing everything they can to get Ovaltine adopted/fostered/rescued. I made the best adoption video I could from the footage I have. It's definitely not easy dealing with a lot of the highly emotional aspects within a shelter. As far as petting the dogs goes, I was walking dogs about 12 hours a week for the first 2 years and spent a lot of time with individual dogs and giving them personal attention. Right now I'm not an official dog handler so I'm not supposed to interact with the dogs and I'm very cautious in the play yard.
The dogs wear leashes (drag lines) for their own safety based on experience with many thousands of animal shelter dogs and across many animal shelters. I've personally seen the leashes save a dog's life while I was recording a video. On the other hand, I've never seen a leash cause a serious problem for any dog in the three years I've been recording videos. I've never heard of an issue and we've had these playgroups every day for many years.
@@TommyC503 7 dogs were attacking one dog. The handler radioed for help and about 10 dog handlers came rushing into the yard, each one grabbing a leash and carefully separating the dogs. It's important not to pull on a dog that's latched on to another dog because you'll just do more damage. We have an air horn, two water hoses, bite sticks, a break board, and the various bottles and jugs filled with rocks to make distracting noise. But once dogs are latched-on, it usually requires a water hose to separate them. Getting the other dogs away is important because some dogs (often unknown beforehand) are conflict driven and will jump into the fight. Once a latched-on dog releases, it can redirect onto a person if their hand is nearby, so having the leash ready is good. The staff and volunteers are well-trained in dealing with altercations.
Zeus: breaks my heart how he could wards up next to the wall and shakes. That’s the reality of a shelter. Prayers all these dogs get adopted.
Zeus is becoming more social with the other dogs. He was fostered earlier this year, so he's in a home right now.
I hope this message gets to the person who does the videos. I deeply appreciate your films and commentary about helpful hints with the dogs. My dog Chloe (we rescued her almost a year ago) whines until I put your videos on for her to watch. We watch for about an hour and a half each day. I tell everyone about your channel. I wish there was a way to help our local shelter. Thank you so much for what you do! Keep up the great work!!!
@lilymay4993 that's me: video recorder, editor, promoter, former shelter dog walker (for 2 years), creator of individual dog adoption videos and the shelter lobby videos.
It sounds like Chloe gets a lot of benefit from these videos; I'm very happy to hear that! It's such a good thing to rescue dogs instead of getting a puppy mill dog.
Most shelters do allow people to volunteer for various things, you might check with your shelter. It's a good way to meet dog experts and learn all sorts of good info.
Thanks for spreading the word about this RUclips channel! You're helping other dogs gain enrichment.
Not a bad life watching and playing with the dogs
Yes, it's a fun thing to work on.
Except they can't interact with them... 😢
The staff and volunteers do give the dogs personal attention on a daily basis, just not within the playgroup yard. It's actually best for the dogs and improves their chance of adoption/fostering.
It’s fun till they got to go back in 😭 I pray for lots of adoptions!
@@tonyg1024 they need to stop breeders until all dogs find a home. Wish I lived closer I'd take a few
I love them all! But I especially love and relate to the introvert doggos that just hide under the table and sit with your co-worker 😂
It's perfectly understandable why dogs are afraid in the yard. Each dog is carrying around a deadly weapon (their teeth) and "personal space" isn't in their vocabulary. The humans are safe, more caring, and have magical hands that can summon treats, drive cars to go places, and do all sorts of other amazing tricks.
@@DogPlaygroupStoriesओ⁸7
My puppy LOOOVVES this. I might be turning him into an ipad kid the way he is glued to the screen 😂
It's probably good to avoid too much screen time, even with excellent educational channels like Dog Playgroup Stories 😀
I would love to see you guys play with the dogs
I don't know how you can resist
Yeah, it's very difficult to avoid interacting with them. You can see us breaking the rules sometimes. The handlers know which dogs can be trusted to not cause problems, including dogs just being in the yard when it happens.
My puppy just sits and stares at the screen. This video is the only pet video that he does that for. And to be honest, I find myself watching it too!😂
I'm glad you both like it! The other ones are good, too.
🤣🤣👏🏿🤣🤣 when the one dog tries to 1-up "Ovaltine's" lil couch-corner-digg by trying to digg out the lil kiddie-pool... it's like he said "....uh-huh? Well, I'll show you!" Digg-digg
"Damnit! " 😂😂😂 I'm glad yall have this here, keeps my dog 🐕 while I'm gone, but as I 💨 one b4 I go out the door, I caught that lil bit and it had me ROLLING!
Yeah, that was great! The other dog wasn't going to get far digging in the pool. I'm glad these videos help your dog when you're away!
Remember that even the smallest tail wag can brighten someone’s day. Wishing all dog lovers endless joy and laughter 🐾💖😌
Definitely surprised me that warning is true, I played this for my dogs who never really cared about tv screens much. My female dog who has always been wary of strangers was growling and following along. She's never done this with a tv before, couldn't keep the show going because she was getting too concerned and I didn't want her waking up the family and stressing out.
Well, I hope to create a totally different long video that dogs might enjoy watching.
Wow, Ziggy is such a sweetheart! ( She's the girl happily jumping towards the camera operator at 3:50:51 ). It was so cute how she studied the camera in great detail at 3:39:50 😂. I usually don't comment on videos but I hope she's adopted soon ❤... Thank you for the video :)
Yeah, she's a really nice dog! Easy going. The volunteers enjoy working with her. She's still at the shelter but she should get adopted or fostered before long. Thanks for commenting!
Happy dogs 😊😊
I hate that yall can’t interact with them, or pet them. That rule is lame. I see those babies look up at you or stand real close. They’re just looking for some kind of affection or assurance. :(
It's not fun but it's actually a good rule. The dogs do spend time with volunteers on dog walks and enrichment activities, such as when people read books to the dogs. The playgroups are important for dogs to interact with other dogs. It's easier for them to interact with people, but interacting with dogs provides a lot more benefit considering that they spend so much time stuck in their kennels.
Agree...
Just seems like they could still benefit from some love and pets from people... I saw one the other day, the dog was so damn adorable, wagging her little nub, loving on everyone . She got sprayed in the face for being too close to the fence when they brought another dog in. I understand some of it, but just seemed like the poor pup was being punished for being curious. She was in no way acting aggressive. You could tell she was curious and such a sweetheart. That part really bummed me out.
@@lindseymoss4833 The experts know best. I'm sure they didnt come up with that rule so willy nilly
@@DogPlaygroupStoriesIt’s wonderful that dogs are such social animals. So are people, but they get into more social drama than dogs do, lol, so dogs are better at it.
We love this... ❤
Very happy to hear that!
이 강아지처럼 나도 매 순간을 이렇게 행복하게 살고 싶어요! 에너지 넘치는 모습이 귀여워요! 🐶💥💖
네, 정말 행복한 강아지예요
CASA BONITA 🤣
Dexter is so pretty omg
Yes, he is! He's considered a White Australian Cattle Dog. He was adopted not longer after this video was recorded.
I was gonna ask if he was a dogo Argentino. Reminded of my King who had those ears and was a dogo. 🐾🐾
@@DogPlaygroupStories Aww I am happy to hear that 🤗🤗 though I knew it wouldn't be long.
❤
Still watching daily at my house ! I have some of them I can name all the dogs! Stanley down I know when he coming he would jump on all u guys! The husky that 0:00 talks! That is the cutest thing ever!You all are awesome just know I have all my friends turning it on for there dogs too!
This picture is funny I said my dog wants to know the kennel number lol ❤
@@KelleyFlanagan-g1u 😀 I miss Stanley Off, but it's great that he was adopted. The dogs in this picture are Luna and Brennan (who you might recognize from other videos). Luna is currently in an isolation kennel for a possible URI (they get treated well over in isolation). Brennan moved from kennel 83 to 217 to live with Lexii 24petconnect.com/PimaAdoptablePets/Details/PIMA/A825209
Magnus (Brennan's long time kennel mate) moved in with Mack in 211 24petconnect.com/PimaAdoptablePets/Details/PIMA/A624505
@@DogPlaygroupStories I am sorry I had a picture of my dog watching the video and he ets up on tv it looked like he was reading the guys list I wanted you to see photo but didn’t know where to send it
@@KelleyFlanagan-g1u DogPlaygroupStories@gmail.com
so cute
Yes!
Folks, I cannot stress this enough: The Forrest Gump book is SO worth reading! You will sail through it, it's so engaging. And my god the amount of storyline the movie left out is wild. If you can, read it before you rewatch the movie. I promise it's worth it. I'm not even a big reader, can't remember the last book I read in fact, but this one has mass appeal for sure.
Curious as to whats in the bottles and why the gentleman is standing at the table with the bottles
They contain a small amount of rocks to make lots of noise. These are mostly used to de-escalate conflicts between dogs to avoid fights. They're also used when dogs are being brought into the yard and taken out of the yard. The other dogs need to keep that area clear and avoid rushing into the catchpen, which causes all sorts of issues.
@DogPlaygroupStories thank you for your quick response and for everything you guys do for these animals. They all seem so happy!
This is great for shelter animals, but I wish there was a way to have the time to do a little training too.
The volunteers walk the dogs that don't make it to playgroup and they provide whatever attention each dog needs. Playgroups do provide training for dogs who don't have good social skills. Dogs correct bad behavior in other dogs.
this so cute
Thanks!
It’s a awesome idea but is there nothing for them to play with?
And why you can’t interact with them?
Since these are shelter dogs (strays, hoarding cases, etc.) many of them have behavior issues and we might not find out until it's too late. One of those behaviors is resource guarding where dogs fight over toys, food, or attention from a human. That's one reason why we don't interact with the dogs. The other reason is that when we interact with them, they don't interact with each other or it disrupts how they interact with each other. You can even see that happen in some of these videos.
I know this is probably a nit pick, but sometimes, if you're talking about the dogs, it's hard to hear you over the dogs and the other noises. It says the captions are unavailable
Thanks, yeah, I'm actually aware of that. With the voice-overs, I boost the volume and sometimes shift it in time so that the noises don't overlap. But I can't do that with whatever I say during the recording. Back when the videos were about 15 minutes long, I created subtitles, but I can't do it with a 7-hour video. The microphone on the GoPro is facing forward and I'm behind it, so my voice gets dampened.
Is this a no-kill shelter I’m supporting?
The American Humane Society considers a shelter that has over a 90% placement rate for animals in their care to be a no kill shelter. Many of the animals come in with with severe medical issues, so even if you eventually place all of your animals you'll still have a placement rate (live release rate) well below 100%. Pima Animal Care Center is at around 91%, so it's a no kill shelter by that definition. And the philosophy of the shelter and it's people are very much "no kill".
That being said, the shelter is absolutely overrun with dogs right now with over 500 dogs. There are dogs living in shelter offices, living in pens in the lobby, living in special kennels that are meant for other purposes. And dogs keep coming in way too fast. The shelter is having special events/promotions/waiving fees/etc. everything they can do.
With the overcrowding there's a big risk of disease outbreaks and the shelter is currently dealing with potential outbreaks very carefully. The staff and volunteers are doing heroic efforts to avoid dogs being euthanized. Dogs get put on the list and given several days to find a home somewhere and volunteers help try to find some way to place them. Very often rescues accept the dog at the last minute if nothing else is found. If a dog is euthanized, the management of the shelter is very open about it and they don't hide anything. A volunteer or staff member who is friendly with that dog stays with them during the process so they aren't alone.
There are dogs on the list right now because there is simply nowhere left to put or place dogs. The shelter gives these dogs time for volunteers and staff to find them homes. They often give the dogs extensions. It's a race against time, trying to place other dogs to free up space and avoid euthanizing any dogs.
Historically these times are very rare, but the last 2 years have been extremely bad and this time of year is very bad. Shelters everywhere are full, so transfers are very limited.
I've been working with the people at this shelter for 2.5 years and they are extremely compassionate and hard working.
They are so Cute..Are they siblings?
Not sure. Which dogs?
The first two
They came into the shelter together as strays, so no one knows.
If two dogs have identification numbers that are consecutive (or differ only by two), then they probably came in to the shelter together.
Any news on Theo’s medical condition?
He's doing fine. He was fostered for 2 weeks right after this video was recorded. Here are some of the notes:
What words and qualities best describe your foster? (friendly, reserved, cuddly, etc):
Friendly, amazing, cuddly, sweet, kind, playful, adventurous, amazing, the best dog ever.
Any additional information you'd like to share with us:
He’s the best boy ever, the minute someone finds him and chooses him they will love him forever. He is amazing!!!!!
(horrible at names) the one that got separated from the group and was barking their heads off, thats me lol I'm part of the group, but not really
That's fairly common/normal for a dog that's sent over to the side yard to be upset about it, wanting to re-join the dog pack.
If a may add a Suggestion if you could edit calming music. 😅😊
In the earlier videos I added music to parts of the video, but then decided to stop doing it. If I had long sections with no activity at all, I'd consider adding it.
@DogPlaygroupStories well I'll see find them and give them watch time because this is a good idea for helping at the shelter. And the pups
1:10:15 “do you feel Bonita?”
I'm glad someone caught that. 😆
There's a dog crying in the background the whole time. He is sick? Isolated? It's so sad :(
A lot of dogs in the shelter have a difficult time overall. The shelter is noisy and frightening with so many dogs that are agitated (despite all the efforts of the staff and volunteers). Dogs that are unhappy in the playgroup tend to be unhappy in their kennel. The staff will try to move them to a quieter kennel, but with the extreme overcrowding we have, there's not much we can do. Even frightened dogs usually benefit from the playgroups as they get more accustomed to being around other dogs. We certainly try the best we can.
Theodore wants to leave 😢
We try to get the dogs out when they want to leave, but there are often multiple things keeping that from happening. If they have a kennel-mate, both dogs need to leave together so we need two playgroup runners. Sometimes other dogs are higher priority at that time.
Why are yall spraying them with water?
It's to let them know they're not supposed to be doing something. Ideally the handler should say the word such as "out" and then spray in front of them. If the continue doing it, then they spray the dog's feet. If they still continue, then they spray the dog's back, and eventually face. The shake cans are more for all dogs in the area (or if the spray isn't working on one dog). It closely resembles how the dogs themselves interact, using increasing levels of escalation. Ideally the dogs would learn the keyword meaning and not have to be sprayed eventually. The problem is that the dogs learn that they can get away with bad behavior and the rules are not strictly enforced, so they ignore the spray bottle and consider it just the price of being in the play yard. That's not always the case, but sometimes you'll see that happen.
i am one of the few
My dog is eating my ipad help-
Sorry about that! Most people have their dog watch it on TV.
@dogPlaygroupStories dont worry, my dog is a puppy, he is 3 months old.
obviously the black dog does not like being chased.
One of the major things about playgroups is that it's intended to get dogs to correct other dogs, and for the corrected dogs to respect those corrections. So we avoid rushing in to stop a dog that's misbehaving and the other dog doesn't like it (consent is really what it's all about) because we want the annoyed dog to appropriately correct the behavior. Sometimes dogs will over-correct and we handle those situations when they arise.
Emotionally intelligent people would remove the leashes knowing that if those leashes get stepped on or hung up on something while those dogs are running, it will wrench the dogs neck, or worse break it. I’m Sure you have a reason why, but I wouldn’t let my dog stay there just because of that.
These are animal shelter dogs: strays, abuse cases, neglect cases, hoarding cases. Many of them have behavior issues that don't show up right away, often only after they're in the playgroup. Some dogs are conflict driven and will jump into a fight among dogs. It's possible to have several dogs attacking one dog with very little warning. In those cases many dog handlers will rush to the yard and help separate the dogs using the leashes. If you put your hands near a dog's mouth while they're extremely frightened and agitated, you risk getting seriously bitten. Not only does this hurt a lot, but it makes the dog much less adoptable when it gets a bite record.
This shelter has worked with many thousands of dogs in these playgroups and there haven't been any issues of dogs being harmed by the leashes. On the other hand....
There's a saying in heavy industrial workplaces that the safety rules are written in blood. The dogs wear leashes based on experience, not someone's feelings. The group that pioneered shelter dog playgroups, Dogs Playing for Life, discovered the importance of drag lines (leashes) with shelter dogs in playgroups, along with many other procedures... again, based on experience with thousands of shelter dogs. They've rolled out playgroups to over 400 different shelters and rescues with fantastic results. Dogs are happier, more sociable, more adoptable, and their lives are greatly improved by these playgroups.
Based on my own experience recording these playgroups for the past 2.5 years, I would NOT want to take the leashes off the dogs, except for dogs that meet very specific behavior criteria. Given that we have around 500 dogs in the shelter and dogs are adopted every day and brought to the shelter every day, we don't know which dogs *clearly* meet those criteria. I do advocate for taking the leashes off any 3-legged dogs.
Note that I'm a volunteer and not a staff member. I don't speak for the shelter itself.
@@DogPlaygroupStories thank you for your service, I love dogs and support animal shelters. Thank you also for your explanation.
@@rosieh6933 sure thing! It's really inspiring the work that the staff and volunteers do to help the roughly 18,000 animals that find themselves in the shelter every year.
@@DogPlaygroupStories really nice shelter and I am enjoying watching with my ladybug.
@@rosieh6933 Awesome! I hope your ladybug enjoys these video.
im so skibdi
Skibdi toilet!
I would be fired. Theres no way I couldn't at least show some affection. Especially to the ones on the "euth" list. How do you ignore them knowing they'll be put the sleep the next day... Who cares about the rules at that point? So gut wrenching they get euthanized just because they exist :(
I don't think any dogs in these videos were ever euthanized the day after being in a video, or even within a week or so. We have a very high live release rate compared to other shelters. It's never 100% because dogs get brought in with severe medical issues. Right now we're experiencing extreme overcrowding and one dog from a recent video, Ovaltine, is on the list. The staff and volunteers are doing everything they can to get Ovaltine adopted/fostered/rescued. I made the best adoption video I could from the footage I have.
It's definitely not easy dealing with a lot of the highly emotional aspects within a shelter.
As far as petting the dogs goes, I was walking dogs about 12 hours a week for the first 2 years and spent a lot of time with individual dogs and giving them personal attention. Right now I'm not an official dog handler so I'm not supposed to interact with the dogs and I'm very cautious in the play yard.
Please take the leashes off.
The dogs wear leashes (drag lines) for their own safety based on experience with many thousands of animal shelter dogs and across many animal shelters. I've personally seen the leashes save a dog's life while I was recording a video. On the other hand, I've never seen a leash cause a serious problem for any dog in the three years I've been recording videos. I've never heard of an issue and we've had these playgroups every day for many years.
@@DogPlaygroupStories just curious, how does it save a dogs life?
@@TommyC503 7 dogs were attacking one dog. The handler radioed for help and about 10 dog handlers came rushing into the yard, each one grabbing a leash and carefully separating the dogs. It's important not to pull on a dog that's latched on to another dog because you'll just do more damage. We have an air horn, two water hoses, bite sticks, a break board, and the various bottles and jugs filled with rocks to make distracting noise. But once dogs are latched-on, it usually requires a water hose to separate them. Getting the other dogs away is important because some dogs (often unknown beforehand) are conflict driven and will jump into the fight. Once a latched-on dog releases, it can redirect onto a person if their hand is nearby, so having the leash ready is good.
The staff and volunteers are well-trained in dealing with altercations.