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Last night I named him
Chance and today at noon I killed him. Chance was the KC Saint I
rescued Tuesday, he was vetted Wednesday morning and then went into
temporary foster while I arranged a trip up north to my regular
foster.
He showed a little male aggression at the shelter
but was fine with women and children and when I finally was allowed
to remove him from his cage for an evaluation he settled in and was
fine. Several males there petted him before he was sent to the
holding area. He again showed a little male aggression in foster as
well as at one showing so I knew I had possibly misread him. I
promised my foster up north I would do a thorough evaluation this
morning before I brought him up and I did. At temporary foster
he was put in the garage so I could do a one on one in tight
proximity; I made my initial approach and he attacked me doing a
full bite on my protected left fore arm. I repelled him in a non
aggressive manner but he circled back and took me again. I backed
out of his reach and he retreated to the other end of the garage. We
looked at each other for a minute and then I approached him again
and this time he stepped towards me but in a more friendly demeanor
and allowed me to pet his head for a while before giving me a
warning nip. Again I retreated and went over and sat down on a
block, I put my face down as he approached and he gave me kisses and
nudges with his nose. At this time he had 3 strikes against him but
I thought he might have reached a turn around and I was torn as to
what to do. I decided on one last test which was to let him see that
I was getting ready to stand but then do so in a quick but non
threatening manner so as I prepared to rise be backed off 2 steps
but as I approached full height he nailed me for the forth time...he
had obviously been abused by an adult male in the past.
Please remember Chance as a very good boy with some very rotten
luck.
FROM Paula, Chances temporary
foster: Your friend Trish put an appropriate label on some thoughts
I had but had
not been able to form into words: "envelope
of learning plasticity."
I developed a relationship with this dog
over a period of 10 days. I had
been bonding with him and
feeling closer. The big light bulb that came on
in my head
Friday morning and scared me was the realization that his
needle
hadn't moved. He treated me cordially, because I gave him
food
and didn't get in his way. I think I had been
subconsciously pushing his
buttons a little bit Thursday
afternoon and Friday morning trying to find
something genuine
going on in there. It just irritated him. There
was
no friendship or bonding. His needle hadn't
moved. If I were to
accidentally scare him or challenge
him, I was no better than all the rest.
He would take me out as
fast as anyone. He had no ability to make
new
connections. His envelope of learning plasticity was
sealed shut.
You saw that played out on a grand scale
that last few minutes before his
4th bite. It followed the
same pattern I had seen in miniature numerous
times over the
previous two days. Something inside of him wanted to be
a
friendly dog, but the ability to make the connection had been
permanently
erased. My heart split wide open at that
point. I had to admit that the
feelings I didn't want to
have were right. There was nothing further we
could do
except take steps to save someone else from serious injury.
Chance had no ability to change at all. In
ten days, the needle didn't
move. There was zero progress and
most likely never would have been. The
act of rescuing a
dog usually gets some reaction that you haven't been
able to
observe in the shelter, so I had great hope. Adult rescued
dogs
seem to understand a lot about where they have been and what
you have
done for them. There is a very special bond of
appreciation that grows
almost immediately, even if it is
cautious. I thought it was going to be
there with Chance,
too, but he had totally sealed himself out from
allowing any
kinds of new connections. We had no magic that could
change
that.
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