Victoria's Epic Battle to Save 60 Dogs in Collapsing Shelter! | Full Episode | It's Me or The Dog

trying to make a difference but in over their heads wow staffers stretch to the Limit what's the trainer doing cleaning out kennels and adoptions have hit rock bottom we've been at the shelter for eight years for eight years with time running out they'll probably have to euthanize about 50 dogs today just did that shelter yeah survival will take a massive effort good girl go some tough love you you're doing enough to make the shelter successful and an extraordinary surprise there's also one more thing [Music] that will leave everyone speechless [Applause] expert dog trainer Victoria Stillwell has a passion for improving the lives of dogs all across America and today she's making a special trip to a no-kill rescue shelter there are millions of dogs languishing in shelters all across America while these temporary homes can provide a second chance to many dogs shelter life is highly stressful and stress affects dogs Behavior when a dog spends a prolonged period in the shelter its chances of being rehomed become much smaller and a shelter that isn't adopting out dogs quickly enough May soon find itself in big trouble Atlanta is definitely in a situation where we're struggling the first impression someone's going to have when they come to pause Atlanta they may see it as a little bit disorganized no I'm sorry if they come here and it looks messy it's unkempt the dogs are noisy and they come in and it's a it's a crazy State of Affairs they aren't going to stay long they're going to look at one or two dogs and then split is is a challenge day to day of just trying to run the place we look more like a refugees Camp than we do at Animal Shelter but it's just the lack of the money and the lack of the time you can't get anything done some of the dogs look kind of sad uh kind of depressed and some of them look like I can't wait to get out of here our adoptions right now are down we're not getting as many dogs adopted here as we would like to pause Atlanta definitely could use help before she can help the shelter and its dogs Victoria needs to make a closer inspection hello hello Victoria thank you very much coming back to pause Atlanta hey pleasure to meet you we really need your help how many dogs do you get in here I mean how we we currently have about 60. but On Any Given business day we'll get between 30 to 50 people who approach us with dogs and oftentimes the answer is no just because of our space here 30 to 50. 30 to 50 per day per day yeah maybe we'll do three adoption today maybe so 30 to 50 people wanting to surrender their animals but three Productions a day okay when I first met Trey I saw how stressed he was Trey told me that on a good day they only adopt out a few animals and there are some days where they don't adopt out any at all and that tells me right away that this shelter is in bad shape so here are the outside runs some of the dogs have these coverings some of the dogs have the older coverings there's tents my first impression of seeing the outdoor runs was this place is falling apart some of the kennel runs barely had roofs over them so what why isn't there any information on on cages like this like who's who is this dog only because of the tape on the cage I know that's Zephyr so if an adopter comes here they're going to have absolutely no idea about they'll have no idea one thing I really did notice is that there are very few kennel cards on the kennels you have no idea who the dog is where they've come from what their behaviors are nothing ah hey Bob hi Victoria this is Phillip hi nice to meet you nice to meet you Phillip is the shelter manager yes I am the shelter manager here how many volunteers do you have here we have about 3 200 in our database but 200 but when when you say 3200 you think oh God you got enough help you should be able to you know make this place excellent all the time but with me not being able to dedicate my life to the volunteers right now I can't convey to them exactly what we need okay volunteers are vital to the successful running of a shelter why are those volunteers not being utilized all right I'm getting a better picture thank you thank you let's do some more dogs up here as a no-kill shelter Paws never euthanizes healthy animals that means they're committed to a dog's care until it finds a home which can take a long time hey girls so this is Betty and Barbara okay okay these are the two dogs that were sanctuaried uh about two years ago when a dog has been deemed a sanctuary dog it means that they're going to live the rest of their lives in the shelter and some dogs have lived at the shelter so long that they're really at the point of no return they cannot live anywhere else so the longer that you can't adopt a dog out the less dogs you take in and then the more dogs elsewhere that could have come in here are going to be euthanized because of the lifers that are here correct yes I know that today is is the kill day for the local shelter and on average they'll probably have to euthanize about 50 dogs today [Music] yeah yeah and that's uh it's a tough frustrating thing to get your head around pause doesn't have the resources to be a sanctuary they have to adopt dogs out so that can make room for other dogs to come in that would otherwise be euthanized it's a vicious cycle and it's really heartbreaking hello hi having toured the outdoor facilities with Trey Victoria heads inside to meet the office staff tell me what it's like working on the front desk here it can be really really frustrating we don't have the budget we don't have the facility we don't have the room you know that larger places do it never gets any easier dealing with the amount of phone call s and the sad animals that we hear about all day could I see the rest of your facility because they're seen outside I'd like to see inside absolutely come right through this door thank you JD hey this is Victoria this is daily my full-time trainer trainer what's a trainer doing cleaning out kennels uh we're really short staffed right now so we're all kind of having to fill in do you get any time to train dogs not right now all of these dogs are coming have been abandoned by their own and because of the amount of stress it's even more important that training be done in this kind of environment to help the dogs cope but JD just doesn't have time so to tell me about these this guy right here is Sinatra he's been with us about seven months um normally a cute little guy is a little unusual with the blue eyes should have flown out of here we actually do have someone who really wants him really um has absolutely fallen in love with him took him home for a couple of days um and he chased her cats around Sinatra is a typical example of why JD's job as a trainer is so important with just a little bit of training each day Sinatra could find a home no problem another long-term resident in desperate need of training is two-year-old mixed breed Georgia she's been at the shelter for four months thank Georgia why is she sort of kept separate like this well as you can see she's very friendly with people she doesn't quite feel the same way about other dogs so Victoria has a staff member bring a dog by so she can see George's reaction Georgia reacted acted as the dog walk poster a lot of dogs do get very kennel or cage aggressive because they're cooped up they're in a confined space lack of space and stress of shelter life affects some dogs worse than others this is Lenny this is the dog with the obsessive Behavior [Music] there are a lot of examples of stressed out dogs here um case in point a dog called Lenny all right let's go when we go that is a beautiful dog with a great personality but is stressed to the point where he's now got a compulsive disorder where he keeps chasing and biting his tail to the point where it is bleeding what have you tried to do to stop him um we have him on some calming medication right he's one of our troubled boys when dogs are stressed out they can develop certain stressed behaviors such as pacing whining barking chewing and in some cases self-mutilation come on then mister good boy now that she's seen some of the dog's individual problems Victoria takes a look at a room JD is supposed to be using to acclimate dogs to a home environment dogs that are in the shelter for a long time forget what it's like to be in a domestic situation so having a simulated domestic environment is really really important because it makes the transition much much easier from shelter to a home the dog knows how to behave so this used to be what we would call the hololich as you can see we had some furniture in here and we just kind of come and sit with the dogs unfortunately it has gone to storage this this is great space and I think it's vitally important that you give the dog some home time yeah they have a wonderful resource with this room but they're not using it just like they're not using JD as a trainer just like they're not using the thousands of volunteers that they have on their list and if they don't get their act together this shelter and the dogs are going to be in real trouble coming up the staff hears the painful truth you're not doing enough to make the shelter successful Lenny faces a brand new fear this just breaks my heart Victoria Stillwell has discovered a desperate State of Affairs at the Paws Atlanta Rescue Shelter now she needs to sit down with the core staff for crisis talks right now pause is averaging 45 adoptions a month but there are shelters this size that are doing three times that number there is no way that Paul's is doing everything they can and I'm gonna tell them why I want to applaud you for the work that you do here because I know it's not easy but you're not doing enough to make the shelter successful you need to have more adoptions there's no doubt about that I've been looking at similar nokial shelters that are similar size to you and it's some of them do at least 250 adoptions a month 250 204 shelter that houses about a hundred two and the turnover is rapid rapid well that brings me to my next point I'm walking past those cages those kennel runs and I'm looking at these tiny little cards when they're on the cages because most of them don't have cards so you have no idea what that dog is you don't know how old it is you don't know where it came from you don't know maybe any behavior problems that it has or what it's good points you don't know should this be a family dog because it's not on a kennel card where are your Kettle cards the reason why I've gathered you in this room is because I think it symbolizes perfectly what this shelter's all about because look around you disorganized dysfunction messiness space that could be used but is not everything's falling down get this stuff out of here JD you're cleaning a kennel but you're the trainer trainers are vitally important you can help these animals cope with the stress of shelter life you can take that difficult dog like Georgia it's four months that she's been here she could be out of here by now if JD had the time to work with her You Phillip you're supposed to be the manager you're supposed to be the volunteer coordinator but you're spending all your time maintaining the place you've got over 3 000 volunteers on your books where are they there are some dogs in the shelter that really concern me not just Georgia but there's Sinatra there's Lenny Lenny so stressed out so boarding on stimulated is now chasing his tail and biting it until it bleeds so what can we improve with the resources that we have how can we make it better the only thing that these animals have done wrong in their lives is to be born so you are their champions I'm going to make the shelter a much more efficient running more successful place than it is being now okay let's do it let's do it Victoria was pretty blunt with us it was kind of harsh to hear that we've still got such a long way to go because we know we have come so far everybody needs to have a fire letter sometimes everybody gets into a rut and you need a fresh look from the outside to actually understand what you need to be focusing more on Victoria's first change is to ensure potential adopters get clear information on the dogs I want people to come round here and read about the dog that they're looking at okay and I want them to have a little bit of information about where this animal is found okay and then a few behavioral things you know what does this animal like doing what does Sinatra like doing maybe Sinatra is not great with cats you know some information you know that really makes a dog come alive so a person doesn't just see a sad face on the other side of this fence a person can really Envision this dog in their home yeah it's really celebrating the dogs that you have here and it's got to be as big as this beautiful all right compared to that okay do you like that all right the cage cars is great because it's big and bold and it's right there and you can't miss it I really want Heather to embrace the new kennel cards it might seem a small thing but it's going to go a long way to getting adoptions with their new kennel cards in place Victoria wants to put the shelter's simulated home environment to its proper use we're going to create the home away from home we are going to make that what it was originally made for reinstating this room is going to be so important for these dogs because it's going to make that transition from shelter to home life just a little bit easier grab anything I can feel a garage sale coming on let's start bringing the stuff in it's amazing what you can do with a lot of people in a very quick amount of time we've turned that room from a junk room into a domestic environment so that dogs can be bought up here and they can get the idea of what it's like to be in a home now that the room is complete Victoria wants to see how Lenny who was abandoned at Paws four months ago will react he is showing signs of stress and I don't know whether he's ever been in a home before [Music] oh it's okay see this happens so much when Lenny first came in he was terrified what do you think about them what do you think about that they just so freaked out come from the shelter environment that they know now and you bring them into this room and they're like oh my gosh it's amazing to see a dog with just everyday items in a house you know be so scared of them breaks my smile it was so obvious by Lenny's reaction to just being in a simple room that he'd never been in a home very scared over there isn't he good good boy Looney it will be so good if you could bring Lenny into this room every day 10 minutes 15 minutes just so that he has experience and he's comfortable and that is going to make the transition into a home so much easier for him he'll be he's much more relaxed now he's a good boy as the trainer here JD you've got to make sure that this room doesn't go to storage again I'll make sure it doesn't happen again yeah you take you you're taking charge now seeing how Lenny reacted in the room makes me want to make sure that we use that room every day and make sure there's many dogs get in there every day as possible coming up Victoria revolutionizes the training program at Foss good girl good good and later there's also one the staff gets the surprise of their lives [Music] Victoria Stillwell's shelter rescue is underway we're going to take initiative let's do it let's do it just like all animal shelters resources at paws are tight so Victoria has identified a key group of people to assist volunteers okay everybody this is Tara JD and Phillip when I walked to defense there and seen all the people gather around it kind of shocked me a little bit I'm thinking to myself why are all these people back here it's it took me less than an hour to drum up if I can do that in an hour you can do that very easily pause has never called me and it'd be great if they did we had definitely come down and volunteer more often I want you to see that there are people who are passionate about dogs if you reach out to them they're going to come to you because there hasn't been a lot of reaching out bingo okay two people go with Philip okay and the rest of you guys stay with me JD if you can get Lenny the first group of Vault heads off to assist Philip with the tear of the animals always go by this board so they'll tell you the the type of food that the dog gets on I love coming out helping do anything I can to help get the dogs adopted meanwhile JD teaches the second group to take over some of the more basic training Shake yes good boy I couldn't believe how quickly he caught on he's just such a cute dog I hope that we would be able to work with him so he can get his home with the volunteers happy to continue basic obedience training Victoria focuses in on a few dogs with more severe problems starting with Georgia when I first came to the kennel I saw that Georgia was very reactive inside her kennel when a dog was walked by but I want to see now what she's like when she's outside of her kennel and not confined Victoria's asked another member of the staff to bring in a non-reactive dog so here bear is a big dog so that's quite threatening go she looks I treat good nice I want her to be able to see the other dog good girl every time Georgia looked at bear and didn't react that positive behavior was recognized and she was treated then Victoria raises the sticks having bear walk by as JD takes over my girl yes good girl Georgia good job the fact that she has the ability to be close to another dog and not react is immediately going to make her more adoptable I wanted Jordan to have the opportunity to greet there but greeting from behind which is much less confrontational and only for a little bit so she didn't have any time to react now let us sniff okay now take her off in the other direction good girl good good nice it's really important to follow the non-bitey end to begin with much less threatening for your dog I think it went really well Georgia was pretty non-reactive to Bear they just gives me hope and makes me think you know just getting the dogs a little bit of work here will make them much more adoptable with Georgia hopefully on the right track Victoria turns her attention to Sinatra whose impulsive behavior has kept him from being adopted in the past dogs like Sinatra get adopted very quickly from shelters JD has told me that there's a potential a doctor who's interested in having him but he chases her cats so this is something that I want to work on so I'm going to teach him the leave it command the leave it command is a really good cue to use when you want a dog to leave something and that can really apply to the cats so I'm waiting for Sinatra to take his face away before I give him the treat how's he going to get this treat out of my hand [Music] good boy now what I'm doing is not giving him the thing that he leaves through my right hand he's going to get it for my left because ultimately you don't want the dog to have the thing that he leaves leave it good boy I'm gonna put it on the ground make it a little harder for him leave it uh-uh leave it good boy beautiful wow that's difficult for a terrier isn't it Sinatra was able to listen to the leave it command and he was able to control his impulses and that's a really good sign I would like to see if there was any way that we could have a very chilled out cat that is used to dogs and see what his reaction is yeah I think we could try it so JD brings in one of the cats living at the shelter to serve as the ultimate temptation leave it good good boy but the very fact that he looked at him and then he made the decision to look away it was really good student Sinatra saw the cat he was very interested but I gave him the leave it command and he held himself back and that was a huge Improvement good boy good job coming up I've just got one more thing for you Victoria's Secret plans are finally revealed [Music] [Applause] Victoria Stillwell has been working to revitalize the Paws Animal Rescue Center now she wants to return her Focus to Lenny who's been struggling with the stress of shelter life for over four months people don't like to see a crazy animal people like to see an animal that has already learned some sort of inhibition in their behavior and so I just want to teach just a simple weight teaching Lenny impulse control will not only increase his adoptability or stimulate him mentally and when a dog is stimulated mentally he's tired out therefore there's less chance of him focusing on bad behaviors such as chasing his tail good boy good boy I love that because there he was try to jump to get the food from me and uh he wasn't getting anything and then he went okay I guess I sit don't I and then he got it and he did good boy just a moment of Stillness good boy once Lenny learns the behavior Victoria attaches the command to the action wait thank you good come here wait good boy good boy good boy now Victoria wants JD to apply the command during a walk wait good boy lovely attention building up a language of communication with all the dogs is going to be easily translated to the adopters of these dogs I really hope that JD can see this see how effective it is and then really do everything she can to keep up with the training with her new training program in place Victoria has one last Revelation for the staff I really feel like I've given the staff here at Paul's a lot of things they need to do to help the shelter run effectively but there's one thing that I haven't addressed that this place needs desperately I've just got one more thing for you Lowe's is donating a quarter of a million dollars in labor and materials to your shelter [Music] [Applause] dog runs help you with the inside making that better for the dogs they're going to build additional structures for you for storage they're going to landscape the whole property they're donating a hundred igloos oh wow you are going to have everything and anything you want [Applause] I'm so excited I never thought this kind of thing would happen to our Sweet Little Shelter these are those Heroes and the Lowe's heroes are over three to four days gonna change this place around with over 140 volunteers nice we want to help and and we think we can do some great things we love Paws and we're looking forward to uh to making a great transformation of this facility so much because of you small dogs lives are going to be saved their time at the shelter is going to be so much better and these amazing people aren't going to be overstretched and overwhelmed like they have been so thank you so much thanks guys having lows come to the shelter and redo so much of it is going to help the dogs and the staff immeasurably and there's also one more thing we're going to do a major adoption Fair we're going to invite people in to tour the new property and we're going to sell all the stuff that we've got in storage and you're going to be able to make some money and adopt some dogs out you have a foundation here and all we're going to do is build on it the adoption fair is going to Mark a new era at pause [Music] I don't even really have the words to express how I'm feeling right now this is the best thing that ever could have happened to this organization and it's really going to bring new life to the shelter and everybody that works here and you know to our community coming up renovation gets underway wow amazing and later Victoria gets a glimpse of the extraordinary transformation oh my gosh look Victoria Stillwell has revealed a huge surprise to the staff at the Paws Rescue Shelter a massive quarter of a million dollar makeover is about to begin Paul's Atlanta really thanked you you guys are really helping to make it the new shelter that it's going to be you are absolutely awesome great job thank you so much before they can build up it's time to tear down [Applause] [Music] is it crazy so much stuff going on [Music] wow wow that is amazing look at that hello this is unbelievable to see all of these volunteers here making such fast progress so quickly it's more than I even dreamed of it's all coming down by the end of the day the in the entire outdoor kennel area has been raised and the next morning reconstruction can begin foreign with the professionals handling construction Philip can focus on the volunteer program hey Pat how are you doing today knowing now that all of my maintenance list of literally 120 things that I had to do has gone down to zero it's going to let me spend more time with the volunteers and then get these Volunteers in here to to help us get more dogs adopted outside the new kennels are already taking shape shelter might have closed for renovation but JD and the rest of the staff are still hard at work yes today JD's working with Sinatra in the hopes that he can soon graduate to training in a real home leave it yes good boy I've been working a lot with Sinatra working the leave it command with him I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get Sinatra adopted yes good job Sinatra good boy that's good work Buddy Sinatra is not the only one showing progress the Landscaping phase of the renovation has begun [Music] that afternoon Victoria and JD are taking Sinatra on an important visit we actually do have someone who really wants him oh really and he chased her cats around his previous adopter wants to take him in again but only if she's reassured her cats will be safe hi Gail hi everything good good to see you it would mean the world to me to have Sinatra but unfortunately it didn't work out with my cats so I had to take him back to the shelter if you could go and get your cat Okay and just hold the cat there hopefully it won't be too freaked out JD will only allow Sinatra to stay with Gail if he can control his impulses Sinatra Sinatra leave it good boy good job he still needs practice but JD's training is proving effective what is nice about this is that now he's on a totally relaxed leash so even though he's still leashed it's not your pressure that's keeping him back he's actually deciding for himself to sit there he was able to refocus he was able to listen to the leave it command and he was able to self-inhibit his behavior if that continues then I hope there's going to be a positive outcome I would suggest that you do more this with JD being here and helping you and I think with your dedication I think and hopefully fingers crossed it could be a future for all animals to exist in this house I'm not disappointed that it's going to take a little while for Sinatra to get used to the cats it's just the Natural Instinct of the dog coming up time has run out for the pause makeover what will Victoria think of the transformation oh my gosh [Music] Toria is about to get her first look at the new and improved shelter hey Victoria welcome back how are ya do you recognize the place no I do not and this is just the front and this is just the front yeah but when we do the vaccination clinics when it gets hot they've got sheltered they got fans under there state of the art outdoor fan yeah they got fans check it out so I want to see everything I've been so excited to come back and just to see how it's all been going first stop on the tour is the brand new outdoor Kennels these are our new runs they're all double fence now such a great idea and they've got proper roofs on so you're not going to have to do maintenance that is fantastic all right show me more I want to see it all it looks amazing the next stop is the park-like waiting area where the dogs and the doctors can get to know each other so adopters will come through there yes come out the back door and they see this yes so instead of just seeing run down cruddy stuff they're going to come out and it's a beautiful Park and it looks great I would be impressed if I was an adopter coming here to adopt a dog I'm impressed even more impressive is the throng of people waiting to get inside to see the new shelter for themselves welcome to the adoption Fair in you go [Music] shelter is busier than ever and the Public's response is extraordinary this was definitely one of the most friendly shelters here in the area in that they were asking questions making sure we felt comfortable making sure we got time with the dog instead of just looking at the dog behind the gate and when someone expresses interest in Georgia JD is there to guide her through the process she is quite reactive around other dogs okay but we've been working with her and getting her used to being a round dog so she's been a little bit less reactive okay there is somebody interested in Georgia seriously interested in Georgia and JD has gone through all of George's difficulties it's gone through the kind of training that Georgia is having and it's looking very very good so fingers crossed Sinatra's potential adopter has also come along to the fair she wants to update Victoria on the process with the training I've been working with him with my cats and they just lost interest in the cat so it's the dean Norman I'm so glad so don't chase cats and then you'll be fine so I do have this decision made that I would like to share with you guys Sinatra is officially off the adoption list that's good JD's put a lot of work into Sinatra so has Gail so have I but Gail and JD have worked especially hard so that this adoption is successful I'm so glad for you thank you JD for for the work that you've done because I think without that I don't think this would be possible I'm indebted to to JD and part of Atlanta oh yes you're not yeah it has been my privilege I mean to get to do this good luck thank you for adopting so this looks really good today has been nuts it's been crazy it's been wild it's been fantastic everybody's been really excited and we haven't seen so many adoptions going on at one time and I don't think ever meanwhile a decision looms over Georgia's future so what do you think about Georgia I love her I think she's definitely the dog for me oh she's such a sweetheart Georgia for me was the best adoption of the day you know she's been here way too long and you know she's such a sweet dog I won't have to worry about her you know spending another night in the kennel I've witnessed a number of adoptions already I mean it's just so good and I see everybody smiling The Joy on the faces of people who are adopting these animals just speaks for itself tell me Tara how well have we done today so far 12 adoptions yes so it's been a huge success fantastic I can't remember the last time I've ever had you know over a dozen adoptions in one day and there were good quality adoptions too I mean these These dogs went to real good owners I'm going to leave you now Arts but now you have everything else to make it much easier for you your whole facility is much better your dogs are happier and there are going to be more adoptions so you're going to be able to rescue and save more dogs and that is what this shelter is all about absolutely bye-bye when I first came here I saw a depressed shelter a depressed staff dogs that weren't getting adopted dogs that had been here for a long long time with behavioral problems but now with all the work that's been put in the shelter is functioning beautifully the facility looks incredible the staff are happy and dogs are getting adopted and I couldn't have asked for anything better foreign [Music] to build upon their strong Foundation this is going to give you a free get established visit with your veterinarian within seven days in the past few weeks they've nearly doubled their volunteer participation any questions you can see our Trail donations are up 12 and most important adoptions have increased by a third Victoria really helped pause Atlanta become one of those those animal shelters that can save more dogs now that everything is clicking the staff knows exactly what they should be doing the the shelter is magnificent with all the improvements uh it's great it really it saved the shelter JD is now able to spend more of her time training and even following up with some of performance duties yes good boy so nacho is adjusting very well with the cats Georgia has grown accustomed to life outside the shelter and she's had no problems interacting with dogs in her new neighborhood oh look at you and I'm thrilled to report that just last week Lenny finally found himself the home that he deserves I'm really excited about bringing Lenny home and making him a part of the family already he seems to be a very loving thanks for watching if you love it's me or the dog and want more dog training tips and tricks visit my official site positively.com and if you're interested in learning more about becoming a dog trainer check out the Victoria Stillwell Academy links to both sites are in the 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Channel: It's Me or the Dog

Views: 186,984

Keywords: It's Me Or The Dog, It's me or the dog victoria stilwell, it's me or the dog tv show, it's me or the dog watch online, victoria stilwell dog training, it's me or the dog animal planet, victoria stilwell, me or the dog, me or the dog usa, dog training, puppy training

Id: 69nJznTh2c8

Length: 41min 2sec (2462 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 10 2023