DANIEL WALMER | LEBANON DAILY NEWS

On Sept. 28, the humane society posted what appeared to be good news on its Facebook page: a dog named Amaru had been adopted.

“After many months in the shelter, this princess found her forever family,” the Facebook post read. “We are so excited that she will be in a loving home this evening.”

But it wasn’t the first time someone adopted Amaru, who Spong said is a pit bull mix. A previous adopter returned her to the humane society after she bit that first owner, according to Spong. The humane society had considered Amaru so aggressive that she was kept away from other dogs and only trained dog walkers were allowed near her.

Several times in the past year, dogs were adopted, bit their new owners, were returned to the shelter, and then were again put on the adoption floor, according to Spong and other former humane society employees.

A pit bull named Church bit another dog and a staff member, broke out of his kennel, and Spong heard staff members say, “I hope he doesn’t hurt and kill something,” she said. Spong said employees were also forbidden from telling anyone that Church had bit an employee and another dog.

On Sept. 30, the humane society posted on Facebook that Church had been adopted.

A chocolate lab named Yoda was taken to a “doggy boot camp” because of temperament problems, but the boot camp eventually told the humane society to take him back because he bit one of the trainers, Spong said. He was adopted out anyway.

“A few board members have their ‘favorites’ and can’t look past their personal feelings for certain dogs. Instead, they jeopardize the safety of the public by adopting out aggressive dogs with a known bite history which is not documented in their system (or) made known to potential adopters. Blatant disregard for the safety of the public is unacceptable,” Spong wrote in an email. “I am a huge animal advocate but not when it comes to aggressive dogs that have already bitten someone or have the potential to (maim) or kill a person or another animal.”

Bojarcheck acknowledged that some of the dogs have had issues. However, “we are not, ‘not disclosing’ that these animals have had issues” and the person who adopted Yoda was fully aware of Yoda’s history, she said.

Yoda had come from a difficult situation as a puppy, kept in a basement with limited food and water, and therefore was a very resource-guarding dog, she said. Amaru also came from a very bad situation and was terrified when first brought to the humane society, she said.

She also disputed the level of concern about Church, saying that he was only a young dog who needed to learn manners.

“He was fine around people. He has not bitten anybody,” she said.

The main problem is not with the staff, but with the humane society’s board of directors, the former employees said. The board is reluctant to refuse or euthanize animals and is inclined to think every animal is adoptable as a pet, they said.

Two former employees, who asked not to be named, said when a dog would fail a temperament test, the test-giver would be blamed or asked to redo the test until the dog passed.

Bojarcheck, on the other hand, criticized one former staff member for provoking and being mean to animals she perceived as aggressive – “an animal knows that you don’t like them” – and said staff should not have given temperament tests immediately after dogs were brought in. “When an animal comes in, whether it’s a stray or a surrender, that animal needs to decompress,” she said.

Megan Stanley, chair of the board of directors for the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, said temperament tests are useful but aren’t an exact science. Behavior is also situational, so it can be difficult to measure the likelihood that a dog will be dangerous in the future.

“However, extreme aggressive responses demonstrate more serious concerns in the dog that can identify the dog as a safety concern and should not be available for adoption,” she wrote in an email.

Still, it is valid to question the results of a temperament test taken just after a dog is taken from a difficult situation, and decisions should not be made only on the basis of one evaluation conducted by one or two people, she said.

Bojarcheck acknowledged that there may be occasions in which animals need to be humanely euthanized but said that “every animal deserves a chance.”

She also said that one former employee who had contacted the Lebanon Daily News had “burnout” and “wanted nothing but to put animals down.” In general, she said, concerns about humane society operations may be coming from “disgruntled employees.”

In an ideal world, Stanley agrees that every dog deserves a chance – but that may not be realistic given the volume of homeless pets taken to shelters.

“Decisions on the adoptability, moving the dog to another organization or euthanasia, should be made by a group of dedicated people within the organization,” she wrote. “The best case scenario to be able to give every dog a chance and explore all avenues to improve the behavior would be to first address the huge numbers of pets in shelters and reduce that. At this point, many groups are doing the best they can, with limited resources, to make the best decision for the dog and the general public.”