When I began in the dog training and behaviour modification business eight years ago, I quite simply wanted to teach basic obedience. That was it. I had no wish to do behaviour modification, I had no wish to run a group that has it’s hands in so many dog and non dog related aspects on a provincial scene, I had no wish to get involved with a number of charities and I definitely had no wish to have it consume every aspect of my life. I fast forward 8 years and I now own three dogs of my own, have dozens that are immediate pack members, dozens more that are extended pack and thousands that I have worked with. The last eight years have been a whirlwind and fortunately there is no sign of it abating. I LOVE WHAT I DO!!! Let’s get that on the table. I consider myself very fortunate to do the work that I do and to have met all the people and their canines, two, three and four legged over the years. I am honoured that I have been invited into people’s homes and share with them the wonder of their furry companions. I have not met a dog that I did not like. Even the ones that want to eat me initially, I have an affinity with. It is a great source of pride that I count among some of my closest pack members, dogs that were completely given up on, dogs whose owners were told “put down your dog”, and dogs who just needed somebody to understand them.
In the last eight years, I have gotten involved with a number of situations that have been…interesting, and have lead to me finding myself in the public eye. Finding Barney was very rewarding. Being a key player in finding Kash and watching my group mobilize to help one of their own was humbling. Fostering for Heavenly Creatures and Beagle Paws has never dull. Helping get the Pit Bull Ban in Paradise abolished was something that I am very proud of. Testifying on an assessment completed on Zeus, the pit bull that killed the poodle mix in the Georgetown Pub area, was an eye opener.
This past month was a newer experience though. I decided to sit down tonight and write a blog on the story of the group of pities that I have taken to calling, “The CBS Seven”.
On December 11, 2013 I received a call from Constable Talia Murphy of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary regarding an unknown number of pit bulls left abandoned in a house in CBS. Constable Murphy was asking for advice on how to deal with the situation. She stated that CBS Animal Control was on site as well as a number of RNC officers. They had requested the help of Dr. Steel, owner and veterinarian of the CBS Animal Hospital. Dr. Steel was arriving to assess the situation and possibly sedate the dogs so they could be more readily handled. After discussing a variety of scenarios with Constable Murphy, it was requested that I go to the address and lend aid to the RNC and Humane Services officers.
Upon arriving on the scene, there were a number of Humane Services and RNC officers already present. A variety of concerns were expressed. These concerns included:
There were an unknown number of dogs in the house and shed
The dogs that could be seen were pit bulls
The mental stability of the dogs was unknown
The physical condition of the dogs was unknown
Upon consultation with Dr. Steel, we decided on the following plan:
Catch poles and sedation were not needed until a more thorough assessment could be done to discover if there was any need to use either. Catch poles are intimidating to most dogs. Both catch poles and sedation would only be used when all other methods were ruled out.
Myself and an RNC officer would enter the house with Dr. Steel standing by outside I would use a leash to handle the dogs and start escorting them out of the house one at a time to the awaiting Animal Control officers who were ready with kennels to place each dog. With that plan in place, we decided to approach the house.
The first thing I noticed upon approached the house was the stench emanating from the place. The odor of animal excrement was in the air. You have to keep in mind, this was December 11 about 9:30 pm. Snow was on the ground and it was around minus 10. To have that kind of smell coming from a home in those kind of conditions meant something was not kosher. We approached the back door to be met by a large male lunging at the glass. This guy was on the larger side, his ears were cropped and he was intimidating looking. Upon shining a light through the door, I could see this male was in a porch alone. The floor was covered in layers of feces. Now, when I say “layers”, I do not mean a pile of feces here and there, I mean feces covered the entire floor and it was inches deep. I turned off the light, calmly talked to the dog for a moment, opened the door to let him get a sniff at me and when I saw friendly signs, put the leash over his head and walked him into the awaiting kennel. He was excited to see me, appeared friendly to human interaction and despite the chaos of all the awaiting authorities, the lights from the vehicles and the excitement of being outside, he jumped into my arms, gave me a lick and walked into the kennel. It was after this that I found out Humane Services had named this guy, Blue. I returned to the RNC officer, exchanged a hope that the rest would be as good and proceeded to the main door of the house.
Upon shining the lights in there, I was greeted with a similar scene except this time, we could see three dogs. One was again lunging at the door, one was at the head of the stairs leading to the basement barred from the upstairs by a wire bed frame propped in the door opening, and one was chained to the washing machine just inside the door. Again feces coated the floor, there were holes that appeared to be chewed in the walls, furniture shredded and the dogs looked to have some injuries.
The first dog we took from the house was a small female. When I entered the house, initially she jumped back with a start and cowered. But upon bending over and speaking with her, she sniffed at me, jumped into my arms and after a bit of loving, out I walked with her. She was called Jazebelle.
Next I decided to look at the dog that was chained to the washing machine. When I approached this girl, she was scared. I approached slowly, calmly and on her level. She licked me. I saw wounds up and down the side of her face. She was in a mess. At the time I could not be certain if the wounds were caused by dog bites or the chain which had been wrapped around her neck, or a combination of the two. In any case, while hesitant to be handled, she allowed me to remove the chain from her neck, loop the leash and walk her out of the house. She was later called Roxy.
We reentered the house to remove Diesel. Diesel is a male Rottie/Pittie mix or a Pittie with a recessive gene….the discussion continues as to which. A beautiful boy who was behind the wire bed frame at the head of the stairs. He whined and cried to get out from behind the bed frame and when I took the frame down, he immediately bounded into my arms and gave me a serious face washing. I walked him out of the house after some loving into the kennels of the awaiting animal control officers.
Myself and a couple of the RNC officers proceeded to walk through the rest of the home. You have all by now seen the videos and pictures posted on the state of the house. I can tell you that the media pictures did not do it justice. There was feces throughout the house. The only signs of food were shredded empty food bags scattered throughout the house. There was no water, not even in the toilets. After entering every room, it was determined that there were no further animals in the house and we could move to dealing with the dogs in the shed.
Since the plan for the house worked well, we decided to follow the same plan for the shed. I went to the shed with Dr. Steel, shinned the light in through the door but could not ascertain what the shed contained. We could hear the dogs barking and crying but they were all behind wooden partitions which blocked our view. Given the confined quarters and the unknown situation, it was decided that I would go in alone to this one with Dr. Steel standing outside the door, ready to assist. I grabbed a flashlight, a leash and entered the shed. I found three boarded up stalls. There were no gates, no evidence of water and again only a shredded empty food bag on the floor to show that they were fed. I looked to find three stalls, each containing a dog and again a floor full of feces. There was no gates on them so the only way to get them out was for me to jump into each stall individually and lift the dogs over the barrier. Two dogs showed signs of being fearful, one was jumping at the barrier quite happily.
Miss Happy pants was the one I removed first. I later found out her name was Willa. When I hopped in with her, she gave me another face wash which rivalled Diesel’s and was only too happy to jump into my arms. I lifted her over the barrier to place her on the floor only to have her jump up on top of the barrier again to try to pull herself over the ledge to jump into my arms again. I attached a leash onto her and just handed her to the waiting officers.
The second dog from the shed that I jumped in with got named Phebe. She was a little shy and nervous at first. She darted to the end of her kennel and approached slowly. However, within a couple of minutes, she was happily licking at me and allowed me to lift her over the ledge and bring her to the humane services vehicle.
The third dog was a little more reserved and scared. It took her a little longer to warm up and feel comfortable being handled. However, when she did, she melted into my arms, put her head on my shoulder, tucked into my neck and it was in this position that I brought her from the shed and into the arms of Dr. Steel. She later became the media darling and was the dog in Zach Goudie's arms during the CBC Here and Now segment.
All dogs were brought back to CBS Animal Hospital to be checked and treated. All were dehydrated and very hungry. A couple of them had wounds and cuts on them from what appeared to be bites from the other dogs and burns from laying in their own urine.
I attended the hospital two days later, was given a tour of the place by the staff and got to see three of the dogs. Poor Blue had just come out of surgery having been neutered hours before. Despite their ordeal, I got to hang out with the three and further see their demeanours. I posted pictures that night to Facebook of my visit. For the next five minutes, I could do nothing. My account was slammed with notifications from people liking the pictures and commenting on them. My computer screen was lit up like a Christmas tree.
The following week I was asked by the Town of CBS to return to Humane Services and complete assessments on each of the dogs. I did so with pleasure. Five of the dogs; Diesel, Willa, Jaze, Roxy, and Shay were staying at Humane Services. Blue, and Phebe were at CBS Animal Hospital. I conducted the assessment and found only a couple of concerns. Diesel and Blue were dog reactive especially with male dogs. Work with these two is going to have to be conducted to ensure appropriate counter conditioning is done change this behaviour and their owners would have to be aware of how to monitor and deal with this behaviour until the work for the change could happen. Shay and Roxy were the other concern that I had. They were friendly enough and gentle but their shyness and fear concerned me. Work with them toward building appropriate self confidence would have to be done. Jaze exhibited similar behaviours although to a lesser extent. Willa was a wiggle worm and seemed to be unfazed by anything.
Today I was contacted by the Town of CBS officials stating that the dogs have all been placed in their new homes. As a part of the adoption contract, the new owners have to complete at least one, one on one with myself so we can discuss future training and raising of these dogs. All these dogs are going to be a handful in a variety of ways. The Town wanted the new owners to start things on the right track and set these dogs up for success as opposed to reacting after a failure occurred. I am happy to report that as of this writing, I have already been contacted by three of the new owners and expect to hear from the other four within the next couple of days.
This experience was hugely rewarding and was one that I was only happy to be involved in. I have to throw out a number of bouquets to the people who were involved with this:
Props to the person who originally reported the situation and made the authorities aware. More people should stand up to animal abuse and not tolerate it even if they are reporting their neighbour, their friend, their brother….these dogs could not speak for themselves. Good for you for being their voice.
2. Huge props to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and CBS Humane Services for calling me in. It took guts that night to do so. Huge respect going out to you.
3. Dr. Lesley Steel of CBS Animal Hospital. This incident was my first experience dealing with you and your staff and it will not be my last. You were the ultimate professional on the scene and within minutes I felt comfortable with you at my back. Anybody in the CBS area looking for a vet office….I cannot say enough good about these guys.
4. The Town of CBS….be in Humane Services, the Administration and the Mayor. Huge bouquet to you and the efforts you put into this one. From the animal control officers on the scene, to getting all the dogs spayed and neutered, having them assessed properly and taking the time to find homes based on the assessment. My hat goes off to you and yours. Your actions in this case are a good example for other jurisdictions.
I would like to end this post by reposting a comment I made to my facebook group that night about these dogs….here it is:
To all the friends, families and supporters that have been keeping up with the story of the 7 pities in CBS. Yes, it is a disgusting situation and I am glad it is getting the attention that it is getting. More people need to be aware of the plight of our four legged companions and need to get mad. They need to be able to say "No, this is not right and it is not going to be tolerated...not in my community, not in my town and not while I know". Stand up to animal cruelty and abuse. Report it and sing it from the roof tops. Be the voice for those that cannot speak for themselves. They will thank you for it.
People also need to be aware that just because a dog is a pit bull...does not mean the dog should be treated any differently then any other dog out there. Pit Bulls are no better and no worse then any other breed. Like any dog, it is all in how they are bred and raised.
For those looking to do something for these seven...CBS Humane Services have completely taken them on. People are lining up to foster and adopt. I don't know the plan for the future for them but am hoping to stay involved. They need it.
I just want to remind people that there are a lot of dogs out there....dogs with the SPCA, Beagle Paws, Heavenly Creatures, Bullies in Need, GPAC to name a few... who are just as worthy and need your help. If you want to do something, send some support their way. Donations of money, food, supplies, fostering, and adoptions are always in short supply. Heck, donate to those groups in the name of the CBS Seven....all involved will appreciate.
Thanks for the kind words too guys. They are much appreciated. I love what I do and appreciate the opportunity to help out when it is needed.
Ken Reid