10/23/2024
Story of One Dog’s Presence
A Little Background:
In 2015 a high drive puppy born at Whispering Pines was placed with a family with young children. If I remember correctly this was their first dog as a family. Dad, an avid outdoorsman, especially enjoyed bird hunting. The puppy they chose (Scout) had the higher activity personality he wanted.
Soon after Scout went to his home, Dad’s job changed where he needed to be away from home most every weekday. This is about when the wheels started to fall of the bus! Scout found that he had opportunities to be in charge during the week when Dad was away.
All but Dad found it hard to set the clear behavioral boundaries Scout required. Emails/phone calls in regard to Scout’s controlling behavior issues were addressed.
Fast Forward Two Years, Fall of 2017:
Scout, now an adult, was outside with the family and their babysitter. He saw a snake crawling behind the siding on their home. She saw Scout run to where the snake was and he started tearing the vinyl siding off the house to get the snake. When the babysitter pulled Scout away from the snake by his collar, he bit her.
I received a phone call from Scout’s owner who stated that Scout was going to either be put down or placed with us.
Scout came back to us that same evening in July of 2017. He was a mess… as he didn’t understand that he didn’t need to be in control of most everything.
After two months, which included some significant challenges, Scout learned to enjoy life as he let down his guard and accepted Mary Jo and I to have a higher pack rank. Scout became an obedient, well balanced, fun loving, active dog that understood and accepted his boundaries.
Heading West:
In September 2017 we were content with finding Scout a permanent home. We put a picture of Scout and his information about his personality on our website. We had quite a few inquiries as he is a very good-looking lab. We were looking for a home that would show Scout clear boundaries. Scout is a quite intelligent dog so a large concern was that his new family would unintentionally give him mixed signals and he would regress to wanting to be in control once again.
Scout was placed with a police officer and his family. He and his bride had recently purchased a home to raise their two young girls (ages 4 years and 16 months old) in the area where he was employed in law enforcement. He and I had a number of phone conversations during Scouts transition and Scout soon became attached to his family, especially to his running buddy the police officer. While Scout loved the wife, his loyalty was to the Police Officer.
Unforseen Horrible Change:
In the early hours of December 31st, 2017 the police officer was ambushed, shot and killed while on duty in a setup. He was 29 years old. The family had only had Scout for 60 days.
Life suddenly/horribly changed for the police officer’s wife, his two young daughters, as well as for Scout.
Figuring It Out:
For some time after the officer’s passing, we were told that Scout would trot to the entry door when visitors arrived. When he saw the visitor was not the fallen officer, Scout went back to his bed where he spent most all of his time. Scout appeared to be depressed/confused/mourning.
In addition, Scout was acting out of character as he didn’t want to listen to the officer’s widow and he started eating clothing which he hadn’t done before, finding toys to chew on, grabbing food off the counter, getting onto the sofa ... all things that Scout knew was wrong and had been trained not to do.
One day during this whirlwind of sorrow and change, the officer’s wife was particularly feeling overwhelmed with the loss of her husband, the responsibilities of family and the many unknowns that lay before her. She shared with me that she was sitting on the floor crying, with her head in her lap. Scout was nearby and heard her weeping. On his own, he came to her slowly with his head lowered as labs do when they did something wrong. She cried into his fur telling him he was not helping the situation.
Scouts New Role:
After that, Scout went from acting depressed, not listening, and a naughty boy to a role of awareness. Scout exhibited his caretaker personality by following his family wherever they were in their home. Scout would follow the two young daughters around the home, smelling what was in their hands and overseeing all they did. When the children would nap, so would Scout. This sudden change had mom feel her fallen husbands’ unseen presence.
Spell DOG backwards!
An interesting note…Grandma who had been quite allergic to dogs and needed to avoid physical contact with dogs, began to spend countless hours with her daughter and granddaughters. They wondered if she would be able to cope with the allergies, but she desperatley wanted to be there for her widowed daughter. To their surprise, she had no allergic reactions to Scout for all of 2018. As soon as the 1 year anniversary of the Police Officer's passing came, so did her allergic reaction to Scout return. One year of Grace.
Continuing Role:
Scout became and continues his assigned role! Mom recently was married to a true gentleman. Her daughters and his daughter and son are of similar ages. Mom and Dad have both witnessed Scout’s awareness. When the kiddos have the normal disagreements of some sort or another, Scout finds a need to become part of what’s happening which helps set the stage for a positive outcome. Scout's gentleness with the four children has been so healing for them. When he could tell that one of his family members was upset, he continues to seek them out and nudge them with his nose until they pet him, which ultimatley brings peace.
Lil Bear!
As Scout is now nine years old, Mom and Dad contacted us looking for another puppy, that they would name Bear. It was a total surprise for the kiddos. Mom and Dad met us in their driveway, we handed Bear to Mom. We followed Mom to the backyard as Dad videoed the event. Kids were over the top excited 😊. We spent four fun hours with family and in-laws whom own Porter, Scout’s rough and tumble 1/2 brother.
