Tasha was born somewhere in Quebec Province in the countryside outside of Montreal. By all appearance, Tasha is a pure bred Black Labrador Retriever. We know very little about her early life except that somewhere around her 6th month, she was abandoned and picked up by the Labrador Retriever Rescue Mission of Canada and eventually adopted by a young college student named Jon. Jon named her Natasha but her name quickly became “Tasha” for short. She was a small, docile, quiet puppy who quickly attached herself to Jon and wouldn’t leave his side; within weeks, the two had bonded and, except for the time when Jon had to be at school, had become inseparable.
Due to Jon’s irregular schedule, Tasha became accustomed to spending many hours at home alone. She seemed to manage the time very well. She was not destructive nor did she demonstrate any signs of boredom in the apartment. The best time of the day was whenever Jon came home and took her out for long walks, or to the park, or roller blading along the St. Lawrence. Tasha would trot by his side and every now and then, jump into the freezing river to retrieve a stick or some other object she noticed. She always brought the object back to Jon. During her hours alone, she began to nest in the deepest part of Jon’s closet and seemed to spend her hours asleep, waiting for him to come home. When friends came over, she was not friendly but tolerated other people as long as she could be next to Jon. For the first 6 months or so of her life with Jon, until she was just about one year old, she seemed the perfect companion.
Two events occurred in quick succession a little after what Jon marked as Tasha’s first birthday. It was winter, and Tasha was running around in the snow, when Jon appeared in a heavy coat and hat that he had not worn before; he was carrying a snow shovel. Contrary to everything that Tasha had ever done before, she instantly turned into a snarling, barking, growling dog, and heaved herself at Jon and especially at the snow shovel. Jon tried to talk to her but she wouldn’t quiet. She continued to bark and run at him. Finally, he put the shovel down and she went at the shovel and tried to destroy it. Jon was mystified. When a similar event occurred a day later with the long handled broom he used to clear the snow from his car, he began to wonder if Tasha might have had a bad experience with some similar object. He noted, though, that the Tasha who went after the shovel was a completely different dog from the one who had been sleeping next to him: she was aggressive and dominant and seemed to go instantly from one state of excitement and anxiety to one of docility and submission. The change happened so fast, it was like the flick of a switch.
The second event was even more alarming. Tasha was not a trained dog. Jon had worked with her a bit on leash and taught her to sit but other than that, Tasha had been such a cooperative dog and so eager to please Jon, that it had not occurred to him that she might benefit from formal training. Jon had grown up in the New Hampshire countryside and had had dogs in his life who ran free and lived the life of country dogs. So he had little experience with or understanding of what might be happening in Tasha’s life, either during her isolated days or her anxiety over the snow shovel.
One day a couple of weeks after the snow shovel incident, Jon took Tasha to the dog park, where they had gone many times before. He let her loose and she ran around as usual. She had typically not sought out other dogs to play with but had tolerated them. She preferred to play with Jon and retrieve a ball or other toy. On this particular day, the park was full of dogs, maybe 20 dogs in a relatively small fenced space. Jon threw a ball and Tasha went after it, followed by what had become a pack of dogs, who were all running around. The pack reached her and the ball at the same time and in the tussle over the ball, Tasha found herself in a dog fight with 5-6 dogs. She first charged aggressively to protect herself but there were too many. She submitted and was badly beaten up before Jon and a few others at the park could separate them. Jon carried her home, both trembling, Tasha bleeding.
Jon considers this event as marking a paradigm shift in Tasha’s life and behavior. After the dog park incident, Tasha became increasingly aggressive. The aggression built slowly at first but accelerated over a number of months. Various incidents occurred: she became hostile to anyone who came to the apartment and could not remain in the same room with strangers without barking and growling and threatening; walks became opportunities to bark and growl at people and lunge at other dogs. She could not be enticed into the dog park and when Jon brought her to large grassy areas to run, she could no longer be trusted to come back if she spotted another dog or person: instead, she would run toward other animals and threaten attack.
Jon adopted the practice of containment. He simply didn’t know what to do but he knew that he was responsible for keeping people and other dogs safe and so began the practice of isolating Tasha from potential triggers to aggressive behavior. By the time Jon had graduated from McGill and moved to Vancouver, Tasha had learned to accept a very few friends and family members, but with the exception of Jesse, Jon’s brother Michael’s dog, Tasha could not be around other dogs without attacking. Jon could not leave her in kennels, or with friends, he couldn’t exercise her or run with her or bring her to parks where she might encounter people, or children (a particular trigger for Tasha) or other dogs.
Finally, out of desperation, Jon found an animal psychologist who worked in Vancouver and arranged to have Tasha evaluated. The diagnosis: Tasha was a fear aggressive dog. Prognosis for rehabilitation: poor to zero. The psychologist recommended a training program that specialized in problem behaviors, in which Jon and Tasha enrolled and went to once a week for about a year. Being an exceedingly intelligent dog, Tasha trained quickly but remained aggressive in situations which caused excitement and anxiety for her. The bottom line for Jon and his partner, Risa’s life, became this: they had a dog that they were very attached to and felt responsible for, was a terrific dog when she was alone with them but transformed into a dog with a completely different, threatening personality when situations that were new or triggered aggressive behaviors occurred. Their lives and finances were completely consumed with managing Tasha and yet, they felt stuck and unable to truly help her. Tasha was not improving and as they looked ahead to the future, they could not see a way to a better life for Tasha or freedom for themselves. They felt hopeless and saw no way forward. Tasha was by now a little over 4 years old.
It was at this point, through a series of fortuitous and somewhat miraculous events, that Jon met Jeff and the Misty Pines team. A long, detailed phone interview with Jeff convinced Jon that Tasha might have a chance at rehabilitation and a productive life if she could come to Misty Pines and work with Jeff and his team. It was a huge, difficult decision. It would require flying Tasha from Vancouver to Pittsburgh, with all the anxiety that the trip would create for Tasha and for Jon, who didn’t know at various stages of the trip how she would react. It would require leaving Tasha alone at Misty Pines, afraid of people and a situation she didn’t know. It would require letting go of the dog he loved as well as letting go of his responsibility for her and trusting the Misty Pines team and process for an unknown period of time. It was all extremely difficult and without guarantee for Jon and Risa, their family, and most of all, for Tasha. Together, though, Jon and his family made the commitment to the dog they believed Tasha had the potential to be and she arrived at Misty Pines in mid-August of 2007. Jon said later that the day he took Tasha to Misty Pines and with Jeff, got her into the kennel and left her, was one of the worst days of his life. Tasha barked in the kennel for an uncounted number of hours until she exhausted herself and fell asleep. That was the beginning of her new life.
Tasha lived at Misty Pines for over three months. The early stages of her new life included highly specific observations by the Misty Pines team, the creation and management of situations that might trigger aggressive behavior, the collection of essential data that would eventually become the foundation of the plan for Tasha’s rehabilitation. Jeff led the team who designed the program and together with Brett, who became a major force in Tasha’s training, worked with Tasha on every aspect of her behavior and psychology. They understood and maximized her high degree of intelligence and willingness to please her leaders, they designed a program that built on and developed the potential of her breed.
Within about three weeks, Tasha was able to walk in a heel by Jeff’s side through the reception room to greet a member of her family. That day was one of the most remarkable of the five years of Tasha’s life: to walk calmly through the sea of people and a number of dogs, by Jeff’s side, looking up at him, (“Is this OK? Is this what you want me to do? In her eyes) until she could “take a break” and greet the family member that she recognized. Many tears were shed that day by everyone who had fiercely believed in the potential of Tasha. Here was the beginning of what can result from professional assessment, discipline, understanding and love of the animal, commitment to staying the course for the long term to reach the goal. And what was that goal? For Tasha to live the life of a normal dog, to be a good citizen, to greet new situations with interest rather than with aggression or fear, to “BE” a dog, to have fun, to be true to her breed: all the normal expectations that we all have for our dogs, and yet seemed to elude Tasha and her family until they entered into a true partnership with the Misty Pines team and all that it commits to and delivers.
That first calm walk with Jeff happened just about 8 months ago and Tasha will celebrate the first anniversary of her arrival at Misty Pines next month. A lot has happened since then. Jeff and Brett and the team worked with Tasha as a resident until she had been trained to the e-collar, could be without anxiety in day care with other dogs, could be a good citizen in class, could be around people and dogs without exhibiting aggressive behavior. What they did and how they accomplished the transformation is part of the story best told by Jeff and Brett: I will not try to do that here. There came a point when we all asked: OK, Tasha is functioning well now at Misty Pines but can she live in a house, with a family, ride in a car, go for walks, live with other dogs? There came a time when Tasha had to be tested and after almost 4 months, she had her test and went home with a member of Jon’s family, who lives right here in Western Pennsylvania. Jeff and Brett’s phone numbers were speed-dialed into the family cell phone, to be sure! But Tasha adjusted quickly to the new space and routine. It seemed clear that she had internalized her training and new behaviors and that she would make the transition .
Today, Tasha lives in a family with another dog, in a house surrounded by other houses with dogs, people, and children. She is able to hear children playing outside and run around her own yard with her fellow dog friends without barking and growling and heaving herself against the fence. As part of her maintenance/out patient program, she comes to Misty Pines once a week for a day and works with Brett. She also comes to class, and when she stays in the kennel from time to time, she does more intensive maintenance work with Jeff, as well as works on the skills that are a natural part of her breed. She continues to build on retrieving, swimming, running, and doing the obstacles. When she goes out on walks, she wears the e-collar and gentle leader, but she is now able to meet and greet without upset. She is still struggling with the mail man and doesn’t like delivery men of any kind, but then, neither does Sophie, the German Shepherd with whom she shares a house, yard, routine, and life. She will continue to come to Misty Pines classes and training, struggle along with the other “growlers,” and have to be reminded now and then who the leader is. One thing we know: her potential is tremendous and she grows toward fulfilling it every day.
The end of Tasha’s story is yet to be written but here is one thing we know: dogs exhibit problem behaviors for reasons, some of which we know, and some of which we don’t. Sometimes, what we do to help them exacerbates those behaviors. Many times, we do the wrong things for the right reasons. This was certainly true of Jon, who loved his dog beyond imagining, but who didn’t have the resources, including the professional expertise and the time, to help her. Out of love for the dog, Tasha became isolated and anti-social. Jon made a tough, courageous, unselfish decision in order to give his dog her best shot at becoming what he believed in his heart she could be but that he could not give her alone.
The result would not have been possible, though, without the remarkable Misty Pines team who took on the challenge of rehabilitating a dog who, as Brett still reminds us, tried to bite him the first day he met her, and who now can’t wait to “take a break” to greet him as her leader and one of her best friends. Most likely, every team member at Misty Pines has a story about Tasha like this as each one had participated in his or her own individual way in the process that produced the Tasha who is now known and loved by everyone. The end of Tasha’s story is not yet written, but this we know: belief in the heart and soul of the animal, supported by the kind of commitment and expertise that Jeff and his team brought to Tasha, can produce results beyond what one can imagine. Tasha is a dog with an intense love of life and sport. She is most of all a dog with a huge heart. Whatever she does next, she’ll bring all this promise to fruition thanks to the family and the team that believed in her.
As told by Claudia Gallant
