Life without Satchmo: DogTown

Showing posts with label DogTown. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Vicktory dog Lucas update

I love reading anything about the fate of the Vick fighting dogs,
so here is a follow-up of one of them for you to see that these
dogs were worth saving.
Please read this article from Best Friends and visit their site.
Maybe you could even consider a monetary donation to help
these dogs? I know I did and I feel quite good about doing
my part to help them.
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April 12, 2011 : 9:35 AM ET

By Cathy Scott
The adage “you can’t judge a book by its cover” could not be truer
when describing Lucas, one of the 22 former Michael Vick dogs
who arrived at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary more than three years ago.

A pit-bull terrier with telltale battle scars and one of the toughest
backgrounds imaginable, Lucas is one of the most popular of the
Vicktory dogs (as they are now called).

Lucas

The life of neglect the Vicktory
dogs led before coming to the
Sanctuary has caused some of
them to have chronic medical
issues. While their emotional
and physical scars continue to
heal, some of their more serious
medical issues are not apparent
to the naked eye.

Ten-year-old Lucas arrived at
the Sanctuary with a condition
called babesia, a blood parasite
that can be passed between
dogs through deep puncture
wounds, like those inflicted
during fighting. The condition
can be managed with medication, but one of the side effects
of babesia is anemia. When Lucas’s anemia worsened, he was
given a full checkup. Tests showed that he was having other
complications in addition to anemia. After exhausting other
methods of testing and to take a closer look at possible masses
seen on ultrasound, he was scheduled for exploratory surgery.
Late last week, several masses were removed from his enlarged
spleen, which are being biopsied. While undergoing surgery,
the veterinary team also took a biopsy of his liver which
looked abnormal.

“Surgery went pretty smoothly,” says
Dr. Patti Iampietro, who performed
the procedure. “Lucas is doing well.” But,
she adds, he’s still in recovery and “not
out of the woods yet.”

Lucas is improving with some help from his friends.

Now in the midst of recovery,
he is improving with the help
of our medical staff and
everyone who loves him.
He has many friends across
the Sanctuary and fans who
have followed his story.

Life for sweet Lucas truly began the day he and
the other 21 dogs landed in Angel Canyon, a
world away from the horrific lives they once knew.
Lucas, who was court-ordered to spend the rest
of his days at Best Friends, is proof positive that
dogs who have known only neglect and abuse can
begin anew and be the loving companion animals
they were born to be.

John Garcia, a trainer and manager at Dogtown,
where canines live at the Sanctuary, first met Lucas
when John traveled to the facility where the Michael
Vick dogs were kept before moving on to rescue groups, i
ncluding Best Friends.

“I was helping one of the employees there mix food
one morning,” John says. “[The employee] had
mentioned that he had always been afraid of pitties
from a fighting background, so he was terrified to hear
he’d have to work with the Vick dogs.”

But the caregiver’s face lit up when he spoke about
Lucas. “He told me it only takes one to change your
views,” John says. “This was an amazing thing to hear,
that someone who was afraid of a certain breed had
the courage to still work with [the] dogs. And to put it
so simply — it brought tears to my eyes. This truly
shows how dogs like Lucas have influenced people
all over the world and how much animals in general
can teach us.”

Lucas, the consummate optimist

Once at the Sanctuary, with
patience, one-on-one training
and ‘round-the-clock care,
the dogs, many of them
frightened, gradually
acclimated. Lucas, the
consummate optimist,
hit the ground running.
He’s done so well, in fact,
that he spends part of his
time in the offices hanging
out with executive assistant
Brenda Escher and chief
executive officer Gregory Castle.
At the end of the workday visits,
he returns to Dogtown.

A few weeks after arriving in January 2008, the Vicktory dogs
were introduced to the world at a news conference held on the
Sanctuary grounds. Many of the dogs were shut down and
scared because of their past. Not Lucas. He welcomed visitors
with kisses, surprising national media with his resilience. As
caregiver Carissa Hendrick said at the time, “He knows he’s safe.”

“I think Carissa was right that Lucas did feel safe here,” says
Dogtown manager Michelle Besmehn, “but I also think that
Lucas is just a confident dog. It is part of his nature.”

Lucas, simply put, is happy, and that is what Brenda says
stands out the most for her.

Lucas helps out at the office.

“When some visitors come
into the office and sit down,
he welcomes them by
jumping onto their laps and
lavishing kisses on them,”
Brenda says. “That tells
me that he’s not the menacing,
dangerous dog that far too
many people feel his breed
might be. He only wants to
be loved. We all are better
people for having had the
experience of having him in our lives.”

For Dr. Patti, his easy nature is also what has
touched her: “The thing that stands out most
to me about Lucas is his overflowing love of
people. He is so kind and gentle despite what
humans in the past have put him through. It
really teaches a lesson in forgiveness and
understanding that we humans should strive to equal.”

Michelle agrees: “We can learn a lot from him.
He has been a very happy dog despite his
background and despite all of the ups and
downs he has had medically.”

Dr. Patti says, “It is always a rewarding feeling
to help any animal, but helping those animals at
Best Friends who have no one else, especially
a dog like Lucas who came from such a
horrific background, is especially fulfilling to be
able to play a positive role in his health and happiness.”

The clinic team continues to monitor his progress
while waiting for the biopsy results. Updates on
his condition will be shared as we know more.
Brenda visited Lucas after his surgery and spent
time just sitting with him. “He recognized me
immediately, and I think he’s the trooper we
all know him to be,” she says.

The gentle side of Lucas, despite his past, continues
to inspire those who know and love him. “His joy
for life and a can-do attitude are something we
can all strive for,” says John. “Lucas really
does symbolize the American dog Despite a
very difficult past, he is affectionate and forgiving.
We are all pulling for him to get better.”
Photographs by Best Friends photographers

Monday, January 31, 2011

Cover of "The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's D...

Cover via Amazon I'm currently reading the book, The Lost Dogs, about the Michael Vick fighting dogs and the efforts that went into saving them from destruction. I had previously watched all the news about the fighting dog bust and I saw the DogTown special about the arrival and treatment of these dogs on television.

This book is difficult to read, especially the part where they describe the destruction of those dogs that either lost fights or wouldn't fight by the Bad News crew. Michael Vick did personally participate in the torture and killing of many of those dogs, despite what his PR reps say.

I like pit bulls. I have had opportunities to be around them on and off all of my life. I knew these dogs before they were given such a viscious reputation. I used to watch the Little Rascals, whose dog was a pit bull. I believe that some of what is said about these dogs is true, but I also believe that breeding and training are what have given us the really "bad" examples we often hear about. The bottom line is that this breed of dog is just that, a dog. They share the same tendencies and needs of every other breed of dog. It's a shame that we humans have decided to "demonize" the breed by treating them badly and by encouraging them to bastardize their normal instincts.

Below is a follow up video about the Vick dogs. I hope they have not been forgotten by the fickle public, especially with Michael Vick back in football. He is not a nice person and does not ever need to have any contact with dogs for the rest of his life, unless we can treat him just as he treated these dogs.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

A Best Friends rescue called Pup My Ride

The entrance to Dogtown Commons, on Cherry Street

Image via Wikipedia

I don't know if you watch this show or not, but I have gotten hooked on watching "Dogtown". I love seeing the wonderful things these people can accomplish. I watched as they took in the Vick dogs and worked diligently to rehabilitate them and find homes for the poor dogs. I have a friend who took her vacation and went to visit Dogtown where she and her daughter worked for several days cleaning, bathing, loving, training and sometimes socializing by taking an animal for the night with them to the motel.

I found this site and read the post about this years rescue event. Below is an excerpt from the blog and the link to go read the entire post. He has videos and many, many pictures, so I recommend you visit. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did. I hope you tune in to watch Dogtown, too.

To read the blog and watch the videos, click here

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Where I've been: Best Friends' Pup My Ride

The blog's been a little quiet for a while, I've been slightly busy...

Beginning on Nov 11 I participated in a Best Friends rescue called Pup My Ride, which we've done several times this year. Pup My Ride goes into the Midwest and pulls mostly discarded breeder dogs from puppy mills and arranges their safe transport to the Northeast, where they are very adoptable. These are dogs of all ages, mostly on the small side but usually with some surprises thrown in as well - like the beautiful and friendly pair of Mastiffs that turned up! This was my first experience with Pup My Ride and I was overjoyed to be asked to go along as the animal care supervisor - one of my dogs, Ginger, is a former puppy mill breeder and the cause is near and dear to my heart.

Co-worker Mary Richie and I met early on the morning of the 11th to begin the long drive from Kanab, UT to the staging area in a horse barn in the Midwest. I believe Mary's title here at Dogtown is receptionist but that doesn't do justice to her talents; and on this operation she is simply the Person Who Knows Everything and Keeps Track Of Everything. In a chaotic environment where dogs are constantly moving around and situations change on a moment by moment basis, she tracks every piece of information and can tell you anything about any dog at any time, as well as the closest place to buy an extension cord and where to obtain 6 bundles of newspaper at 1am.

Our noble steed for the long journey was to be a mid-90s Ford F350 Turbo Diesel Dually towing a cargo trailer loaded with all the supplies we would need for the staging area - soup to nuts, crates to poop scoopers. The rig really brings out my inner Tim Allen, I want to grunt every time I climb into the driver's seat. The coolest thing for the dedicated long-distance driver is the 75 gallon aux fuel tank built into the bed; between that and the two stock tanks it holds a total of 115 gallons of diesel for your long distance driving pleasure. The ride to the staging area took two days and was relatively uneventful, with Mary and I alternating driving and sleeping.

We arrived in the Midwest on the 13th at our host facility, a horse barn - which turned out to be PERFECT for this sort of operation! The 23 individual stalls each had their own door, so dogs could be let out to play in the stall areas or allowed to run around while cleaning was done without fear of escape - great! We met a few co-workers there including our fearless leader Kelli Ohrtman some dedicated Pup My Ride volunteers and began setting up the stalls to house dogs - including isolation areas and areas for puppies.

And oh, the volunteers... these are people who came here to do this for us and with us, some of whom traveled great distances to join us and stayed in hotels while on-site at their own expense. They all worked 13+ hour days without complaint, doing the dirtiest work you can imagine - scrubbing kennels and bowls, doing all the hands-on care. They were the lifeblood of the operation and some simply amazing, selfless, caring people.

Over the next two days, dogs came in and were dropped off by the vanload. Each dog needed to be given a collar tagged with an individual ID number and a crate location, so that we could keep track of every dog and make sure they were all taken care of. We also began the process of pairing dogs for transport, which I would continue right up until the transport truck loaded - the truck had 96 travel crates and we expected to ship 160 dogs on it, so it was important to pair dogs up as quickly as possible to see who got along with whom.

On rescues like this you never know what will turn up, and we were really lucky on this one; there were no medical emergencies - thank god! As the volunteers took dogs through intake and carried them back to their kennels they acted as the first screeners for possible issues, alerting us to things that needed to be looked at when our veterinarian came in to do physical exams on every dog prior to transport.

Though there were no emergencies, many of the dogs displayed signs of an abominable lack of care that is unfortunately all too typical of puppy mills: painful burrs and matts in long haired dogs that had never seen a grooming, nails grown into foot pads, obvious flea infestation and ear problems - and oh, the smell. There is a smell unique to dogs that have just been released from the mill that will stay with you forever; it's not just the excretions they have lived all their lives lying in in too-small cages but also of untreated abscesses, of infected ears. It is the smell of cruelty, made bearable by knowing that these dogs were about to have such a vast improvement in their lives.

The two intake days went quickly, with constant activity - cleaning, cleaning, cleaning; checking on concerns and socializing with the dogs. Behaviorally they were also a great group - by and large shy and undersocialized, but also curious and friendly. We saw huge changes in some of them over just a few short days as they began to realize that everything would be different now.

Many of the rescued breeder dogs I have met on this Pup My Ride transport for Best Friends and other mill dog rescues act like this: when you open their crates and invite them out, they don't quite know what to do. No one's ever done that before - they've always been grabbed, usually not very nicely, for a veterinary procedure or to be thrown in with another dog for breeding. They slink for a few minutes and stay low to the ground, their body language speaking volumes about their uncertainty even as they taste freedom for the first time.

As sad as this can sometimes be to witness, it is also hopeful: nearly every dog like this that has the curiosity to come out and give it a try will make a full recovery and enjoy and revel in their freedom.

After two days of intake we had our medical day, where our incredible on-site vet did physical examinations and innoculations on 196 dogs in an 8 hour period, with just one 10 minute break. She was fast but also thorough, identifying what dogs needed further treatment and/or investigation. Volunteers lined up with dogs to keep a steady flow coming to her, which also gave ample chance to visit with dogs while they waited!

As always, during the examinations crates were being cleaned, water changed, newspaper laid and dogs visited with - and in the evening, once the checks were done, the daily feeding. The barn was also surrounded by grassy areas that were great for walking the larger dogs - particularly Louie the Basset Hound, who always had a line of people who wanted to take him out!

On the morning of the fourth day the main transport truck arrived and we began to load it with dogs beginning at 6am - it contained 96 kennels which volunteers set up with absorbent pads and ice chips in buckets, then we loaded all the dogs. The load went very smoothly and the main transport truck was on the road by 9am, followed by a chase van that had some special cases in it destined for other rescues.

With most of the dogs safely on the road, our hard-working volunteers stayed behind to clean and break down every kennel and load the cargo van with all of the rescue supplies. That also went quickly and Mary and I began the drive back to Kanab at noon after loading 8 dogs into our truck, mostly special medical cases that would return with us to Best Friends for care. We decided to try sleeping in shifts and driving continuously the approximately 27 hours back to the sanctuary, and that worked out great!

We stopped every few hours for food and dog care, then immediately got back on the road with our charges. The Big Red Truck arrived back in Kanab on-schedule and Mary and I both went home for a long nap!

And that's where I've been!

More information on Best Friends' Puppies Aren't Products campaign, including information on the Pup My Ride program

Lots more pictures!

A few videos