About a month after I started dogwalking, my group leader sent out an email about Tally, a beautiful brindle and white pit mix who seemed to be very depressed. 

There is an eyewitness account of him, before he was brought to the Humane Society, being beaten by a man with a metal rod on a street corner, so you can only imagine what kinds of atrocities Tally experienced while NOT in public.  He was thankfully rescued from that situation, but he now appeared to be suffering from kennel stress and wasn’t eating much and was losing weight, and he didn’t even want to leave his kennel when the dogwalkers came to take him out to the play yards.  At that time, I hadn’t gotten Tally out much, because everyone loved him so much, he was usually one of the first ones to go out–his biggest fans wanted to make sure they got their time with him.

After I got this email asking for walkers to give him lots of special attention and delicious treats and time out of his kennel in whatever way he was comfortable with, I made a point to get to dogwalking early a few times to get him out and spend 30 minutes or so with him.  And I had to coax him every few feet for the most part, but once we got to a comfy spot away from the kennel, he was content to just sit down, eat treats and snuggle.  I really fell in love with him just a little bit then.  We knew we wanted another dog for Cara at some point, but my plan was to get another dog closer to her size…Tally had about 15 lbs on her. 

About two months later, another email about Tally was sent out.  He had been showing inappropriate and unadoptable displays of aggression toward people around the Humane Society.  The Humane Society understandably will not knowingly adopt out an unpredictable and/or aggressive dog, and his behavior certainly wasn’t going to improve if he continued to experience kennel stress, which can manifest in a variety of ways, including depression, loss of appetite and even aggression, so a foster home was really his only shot. 

Charles has always said he never wanted to foster a dog, and I agreed.  But when I read that email, I knew that he would understand how important it was, and he did.  We said that if Tally got along with Cara and Charles, we would do it.  There was a bumpy start, but after a few tries, everyone got along famously, and so now here we are!

I take Tally to an obedience class once a week.  But for him, it’s more of a desensitization class.  The teacher, Donna, is gradually building back Tally’s trust in people. It’s been two months now, and I have seen him make some amazing strides.  It’s going to be a very long road for Tally, but I know he can do it.