You have to gain a dog's trust before transporting it

Transporting an animal for care or sterilization isn't always the easiest thing to do. We do not know most of these animals nor their temperaments and even when a dog is wagging its tail this can turn into a bite situation really quick if they all of a sudden feel threatened and for the most part, dogs and cats do not care very much for giant metal cages.

This is really the only safe way that we can transport them though so we have to find out a way to get them in there in order to get them the care that they need. They don't know this at the time but we have every intention of keeping them safe, improving their quality of life, and then bringing them back to where we found them. In order to pull this off we have to spend a bit of time with them, feeding and petting, to get them to willingly walk into the transport kennels.

This is normally a lot easier to accomplish with the temple dogs since they are already accustomed to being around humans thanks to visitors and the monks. They have also lived a life of relative comfort and do not view humans as much of a threat. The same can not be said of dogs that live in the wild or live in the streets in various neighborhoods where they are likely kicked and chased off by human residents on a regular basis.

When we encounter a dog that doesn't want to go into a kennel we do all that we can to never force them into it but there are times where we don't have a choice. We always use this as a last resort though and most of the time almost all dogs can be coaxed into a kennel with some bait of cooked chicken, which is such a rare treat that they almost always fall for it.

Once in the kennel, we try to ensure that we keep them in there for as short a time as possible, keep them near their friends they are familiar with, and constantly talk to them to reassure them that they are not in trouble. We have to keep in mind that for most of these dogs they might have never been in a kennel before or even worse, the last time they were in one was when they were brought to the temple and abandoned there. I don't think dogs have memories this great, but I suppose they could.

It would be nice if we didn't have to put them in these things at all because mostly dogs would prefer to not be in it. But when we do put them in there, and we must for transport, it is quite important that the dog trusts you a bit before you try to do so. There have been biting incidents in the past and even though we are trying to help these dogs, they maybe don't see it that way. It's a good thing that fried chicken works almost every time.

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http://krabianimalwelfare.org