I just don’t have any words left in me… So I will cut and paste.

(Original post about India’s situation)

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 1:34 PM
To: Animal Welfare League
Subject: Checking on India

I am writing to check on how India, the brown rotti/shar pei mix is
doing. I know she gets nervous in new places. Let me know if it is
better for me to call and check on her.

We surrendered her on Saturday after years of her fighting with her
“sister” got to an unsafe point. We love her very much and are hoping
the League will be able to give her the second chance she deserves.
Because she has done well in dog daycare, I am hoping she will pass
her temperament test and be suitable for adoption. We felt we did not
have the training or resources to properly and safely place her in a
new home – especially with my recent medical problems.

If there is anything I can do to help in her evaluation, care or
placement, please let me know. I am willing to do whatever will help
– we just could not keep her in the same house as our other dog any
longer.

Thank you so much,

Stephanie Segall

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From: Animal Welfare League
Sent: November 29, 2006 10:37:23 AM EST
To: Stephanie Segall
Subject: RE: Checking on India

India is doing fine. She is shy in the kennels but she is adjusting and
getting better. We hope to do her behavior evaluation in the next few days.

– AWLA

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 11:52 AM
To: Animal Welfare League
Subject: Re: Checking on India

Thank you so much for the update. I miss her so much. I will check in
again to see how her evaluation goes.

I have her favorite bed and toys still. Is this something I could
drop off for her. I understand that I probably couldn’t visit her –
it would be confusing for her. But, I wasn’t sure if she could have
the rest of her belongings.

Every year that we have a holiday party, we ask that people bring
donations for a dog rescue or shelter, because we are huge animal
lovers. This year, I’d like to collect for AWLA. Is there anything
specifically you need right now? Otherwise, I will just go by the
wishlist posted on your donation webpage.

Thank you,

Stephanie Segall

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From: Animal Welfare League
Sent: November 30, 2006 8:36:55 AM EST
To: Stephanie Segall
Subject: Re: Checking on India

Stephanie,
We would gladly accept India’s toys and bed. We may not be able to keep
them all in her cage, this will depend on exactly what the items are.

As for the party to collect donations, take a look at our website to get our
most current wishlist. You can see it here:

Click to access wishlist.pdf

Thank you!

-AWLA

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 1:23 PM
To: Animal Welfare League
Subject: Checking on India’s Evaluation

Hi,

I am checking to see how India did with her evaluation.

Thanks so much,

Stephanie Segall

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: December 8, 2006 3:20:03 PM EST
To: Animal Welfare League
Subject: RE: Checking on India’s Evaluation

India is available for adoption. You can read about her on our web site here.

AWLA

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 01:41 PM
To: XXXX, Animal Welfare League
Subject: Re: India’s vet records

I’m glad the vet records finally made it to you.

How is India doing? I noticed that she isn’t on the adoption listings anymore. I have a gift to deliver for her if she doesn’t get adopted before Christmas.

Thanks,

Stephanie

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 08:37 PM
To: XXXX, Animal Welfare League
Subject: Re: India’s vet records

Hi Stephanie,

We have taken India off view to re-evaluate her behavior. When I had her at the vet the other day she had a very aggressive reaction to another dog in the vet office, she was lunging and barking at a very old, docile dog that passed by us in the lobby. She has been also exhibiting more aggressive behavior to the other dogs in the kennels. Considering her history of aggression as well as the displays we see here, we are going to re-assess and try to work on her behavior around other dogs. We will need to see improvement in this behavior before we make any decision to place her back up for adoption. I know this is probably not the best news, but I am sure you understand that we need to make sure that her behavior is safe.
Please feel free to follow up with me if you would like to discuss this or if you have additional questions.

Sincerely,
XXXX

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 2:11 PM
To: XXXX, Animal Welfare League
Subject: Re: India

I hope you had a good holiday. I am sorry to not write back sooner. Now that it has been a week, I am almost scared to find out if her behavior is getting worse.

I was very sad to read about her aggression. Do you think it could be stress-related? Please let me know if there is anything we can do.

How is her elbow? (They had found a lump on her elbow and took her to the vet for it.)

Stephanie.

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I received a voicemail from XXXX on Wednesday evening. She said that her email would be too long and asked that I call her back. I was trying to work up the nerve, but I knew that the news couldn’t be good.

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: December 29, 2006 3:12:36 PM EST
To: XXXX, Animal Welfare League
Subject: Re: India

Dear Stephanie,

I left you a message the other day, since I hadn’t heard back I thought maybe you prefer email. Unfortunately, I do not have good news for you. India’s behavior was steadily getting worse, even with several training sessions her aggressive behavior towards dogs did not improve. Not only would she show aggression in her kennel towards neighboring dogs, but she would also show it in walking through our front office if there was another dog there, or out on a walk if she passed by another dog – it would be difficult for our dogwalkers to exercise her, as well as the vet office which I told you about previously.

So, we decided to take her off view to further evaluate what we were seeing. Our adoptions staff worked w/ her on 4 separate occasions over a little over a week’s time. During all of these sessions, India showed aggression to other dogs w/ the last one being most severe. These training sessions were designed to improve her tolerance & desensitize her to the presence of other dogs, things that would have to happen to make her adoptable. During these sessions we also got to gauge the level of aggression, unfortunately her tolerance was low and her aggression was high. She would bare teeth, growl, bark, lunge, and pull all her weight forward to get at other dogs, even with a significant distance in between them. We tested her with males and females with varying degrees of dominance. If she was not close enough (meaning within about 10 feet), she fixated on other dogs, stared at the other dog, her eyes did not stop tracking, the handler could not divert attention w/ food, even if the other dog was not paying attention.

Her behavior was not safe here to have around the other animals coming in and out of the kennels, in the front office, out for a walk, or at the vet- all places she would come into contact with another dog. Nor would it be safe to place in a home environment. Even without other dogs, adopters would have to walk her which means walking past other dogs. India could not even walk by another dog without lunging, growling and baring her teeth. It was actually very scary to see this behavior, as I’m sure you know. She was great with people and definitely had “happy tail,” but that is not the only factor in making the decision to place a dog.

Due to this behavior, we made the difficult decision to put India down. I know that this will be difficult for you and I wish I could tell you different. If you want to talk to me, please feel free to call me as I’m not sure I covered everything clearly enough in this email. I am very sorry for your loss, but I understand the decision that you made to bring her to us, I hope you understand the decision that we made.

Sincerely,
XXXX
Adoptions Manager

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From: Stephanie Segall
Sent: December 29, 2006 4:08:19 PM EST
To: XXXX, Animal Welfare League
Subject: Re: India

I appreciate you taking the time to write this email – I was still working up the nerve to call you back. I didn’t think the news would be good.

It’s not good news… but at least I know that India had every opportunity she could be given to have a happy life. We came to you because our only option left was to put her down – something we weren’t ready to do. My husband and I knew she deserved one last change. But, we knew we didn’t have the expertise to safely place her in a new home. I will always be grateful for all of the time and resources you put into trying to get her suitable for adoption.

She was my baby girl. But, she couldn’t have been happy in life to always have so much negative energy. I kept wishing she was human so I could just reason with her – tell her if she could just be nice, things could be okay…. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

We completely understand and respect your decision. I wouldn’t want any other family to have to go through what we went though with her. But, because we were so emotionally involved in her, I don’t think it was a decision we could have made ourselves. I know in my heart that everything was done for her that could be done.

Thank you…

Stephanie.

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If you have a dog, please give them a cookie and a butt-scratch in India’s honor.

Thank you to everyone who brought donations for AWLA to our party. I need to bring my office donations home then deliver them to the League. I also donated $100. If you would like to make a monetary donation in India’s honor, you can go here.