CAN THIS DOG BE HELPED? CAN THIS DOG BE SAVED?

Having a different perspective on and belief about canine training/handling than most other people around you can be tough.  In fact it can be downright stressful if and when one chooses to state one’s perspective or beliefs honestly and clearly.  The very same people who fiercely deny that dogs today are pack oriented or are effected at all by any kind of left over pack instincts from their distant ancestors, wolves, will join up as a pack on social media and will aggressively verbally jump on anyone suggesting that dogs are anything different or can be handled any differently than how have learned and therefore how they believe.  The differences between both professional and hobby/novice dog handler’s opinions and preferences are wide ranging and at times can be an obstacle to people working together for the sake of dogs when the people involved can’t overlook the other person’s preferences.  The professionals cite their education and ‘science’ as proof that their methods/beliefs are not only best but are really the only way a dog should be trained/handled while the hobby/novice dog handler’s cite their personal experience with dogs as proof that there is more than one way, one method, to help dogs work through their behavioral issues that is humane, safe and effective. 

It seems to be an age old argument that is typically fueled by high emotions and the frustration that common ground just can’t seem to be found in those discussions about canine behavior, canine psychology and how to train and handle dogs in the most effective and humane way possible.  In other words some discussions on this issue, depending on the participants, can end up as an all-out war between two vastly opposed factions.  One faction insists that their way is the best way, that science proves it and that anyone who doesn’t do it their way is harming dogs.  The other faction insists that while what the other side chooses is very useful in most situations with most dogs that all dogs are different and therefore often require a different approach.  Both sides lose because they have dug their heels in and will not budge; they can’t learn anything from one another due to the animosity that exists between the two.  But in the end it is the dogs that lose because one person who has one view won’t partner with another person who has another view and in the meantime dogs are not being helped.

Having been descended on by a ‘pack’ of proponents for one side of the ongoing argument so many times in the past I have learned over time to keep my opinions on this issue to myself since it doesn’t seem possible to share information that may be beneficial to dogs. Especially with people who feel that they already know everything that they need to know and that what you are going to tell them would require them to be hard-hearted, mean-spirited, rough, abusive and cruel should they choose to try it.  One side acknowledges that the other side has many, many excellent points and practices but is not what they choose and can’t help all dogs. While the other side vehemently disagrees with anything and everything having to do with any points or practices they may choose because it’s deemed as harmful and inhumane to the dogs.  It can be very ugly, it’s a standoff in most cases and sadly it’s not helping any dogs anywhere with their behavioral issues; so this is why I no longer take part in discussions about canine behavior, canine psychology or ‘other’ ways to train and/or handle dogs besides what seems to be the current belief/practice.

There are times when one’s perspective and beliefs are validated and sometimes from the least expected places.  Keeping an open mind is always helpful in life but at times when it comes to this issue an open mind is the last thing you will find however I have done my very best to always keep an open mind so that I can learn from every possible method and practice.  After all isn’t the end goal to be to help a dog become calm, confident and stable enough to live in a home environment in harmony with all other living things? I often wish that if nothing else those who oppose methods/approaches that were not a part of their education and perhaps isn’t the latest and greatest according to their ‘science’ could just understand that most dogs can be helped but not all of them who need help can be helped solely by the one method that they embrace.  If only it could appeal to them that at times in order to help someone you must push them beyond limits that they may not want to be pushed beyond and that in the end when all is done the gift of challenging them to face whatever they fear in order to let go of the fear/anxiety/frustration and move forward can save their life; and more often than not will likely result in a happy, calm and fairly well-adjusted dog now free of its anxieties and fears.

So here’s an apology to all of the dogs that never had the chance to be gently guided through their fears/anxieties and frustrations so that they could learn that no one and nothing is going to harm them and who were euthanized because of experts who couldn’t see any other possibilities for the dog than what they had in their own bag of tricks:

“We are sorry that we humans damaged you so much that you could not live safely among other living things and we are also sorry that we could not gently and with love help you overcome the fears and anxieties that caused you so much pain. May you rest in peace to run free and happy over the rainbow bridge.”

Pack of Pit Bulls: UPS, DOWNS AND A NEW BEGINNING…

Pack of Pit Bulls: UPS, DOWNS AND A NEW BEGINNING…: I have been a pit bull advocate for five years.  My advocacy is small and has a fairly short list of activities we sponsor or participate i...

UPS, DOWNS AND A NEW BEGINNING…

I have been a pit bull advocate for five years.  My advocacy is small and has a fairly short list of activities we sponsor or participate in on a monthly and an annual basis.  We do what we can when we can that usually involves, but is not limited to, monthly bully walks, a pit bull education booth at local events, networking for dogs that need out of a shelter or to be re-homed and public education in school classroom’s and groups.  I/we have always wanted to do much more but due to being so small and being limited on how much time and effort we can put into projects we have kept pretty much to the ‘short list’ with an eye to the future when we can grow and do more. 

Last year, near the end of the year, I had a personal setback in that someone who I had a great deal of respect for and was beginning a new and very exciting project with decided that they no longer wished to associate with me because of a few differences of opinion.  I was devastated emotionally by this no matter how much I tried and tried and tried not to care.  To be certain I had completely and totally lost any motivation or desire to continue being a pit bull advocate.  Intellectually I knew it was ridiculous to allow one person’s rejection of me as a whole based on my opinion on a few issues but in my heart of hearts affect me so deeply that I was done…I really had lost all interest in the pit bull advocating thing and was seriously considering handing the advocacy over to the other members so I could get on with my life.  My heart was just no longer in it and for the last six months I’ve been going through the motions only because I felt I had made a commitment to be a pit bull advocate and had to keep that commitment no matter what.  If nothing else I am NOT a quitter so I kept on doing what I needed to do but without any real enthusiasm or even a true desire to do this pit bull advocate thing.

Just when I was still considering if I wanted to be a pit bull advocate anymore completely unexpected I found a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to this ‘pit bull advocate gig’ and found it in the most unexpected place…a book.  To be more specific a book about the Michael Vick dogs, The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant, that today most of which have moved onward and upward to being certified Canine Good Citizens and for many of them therapy dogs that serve the community. 

I can’t put my finger on what exactly in the book has brought me this renewed sense of purpose or has relit my passion but most likely it was the FACT that a majority of the dogs taken from the Vick dog fighting operation had once been considered by the public as the worst of the worst and even highly respected organizations had recommended arbitrary euthanasia for every dog found at Bad Newz Kennels that day.  These dogs are living proof of the ‘true spirit’ of pit bull type dogs and I will be damned if I will allow someone else’s inability to work with someone who has differing views on a few issues hold me back from advocating for these dogs.  These dogs that were born into a hell created by humans, who were asked to go against their very instincts as a dog and who were nearly to the last dog rehabilitated to become therapy dogs and family dogs that lived in harmony with humans and animals alike have become my new inspiration.  If these dogs can move passed the past and can embrace healing in the way that they have then I most certainly can let it go and find a renewed passion and commitment to advocating for pit bulls and for the people who have them.

Everything happens for a reason they say, and I believe, so I can’t help but think that The Universe allowed me this brief downside to being a pit bull advocate so I could come back with a brand new sense of purpose and commitment to the cause that I had once felt so passionate about.

Thank you Universe for helping me see the way.

Pack of Pit Bulls: THE LITTLE RED DOG

Pack of Pit Bulls: THE LITTLE RED DOG: I’m reading Jim Gorant’s book ‘ The Lost Dogs ’ that tells the story of the Michael Vick Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting bust, the events tha...

THE LITTLE RED DOG

I’m reading Jim Gorant’s book ‘The Lost Dogs’ that tells the story of the Michael Vick Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting bust, the events that led up to the bust and of course what has happened since.  I’m not that far into the book yet and am at the point where an expert animal forensics person from the ASPCA had been brought on board in an effort to corroborate the confessions and stories that had been told about the operation, and Vick’s involvement, from the others involved in the dog fighting operation by documenting what several dogs (9 or more) had endured when they were killed for not wanting to fight other dogs. 

This book is by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to hear and even as tough as I am when it comes to things of this nature I found myself crying as I heard accounts of what the dogs, but one in particular, had endured at the hands of Vick and his crew.  The one in particular is referred to as ‘the little red dog’ in the book and has had what I suppose might be considered a starring role in the book from page one.

I don’t know how human beings can do what these men did to these dogs by forcing them to fight in the first place.  That alone seems a soulless thing for any human to do.  Just the forethought, logistics and implementation of planning that goes into a dog fighting operation seems to go, at least in my mind, against everything a human being should be.  But how these dogs that refused to fight were dispatched to be culled from their fighting stock goes far beyond anything I ever imagined a human could and would do to a dog; dogs that looked to their care takers for food, shelter, safety and most of all attention and affection.  Yes I understand that we humans are capable of incredibly heinous acts against one another and that is an issue that occupies my mind from time to time but when it comes to dogs or animals that depend on ‘us’ for their very lives there seems to be something, at least to me, that brings forth the strongest emotions.  Like the abuse and killing of innocent children, which is something that causes me emotional distress, the abuse and killing of these dogs weighs very heavy on my heart. 

I keep saying how tough I am emotionally and that is very true.  I find myself to have grown into a person who accepts what is and chooses to go forward from there never really allowing myself to get too affected emotionally by the situation at hand.  I have seen what unfettered emotions can do and I prefer not to put that kind of obstacle in front of me as I go through life trying to navigate as best I can the rigors of life.  Most especially since becoming an ‘official’ pit bull advocate I have relied on my emotional toughness to guide and help me not be dragged down by the situations I encounter that are often heart breaking. I keep my head up when some others are drowning in emotions knowing that if I can keep my head I can be a better helper, I can be more effective and I can make a bigger difference than if I allow myself to be heart broken.  But the little red dog is challenging me in this respect.  As I heard the account, as testified by one of the Bad Newz Kennels people and supported by forensic evidence, of the last hours of the little red dog’s life I wept and I am affected still.  It feels to me as if I just heard that my own dog had been forced to fight another dog and when refusing to fight that dog had been thrown down stairs and when it had not succumbed to one of their usual methods of dispatching a dog had repeatedly been slammed to the ground by Vick and one of his partners until it was dead.

I don’t know what to do with this except to see that little red dog as the best motivation to come along for a long time to continue advocating for these dogs.  In my five years of being a pit bull advocate I have not really gotten involved in the dog fighting aspect as I have had my hands full with housing breed discrimination, dogs needing out of shelters or rescued, helping those who can no longer keep their dogs find suitable and responsible new homes for them and educating the public about pit bulls and breed discrimination.  Dog fighting of course is a part of what we consider ‘the pit bull problem’ and I support anyone and everyone who works to put an end to dog fighting and to hold those who indulge in it accountable for their abuse, mishandling and killing of innocent dogs bred for their nefarious purposes.  I won’t be shifting my focus as a pit bull advocate to dog fighting as if I add any more to my plate I will take away from everything else that I do for these dogs but I will keep the little red dog in my mind as a dog that none of us could ever have helped but that many of us may be able to make sure never happens to other dogs.

In the end if you suspect dog fighting in your neighborhood, town or city please report it and if you donate to causes please find a trustworthy organization that focuses on and works to end dog fighting so that they may do more to help these dogs and hold those who fight them and who kill them when they will not fight accountable.

My being an advocate and the advocacy I co-founded has always been the ‘legacy’ of my half pit bull half Rottweiler dogs Zeus and Odin but from now on it’s also the legacy of the little red dog who’s short life existed in pain and who died so horrifically.  We must stand together calmly, logically, rationally and with resolve to help these dogs and the people who choose to have them responsibly.  We may feel emotionally overcome from time to time, as I am about the little red dog, but if we are to be successful and if we are to be effective we must strive to put our emotions on the back burner and approach this thing with our hearts and souls in a calm, rational, logical and effective way showing solidarity and resolve to change the way these dogs and all dogs are regarded in society today and in the future.  It’s in our hands and it will take more than tears of compassion and anger for those who would harm dogs in this way or in any way to get this done.  We can get it done but not as isolated groups but together as one group of people who will not stop until it is done.

In closing just please think about this.  If there are people who you have distanced yourself from for any reason who can help heal the rift.  If there are people you don’t agree with on some points who can help put your ego aside and do this for the dogs.  If there are people you just don’t like on a personal level understand that the dogs could care less about personal likes or dislikes and that it is the dogs we are here for and if we can’t work together for them overcoming our personal issues then we can’t help them.  And if we who are dedicating our lives to helping dogs can’t help them who will?