For a couple of weeks in April, an abandoned dog, likely a German Shepherd/Yellow Labrador mix, caught the attention of the Big Sandy community. The puppy spent his days walking up and down the highway, chasing mini vans and pickups looking for its owner. More than a few locals put out food for him and spent time trying to lure the puppy away from the highway. The Big Sandy Needs and Yard Sale Facebook pages were active with discussion of near captures and locals offering to take in the puppy if and when he was picked up. Every day during the stray dog's time in town, locals could be seen trying to lure the pup with food or stopping traffic to protect the pup. Eventually, a group of locals managed to trap the dog in the Cultural Center and Sheriff's Deputy Jeremy Echols transported him to the shelter.
I visited with Benjamin Pullen, who has been running the shelter for the last year, about the dog. Our town stray was given the name "Charlie" though he often went by "Charles" or "Sir Charles." Benjamin worked with Charlie for months, socializing him and teaching him to trust people. A couple of weeks ago, Charlie was adopted to a new home, along with his playmate the dog that occupied the kennel next to his.
Working with Charlie was a slow process for the first few weeks since the dog was unwilling to engage with people at all. "Once Charlie got here, we got him on a leash outside and he was very scared of everybody. He got into this front area, and he sat and he wouldn't move at all. No matter what we did. We tried to let them warm up for a while and nothing happened. So I ended up just having to kind of carry/drag him all the way to his kennel. Then when he got into his kennel, he did not leave his kennel for almost a week. He would not leave his kennel to go outside to go to the bathroom. It took him almost a week to finally realize 'Oh, these people aren't so bad.' And then once he warmed up to us, he was our best friend who loved us. And he was a great dog." Benjamin explained that Charlie didn't cower in the corner or act fearful in his kennel, he was simply happy to be in his own space. "He didn't want to leave a safe space because of all the other dogs and just how big the shelter was. He was just a little concerned and he didn't trust us yet."
Benjamin explained that dogs who are afraid to leave their kennels require patience on the part of the trainer. "What we do here, especially for animals like that, we kind of don't bother them too much. We feed them, clean their area, given new bedding and things like that. Then every once in a while throughout the day, we just go and talk to him. Just sit near him. Just let him know, hey, we're friends. We're here, but we don't push their boundaries or limits. Eventually, they start creeping up to the edge of the kennel to say hi and then it just slowly goes from there. Some animals are a lot faster than than others. But he showed no aggressive tendencies or anything. He was just more of, 'I don't know who you are. So just I'm just gonna stay here, because this is my bubble.'"
"That was just Charlie. Most dogs aren't like that. Usually, food will perk them up a little bit. And they'll realize, 'why, if this person's feed me or give me treats, he's got to be a good person'. Charlie just wasn't having any of it. We think he was just that loyal to the people that abandoned him. Abandonment was a really big deal for Charlie. He took it a lot worse than most
dogs do. I've never seen that in another dog to that extent, where he didn't want to go outside to use the bathroom. He would just rather stay in his kennel and hold it as long as he possibly could. So that was very unique to Charlie himself."
Once Charlie began to warm up to people, it became necessary to get him comfortable with using a leash and leaving his kennel. "Once a day, we would try to put a leash on him. He would let us put the leash on him, but then he wouldn't walk on the leash. He would just sit and freeze. So every day, we tried once, just in the morning, and then one day, he decided to pick his head out of his kennel and he took a few steps, but he didn't get very far before he turned around, went back. Eventually, he warmed up so we could take the shortest path possible to outside. Within a month and a half, he was playing outside with other dogs and having a great time and just he took a really long time to warm up and trust people."
Benjamin remarked on the point that stood out to me the most about the events in April. I was taken aback watching so many locals putting effort into catching the stray. I've never really seen a community put that kind of effort into an abandoned dog. Benjamin commented that the the attention Charlie got from the town of Big Sandy was "pretty unusual. Just typically, animals get either picked up really fast or they're gone. The fact that Charlie hung around but didn't want to be caught really brought attention to him. So people put in the effort. Usually that doesn't happen at all. Big shout out to Big Sandy. That was awesome."
I am grateful to Benjamin and the staff at the shelter investing time and energy into the puppy the community took so much interest in. It was wonderful to hear the happy ending to a story that garnered so much sympathy. Dedman Animal Shelter is the only shelter serving the nearly 4,000 square miles of Chouteau County. It is often very busy and filled to capacity. Locals who are interested in supporting the shelter can donate to them or volunteer. Those who are interested in helping out can reach out to the shelter. You can also donate food or other supplies. Those interested in donating money can do so online through their website. They are currently looking for part time help. Of course, you can also adopt a dog or cat to help them with their work.
