Misunderstandings can kill a dog

This past week has been pretty crazy around here. Last Wednesday I got a call that a dog I had assessed and worked with a bit had been impounded for killing a cat. The family was going to pay the bail to my knowledge and life was going to go on. Well, needless to say, things never go as planned!

Louis, a beautiful American Staffordshire Terrier lost his home in April due to his owner going to jail. He lived with Rocky, a Chihuahua and another mixed breed dog. He lived with a child and was one of those dogs who was patient with the people he came across in his life and just loved to sprawl in the sun. Sadly Louie (as we all call him) needed a place to crash while his owner's family figured out where to house him. No one knows how long his owner is going to be in jail but Louie doesn't deserve to live in a kennel in a facility until that day comes. He hung out with Scott County Dog Rescue until arrangements could be made for him.

This is Louie in the home he went to after his stay at SCDR. He was happy, he was healthy, he was cared for.

Louie doesn't like cats though! That is his only downfall. He socialized with the dogs at SCDR and was fine. He grew up with children and he can tolerate a lot from them even when he shouldn't have to. While in his temporary home his family found for him he killed a neighbor's stray cat that roams outside. This is where the story gets crazy. People said he was running lose. People said he was chained to a tree during it. Everyone had a different story as to how this happened.

There is one more thing about Louie that is bad. He was taught to not like people in uniform. His original owner, the man in jail taught him to bark and growl at people in uniform. It was said that when the police came to seize him for the cat killing he growled and barked at the police officer. That is a learned behavior. He has been taught to do that. So, he must have it retrained. He needs to understand that people in uniform are not bad. And Louie has seen me in uniform. I, though, go in with a different posture. It's loose, friendly and I come with treats to give the dogs. Louie never growled, never barked at me, and in fact he snorted like a pig the entire time.

Animal Control deemed him dangerous because he was "Obviously violent". It was said he was wrestled to be controlled. Louie has bad legs. He limps severely. He has a massive body and his joints are taking the toll because of it. On Friday when we realized the family couldn't pay his bail, we all panicked. We all started leaving messages for the ACO, the Animal Control Administrator, and the State's Attorney office. Louie was going to die Tuesday at 1pm. Somehow we received a stay of execution and was granted a hearing.

Luckily I keep behavior assessments on every dog I do an evaluation on. I took it, my credentials, my references, and a behavior assessment on a dog who IS dangerous who has a very assorted bite history. My training partner, Kayla went with me. This was the first time I brought her with me. She went on the assessment of Louie with me and I felt her knowledge of Louie would help. I also needed as much moral support as I could get. Last time I was in this position, it didn't end well and I felt scared and lost.

It was a fiasco and no one in court could agree on anything other than if Louie could be deemed not dangerous he would be remanded to my custody and I would remove him from the county to a rescue who dealt only with pit bull type dogs. The sheriff though who is the Animal Control Administrator had to make that call though. The ACO agreed to let us see Louie after the hearing. We had a volunteer who has never met him go in first to see if he growled at her. Nothing. Wiggling rear end for attention is what we got. Typical Louie!

Louie after court with me. He grabbed my entire bag of food roll I had chopped up. I can't say I tried too hard to keep ahold of it. The look on Becky's face is priceless though. Kayla removed the bag seconds later from his mouth with no problem.

Wednesday Louie was deemed not dangerous and I took custody of him. We made the long journey north to his new foster home. As soon as he was in our SUV he passed out cold. He had probably spent the entire time in animal control not getting any rest and he was exhausted. He slept the entire 3 hours on my foot.

After we got him there, we bathed him, got him all settled in and he fell back asleep. Louie will now start a journey after his shutdown protocol. The good news for me is that I get to still be in his life. I work with the rescue as their trainer and get to make sure he is ready to go into a home and live a happy and full life. There was a lot of tears, stress, and fears while dealing with this. All in a days work for us here though. I've always said I would do what it takes to keep dogs in a home, I hadn't planned on being ready to walk into a courtroom at the drop of a hat though. I'm glad I keep such good records on the dogs and can help when needed. 

Louie all tucked in and ready to start his new life.

Pitties In Need Kennels has taken Louie on as a foster and he will be available through them for adoption after his shutdown protocol. They can be reached on Facebook or by contacting Rebecca Hill in Kewanee. I can never thank them enough for being willing to take him on. I met Rebecca by chance when I assessed her dogs and her drive to save these dogs as well as do right by them with training made a huge impact on me. Thank you Rebecca!