One Working Dog's Dream: Pep's Story

Pep's story as published at the Best Friend's website. Pep is the dog we took up to Seattle last week....

Pep faced hardship after hardship in finding his forever home. But through the determined perseverance of a dedicated rescue volunteer, this working dog found his dream job in the most unique of places.

Pep's Story Begins

Pep's journey with United Animal Friends began in November 2010, after the energetic, intelligent Cattle Dog–Heeler mix was picked up as a stray by Animal Control of Prescott, Arizona. A striking dog, Pep lived in the shelter for two full months and was adopted out of the shelter three times – only to be returned for a slew of different reasons: dog aggression, hyperactivity, and a sudden inability of the new owner to care for him. Understandably, Pep became quite a bit frustrated by all this change. Being locked up in small, confined space just didn't suit his nature, and his frustration soon morphed into aggression towards other dogs. That's just how Pep ended up on the euthanasia list.

As a coordinator for United Animal Friends, I regularly visited the shelter and had met Pep a few times. Make no mistake; Pep was ball-obsessed and very active, but beneath all that energy was a sincere love for people. I saw him in his kennel and knew he could be a good dog; it would just take the right owner – someone who had the energy to keep up with him. So, I got Pep out of the shelter and into the UAF system. Pep went into boarding as no foster homes without existing dogs or cats (another unpleasant aspect of life for Pep) were available. Pep did relatively well in boarding and would behave for a little while at adoption events. But eventually, he would become bored and frustrated, and he'd start acting out.

Months passed, and finally, we had an interested couple fill out an application for Pep. It all looked very promising and I optimistically thought we had made a match. It was hard to advise the new couple on how Pep would behave in their home; he had never been in a foster home, so the best we could do was tell the couple about Pep's energy level and his penchant for balls. The couple seemed to take it in stride, perhaps assuming (as we did) that Pep had been in a kennel and it would just take time. Well, not much time passed before word got back to us: Pep was just too much for them to handle. His ball obsession was more than they could take – he simply never let up. Pep was returned yet again and it was back to into boarding he went.

Bonding Despite Setbacks

Throughout these troublesome times, I really bonded with Pep. I would take him on long hikes in the mountains and over time, I realized that I really loved him. But at the same time, I knew I couldn't adopt him. I consulted with another rescue person and we talked about getting him into a Search-and-Rescue program. Pep seemed to have a great amount of focus and drive, so the idea seemed like a natural one. After getting into contact with some Search-and-Rescue folks, I had them come out and evaluate him; they loved him. The problem was that they currently had other dogs in their homes so he could not be adopted by them.

A Bright Idea: The Journey Begins

Despite yet another failure, Pep and I ventured on. I brainstormed again with my rescue friend and this time, she told me about "conservation dogs." She explained that "Working Dogs for Conservation" is a program that utilizes the natural instinct of dogs to detect scat – all in the effort of identifying animals that are either endangered or invasive. It sounded great to me! I researched the organization and eventually got in touch with someone named Alice. Alice said she couldn't take Pep because she had dogs in her home already, but she suggested I contact a man named Heath with the University of Washington. I emailed Heath, who helped run the "Conservation Dogs" Program at the University of Washington's Center for Conservation Biology, and luckily, he responded to my inquiry. He sent me a couple of tests to run Pep through to see if he would be a good candidate; Pep passed all the tests with flying colors. Heath then said he was willing to try him out in their program.

The next stage of the journey for Pep meant travelling to Washington. In late March of 2011, my husband Roger and I decided to take the opportunity to learn more about the program, so we flew him up ourselves. Heath was very excited to meet Pep (Heath loves cattle dogs) and even offered up his guest bedroom for us. The Conservation Dogs facility is a brand new facility and I was impressed to see how nice and well-kept the kennels were. The setting was gorgeous with a pond just a short walk away. The Conservation Dogs program folks use the pond to exercise the dogs because it is more forgiving on their joints.

The dogs are all very loving, but just like Pep – ball-obsessed! I took this as a good sign. Most of the dogs that have come to this program were labeled (as Pep was) as dog aggressive and after being in the program and getting training all of the dogs have been able to get along and are no longer considered aggressive. Heath and his crew train the dogs with positive training methods and work the dogs 7 to 8 hours a day, which is precisely what these dogs need. They hike and bike with them in the forest and hide samples of scat for them to find. And of course, there is a LOT of ball play! Pep played ball for two hours the second day he was there and went on a hike with another dog and they got along fine.

Pep's Second Chance

So, my trip was a great success! Of course, Pep is not fully accepted into the program yet. He'll undergo more testing and training to see if he'll fit into the program. In a month or so, we will find out if he made the cut. All the program's working dogs are either adopted by their handlers, placed up for general adoption or given back to their original owners when their working years pass. By this time, the dogs are older and calmer, as they've have been able to thoroughly channel all that energy, so they're much more suited for normal dog life.

A quick update from Pep (now Pip's) new handler Heath explains that Pep is off to a great start!

Just wanted to give you a quick update on Pips first day. First off I'm pretty sure he's earned the name Pipsqueak, now we're just trying to decide if we'll shorten it to Pips, Squeaks, or Squeaker. I imagine it'll be a little of all of them. We played ball for about 2 hours after I got back this morning. He never let up. We even progressed to deep brush and covering his eyes to make him look for it. Just after playing fetch we took him on a hike with Sampson. They did great together! We then played fetch for another hour this evening.

We'll be slowly introducing him to the rest of the pack this week and see how things go. I'm delighted with how well this has turned out and to have Pips in our program. We've still got the hurdle of introducing him to odors but we'll cross that one when we get to it, for now we're just going to focus on getting him situated and having fun, not that smelling poop isn't fun. ;)

Pep's story taught me an important lesson. Working in animal rescue means you need to think outside the box. Dogs – like people – are all different; some are easy to adopt and some, like Pep, need alternative placement. The key is that we don't give up. As rescue volunteers, we are the only hope for many of these animals. And they depend on our ability to keep an open mind and persevere.

Click here for more information about United Animal Friends of Prescott, AZ.

Click here for more information about the Conservation Dogs of the University of Washington's Center for Conservation Biology.

Click here for more information about Working Dogs for Conservation.