COLUMBUS, Ohio—More than 3 million dogs enter shelters in the U.S. every year.

About 670,000 of them will be euthanized.

  • The ASPCA data shows about 20% of dogs that enter shelters are put down, many of which are owner surrenders
  • An Ohio dog behaviorist knew she could help more dogs get adopted or to stay in their homes by creating online videos
  • She eventually wants to work to end puppy mills

On the frontlines is one Ohio woman who has made it her mission to make a difference, with her first goal of saving a million pups. 

And this Everyday Hero says she has an even bigger mission after that. 

“Humans created this problem, so humans need to learn how to fix the problem,” said Angie Winters, Angie4Dogs.

​Dog behaviorist Angie Winters is talking about fear, the underlying cause of so many behavioral problems in man’s best friend.

“There’s an epidemic of dogs losing their homes, children being bitten,” said Winters. “Most of the time, people believe they have a severe aggression case, but they really don’t.”

Winters is a dog trainer that also helped with rescues, where she was given the toughest cases.  She was their last chance. 

“I knew that the next step was it being put to sleep or euthanasia,” said Winters. “There wasn’t going to be an adoption. It was too severe, too dangerous… I couldn’t let it die, so I knew I would have to figure out a way to fix it.”

After fixing dog after dog, she realized the typical training methods are missing something.

“My study has just really brought it down to dog emotion, because that’s really what it is,” said Winters. “The other stuff is, sit for a treat, try to distract with a treat… that’s not working with their emotions and that’s what they operate on. We all know how emotional they are. So, we’re taking this emotional being and we’re just shoving treats at it. You know, it doesn’t work that way.”

She says it’s about doing things like not accidentally rewarding fear or aggression, remaining calm and patient, and working with your dog in ways that it sees as respect.

“Pet under the chin, never reach over.”

Seeing success after success, Winters knew she could help more dogs get adopted or to stay in their homes by creating online videos. 

“See the tension on the leash?  Now you don’t allow the fleeing,” said Winters. “One of the most important things people do is they just give up too soon. This might take 60 seconds, but most people might give it 10 seconds and they stop and they say that didn’t work.”

The ASPCA data shows about 20% of dogs that enter shelters are put down, many of which are owner surrenders.  

“It’s just such an unnecessary suffering in the world. There’s a lot of things we can’t prevent, but we can prevent this suffering just with knowledge,” said Winters.

She says creating her Angie4Dogs videos has not been easy, but she can’t stop.

“My goal is to reach at least a million. Then I could feel like I had made a dent in the problem,” Winters said.

She’s well on her way, with rescues, and even prison programs, mandating that adopters watch one of her videos. 

“If this dog has nothing but to be a blood donor for the rest of its life at a vet’s kennel, or it’s going to be euthanized, then you see it sleeping in the bed with a little boy, and a little boy walking it in a typical neighborhood, I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that. What else could I ask for?” said Winters.

Winters says her next goal is putting an end to puppy mills, which often disguise themselves as small, reputable breeders. 

Her three video programs can be found on the Angie4Dogs website.