Many of you have seen his face, read about his issues, and followed along with his progress. His story is rags to riches. A lot has happened in the three and a half years I have known him. Keep in mind that I only know what I have been told about his time before I got him, and then what I observed while he was in the rescue facility that I volunteered at and then eventually adopted him from.
Let's start with the very first time I laid eyes on this tiger-striped beauty at the rescue where I volunteered .... It was December 2017.....
He had been returned to the rescue after having been adopted up north in the Spring of 2017, but for whatever reason, his adopters needed him to be boarded temporarily, so he was brought back for that. I had only started regularly volunteering with the rescue in the late summer of 2017, so I did not know of him until he returned in December.
When I first laid eyes on him, he was chubby, playful, and excited to see people and doing zoomies whenever possible.
This was the very first pic I ever took of him the day he landed back at the rescue...
I will never forget his playful spirit. It reminded me of my Baby girl that passed a few years earlier. I did not observe any issues with any of the staff or volunteers - he seemed quick to make new friends.
I recently found his original adoption flyer and it stated he was "great with kids"..... Ohhhhh, how I wish I had stepped up to advocate for him sooner, but for the first 6 months he was back, he was not available for adoption, and would be returning to his home - or so we thought, so I devoted most of my time at the rescue to the dogs who didn't have homes waiting for them ....
Over the months, I got to know Reece pretty well. I was one of the regular dog-walkers, and I walked him several days per week. A shelter of any sort is not an ideal long term placement for any living thing, but surely when he went back home, he would revert to his happy-go-lucky self that he was when I met him. The noise of a shelter environment makes dogs anxious, the constant barking whenever someone enters makes the dogs yelp over one another for attention, and sadly causes some insecurities and even aggression over a period of time. Eventually, Reece had become reactive to all of the other dogs there, so special care had to be taken to avoid scuffles between fences or on walks. He had also become extremely vocal and reactive in his crate, and new volunteers were scared to open his crate to take him out for walks.
In June of 2018 we were told his family could not take him back, so he was once again available for adoption through the rescue. I picked him as one of my projects, and even found a male volunteer to work with him on the days I could not..... Reece absolutely adored Cory, and Cory worked hard to help Reece....
We walked him and another female dog together that seemed to get along on the fence lines. We felt he was making progress, but we were limited on what we could expose him to...
I also started digging a bit on his past and wanted to know more about him since he was now an 'adoptable' dog... I found he had been pulled from a rural municipal shelter, and even found his shelter pic from there and made a comparison from then.....
I was starting to see that he was fond of me, and I must say he started growing on me as well....
Unfortunately mid-summer 2018, Reece's crate was not secured properly (on days when it was too hot, raining, or too cold, the large dogs were left crated inside the building), the small dog enclosure was not secured properly, and the small dogs were running loose in the building - around Reece's crate, and he broke out and killed two small dogs. It was a tragic event and sadly because of this, his fate was up for discussion. Euthanasia was a strong possibility for Reece. I was not happy about this even being discussed since it was the result of human error. Sadly, several mistakes had to have been made in order for this tragedy to even be possible, but I couldn't take him myself, and so I didn't have any way to save him......
I had to find a trainer immediately who would assess Reece because I just knew he was a good dog, despite this awful accident. I knew Tricia Hall of Bone-A-Fide Dog Training, from all the work she did for the county pound, and she was able to come out quickly and literally saved his life with her assessment.......
She said he was not aggressive, but highly reactive, and under-socialized, but safe to go into a home with an experienced adopter, as an only pet, with no small children - a pretty tall order.
Fast forward to August 2018 and I took him on his first outing ever since he'd been at the rescue. I learned of his car behavior as well as his fear of strangers, and realized I had my work cut out for me.... He guarded the car like I'd never experienced a dog doing before.
I had the back windows down, naively thinking all dogs loved car rides, and when we had slowed to go through the small town I live in, we passed a family walking a small dog, he almost jumped right out of the window. Luckily I had his leashed secured to the back seat, but I learned he was not like 'most dogs' in that moment.
I took him to a huge 2 acre private dog park. It was his first time off- leash in a large area and he was wonderful! Distracted heavily by other dogs, but this environment kept him far enough away from other animals, that we were both able to have fun!
A few months later, I got him a special vest and took him out on a nature trail. Even though he had his special vest on, I had a young woman ask if she could pet him and I said "Of course!", thinking his biggest issue was other dogs and not knowing he was so reactive towards strangers outside of his crate. He ugly-growled at her, and lunged before she got too close, another hard reality check for me, and sadly another lesson learned.....
~ when he was not in a crate, he was behind a 6' privacy fence, so very little exposure to the world - and people.
~ when he was walked, it was the same path for 17 months. No new things to explore, no new people to see.
~ he never ever wanted to come inside from his yard, so he would often try to play with the caretakers, and they were ready to go home, so often he was lured with a treat, leashed, and closed up for the night in his crate.
~ the shelter was never able to secure proper training for the dogs there, and most were highly reactive. The shelter was loud, stressful, and not a great environment to be long-term.
In December of 2018, I went to a Christmas party and met someone who spoke words that forever changed my view of 'no-kill' shelters after a conversation about Reece and his list of issues making him seem unadoptable. I remember saying that "at least he was at a no-kill shelter and getting a chance at a life."
........................................................................
This person said, "There is a difference between a "life" and a "life sentence"."
Wow. Those words made me think...... He most likely was serving a life sentence with his long list of requirements to be adopted, and I wanted more for him than this chain-linked muddy run, and minimal engagement from humans, so my wheels started turning......
That is when I decided I was going to create a space to foster him so that I could work with him more often.... This space would be in my workshop and he'd be able to get a taste of home-life while I fostered. The shop has a futon, tons of space, and just feels good....
....In December of that year, 2018, I built a few proper kennels so that I could help more than just him if needed (and I actually did foster a few before he came to the farm as a permanent member of my crew).
The kennels were so nice, warm, colorful, and way more relaxing than the loud shelter he was coming from....
Due to his severe 'stranger danger' and my lack of confidence in managing that in public with treats and redirecting, I wanted to find a new trainer - someone who was an actual stranger to Reece, so that she could see firsthand how reactive he was.... Tricia met him before he had these problems, and Reece has proven that "once a friend, always a friend", so anyone met long ago, he was cool with.....
Needless to say, I soon realized that I could never give up on him, and I adopted him in July of 2019 and I vowed that he would never ever spend time in a kennel ever again - even mine.
This is where Adriana from Georgia Dog Trainer came into the picture..... She also worked with the county pound and she'd never met Reece....right off the bat, she was able to meet Reece while he was in full 'stranger-danger' mode, and she advised muzzle training would benefit us both. It would put my mind as ease that he couldn't harm anyone or any animal, and it would keep him safe from getting into trouble .....
He worked with Adriana for several months before he could lose the muzzle, and now is enrolled in reactive dog classes. I would have never picked such a project rescue dog, but it is true what they say, in that sometimes the dogs pick you. I love him to death, he is most loyal, loving, and willing to trust me even when I take him to hard classes. He has a long way to go, and he is the only dog that is not only dog-reactive, but also human-reactive, so the classes are a bit harder for us than the rest of the class, but we are determined.
.....Looking for a best friend? Look in your shelters. There are some pretty perfect dogs sitting in the shelters. There are also dogs like Reece who are either sitting on death row in municipal shelters, or serving life sentences at 'no kill' shelters. Reece didn't find his perfect home with me, but we are working on fine-tuning what his perfect life with me looks like. He still hasn't made friends with Christian, but with our 'ships passing in the night' differing schedules, it is hard to work on that aspect, so for now, we do what we can, and life is pretty good!
I hope you enjoyed reading about Reece. He is coming up on his two year anniversary with me here and I felt like sharing his rags to riches little tale! His official 'gotcha' day is July 20!
xoxo
-s
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