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!

My Peace, Light and Love

It's been a roller coaster for the last two weeks. I was called as a vet recommendation to help a family who had their dogs taken. I've only met the vet once and it was as I was searching for a pit bull who had been stolen and the owner was trying to get her back. That was last fall and that little girl is back in her home.

I am always amazed at how people who have never really met me come into my life and on our journey together we come out as friends. When I started this journey I expected to make a difference in the dog's lives, but I am quickly learning that it's the humans I impact the most. To have a vet's office refer to me as the pit bull lady, well, I'll gladly accept that title.

But, back to the roller coaster. Two dogs who were cherished family members were being taken away from everything they knew and sadly I saw the emotional breakdown that causes in dogs. Dogs grieve, they love deeply and they can be confused by what is going on in their world.

I'm thrilled that I am able to say the day shined a little brighter for those two dogs as tonight they are in their home where they belong and will be sleeping in warm beds with their humans rather than on cold concrete. They don't have to stare at a door wondering what they did so wrong that they were cast out into a pen. Nope, they are all snuggled together and are a family again.

This last two weeks have been constant phone conversations, checking laws and mainly seeing that the dogs were as comfortable as possible. My role isn't always about just how to have a well behaved dog. Sometimes it's about what an owner can expect from the laws and what they can do to stay within the realm of the law. And sometimes I'm just there for strength. I tend to hold it together and then come home and hug Greyson as tight as possible. Luckily I have a dog who demands hugs and understands while I may have to be someone else's rock, my husband and him are my rock.

My hope is that in time I have a fully functional consulting business on matters like this. That is why on Monday I start classes for my behavior certificate. While it may cut into my time available for assessments and day to day training, I even have taken care of that. I've started teaching someone to do training for me. She is starting her classes shortly to be able to gain her certificate as a professional dog trainer. She's one of the few people I trust with Greyson. We met on a freezing day and since then our paths have been intertwined.

I should mention that her pit bull, Cupcake is my Greyson's playmate. While Greyson doesn't normally play well with others he has found a kindred spirit in Cupcake.

The picture is Greyson and Cupcake working together with Kayla. This was from Cupcake's first birthday.

One small victory!

I lived in Wayne County, Ohio. When I moved to Illinois 12 years ago I never realized that there would be a reason that I couldn't go home again. Wooster, Ohio made that decision for me.

When I moved here I didn't plan on falling in love with a breed that would make travel a little more difficult because they were banned. Alas, love is blind and that's exactly what happened. My parents live in a breed neutral town, but if you want to shop (most of my art supplies came from Wooster) or go out to dinner, you went to Wooster as it was only 15 minutes away.

Last night that changed though. The breed I love can now enter Wooster as they became breed neutral! A huge weight has been lifted! No more do the words "he's mostly lab" have to be said. Any dog can be mistaken for a pit bull, but I see the American Staffordshire in Greyson more than when we got him at 8 weeks. Boxy jawline, large forehead, strong muscular chest. To me, he's just Greyson, but to someone who isn't familiar to mix breeds, at the right angle, we're screwed. But no longer!

Barb Knapic was sent a lot of emails and letters. People spoke out and truthfully she said it best when she agreed last night the ban doesn't work by voting to remove it. It is costly to test dogs and she admitted it herself. Law enforcement and animal control officers have to be trained to know breeds and how many in cities with bans are even trained? Greyson has the fur of a lab/akita mix, but he has the body of a pit bull. So what breed does that make him? It's a fine line and most animal control officers wouldn't be able to identity what Greyson is correctly.

Thank you Wayne County residents for reaching out to Barb and all the rest of the Wooster officials! And most of all, I can go home with any dog I have in my care! And now when I come home I won't feel I can't go anywhere for fear of having to fight a battle I would lose!

Greyson likes to show off his boxy head!

In the beginning...

A lot of times people ask how this crazy life has become mine. So here it is...meet my crew.

In 2006 I got married to my best friend. We moved shortly after to his hometown of Jacksonville. It's a great little town in central Illinois. After much talk we decided to adopt. We went to a rescue facility in Springfield and roamed room to room. Deciding we didn't know what we want I sat in the floor of the kitten room. This thin black cat came out of her basket, licked my arm, curled into the littlest ball and went to sleep. Sold!!

Her name was Blackberry and she was very shy and scared. The entire way home we tried out different names. We stuck on Yusa. We're both huge into Japanese culture and it fit her.

Yusa adapted quickly to our lives. Her only flaw was when left alone she would sit and claw at herself. People terrify her but since our home was quiet she was happy as long as we were home. (I should mention that Yusa was attacked by something larger than her as a baby. She was 6 months old when we got her but she has scars under her fur around her ribcage of claw marks and she was front declawed.)

In 2007, when I had taken Yusa to her vet checkup he noticed her patchy fur, cut marks from digging and her outright fear of anyone who isn't familiar to her. So we discussed when she wounds herself and narrowed it down to Yusa has anxiety. Fabulous, my cat is crazy. Well, least that's what went through my head!

The vet had a plan though. If we got her a playmate who was younger then she could bond with it and it would help alleviate some of her anxiety. And, of course, he had just the one for us. Enter, Princess Isabella.

Now, I should have known within the first five seconds of meeting this little girl, I was cruising for disaster. The receptionist brings out a tiny 4 week old screaming and swiping calico kitten. She instantly attached herself to my sweater and swiped at my husband's face and connected. After her set of shots we brought her home. She was still screaming her little head off.

We let her meet Yusa and needless to say, Yusa was not impressed. Bella, as we have always called her, quickly became my husband's cat. She would perch like a parrot on his shoulder and hug up against his neck.

Sadly we learned Bella was found by our vet when she was approximately 4 days old. The receptionist bottle fed her and amazingly she lived. Bella though is not the healthiest of cats. From being bottle fed she never got important nutrition from her mother. She also lacks the understanding of how to be a cat. Then there's the small issue of she is pretty feral. Yep, of all the cats I could have picked, I pick the feral cat.

While Yusa and Bella didn't outwardly get along, oftentimes I would come home and find them.curled up together. Bella had gotten much larger than Yusa and become the bully. We often had to seperate then to keep Yusa from being injured since they would often fight.

We were pretty content with what we lovingly called "The girls", but there was still something missing. In January of 2011 I got a phone call from a friend. On her porch that morning was two puppies. Fearing they had been abandoned she called me. I went over and checked them out. They were sweet puppies and we checked around and they were reported missing.

The next day I went to the pound to see if the puppies had been reclaimed and they had. While I was in the back a lady came in and was checking out the dogs. We started talking and after explaining I was looking for a young puppy so The Girls could adapt she explained she had a litter at her rescue.

We met Abner, Baylean, and Bodean that weekend. Abner was small and outgoing, Baylean was pretty but she wasn't quite what we were looking for (we honestly had no idea what we were looking for) and then there was Bodean who was trying to hide in the back of the crate. His siblings were beautiful but there was something about him that just screamed "I'm your new dog!" We picked the dog terrified of us and named him after Dick Grayson, Robin from Batman. I just happened to misspell it on his adoption form.

When we got Greyson home, he was terrified of our cats. He was convinced he couldn't be away from me and he whined a lot!! Somedays I look at this peaceful being in my lap and am amazed since he was a hot mess when we got him.

Grey over the last two years has been a great learning process. Actually all three of them have been for us. I have spent countless hours cleaning up Yusa cuts from where she still to this day harms herself. Bella gets extremely ill once a year with upper respiratory infection. And then there is Grey. Somedays he thinks he's a cat. Somedays he thinks he's a dog. One day he will figure it out.

I'm thankful to have seen all three grow and blossom. We love them dearly. And they make our days fuller and brighter. Now that I've said that I'm sure I'll have to break up a cat fight shortly.

The picture is Yusa stretching out on her back in my arms.

Gates, Crates and Automobiles

Easter -- The time for family gatherings and good cheer is upon us. For some of us though that can be very stressful. If you have a dog like mine who tends to not like social gatherings then you may have your hands full. Today I'd like to talk options.

So, what do you do if your dog is an ass in general and you have a large family gathering going on? I know I've talked about this with some of my clients and I wonder who it's more stressful for, the dog, or their humans.

First off, please don't feel like you can't socialize as a normal human because of your dog's social needs. This can actually be a way to meet new and interesting people. I have made a ton of friends just because Greyson while being cute and fluffy, he sparks an interesting conversation when I ask humans to not reach down to pet him and instead let him come to them.

Now, without further ado...my list of options.

1) Crates! If your dog loves his crate, take it with you! Going to Grandma's? Ask her where a nice calm spot is that you can put Fido's crate so that he can chew on his tasty Kong that you packed.

As always with crates, never ever use it as punishment. Never yell at Fido and shove him in a crate. We want crates to be a place of calm and peacefulness. It should be your dog's safe place.

2) Gates! Gates are my best friend. Having a dog who destroys himself in a panic attack in a crate has caused gates to be my wonderful friend. If you get the wooden baby gates they are light and pack flat in a car. This way you can take Fido with you and just put up gates. Please, make sure you are gating Fido somewhere safe and where he won't get into anything dangerous.

3) Last, but never least...the car. There has been a lot of time we have avoided conflict by either staying in the car or quickly getting back in the car. Sometimes we just need a moment to regroup and decompress. The car comes in handy for that.

So, remember, no matter where you are use things to your advantage. I can't tell you the number of times I've ran up on someone's porch just to get Greyson out of a bad situation. And luckily, most people know us on sight and don't ask what in the world we are doing.

This picture is Greyson and I revisiting the people who took a chance on a litter of pups and took the whole lot of them to the vet. Who would have known my shy scared little boy would be wagging his entire body in excited glee to greet all of them. His litter was the Christmas Miracle pups and he truly is my miracle.

My dog doesn't like your dog...and I'm fine with that.

A lot of times I get people who say, "I want my dog to like everyone he meets!" And, people tend to look at me like I have three heads when I reply, "Why? Do you like everyone?"

All dogs are individuals. They each have a unique personality and just like humans, sometimes those personalities clash. We have to step back and not look at breed standards or what we expect out of a dog, and instead; look at what the dog is capable of. If you had a dog who was shy would you pair him with a dog who was over the top and always in your shy dog's face? Probably not! But, what if your shy dog started to come out of his shell more because of the other dog being so over the top? It is up to your dog and what he/she will accept.

You can also make the transition of a new dog coming into your home a lot smoother by using a shutdown protocol. Imagine, you come from one home, to a rescue and into another new home. That would be pretty confusing. I know I would feel shuffled and unsure if it was me. Sometimes, people complain that the shutdown is unfair to the dog. A dog in the first two weeks needs time to shake off the stress and start to adapt. By using the kennel and not just tossing two dogs together, it's a much easier process.

Now, what do you do if your dog truly just freaks out around other dogs? I like to ask questions about the environment the dogs were introduced in. Was it a tight confined, place? Was the dog on a tight leash? Was there somewhere open that they can meet? Was it a nose-on-nose meeting? My number one question is: If the dog had to choose between flight or fight, did he/she have enough space for flight?

Now if your dog is just dog aggressive, there are still options. I live with a dog aggressive dog, and he has playmates. They are carefully selected playmates whom he gets along with. They all play well with him and surprisingly enough, their personalities range all over the place. We took a lot of time selecting his playmates and it was a very slow process.

There is also BAT (created by Grisha Stewart) and I use it not just with Grey, but also with a few clients. I use this is conjunction with a focus program and have seen first hand how a dog can self soothe as well as focus on me as I remove them from the potential of a dangerous situation.

So, in short, there are options and I never like to deprive a dog from playing with another dog, but if my dog doesn't like your dog, I'm perfectly fine with that!

The picture is Spudz. He has taught me that having only a handful of playmates is A-okay!

Do a Pretty Dance!

The winter months are almost over and I think just about everyone, unless you live in a warmer climate, are getting a little cabin fever. In the meantime you can keep your dog's mind busy and stave off boredom.

http://domorewithyourdog.com/pages/trickdogtitle.html
By learning tricks, your dog can earn a title. A dog who is learning will be a tired dog. I always suggest working in 3-5 sessions per day for 5 minutes at a time. Within no time your dog can learn fun tricks and earn a title or two.

http://www.activedogtoys.com/collections/treat-toys
Interactive treat and food toys are a great way to keep a dog busy. A busy mind is a tired mind. By making a dog work for their food it gives them a challenge and will keep them occupied. A lot of dogs enjoy eating their kibble out of a Kong wobbler. Take part of Fluffy's meal and use it in the toy. That way no overeating and Fluffy keeps busy.

http://championofmyheart.com/relaxation-protocol-mp3-files/
Another good option is Dr. Karen Overall's relaxation protocol. This has been in my toolbox for a long time and this site has the MP3 version which means no more reading pesky scraps of paper. 

There are lots of other options as well, you just need to explore them. Ask your local indoor walking areas if they allow dogs. Take regular outtings to the local Farm & Home if they allow dogs.

In short, keep engaging your dog and keep Fluffy working!