Kessel The Plott Hound From Maine

Kessel is our second rehabilitation case. Kessel comes to us all the way from the state of Maine. Kessel is a young male Plott Hound which is a hunting dog that has been used in Germany for hundreds of years. Kessel was given up by his owners because he bit their twelve year old son on the head. They were told by trainers back east that the dog was going to be difficult to rehabilitate and that they should probably euthanize the dog. As parents, of course their concern was for the safety of their son so they made the very difficult decision to give him up although they loved Kessel very much. As a parent I know how hard the decision had to be but they made the difficult choice not to endanger their son again. Through the Camp Bow Wow Network I became aware of Kessel's plight and offered to donate my services and give him a second chance!

Kessel's bite incident happened relative to food. All hounds have very powerful noses and if you get to watch a hound dog like a Bassett Hound or a Beagle, their noses are almost always on the ground sniffing those great smells. Food to a dog with as sensitive a nose as a hound dog becomes a huge motivator and without setting rules and boundries can become a huge obsession! These breeds of dogs more than any other type of dog are ruled by their nose! We will work very hard on setting boundries around food and exerting discipline and control to make sure we establish a relationship of respect around food with Kessel. Plott Hounds like Kessel are large in stature and look like a Coon Hound. Hopefully we will be ale to get some pictures in the next couple of days to post on the Blog!

Kessel had a great trip from Maine to Colorado and his previous owners paid out of their own pocket to get him out here via an animal transport service out of the state of Tennessee. We are excited to get to start working with Kessel. Our goal is to rehabilitate Kessel within 2-3 weeks and get him into a rescue situation or a forever home! Keep checking the Blog for more details about Kessel and our adventures with Kessel's rehabilitation in teaching him respect for discipline and leadership and setting rules and boundries for him about food and learning how to control those urges driven by his nose!

The Journey For Journey

Balanced Dog is taking on two rehabilitation cases. I will update the Blog frequently so that our readers can get a glimpse of what rehabilitating a dog is all about.

Our first case is Journey. Journey is a one year old male Pit Bull. Journey was found by Arvada Managment Officer Kara Pardikes along Ralston Creek at 52nd and Garrison in Arvada. The people who called about Journey, told the officers that Journey had been laying in the weeds by the bank for a couple of days. When officers approached Journey he tried to jump in the creek, thought better of it and decided he would try to play dead hoping they wouldn't see him. Kind of hard to do for a white dog in green weeds! The officers approached Journey and according to Kara his back leg started to quiver. The dog was so scared that officers had to catch pole him because he wouldn't move to get him to the truck. Once Journey was put in to the back of the truck he became very friendly and started licking and "kissing" the officers. Maybe he knew his life was about to change. Kara and Becky Robison the Animal Management Supervisor decided to keep Journey at their office for a couple of days to see if they could get him to come out of his fearful state of mind. Becky and Kara became concerned that impounding him at the shelter would result in his ultimate destruction because of the overcrowded conditions and their inability to take on a case of this magnitude. Becky and Kara thought of Balanced Dog!

Becky called me and asked if I would come look at Journey. I drove over to the Animal Management Office and they introduced me to this sometimes scared but sometimes friendly Pit Bull. I told Becky that I would see what I could work out and call her in the morning. As I thought about it overnight I thought what a great story this would be for all of us if we could rehabilitate this guy and get him adopted!

So Journey's journey began. Now you can probably start to understand why we named him Journey:)! Mitch Kramer and Tom Adducci the owner's at Indian Tree Animal Hospital and Pet Lodge supported my request to donate Journey's medical care which included treating him for both eye and ear infections, coccidia and doing his neuter surgery. Everyone at Indian Tree Animal Hospital fell in love with Journey through his two week stay at the hospital to recover from his infections and his surgery. Journey became even more friendly with the doctors, techs and staff and started to come out of his shell.

This last week I brought Journey over to the Indian Tree Pet Lodge. So starts Journey's journey on the path to ultimate rehabilitation and his potential adoption. I have donated our rehabilitation and training time and hope to get him in a Foster home situation in two to three weeks. I will keep the Blog posted on his progress and check out his story coming soon to Arvada's Channel 8!