The Puppy From Hell

A friend posted this picture on Facebook and tagged me. It hit me square in the gut. It reminded me that every day I reach out my hand to a little boy who I love dearly and has broken my heart time and time again.

In March of 2011 I received a phone call about two puppies who showed up and were sleeping in a box on the back porch of my friend's house. I ran over and met the puppies and was in love. They were filthy, stinky and BIG puppies. They couldn't have been more than two months old by the look of their teeth and they looked like they were probably filled to the hilt with worms. In the background, without me knowing, my husband was texting my friend assuring her that we would take the puppies. They were such sweet innocent creatures and I was devastated that they were in such bad shape.

I left the puppies there in the meantime and went home to see if anyone had posted any ads for missing puppies. I somehow got a conscience and called animal control. Sure enough, they had been reported missing. I got the number to the family and sat thinking if I wanted to return them to what had to be a horrible situation for them to be in bad shape when my phone rang with a local number. Low and behold, it was the owners of the puppies and they were purebred mastiff puppies. While the woman was calm and just wanted her puppies back, her other half (I can't deem to call him a human) got on the phone and informed me I would breath my last breath if he didn't get his dogs back that day. Wow, this is what I get for having a conscience obviously. I called animal control back and was livid. First off, they gave my number out and I was NOT in possession of the puppies and now some moron wanted to harm me for his lack of being able to have adequate fencing. Long story short, animal control picked up the puppies. I was beside myself. I had just put two harmless babies in puppy jail.

The next morning my friend and I drove out to the local pound. I was determined to lie through my teeth and claim to be their owner if I had to. I couldn't let them go back to where they came from. I was too late though. The puppies were reclaimed that morning and would more than likely be sold for some crazy amount of money within days. I was standing in the back of the pound where all the dogs were bawling when I met the woman who would end up changing my life forever. Becky was checking to see what dogs were coming up on the PTS list and checking temperaments. Me, not knowing any better told her I was looking for a puppy because I had two cats and wanted something the cats could adjust and learn to live with. She gave me her number and we agreed to meet that Sunday to see her puppies.

I was super excited but still sad that I had no mastiff puppies. I went and met the litter of puppies she had though and wasn't determined to get one but I was interested. There were three of the litter left. One had been adopted, the rest had died at the vet's office. They were found by a parole officer who was going to meet one of his parolees and the pups were in horrible shape. All the puppies looked so different from each other. There was the little brown one who was Abner who looked like a Chihuahua, Baylean who looked like a lab but had black spots all over her white fur, and then Bodean who was all black with a white stripe down his chest and looked like a lab. I was over the moon. Bodean huddled in the back of the wire crate and didn't want to come out but we lifted him out and he was a scared nervous wreck and peed all over the ground as we sat him down.

**I guess that should have been warning enough, but I was blinded by puppy love**


Bodean became Greyson within minutes and we brought him home. This is him the first week we had him home:

We let Greyson learn about us and he housebroke like there was no tomorrow. To say he was smart was an understatement. He did not do well with our cats though. They hated him. (And to this day he still doesn't get treated well by one of them.) When we went to the vet for puppy shots he was a nervous mess. Soon as I walked in the door he would cower and hunker and try to get away. I thought it was the smells of the office as he lived in a vet's office while he was brought back to health and carried him in. He did okay as long as no one moved real fast and everyone was calm. He did not do well when I was out of eye sight of him though. That brought on instant panic mode and he would growl, bark, and snap. Uh oh, the nightmare is beginning!

At home, he was calm and fine. He would play with toys, curl up on the couch and loved attention. His favorite thing to do was curl up on the couch while I worked on creating jewelry. A paw on my leg as if to keep himself grounded. He was my constant companion. I would go somewhere and when I came home he acted like someone had moved the moon for him to be reunited with me. Me, in my ignorance, thought he was a normal puppy. Well, until he started destroying everything he could get his paws and mouth on when I left the house. He couldn't see a crate or be near one without going into instant panic mode. He would run and hide. If you put him in a crate, he would panic and hurt himself to get out.

We went back to the vet office and the vet made a very odd point. Even at 5 months old, he grew a whole whopping inch and a half taller from his first time at the vet's office. He did some blood work and told me he would call me and let me know what was going on but in the meantime he wanted x-rays and wanted to check his joints. I wasn't alarmed...yet.

Then we found out that there is something wrong with this beautiful boy. He won't ever grow. His joints are calcified like an older dog and his life span will probably be much shorter than a normal dog. To say I was upset would be an understatement. Oh and they did a DNA test and sent it to three companies and they came back with the two majority breeds the same...Labrador Retriever and American Staffordshire. But yet he weighed 38 pounds. I have permanent puppy who will always look like a puppy and has a penchant for destroying anything in his path when I'm not around.

He got worse. His mental stability even over a year later is still questionable at times. We've been through obedience training (some did not go as well as others), he has severe anxiety, he gets overloaded with stimuli and will bite, and oh, yeah he doesn't like dogs who are smaller than him and thinks they are a tasty lunch. Yep, I have the puppy from hell!

In January of 2012 I had a dog come into my life who was the perfect pit bull. She was amazing. She had been through hell and I was determined to make sure she had the perfect life. In my house with demon spawn of a dog though, that wasn't meant to be and I had to find her a different home. I was tore up about it. I knew though deep down that Greyson would never find a home that understood him like we do. I see his panic attack beginning and know I need to do something to help him.

Greyson had made me who I am. He's made me a  much more understanding human being to dogs in need who have issues. He's taught me that force training and aversion training are not the way to go because I almost taught him to never show when he is panicked. Even now, at 19 months old Greyson has a semi-normal life. He lives with my husband, two cats (who are special needs), a human twelve year old sister, and myself. I maintain a high level of maintenance for him just to keep him calm and functioning and I do that through force-free positive reinforcement training. While he doesn't read signals from other dogs very well I have learned to read the signals and help him. I've learned that even though sometimes with progress there is two steps forward and one step back, there is progress and progress is wonderful!

Because of this little boy who is curled up at my feet right now enjoying the fan blowing on him (even three months ago he couldn't handle that and would act out against the fan) I am determined to make a difference with dogs who through no fault of their own deserve to be understood. Because of Greyson I have the chance to work with those dogs and make an impact in their lives. Without Greyson, I wouldn't be me.

Sometimes you have to stop, drop, and roll

Sometimes you get an e-mail that is absolutely devastating. Today was that day. We got the response from the vet behaviorist and it feels like a total cop out. She stated the obvious. Spudz is untrained, unsocialized, suspect separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, suspect noise sensitivity...and then there is the part I don't agree with. She states he is aggressive and it's a conflict related, territorial, fear, and irritable aggression.

Okay, aggression I can deal with. I can deal with anxiety. What I can not deal with is rather than any answers she states that she consulted a behaviorist who works with one of the largest dog rescues in Chicago and that Spudz should be put down. "Spudz poses significant risk to public safety and if a poor candidate to find an adoptive home, much less one in which is multiple problems will be successfully managed." When we were in her office she showed us videos of a dog who is so reactive that when he comes in contact with another dog he bites...humans and dogs. This is not how Spudz is. I've seen worse than Spudz. Let me be extremely clear, I live with worse.

She felt my body language meant he would never be re-homed and she read me completely wrong. Yes I am uncomfortable with re-homing at the present time. That is not an option at this time. He is not a danger to humans. He has had chance after chance to bite Becky and myself and he will redirect off as soon as his nose hits our skin. What he needs is a foster home with no other dogs who will allow me to come in and work with him on a daily basis. This removes the barriers that cause him anxiety, removes the other barking dogs which affect him negatively, and allows him to de-stress and calm.

I know the vet is looking at it from the big picture but she doesn't need to worry about how much of a financial responsibility which she kept stating over and over in her report. Personally, that's not why we were in her office. We were there looking for ways to work within his capabilities and work on first basic obedience and further down the road work on counter conditioning.

She also reported that we don't know his triggers but in a way we do. Both of his attacks had something in common. They were both chained dogs.

So, back to square one. Now we move on and work with a trainer via the internet who has the experience with aggressive dogs and I know personally can help us. Laurie Buchele of Buchele's K-9 Services in Fremont, OH has always been a wealth of information and not only does she come highly recommended but I trust the people who recommend her with my own dog, and for me, that's saying a lot.

Vet Behaviorist Day...Oh My!

Spudz had a HUGE day today. It was his time to go meet the vet behaviorist here in town and see what she thought about his incident with the two other dogs while he was adopted. He is nervous and since he's never really liked enclosed spaces I'm bothered by having him in a small vet exam room.

Our appointment was at 9AM and we were there until almost 1PM. During the consult we were asked to ignore him completely and let him just be himself. She was pretty much on the same page as me as far as only using positive methods to train him and that thrilled me. I've had a LOT of people who are insistent that since I deal with pit bulls I need to be in charge and be dominant. **Welcome to the year 2012 people! **

Spudz is having a horrible skin irritation and while he was playing with the Kong Wobbler in her office he would stop out of the blue to start itching. He was anxious and he was on edge. He continually jumped on Becky and I. As asked, and as I do with all dogs, we ignored the behavior and stood up until he moved away. This has always worked very well until Spudz becomes Spudz. He jumps into my lap and starts sucking on my lower lip. I don't know what it is about when he is at his amped level, he goes for my lip. To me, it's his plea of "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" There was a dog waking up from surgery in another room and Spudz heard the dogs cries. He worried that door unless redirected.

As the appointment progressed we discussed re-homing. To me, this is a non-question. Spudz will never be re-homed until he is comfortable in his own fur, which is obviously not right now. She showed us a tap touch training that she felt would be ideal for him to learn which I agreed with. Teaching him to look for my or Becky's open palm as to where he needed to be seems like an ideal way to work with him. He needs reinforcement in knowing what to do.

Since he had come back to the rescue I had already started showing Spudz how to say please. with Dr. Sophia Yin's method. I did this off leash and in the empty half of the rescue facility. We move quickly and he moves with me and has picked it up quickly. As soon as I stop moving he turns to me and sits. He's amazingly smart, but that tends to be the dogs who get into this kind of trouble. Now on leash is another story, that will be another step for him.

The vet didn't have a lot of other suggestions as she wanted to observe him mostly. We shall see. Hopefully she is on board with training protocols. I know he can pick it up and it would help him TONS! He was wore out after pacing the exam room nonstop. He really is just a very large overly sensitive boy who needs training!

Let's start at the beginning,shall we?

Spudz. When I see a pit bull who is untrained I see Spudz. He's 20 months old and is a HUGE ball of energy. He is who this blog starts with but I'm sure I'll post randomly as well as other things as I go.

As of right now..it's about my journey working with Spudz and my personal dog Greyson.

This is the synopsis that was typed up by the rescue Spudz is from and was delivered to the vet behaviorist:

He was pulled on March 15, 2011 from the Greene County pound and he was neutered on that same day.   He was estimated to be 6 months old - he had NO manners or social skills...just an out of control pup.  He was initially placed in an indoor/outdoor kennel setting.  He was placed in a run separated by chain link panels from another dog; and had no issues.  In this setting he had very limited direct physical contact with other dogs, but again there were never any signs of aggressive behavior.

When he wasn't quickly adopted (within 60 days or so), I then brought him to my house for housetraining and basic obedience training and he lived with about six or seven other dogs. He was crated when I wasn't home, and then closely supervised when not. My own dogs were his size or larger- but are a tight pack that ignored his inappropriate behavior or would swiftly put him in check. He interacted primarily with other foster dogs – much smaller than him, and had no signs of aggression.  He was a horrific fencer barker at neighborhood cats or people walking dogs and then he started jumping my fence - so back to a kennel setting.

In September 2011; he was transferred to the SCDR rescue building which has indoor kennels and a common outdoor exercise/potty/play area.  He was first assigned as ‘out buddy’ to a young black lab male similar to his size and there were never any issues between the two.  These sessions were not closely monitored. The dog population is constantly in flux – with there being only one other dog (Campbell, a two year old male pit) that remains from the inception.  He has also been successfully paired with females and while he often engaged in rough play, it never escalated to the point intervention was needed. 

In the Spring of 2012, all the kennel dogs began interacting in groups in the play yard under close supervision.  His attempts to initiate play were sometimes shunned by the ‘well behaved’ dogs, but he did successfully mix with several other large males.  When play started to get rough – he would generally respond to verbal commands of “AH AH! Too rough!”.  On those occasions he did not – he corrected by the verbal commands as well as a hand on the scruff of his neck mimicking a mother’s correction.  If he did not ‘de-escalate’ – he was returned to his kennel and would generally bark and prance in excitement as the others continued play.

During these play sessions, all dogs were released from their kennels into the outside yard and the doors to their kennels remained open.  Spudz would often return into the building and enter other kennels to steal toys or eat any leftover food.  In late April, Spudz was eating leftover food from Melvin’s bowl (Melvin was a recently neutered 4 year old wire haired JRT) when Melvin re-entered his kennel and came rushing from behind and bit Spudz on the rear ankle. Spudz turned in surprise, and grabbed Melvin by the neck – but early intervention was made and while Spudz had three fairly deep puncture marks – Melvin had no broken skin.  During this intervention – Spudz was turning to get Melvin and his mouth / teeth encountered a human hand and he immediately redirected when he realized it wasn’t Melvin (and no damage was done to human skin).

Days later, Spudz was in the exercise yard undergoing basic obedience training when Melvin escaped from his kennel and rushed out and again latched onto Spudz’ ankle.  Spudz was controlled by grabbing his collar and attempts to control Melvin were unsuccessful as when pushed away – he’d dart back.  It took a second person to restrain Melvin and by this time Spudz was trying to get to Melvin.  As a result of this incident – Spudz had puncture marks on his ankles and a large skin tear on his rear upper thigh.  Spudz continued to interact with all the other dogs except Melvin until Spudz was adopted on May 13^th.

In his new home, he started a formal obedience class where he was reported to be ‘an angel’.  He did experience severe separation anxiety when crated during his owner’s absences   His owner’s mother lived nearby and had a male Schnauzer;  they spent considerable time together and played well together.   There was an incident when it is believed a cat/rabbit was in the back yard as Spudz and his owner came out of house – Spudz started chase and followed his prey under the wooden privacy fence where he encountered a female Husky.  He did not respond to verbal commands.  By the time the owner reached him – he was in a fight that broken skin on the other dog and subsequently his owner was bit by the Husky.  We attributed this to an instance of surprise to both dogs and Spudz reacting to the Husky defending her territory. 

Spudz was then introduced to the owner’s girlfriend’s male neutered pit.  They did well on walks in neutral territory, but vied for attention in the house.  It was managed by keeping the dogs leashed inside and stopping any inappropriate behavior before it escalated.

Spudz and his owner were moving into a new house when Spudz looked out the front door and saw a male Shar Pei tied in the next year.  Spudz had routinely walked by this dog during his daily walks; but unleashed – he jumped through the screen and ran to the dog, attacking it by latching onto its neck and breaking the skin.  Again – he did not respond to verbal commands. 

He was returned to SCDR’s rescue building on June 8^th, and was again introduced to a 7 month old female pit which had been his ‘wrestle buddy’.  Their play had often involved mouthing and chewing/grabbing of each other’s necks and ears/lips, and there was no change seen after his absence and other altercations.

It was three days later when he was videotaped in three scenarios for behavioral assessment by members of the Pit Bull Zen group. 

He was then personally assessed by a volunteer who provides amateur training for rescued pit bulls.  She uses a combination protocol which involves a prong collar when walking, primarily to provide her more control in the event of an incident.  (Spudz was trained to walk properly on a leash last winter utilizing a prong collar to avoid his pulling. He has never been corrected harshly and respected the pressure of the collar.  He subsequently graduated to walks with a Martingale type collar and then to a standard flat collar.  I personally use prongs only when dealing with a very strong dog that is not controllable with a martingale or flat collar BL).  This volunteer uses positive reinforcement with treats, praise and occasionally a clicker.  She corrects by verbal commands / redirecting or if needed hand grabs on the scruff of the neck mimicking a mother dog or a hand poke to the side mimicking a muzzle punch.

Since his return, Spudz had been taking twice daily walks either alone or in a group, until recently being instructed to discontinue.  He now enjoys daily exercise on an enclosed softball field, fetching tennis balls.  In his kennel – he is often restless – pacing and pushing his metal bowl with his feet/nose.  He is provided with knuckle bones, Kongs with peanut butter and interactive treat balls.  When he is released from his kennel – he does go to the other kennels – but does not engage in any fence fighting or attempts. 

His diet has been changed to Nutro Grain Free with venison, and Nutro Sensitive Stomach dry bisquits.  His thyroid levels were recently tested and are within normal limits.