Foster Dog Question

Okay!

Location: Ohio, USA

Went for a job interview at an animal shelter run by a well known org. Spoiler alert: did not get the job. I did however walk out with a foster.

At that moment I was informed the dog was 5.5 years and 6 months in the shelter. She wasn’t eating and was becoming a failure to thrive case. Her adoption fee was waived.

I agreed to foster to give her a break from the shelter environment. What I was not told was that

1. She had bitten a volunteer who had to seek medical.

2. She wasn’t allowed in play groups without a muzzle and they hadn’t trained her to wear one

3. At some point the shelter had refused to allow her to be surrendered because she was lunging at staff during intake.

4. They were giving her 400mg of trazadone daily

All of this i would learn months later when a rogue employee printed her file for me.

Her behavior with me came in two parts. inside the house she was perfect. outside the house she was dangerous. She would go crazy at the sight of another human or dog fifty yards away. She would get so agitated she would bite me to try to get to the others.

I asked for stronger medicine but was refused. I asked to bring her in for playgroups and was ignored.

When I finally got their attention they removed her from the adoption list and gave me 6 virtual sessions with a trainer. They encouraged me to up her dose of the meds and not take her on walks for 6 weeks.

In the first two weeks of the process her behavior got worse inside the house. I took her off the meds and told the staff and trainer what was going on. They had a meeting and decided they want to euthanize her for behavior issues.

After a week off the meds and with the belief she would be euthanized I started taking her for walks. Turns out, she is getting better. it takes dogs up to three months to adjust to a new environment and once we hit that point she began to trust me more and i got her on a better medicine.

I sent the video evidence in to the shelter but they refuse to reevaluate. They claim since they already informed staff about the euthanasia they dont want to reverse course. They are refusing to let me adopt and refusing to let me move forward with home euthanasia. They are demanding i bring her in or let them pick her up?

Questions:

1. Since there was no adoption fee would they be able to claim I stole her?

2. would it be illegal for me to euthanize her if I don’t legally own her even though the shelter told me that is what their plan is?

3. Is there something I am able to do to intervene on her behalf?

Appreciate the helping VIBE.