Save Madison the Dog from the Pound

Hope Madison finds a home.

And, by the way, how irresponsible of her owners! When will people stop thinking of pets as novelty items they can get when they’re young and fun, and then get rid of when having a pet becomes inconvenient? I’m hardly an animal rights activist, but such lack of foresight angers me.

I am saddened by Madison’s plight and hope she finds a home, but I don’t think we just be so quick to judge the owners. All we know about this dog is what we have read in this post. We have not heard the owners’ side regarding what prompted this decision. There are obviously plenty of people around who treat dogs the same as, if not better, then there own children. I think that is always the goal, but each dog owner’s unique reality may that more difficult to achieve for some.

How sad to have a dog for years and then to say: move on! We don’t want you any more.

Dogs are animals, just ask Marie Provost.

This is Madison’s mom here with a response to everyone. First and foremost, we love Madison dearly and are very sad to see her go. However, Madison has been an extremely challenging dog for over four years and we have done everything in our power to make her happy, healthy and well-adjusted. Unfortunately for us and for her, our home environment is never going to provide what Madison needs. Unfortunately for her and for us, the blog post above was irresponsible and ill-informed, and didn’t do any service toward the end-goal of finding Madison a new home. But what is done is done. Here are the facts.

The good stuff: Madison is a beautiful and sweet dog who gets by on her looks. She thinks she is a lap-dog and would spend 24 hours sleeping on me if I let her. She craves constant attention and affection. She loves to run and play off leash; she needs lots of regular exercise and she is motivated by affection and attention versus treats. She is house-trained and very obedient.

The not-so-good stuff: Madison has severe separation and stranger anxiety. she hates to be alone (as many dogs do) but in her case, it is dangerous: she has destroyed furniture, property and hurt herself trying to escape to be with her family (she jumped through and broke the sunroof or our car, jumped out of three windows in a summer rental home, and used to repeatedly make herself bleed trying to escape from her crate.) She was denied access to doggy day care here in Brooklyn because the staff thought she would hurt herself.

We were threatened with eviction from our NYC apartment before moving to Brooklyn, because Madison would howl and cry when we went to work for hours on end. To combat all of this, we hired behavioral specialists (I hired Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer’s NYC trainer) to work with Madison. We put her on Prozac. We did obedience training and used to walk around with walkie talkies and only dine in our immediate proximity so we could go home and be with Madison when she got too upset. We got her to the point of being able to leave her alone in our apartment with only minor incidents.

After our first child, Madison continued to improve because she was home with the baby and the nanny. However, as our toddler has grown and we have welcomed a second baby to the home, Madison’s challenges have changed and worsened again. While she is wonderful with our babies and loves them and protects them, her stranger anxiety has only gotten worse. She growls at children and other dogs if she is out with the babies (which is her protective gene and we love her for it), however, it means we can’t take her out with the babies. More importantly, it means we can’t have children over to our home. While I am 100% certain Madison would never hurt our babies intentionally (she does of course knock over our toddler regularly barreling down the hallway when the doorbell rings) I am not at all certain she wouldn’t hurt someone else’s child. I live in constant fear that Madison will snap at a child, which is why we stopped having friends over—every parent’s worst nightmare is that their pet will harm someone else’s child, I would never forgive myself if that happened. She has gone back to crying every time we leave the house and we now leave newspapers in our hall for her to tear up to work off some of her nervous energy.

Madison also has a nervous stomach, and tends to defecate in the house when we have company over, so that has stopped as well. We used to ship her out overnight to our dog-boarder’s home any time we entertained. Now we just don’t entertain in the house.

The point of all of this isn’t to make Madison un-adoptable. On the contrary, we have been looking for a family to adopt Madison for months now. But we have been looking for the right family, not just any family—which means a family with another dog—that would help immensely with her separation anxiety. She would be thrilled to have a constant companion to run and play with and be with all the time. And a family that could take her to the dog park regularly and give her plenty of exercise. And a family without small children, so that would take the stranger anxiety issues off the plate. Or a family who lived outside of NYC in the country somewhere. Or a family where at least one person works at home so that if there isn’t another dog in the house, at least she has a human companion.

Last week I had a play date with Madison with a lovely family in Park Slope who was thinking of adopting her. Their children are big kids and they recently lost their rescue dog. They loved Madison and thought she was fun and playful and sweet. But I of course had to give them full disclosure on all of her issues because that is the responsible and decent thing to do. In the end, they decided that Madison was too much for them. I was devastated but not surprised. I wanted to make it work but I knew I really needed a family with another dog or someone working from home.

My husband and I have looked into every imaginable option for Madison—I have looked at pet sanctuaries and considered taking her down to Chile where I used to live so she could roam free in the country with my friends down there. I have decided that I won’t give up hope – we have spoken at length with the ASPCA about Madison’s special needs and we have gotten to the point of thinking they are best-suited to find her a new family that can meet her needs. I think that is a better option than shipping her off to a foreign country or letting her live with other dogs but without real human companions (the sanctuary)

I have to put my family and children’s welfare first—all parents will understand that. Dog owners and lovers who don’t have kids—you can judge as you see fit. If you know of anyone who could or would provide a loving, caring and appropriate home environment for Madison, please email me at madisonthdg8@gmail.com Thank you.

Not bored. Thanks, Madison’s mom. I hope the transition works out for you, the family, and Madison.

(re the last few comments): Uhh, wow. Insensitive much?

You don’t like M*A*S*H* ?

I was rather touched by the explanation – seems Madison’s Mom has indeed done almost everything possible, so my apologies for suggesting you return the kids, hopefully someone will look beyond the issues and adopt the little girl, employing some of the other suggestions stated herein. A companion and a yard would probably be just the ticket.

No need to go off topic and turn this into a useless kids vs. dogs rant.

I’m neutered, therefore neutral in that debate.

I really have to wonder how we reached a point where people think it is incumbent upon a family to lose their friends, alienate their children, move from their community and inconvenience themselves with another animal to make a dog happy and comfortable.

If you truly believe that a dog takes precedence over humans, that is an issue you need to handle.

I commend Madison’s family for going as far as they did to make this work. I have done less to resolve difficult relationships with ex boyfriends.

Judging from the volume of shrinks and AA meetings, we are surrounded by a bunch of lonely looneytunes (hello “A
Different Jane”) who obviously are incapable of prioritizing (or perhaps realizing) normal, healthy, human relationships.

if you are talking to me Human, not anymore harsh, then the people here who suggested that people return kids to hospitals and move out of their home to accomodate a dog.

This little gem here from Different Jane is not only harsh, but indicative of less than a full deck.

“I have never had kids and never would! The trouble with all the yuppies in Brooklyn Heights is that they think their kids are more important than everything else around them: the trees, the water, the flowers, the pedestrians.

The sad truth is that this neighborhood would be a lot better off if it had a “no children” policy. Is BH “going to the dogs?” I wish!!”

There has to be a reason why we have more overbooked shrinks and AA meetings per square inch than any other neighborhood.

And to the person who used “A Different Jane” to make truly tasteless and unhelpful comments, you are doing yourself a disservice. Clearly you are pro-animal, which is a position I appreciate. Your decision to hit below the belt, however, and hijack my name nullifies any positive effect that my first post may have had. Now, instead of reading my first suggestions and (maybe) considering them as helpful, people will discount them as coming from someone who is playing with “less than a full deck.”

I’m not sure why you would choose to post under my name, but your decision to do so hurts not only me, but any chance that I may have had to help out a dog in need of a home or a second chance.

Please consider that the next time you think about posting under someone else’s name.