Disclaimer: This article does not constitute legal advice. If you have any questions about your individual situation it is best to seek the advice of an experienced legal professional

Imagine leaving your beloved pet at an animal daycare facility when you go on holiday, only to come back to find them seriously ill or injured. The story of Ammo the dog illustrates how animals can come to harm even when they are being taken care of by professionals. Ammo’s owner had to keep the dog’s temperature down with ice-packs after he went from being fine to being unable to walk or breathe properly.

The dog’s owner believes the facility were slow to respond to the dog’s “kennel cough.” They took action and shut down the facility after they heard of his illness. As this article points out though, there is no agency that regulates dog boarding facilities. Infections can potentially spread like wildfire within animal daycare facilities, and this could especially be a problem for dogs who are already weak because of pre-existing conditions or age. Many animal facilities have the animals’ best interests at heart, but unforeseen problems can crop up, especially without standards to conform to. If you are leaving your animal in daycare, you may need to have an advance conversation with the facility about your animal’s needs and how they will respond to problems.

And what if something does go wrong? You could take an aggressive approach in mediating disputes about injuries, mistreatment or illnesses, or you could mediate. If your beloved animal has been harmed it might be tempting take an aggressive approach, but here are some reasons why mediation could be a better option:

– It might be difficult to fight your dispute in court if the facility isn’t required to conform to regulations. Mediation can help you gain compensation for vet bills and other pain and suffering.
– Protracted fights can cost money and waste. Save time and money by turning to mediation to cover your animal’s vet costs (there’s no guarantee you will win in court).
– Instead of fighting a specific battle in your own interests, you could look at your dispute as a way to hold the animal facility accountable in the longterm. This could improve conditions for all animals and educate workers. There may the opportunity to invite other interested parties like local authorities and animal welfare centers to the mediation. This could help improve standards more permanently at the facility or in your neighborhood.
– Sometimes conflict between two animals can cause harm within an animal shelter. Pursuing an aggressive solution could cause harm to another animal, if euthanization is on the table. Use mediation to pursue non-violent solutions for your animal and other animals

How We Can Help

At Boileau Conflict Solutions we encourage creative solutions to animal disputes by using game theory and psychoanalytical approaches to resolve a number of different interests. Key to this approach is a careful consideration of the wellbeing of animals and taking a big picture view of disputes where the cost of conflict to animals can be high. If your animal has been harmed, mediation will help you recover costs, improve conditions for other animals and maybe even require education or general standards to prevent future problems. Animal rights mediation in this context is about getting the best out of a regrettable incident, whether it’s for yourself and your animals or to protect other animals in the future. At Boileau Conflict Solutions we maintain that animals are important stakeholders in our culture and should be represented fairly in conflict. Therefore, the first step to successfully mediating a dispute involving animals is recognizing that animals have legitimate life interests. Some of the areas covered include disputes with breed clubs, contract problems between owners and handlers, conflicts with trainers, groomers and veterinarians, noise problems with barking dogs and other animals, family and divorce pet “custody” battles and much more. We handle disputes using a set of unique approaches informed by game theory, communication theory, psychoanalysis and the law. We value non-violent resolutions if at all possible and can intervene in urgent situations, even where conflict is violent, and can prevent harm to animals by facilitating alternative solutions to animal control etc. Mediation is a cheaper, more flexible alternative to litigation and it is the only way animal’s rights can be considered in conflict resolution. We are available seven days a week and at urgent notice at our offices in Boulder, CO, Irvine, CA, Campbell, CA and LA. We can also be reached via Zoom, Facetime and Telephone and conflict resolution can also be arranged remotely. Please contact us now to see how we can help.

More Info on this Story: http://katu.com/news/local/dispute-highlights-lack-of-pet-day-care-oversight-in-oregon

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