Jay Leno appeared rather shocked when he learned about Pet Airways, the airline that caters exclusively to pets. He ran the airline’s short commercial, and I figured he’d come back with a one-liner after. He came back, all right, but with something a little less expected.
This is short. Watch it to the end, especially if you are due for a good laugh. Poor cat. But moohaha!
(Thanks to Dogster’s fabulous and keen-eyed editorial manager Janine Kahn for sending this video my way.)
It’s often said that “we can’t adopt our way out of pet over-population.” I say we can’t spay/neuter our way out of it.
I’m not even entirely sure what people mean when they talk about not being able to adopt our way out of pet over-population.
If they mean we have to have a big-picture view of the issue of pets being killed in shelters across the country, and not focus on just one piece of the puzzle, I can go along with that.
But I don’t think most people who use that sentence mean it that way. They seem to mean one of two things.
The first is, “There is no point in trying to adopt out all these pets and we should just kill them instead, because if we find homes for these we’ll just get more in to take their place.” (True also of killing them, but they don’t seem to consider that.)
The second is, “The only way to stop killing pets in shelters is to spay and neuter more of them.”
Now, low-cost/free and accessible spay/neuter is one of the steps to no-kill, and I support and applaud any community that has that in place. Yay.
But I think it’s kind of obvious that spaying and neutering will do absolutely nothing to save the lives of the pets who are homeless right now, nor the ones who will come into your shelter tomorrow or the next day.
The options are death and adoption. Spay/neuter isn’t going to help these pets, and rushing past adoption and waving your little speuter flag is going to mean those pets get dead. And the ones who come in the next day to take their place? Also dead.
I think it’s great that you have an upstream, supply-side plan. Don’t get rid of it. Near-universal spay/neuter has almost certainly accounted for a lot of the gains we’ve made in reducing shelter killing in the last two decades, even if there aren’t really any studies out there to support that. But I’m more than willing to believe that’s the case.
But if you don’t also have an equally strong demand-side plan, you’re going to continue to have the kind of killing rates in shelters that we have today, which are — or should be — absolutely unacceptable to anyone who cares about animals.
Although there are places in the country where there’s still a good amount of lifesaving potential in increasing spay/neuter accessibility and prevalence, in most communities, we’ve already harvested the low-hanging fruit. Most pet dogs and cats are already spayed or neutered, and spending huge resources chasing down the tiny number who aren’t is going to result in ever-dwindling returns, particularly when it’s done at the expense of better sheltering and better adoption, as is so often the case *cough* Los Angeles *cough*.
But adoption? Building better adoption systems is all low-hanging fruit. That’s because there are millions more people every year who get new dogs and cats than there are pets in shelters. Most of them are willing to consider adopting a shelter pet — and millions of them already have, and plan to again. Shelter and rescue group adoption accounts for more than one-fifth of all new dog and cat acquisitions in this country already.
It would take a very small increase in that rate — just up to around one-quarter — to save the lives of every healthy pet, as well as every pet with a treatable or manageable health or behavior problem, in every shelter in America.
Creating better, more appealing ways to get pets adopted doesn’t just help those pets or your shelter, either; it raises the profile of adoption in general and creates more social acceptance and awareness of adoption.
It both saves lives now, and builds infrastructure to keep saving them in the future. And even more importantly, it builds that infrastructure on a cultural level, not just for that one agency or community.
That’s why adoption is so critical, and in most places is the silver bullet, while spay/neuter is not. As long as you have high rates of spay/neuter in your community already, and a free/low cost and accessible spay/neuter program, all your low-hanging fruit is in adoptions, not surgery.
And if you’re in an area with very low rates of spay/neuter and no services, then yes, you need to get those s/n programs in place immediately. But that’s no reason to ignore adoptions. Those surgeries will only reduce future shelter intake; it takes adoption programs, and better sheltering practices, to save the lives of the homeless animals in your community right now, and the ones who will need your help in the near future.
The next time someone tells you that “you can’t adopt your way out of pet over-population,” don’t believe it. If they tell you that you can’t stop the killing with adoption, believe it even less. Because finding homes for homeless pets is the only way to save their lives.
My 16 year-old daughter was asked to write an impromptu speech in her rhetoric class about something that stirs her passion. She gave me permission to share this with you. I’m not so sure that all the traits she inherited from me are necessarily admirable. However, when it comes to her feelings about animals, I’m pleased and proud to report that the nut doesn’t fall too far from the tree!
“A dog, a friend, a keeper of all secrets, one who holds no grudges and does not judge. Have you ever said that your dog is your best friend? I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t throw my best friend into the streets when times got tough. However, some people do.
First of all, we can mutually agree that the world is going through an economic crisis. People are forced to make life-changing decisions about what is affordable.
But then, is it the heater, the car, the cable television, or the dog that goes? (I know sounds crazy right?!) Sadly, this is truth. In these times of struggle a dog is commonly thrown out the front door. The minor case of arthritis suddenly becomes the dog’s worst nightmare when the cost of medication cannot seem to be met.
Priorities people, priorities! How do things that keep us lifted in times of struggle suddenly seem impossible to manage? Yes, if worse comes to worse, and you are a victim of the next Great Depression, you just might end up living on the streets in the middle of winter, shivering so badly you can’t even speak. However, in the midst of this cold darkness, at least you’ll have your dog by your side to provide you with the love and warmth you need to make it through the night.
The point I’m trying to make is that when times get tough and not everything is affordable, most people look past what is most important, when in reality, a dog is priceless.”
Photograph by Susannah Kay
Dogs at Camp Unleashed, in Asheville, NCHey Dogsters! Ever wonder what it would be like to get away from it all for a few relaxing days with your dog? Not just to travel somewhere new, but to go to a place together that was truly welcoming for both two-leggeds and four-leggeds? How about going back to that rustic summer camp in the countryside that you attended as a child—but this time, with your best canine bud? And how about if it were a safe place where your pooch pal was free to be off leash, in nature, in a pack with other social dogs?
Here’s a contest to help you get there! Post a comment below about why you and your dog should win a full scholarship ($800 value) to an amazing four-day experience together at Camp Unleashed (travel not included). It’s easy. Just leave a comment below telling us how you would and your dog would benefit by attending your choice of one of the following sessions:
September. 22-25, Asheville, NC
September 29-Oct 2, Sequoia Lake, CA
Enter by Monday, Aug. 1, 5 pm PDT. The directors of Camp Unleashed will go through all the entries and select a winner and two alternates (in case winner cannot attend). I’m sure it won’t be an easy job, and I’m sure glad I don’t have to be the one to judge! We will announce the very lucky winner on Thursday, August 3 and contact the winner via email, so be sure to leave a real email address.
A little more about the camp: Founder Annie Brody started Camp Unleashed in 2004 to give dogs a vacation from the constraints of living in the human world with all of our “rules”– a place where dogs can be off leash, in nature, where they and their people can enjoy their “dogness.” The Camp Unleashed philosophy is based on people deepening their relationship through observing their dog’s nature and learning to think like a dog. There are lots of fun activities led by professional trainers. Choices include dock diving, agility, nose-work, freestyle, treiball, and more. Or you can just hang out with your dog at the lakefront, attend educational presentations, or relax with barks and crafts, etc. And yes, dogs and their people bunk together in rustic cabins.
Dogs are barking for Camp Unleashed and people are loving it too! There are some beautiful videos and stories here, and also on the Camp Unleashed Facebook page. Dog lover and chef extraordinaire Rachel Ray shares her insights about Camp Unleashed in the video below.
Camp Unleashed featured on “Rachel Ray Feeds Your Pets Special” from Camp Unleashed on Vimeo.
If you’re the lucky winner and you choose to attend the California camp, you’ll even get to meet canine music expert Lisa Spector. Dogsters, you might remember my interview with Lisa about her creation of Through a Dog’s Ear, the first music clinically demonstrated to relieve canine anxiety issues. She is the local director for the new California camp and will be giving a presentation on using sound therapy to improve your dog’s health and behavior.
RULES OF CONTEST:
Winning is contingent on your dog’s acceptance (from camp’s behavior questionnaire).
Each Camp Unleashed session is limited to 50 dogs and their people to ensure a high-quality experience and maximum freedom for the dogs.
Safety and a relaxed ambiance for everyone are the number one priority, therefore:
Campers must be over 18 years of age and may bring one dog.
Camp Unleashed is for well-socialized dogs only.
Dogs must be at least six months old and have received all required vaccinations.
Dogs that have demonstrated ANY aggressive tendencies towards people or have bitten another dog are NOT PERMITTED.
No intact dogs are allowed.
A Health Certificate signed by your veterinarian within 30 days prior to camp session and proof of current rabies vaccination is required for all dogs in attendance.
An alternate and second alternate will also be chosen, in case the winner’s dog is not accepted or winner cannot attend.
You don’t have to be a registered Dogster to enter.
Judges for the contest are the directors of the three camps: Annie Brody, Kay Loveland, and Lisa Spector.
Click for a complete list of camp rules.
Good luck! The winning human and dog will have a chance to immerse themselves in nature, celebrate the full free expression of their dog’s dogness, learn to think like a dog, and will leave camp with a deeper bond with their dog. And dogs and people alike will make wonderful new friends.
Let’s face it, pets can be addictive. This is especially true of exotic pets. Who can have just one parakeet or just one ferret? Perhaps more than dog and cat owners, exotic pet owners tend to have multiples of the same pet species and often more than one species. While it may seem like a good idea to pick up two guinea pigs at the pet store because they’re both so cute, who could possibly decide which one to take home? They’ll probably much happier if they’re not alone, right? Still, it should be noted that having multiple pets may not always be the best decision. While in some instances, it is true that having more than one of the same pet species (a small flock of birds, a herd of rabbits, a colony of chinchillas, etc.) may seem to provide companionship and comfort to the animal, it is not always best for their human caretakers and may not actually be best for the animals, either. Here are a few points to think about if you’re considering purchasing or adopting more than one exotic pet of any species:
1. SPACE – Do you have the room to house more than exotic pet?
Many exotic pets have very specific requirements for housing, lighting, heat, and food that take up more space than that of the average cat or dog. The requirements for varying species can be radically different. Plus, different exotic species cannot usually be housed together because of the potential for fighting, injury, etc. Before you run out and purchase more than one exotic pet, be sure that you have the space to properly care for all these animals.
2. TIME – Do you have time to dedicate to more than one exotic animal?
To be properly socialized, many exotic pets (birds, reptiles, ferrets, rabbits, and rodents, alike) need to be handled and worked with daily, not only when they are first purchased or adopted, but also on an ongoing basis. Before you consider having more than one pet that will require socialization, be sure you have time available to dedicate to each of them. While some people think that getting a “playmate” for an exotic pet is the answer, not all pets necessarily want friends or roommates. Plus, the kind of socialization an exotic pet gets from being handled by a human cannot be substituted for by interaction with another un-socialized pet. To get a well-behaved, interactive animal, there is no substitution for regular human contact.
3. FINANCES – Do you have the money to care for more than one exotic pet?
Many people forget the fact that all pets (even exotic ones) need regular medical care, and veterinary care, especially on an emergency basis, can be costly. If you double the number of pets you own, you double the cost of care. And if one gets sick with something infectious (parasites, a virus, etc.), the likelihood is that both may get sick and require treatment. So, unless you are independently wealthy, you might want to think twice about doubling up on the number of exotic pets you have, or you may find yourself scrimping on basic medical care for each of them.
4. BREEDING CONTROL – How will you control unwanted breeding among your same-species pets?
There are 3 ways to ensure your same-species pets do not inbreed:
The problem is that not even same sex animals housed together are guaranteed to get along. Some same sex species will actually kill each other over territory, food, etc., when housed together. Be sure you think about this before buying that extra-large cage.
5. SPREAD OF DISEASE – Are the different exotic species suited to live in close quarters?
Even if you don’t house your different species of exotic pets together, there are some species that can potentially spread disease to each other if they are living in the same air space. Take guinea pigs and rabbits, for example. Each one carries a respiratory tract bacterium that does not affect the species that carries it but that can be spread to the other species through the air. Good reason not to house guinea pigs and rabbits in close proximity, don’t you think? Many pet owners aren’t aware of these little known facts until their pets are ill.
The point is, before you decide that since one exotic pet is fun, more than one will be even more fun, there are a lot of factors to consider. While we may like company, many exotic pets may not. And even if they are found in large groups in the wild, the same groupings may not be appropriate in captivity, because these pets have not necessarily been raised together. So, before you buy twice, be smart, and think twice.
Photo credit: tennesseeanimals.org, myhouserabbit.com
Dogsters, last week I teased an upcoming story about a mystery celebrity dog by showing a few pictures of the dog. Of course, you all guessed who it was. I also promised to tell you the rest of the story. And here I am, with a most fascinating story of one of Hollywood’s most memorable dogs: Terry, aka Toto. It comes to us courtesy of Allan R. Ellenberger, who wrote for his very interesting and entertaining blog, Hollywoodland. Thank you, Allan!
Toto the Story of a Dog
By Allan Ellenberger
The most indulged of all the spoiled lovelies of Hollywood during the Golden Age were the canine actors who worked in films. They had their own hotel—The Hollywood Dog Training School—where at one time, seventy-five of the best known dogs of the screen lived in tranquil comfort.
The school was set on a pleasant ten-acre site, covered with oaks and willows, near Laurel Canyon Boulevard five miles north of Hollywood. Three hundred feet back from the road stood a cream colored frame house and back of it were two kennels, each 150 feet long. It featured southern exposure, long runs to each kennel, a large grass playground, showers in each section, and several porcelain bathtubs with hot and cold water, an electric drier and a special kitchen where, every day, a tempting cauldron full of vegetable and beef bone soup was cooked for dinners of the distinguished boarders.
Carl Spitz and some canine friendsThe dogs, like all other actors, employed a manager—the amiable Carl Spitz—who drove as hard a bargain for his clients as any other agent in Hollywood. The German-born Spitz first took up the work of schooling dogs in Heidelberg where his father and grandfather were dog trainers. Spitz trained dogs for military and police service in World War days. He saw Red Cross dogs search for dying men in no man’s land—and he devoted his life to educating man’s best friend.
Leaving Germany, Spitz arrived in New York in 1926, moved briefly to Chicago and soon found himself in Los Angeles, where, the following year he opened his first dog training school at 12239 Ventura Boulevard. Sometime around 1935 he moved the facilities one mile north to a ten-acre spot at 12350 Riverside Drive, where he remained for almost twenty years. “This is a school, where dogs go to classes just like children,” Spitz said. “We have grammar school, high school and college.
At first his services were for the public but soon the movies came calling. The transition to sound films required Spitz to drop his verbal commands and develop a series of soundless visual hand signals.
His first sound film was Big Boy (1930) starring Al Jolson in which he trained two Great Danes. This one was followed by the John Barrymore classic, Moby Dick (1930). It was too expensive for studios to create their own specially trained dogs so Spitz suddenly found himself in big demand.
Canine stars soon began to emerge such as Prince Carl, the Great Dane appearing in Wuthering Heights (1939). The first big dog star to appear from Spitz’s stable was Buck the Saint Bernard who co-starred with Clark Gable and Loretta Young in Call of the Wild (1935). Others included Musty (Swiss Family Robinson), Mr. Binkie (The Lights that Failed) and Promise (The Biscuit Eater). However, probably the best known dog star to emerge from the Spitz kennel that is known today is arguably Toto from The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Clark Gable with Buck in Call of the Wild (1935)Toto, a purebred Cairn Terrier, was born in 1933 in Alta Dena, California. She soon was taken in by a married couple without children in nearby Pasadena—they named her Terry. It soon became apparent that Terry had a problem with wetting the rug, and her new owners had very little patience with her. It wasn’t long before they sought the services of Carl Spitz’s dog training school in the nearby San Fernando Valley. Spitz put her through the usual training and in a few weeks she was no longer watering the carpet.
However, by the time her training was completed, Terry’s owners were late on the kennel board. Spitz attempted to contact them but their telephone had been disconnected. With nothing else to do, Carl’s wife suggested that they keep her.
Terry sort of became the family pet until one day Clark Gable and Hedda Hopper stopped by the kennel for some publicity on Gable’s new film, Call of the Wild. One of Carl’s dogs, Buck the St. Bernard, had a large role in the film and Hedda wanted some photos of him with Gable. That day Terry made himself known to the Hollywood people and Carl took note and the next day took her to Fox Studios to audition for a part in the new Shirley Temple film, Bright Eyes (1934).
Jane Withers and Shirley Temple with Terry in Bright Eyes (1934) Spitz put her through her paces—playing dead, leaping over a leash, barking on command—for the executives and was then presented to Shirley for the final say. Terry was placed next to a Pomeranian named Ching-Ching, who wasn’t part of the film but was Shirley’s own dog. Terry stood there for a moment, while Ching-Ching looked at her. Finally Terry rolled over, was sniffed and both dogs began running around Shirley’s dressing room. At last, Shirley picked up Terry and handed her to Spitz, grabbed her dog and skipped to the door. “She’s hired,” Shirley giggled as she left the room. Bright Eyes, which co-starred Jane Withers, would be Terry’s first film.
That same year Terry made another film, Ready for Love (1934) at Paramount. Next she appeared in The Dark Angel (1935) with Fredric March and Merle Oberon. Other films followed including Fury (1936) with Spencer Tracy; The Buccaneer (1938) for director Cecil B. DeMille and an uncredited part in Stablemates (1938) with Wallace Beery and Mickey Rooney.
Franciska Gaal with Terry in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Buccaneer (1938)One day it was announced that MGM was going to produce L. Frank Baum’s children classic, “The Wizard of Oz.” Spitz knew that Terry was a mirror-image for Dorothy’s dog, Toto based on sketches throughout the book. So he began teaching her all the tricks from the book, and sure enough, in two months, he received a call from MGM for an audition.
Spitz and Terry met with the producer, Mervyn LeRoy who had been inspecting an average of 100 dogs daily for the past week. “Here’s your dog, all up in the part,” Spitz said to LeRoy when he submitted Terry for scrutiny. Terry could already fight, chase a witch, sit up, speak, catch an apple thrown from a tree, and took an immediate liking to Judy Garland. Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley and the rest of the cast were accepted on first acquaintance with the dog. On November 1, 1938, Terry won the role of Toto without a test.
Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow” to Toto in The Wizard of Oz (1939)Terry received a weekly salary of $125, which was more than the studio paid the Munchkins. Before filming began, Terry spent two weeks living with Judy Garland, who fell in love with her and tried to buy her from Spitz. Of course he refused. Judy’s daughter, Lorna Luft, once said that her mother told them that the dog had the worst breath in the world. “It all made us laugh,” Luft said, “because the dog was constantly put in her face [with its] silly panting, and she did everything but wince because poor little Toto needed an Altoid.”
Terry did everything required of her, although she hesitated at being put in a basket and standing in front of the giant wind fans, simulating a tornado. One day they were filming on the Witches Castle set with dozens of costumed “Winkies” when one of them stepped on Terry’s paw. When she squealed everyone came running including Judy who called the front office and told them that Terry needed a rest. Until Terry returned a few days later, they utilized a stand-in for her.
The remainder of filming went smoothly for Terry and even though she appeared in approximately fifteen films, The Wizard of Oz was ultimately her best known. When the film was released, Terry appeared along with the cast at the premiere held at Grauman’s Chinese Theater. She became so famous that her paw print brought top prices among autograph seekers. Soon she began making public appearances and became so popular, that Spitz officially changed her name to Toto.
Terry, now billed as Toto with Virginia Weidler in Bad Little Angel (1939)That year was a busy one for Toto. Besides The Wizard of Oz, Toto also made a cameo appearance in MGM’s The Women (1939) starring Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford and had a larger role in Bad Little Angel with Virginia Weidler. The next few years had her appearing in Calling Philo Vance (1940), Twin Beds (1942), and Tortilla Flat (1942), again with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield. Her final film was George Washington Slept Here (1942) starring Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan. That year Toto retired to Spitz’s huge facility on Riverside Drive until she died sometime in 1944. Even though several of Spitz’s dogs were interred at the Camarillo Pet Cemetery in Ventura, he chose to bury Toto on the school property.
Carl Spitz continued to train dogs. In 1938, he wrote a handbook, “Training your Dog,” which contained a foreword by Clark Gable. As far back as 1930 Spitz tried to get the Army to let him train dogs for war use. But nothing came of it. Finally in the summer of 1941 they took him up, in a limited way. Spitz agreed to furnish the Army fifty trained sentry dogs—at no cost. He delivered six, had twelve more under training, and already spent $1500 of his own money in the process.
Spitz trained the first platoon of war dogs installed in the continental United States just prior to World War II. He was an expert advisor to the War Department in Washington DC and helped formulate the now famous K-9 Corps for both the US Army and Marine Corps. He became prominent nationally as a dog obedience judge at dog shows. Carl Spitz died on September 15, 1976 and is buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale.
Around 1958, the Ventura Freeway was being built through the San Fernando Valley and the route went through Spitz’s school, forcing him to relocate. Today the Hollywood Dog Training School is still in existence at 10805 Van Owen Street.
Sadly, not only did the freeway erase the school, but it also obliterated Toto’s grave.
It’s appropriate that Toto’s Memorial Marker is being installed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery this Saturday, June 18 at 11 a.m. Many of the people that worked with Toto are interred there including Victor Fleming, Harold Rosson (The Wizard of Oz, Tortilla Flat); Cecil B DeMille, Maude Fealy (The Buccaneer); Erville Anderson, Carl Stockdale, Franz Waxman (Fury); Arthur C. Miller (Bright Eyes); Sidney Franklin, Gregg Toldand (The Dark Angel); Ann Sheridan (George Washington Slept Here). She is in good company.
Allan R. Ellenberger is the author of several books on Hollywood, and is currently working on a biography of the stage and screen actress, Miriam Hopkins.
Received this photo from a couple of readers today, and had to post it for all of the Dogsters sweating it out in these horrendously hot dog days of summer. Here’s what Laura Hickman, the photographer of this icy masterpiece, wrote on the Facebook page where she posted the photo: “This is Elliot, an English Bulldog, and this is an un-posed picture (trust me, you couldn’t actually make Elliot do anything) of said pooch trying to beat the Ohio heat after his owners emptied their cooler in the driveway in Cuhahoga Falls, Ohio.”
Here’s to keeping cool this weekend, Dogsters! (I’m about to go from San Francisco’s high of 68 degrees to yet another 110-degree locale for research for my book, Soldier Dogs. I think I’ll bring along my very own bucket of ice…)
(Photo credit: Laura Hickman)
Jennifer Schwenker, her two sons, and husband, in a 2008 11Alive news story about children with autismAn off-duty manager of a McDonald’s in Marietta, Georgia, was caught on surveillance tape as she harassed the mother of autistic twin boys because they came into the restaurant with a service dog.
The mom, Jennifer Schwenker, told manager Tiffany Denise Allen that the dog was specially trained to help her boys. But Allen didn’t care for that explanation, and followed the family around the restaurant. At one point Schwenker entered a bathroom with her brood to get away from Allen.
After they left, police say Allen punched the mom in the face.
You’ll find the TV report, complete with the surveillance video, above.
The manager has been fired, and police have charged her with simple battery, simple assault fear and disorderly conduct.
We often hear about this sort of discrimination, but it’s rare to see it. How does it make you feel to witness this, Dogsters?
I had the honor of working on a true hero last week; Shadow the K9 police officer. The story surrounding how we met is tragic, but Shadow was able to pull off one small bright spot in midst of a lot of pain and suffering, of both the human and animal variety.
I received a text message first thing in the morning about a police dog whowas being brought to the Purdue Veterinary Teaching Hospital for treatment that morning. I had few details at that point, but as I drove into the teaching hospital (I have about a 90-minute commute) I caught several news reports on what had happened the previous night. I had never before heard about one of my patients on the radio prior to meeting them. It was a strange feeling, and a bit of a portent for the media blitz that would follow.
Shadow was accompanying his handler, officer Brent Long, on an arrest warrant call. This was no usual warrant mission: along with officers of the Terre Haute Police Department, where Shadow and Long had been serving for several years, were agents of the US Marshals and several other law enforcement entities. They were looking for a very bad man, indeed, and they had found him at home.
As the day unfolded, and police surrounded the property, the man they were looking for hid in a closet and then shot both officer Long and Shadow. Long received two shots to the head, and Shadow took a bullet to the face. The perpetrator was killed in the ensuing firefight, perhaps by Officer Long returning fire. Tragically, Officer Long died of his injuries at a nearby hospital soon afterwards.
Details on exactly what went on inside the house are still sketchy, but when the gunsmoke cleared two men were dead or dying and a dog was critically wounded and bleeding.
Shadow was taken to a local animal hospital, where he was stabilized before being brought to the Animal Emergency Service at Purdue for definitive care. He was being accompanied by other officers of the Terre Haute PD, and had been brought on the two-hour journey in a squad car with an escort.When we got the call that Shadow was almost there, we prepared for the worst. Oxygen, gurney, bandages all were at the ready in case he should arrive in rough shape. When he walked out of the car and into the hospital under his own power, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. He looked remarkably good for having been shot in the face and having just lost his best friend and handler.
Police dogs are trained to be loyal and fierce. They exist to protect their handlers, take a bullet for them if needed, and to get the bad guy by cunning, cornering or chomping. For all their positive and potentially life-saving attributes, they are not the most cooperative of patients. We need to do things to patients that can be uncomfortable, and we are utter strangers. To a police dog, a stranger could just as easily be a bad guy out to get the handler as a well-meaning doctor out to dress their wounds. We knew we would have our work cut out for us, and we were at a disadvantage in that we didn’t have Shadow’s handler there to tell him it was OK. Luckily, officers (especially K9 officers) are a tight-knit group, and we had one of officer Long’s friends on the force there to help us with Shadow. Shadow knew and trusted him, and he was of great help in assisting us in the task of getting Shadow back together.
In the exam room, Shadow looked around warily, uncertain of the new folks in white labcoats. He had been shot on the right side of his face, and had bled into the space below his jaw, causing a pocket of blood (called a hematoma) to form. The bullet had entered just below his jaw and traveled upward. What it hit along its trajectory was anybody’s guess at this point. The fact that he had not met with the same fate as officer Long was miracle enough for us, but the possibility of serious injury was still present.
We took Shadow to the anesthesia induction room. We decided that a CT scan of his head would give us the most information about what had been damaged, and what we needed to do to fix it. The area under the jaw has some major nerves and blood vessels running through it, and the possibility that his jaw had been shattered and would require surgery meant that I had to coordinate lots of different specialists that day. Anesthesia, dentistry, orthopedics and soft tissue surgery all had a handle in the plan. Trying to coordinate all of these doctors and services on a moment’s notice was a stressful and herculean task, but each one did their part and did the best they could to make themselves available for Shadow. Things moved with a greater than usual ease, likely because of the high degree of emotion surrounding the case. I was also lucky enough to have one of our best interns with me that day, as well as two bright and highly capable veterinary students on “Team Shadow.” It is asking a lot for students to be thrust into the middle of a big and high-profile case (not to mention the unanticipated TV appearances that would crop up later), but they all performed admirably, and I am proud of all of them.
In order to get an animal under anesthesia, a process known as induction, an IV catheter needs to be placed. This requires close proximity to the patient, and about 5 or 10 minutes of time. For animals who are likely to bite us during this process, we will often use a muzzle. For Shadow, we felt a muzzle would not work out as his injury was exactly in the area where a muzzle would fit over his snout. This put is in the precarious position of having to handle a dog who was trained to bite, without the means to protect ourselves. This was one of the first of several technical hurdles we would have to face during Shadow’s time with us. Luckily, the anesthesiologist was able to devise a plan that involved an intramuscular injection to render Shadow unconscious, followed by placing the IV catheters and hooking up monitors soon afterwards. There would be a short window where we would not have IV access if we needed to give drugs, but with the help of one of the officers we were able to give the injection and Shadow was safely asleep a short time afterwards.
As we were working on diagnosing the extent of his injuries, a media presence slowly built up outside the teaching hospital. The whole incident, from the tragic loss of Officer Long to the efforts to save Shadow, was becoming a major local story and we were right in the center of it all. There is always a lot at stake when an animal or person is critically injured, but the high emotional toll that the deaths had taken on all involved, coupled with the scrutiny and intrusiveness of the media, made the stress level in the hospital soar that day. We were able to keep our cool and function as a team, however, as we knew that that was the best way to ensure a good outcome for at least one member of the police team.
We are lucky enough to have a very capable and adept media handler and coordinator at Purdue, and he was able to keep the media noise down to a dull roar so we could get on with what needed to be done for Shadow. We did not allow the news crews into the hospital, but made the concession that a Purdue videographer would be there to film the events for later use by the media.
Once anesthetized, Shadow was hooked to all the whirring and beeping machines that monitor life signs. We were also then able to pull blood for lab analysis, to get a better picture of his overall health and how much blood loss had occurred. Once we were satisfied that he was stable under anesthesia, he was wheeled into the CT room for imaging of his jaw.
CT stands for computed tomography. It is sometimes called a CAT scan; it used to only be able to produce images along one plane of the axis of a patient’s body, hence the extra “A” for axial. Technology has advanced such that we can now reconstruct images at any angle we like, so the A has been dropped. CT scanning uses X-rays to produce images, known as slices, that have a far better ability to see through patients when compared to plain X-ray images. They are quick to perform, and within about 15 minutes we had lovely images of Shadow’s head, including the path of the bullet.
The news was better than we had dared hope. The bullet had entered the underside of his jaw, hit the bone at the angle of his jaw, and broken apart. There was damage to the area of his jaw just below the joint; the bone had shattered into hundreds of fragments in a small area. There were two larger bullet fragments; the rest was a constellation of little blips on the CT readout. After confirming that the authorities did not need the fragments for evidence, the decision was made to leave them in. The body would efficiently wall them off, and they were unlikely to cause future problems for Shadow. About the only levity that day was when someone reminded us that, in order to conform to Hollywood stereotype, if we did need to remove the bullet, time-honored tradition required us to drop it into a metal bowl for the requisite “ping-plunk.”
The decision of what to do with his jaw was at hand. The surgeons and radiologists amassed and pored over the images. A 3-D computer reconstruction was made of the slices from the CT scan. As I watched from the control room, a spectral image of Shadow’s head appeared on the monitor as he slept inside the gantry of the CT scanner. I could only hope that he was dreaming of getting the bad guy. The reconstruction allowed us to flip and position his skull as we liked, so we could see the damage from all angles. After a brief consultation, it was determined that the damage was not in a load-bearing area, and was not near enough the joint to require surgery. The second wave of relief spread through everyone that day upon hearing this. It was the same feeling you get when the Space Shuttle takes off without a hitch.
After attending to his entry wound and closing one small wound inside his mouth, Shadow was fitted with a muzzle while still asleep. The muzzle would keep him from opening his mouth too far and moving the fragments, but would allow him enough room to lap up the gruel that will be his diet for the next six weeks or so as the jaw knit itself together. My suggestion of a Hello Kitty muzzle was rejected in favor of a royal blue one more befitting an officer. The irony was not lost on us that one of our original concerns was of how we would be unable to place a muzzle on Shadow so we could handle him initially, but that same muzzle was now a major component of his recuperation plan.
As he recovered in a warm and quiet spot from his anesthesia, wound care and CT scan, we pulled some follow-up lab tests to assess his progress. We found that his hemoglobin count had dipped perilously low since arrival, probably as a result of blood loss and the fluids we had placed him on during anesthesia to support his circulation. I ordered up two units of blood from our blood bank, and he was transfused without any problems as he woke up from anesthesia. His hemoglobin count stabilized overnight. He was placed on a continuous drip of weapons-grade painkiller (fentanyl, the same drug that is sometimes used in epidurals during pregnancy) as well as antibiotics.
He turned out to be a better patient than we thought, and the nurses were able to monitor him and check his vitals without danger to life or limb. True, he had a muzzle on and couldn’t really connect if he intended to, and it is a tad hard to land a good bite with a partially broken jaw, but the most we got out of him was a low growl, as if to say “I’ve had the worst 24 hours you could possibly imagine – are you absolutely certain you want to put that thermometer there?”
The following day was a hazy kaleidoscope of interviews, phone calls and medical documentation and organization. From the officer who brought Shadow in, I learned that Shadow would most likely be retired from the police force and live out his days by the hearth of the Long family, where he had lived prior to the incident. Shadow walked around the hospital, seemingly enjoying his star status, and hopefully blessedly insulated from the horrors that had transpired to bring him to us.
We originally planned on releasing Shadow back to the family and the force the day after he came to us, but we elected to keep him another night to make sure he wasn’t continuing to lose blood. He started eating the morning after the CT scan, and once he started getting better he never looked back. We discharged him two days after he arrived, and he was met with a parking lot full of police cars and news media. Shadow’s story was on every evening news report that night, providing the positive counterpoint to the stories about officer Long’s upcoming funeral and memorial service. Most of the news reports that night made mention of the fact that Shadow seemed to be searching for his lost partner as he left the hospital and looked out at the sea of blue uniforms waiting there to take him home.
Shadow was able to attend the memorial the next day, partly because all those working on him helped him through the dark night of his injury, but mostly because he’s made of tough materials, and is a survivor as well as a fighter. I know that if he could, he would have saluted his fallen friend, handler and colleague as the procession carrying his remains rolled by under the scorching July sun.
