Rehabilitating The Vick Dogs: Phase Two
By Kelli Ohrtman

Today, 22 of the pit bulls from the Michael Vick dog fighting case have made it past the first phase of life at Best Friends in Kanab, Utah. To even begin rehabilitating the dogs, caregivers and trainers had to start from the very beginning, or phase one: building the foundation—namely, a relationship. The early days of the dogs’ stay was the time to make friends and to gain trust. Now they’re one step further on the road to finding homes.

Phase One: Trust
For some dogs, the first phase was longer than for others. Oliver, for instance, took months to feel comfortable around the people—even the people he sees every day. In an assessment done on Oliver before he came to Best Friends, it was recorded that in the shelter staff’s opinion, Oliver would probably never walk on a leash; he was too "far gone" to ever enjoy being around people.

Phase Two: Training
After seven months of trust-building, caregiver McKenzie Garcia says, Oliver loves walks. And he sits for leashing, he sits for his food and before you go on his run.” Oliver has learned to trust people and has now entered phase two of rehabilitation: training.

Once there’s a solid foundation of trust and friendship between the dogs and their caregivers, every interaction with the dogs becomes training. “We’ve been doing this at Dogtown [the dog area at Best Friends] for years,” says Dogtown assistant manager John Garcia.

“Everything we do is training, from teaching the dogs to sit before they get their food, to learning how to walk on a leash. All this helps make the dogs more adoptable.” The Vick dogs are no different than any other dog that comes to Dogtown. The Vick dogs just get more press.

Ellen, a tan, sweet female has yet to meet a person she doesn’t like. While foundation-building didn’t take much time with her, learning other “life skills” has been more of a challenge. Ellen is a food hound.

CGC Testing For Vick Dogs
Part of the (federally mandated) plan is that the Vick dogs must pass Canine Good Citizen (CGC) tests before they can be placed in homes. And that is no small task. Many good-natured family pets would fail miserably. The test requires dogs to be under control—often with just voice commands or hand signal control—at all times, even in the face of distractions. Distractions such as food.

Ellen's Food Challenge
One part of the CGC test will be that a food bowl is placed on the floor, and the dog must sit and wait until the handler gives the command that it’s okay to go to the bowl. This test will be a tough one for Ellen who, in most other regards is doing well. Currently, Ellen is beside herself when it’s time for food. She has what McKenzie calls a “food seizure.” When caregivers enter her run, Ellen completely loses control of herself, bounding around in frenzied anticipation.

The solution is patience and persistence. To prepare her for the test, the staff requires Ellen to sit when they enter her run with the food bowl. Then as the bowl is lowered to the floor, if Ellen makes a move toward the bowl the caregiver raises it back up to where it started. “Right now it’s taking about fifteen times to get the bowl to the floor with her sitting the whole time,” McKenzie says. “But Ellen learns quickly. It won’t take long.”Just like any other dog, the Vick dogs each have their own issues, likes and dislikes. Best Friends' job is to find a way to mold those preferences and behaviors into appropriate ones.

Vick Dogs Like Other Dogs
Perhaps the biggest news with the Vick dogs is… (drum roll please) many of them like other dogs! In fact, some of the dogs do better around people if they have a buddy nearby.

Who would have thought that dogs seized in a fighting case would ever be okay around other dogs? But many of the 22 Vick dogs that came to Best Friends are young and probably had little, if any, fighting experience. It’s quite a sight to see a group of them scrabbling over the smooth floor through the building to chase after a toy, tails wagging like propellers.

What’s also happening is a small shift—a ray of light, if you will— in the big picture of fighting dogs. Garcia says, “We hope that we’re showing people that this concept is possible. That when a shelter gets a dog from a fighting case, instead of immediately euthanizing the dog they will stop and think: ‘should we give this dog a chance?’”

Learn more about the Vick Dogs at Best Friends.

From NPR: Listen to a story about Leo, a dog from the Michael Vick case who is now a certified therapy dog:

Video—dogs playing together, Ray in training

Kelli Ohrtman is a freelance writer from Minneapolis who works at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. www.kelliohrtman.com

Photo of Ellen courtesy of Molly Wald