Requiring shelters to use metrics to baseline their success is an incredibly bad idea.  What starts off as good intentions causes shelter management and staff to start doing very bad things in the name of achieving an arbitrary standard. 

As seen in several high profile cases involving Fairfax County Animal Shelter, Forever Homes and Rescue (Virginia Beach), the primary reason why that all of these shelters are releasing violent dogs is because of “performance metrics” and the arbitrary standards set their advocates set.   Adopting a dog out requires a community standard since most dogs spend much time interacting with other people and dogs.   The concept of performance metrics cause shelters to stop caring about the public welfare and to act in their own self-interest.  Simply go look on each of their Facebook pages and see them post about how humanitarian and wonderful they are, rank their adoption rates compared to everyone else, and suddenly, it a tool intended for good becomes a weaponized social arms race to see who has the highest % adoption rate while demonizing groups who have lower rates than them. 

The problem with applying metrics to animal sheltering and rescues is that if they cannot count what is important (doing what is best for the individual dog), they make what they can count become important (having a low euthanization rate). These metrics give us basic numbers and ratios.  They do not do is provide details about their entire operations.  As a result, these shelters act in their own self-interest and will shove every dog out the door and hope that the dog does not get returned or doesn’t attack or kill another animal.   

The use of metrics causes discrimination, too.  These shelters will cherry pick the good dogs that come through their doors, while leaving the dangerous dogs to the public shelters.  It’s become a epic social faux pas to have to euthanize any dog, let alone a dangerous dog, but these private shelters make an issue of it.    

Assuming that every public and private shelter get an equal intake population distribution of good and dangerous dogs, the private groups will cherry pick the good dogs, forcing the public shelters to accept the dangerous dogs.  Public shelter’s policies, known as “open access” (which is a fantastic policy), require the shelter to accept all dogs.  But this behavior results in the public shelters obtaining a disproportionate amount of dangerous dogs and having to euthanize more dogs.   To compound the situation, you have groups like Fairfax County Animal Advocates and other No-Kill cults members who have emotional temper tantrums at the thought of euthanizing a dog that has killed other animals or attacked a person and poses an imminent danger to the public.   So then what happens next?  The municipal shelter will A) the public shelter will destroy the animal’s records lies to the adopter and adopts out the dangerous dog, where the dog will either attack or kill another animal or person or B) the dog earns "frequent flyer miles" at the taxpayer’s expense and gets transferred to another shelter and the same situation repeats itself.   

In 2016, WUSA9 did 2 investigations into Fairfax County Animal Shelter (FCAS).  FCAS was discovered to have been adopting out several dangerous dogs who had attacked and killed other animals and attacked people.

Trusting the Russians for information is safer than trusting FCAS staff.  FCAS staff had lied to dozens of adopters about dogs histories, has destroyed animal history records, deleted animal histories in its IT system and all 3 of its directors, 2011 to 2016, who had been subjects of numerous Fairfax County Police Internal Affairs investigations were all forced to resign. Why? Their obsession with “save rates” while not euthanizing dangerous animals.  

In a slight twist of fate, 2 former FCAS directors fled to Austin Texas and within 2 years, were forced to resign because they only focused on metrics and disregarded public safety.  One of them now works in Pima County Arizona and this last summer, an investigation discovered that she had been adopting out several more dangerous dogs from her shelter and is now the subject of a pending lawsuit because a dog they adopted out tore off half of the adopter's face. 

Shenandoah Valley Animal Service Center (SVASC), located in Augusta County Virginia is guilty of giving dangerous dogs frequent flyer miles.  Between 2013-16, 153 dogs were transferred from SVASC to FCAS custody.  8% of the dogs transferred into FCAS had some sort of violent histories in their records, which included attacking and killing other animals, and another 16% had questionable histories (multiple returns).   Did FCAS disclose their histories to adopters?  No.  FCAS adopted them out anyway.  

Why does PETA have a high euthanization rate?  Ironically, PETA has become a shelter of last resort for dangerous dogs and does what is necessary for public safety.  Private shelters are more worried about their metrics than public safety, but will trash PETA to make themselves appear to be as righteous as Carrie Nation.

If we do metrics, we should open up all of the records for every private shelter that advocates for metrics and lets see if their dogs earned frequent flyer miles and went to other shelters or if they have ever taken a dog to PETA for euthanization.  Private shelters also do this to hide their #s. 

In the Margaret Colvin case (Virginia Beach), the pitbull that disemboweled and ripped the arm off of the 90 year old grandmother a couple hours after arriving home, had been scheduled to be euthanized in NYC for attacking a child.  Somehow, the pitbull ended up in 5 more shelters in 6 months prior to the 2 women who felt that they were animal trainers after reading Cesar Milan’s book (according to their website).  They adopted it out to one family, where the pitbull attacked a person, then was returned, and then Forever Homes adopted it out to Margaret Colvin’s family.

No 2 dogs are the same and each dog is a case by case basis.  Euthanization is a necessary evil.  Most normal people will agree that it they don’t want a dog that had previously attacked and killed other pets and people, to live in our neighborhood or to be in our community.  

Virginia Federation of Humane Society and the No-Kill cult will argue you that their hugs and kisses can solve cure a dangerous dog.  Unfortunately, many of these groups are more interested in partaking in the “cause du jour” and don’t care or have a vested interest in the long term consequences of their actions, but rather what is in their personal and immediate best interest. 

If we do want metrics, there needs to be extremely comprehensive that measure the quality of the these private shelters. 

Would these shelters be open to these comprehensive metrics:  

- Is there a metric to count how many dogs they rejected at intake?  No.

- Is there a metric to determine a count of many dogs they placed and stayed at an adopters home over a 6 month period without being returned?  No.  

- Is there a metric to count how many dogs that were returned to them?  No.    

- Is there a metric to count how many dogs that were transferred to other rescue groups?  No.

- Would these groups be willing to be held criminally liable if one of their dogs, who had a violent history, attacked an adopter or killed another animal?  No. 

I should all know about this this.  2 years ago, a neighbor adopted a pitbull that was adopted out 4 times here in Virginia (once out of SVASC and then three more times out of FCAS), had a history – it had killed an owner’s cat within an hour of getting home, attacked a dog while in FCAS custody, failed multiple evaluation exams and almost killed its 3rd owner.  Did FCAS tell any of the adopter this?  No.  FCAS lied to every adopter.  FCAS destroyed records.  FCAS gave him the royal treatment. 

That same pitbull proceeded to kill my sweet puppy and almost killed me.  It has left me with several hundred thousand dollars in damages, permanent spine damage and I had to have a $100,000 reconstructive shoulder surgery now have 6 anchors to my shoulder to stabilize it because I fought that pitbull to save my puppy’s life but ended up fighting to save my own life because Fairfax County Animal Shelter feels that metrics take precedent over public safety.