by Bob Davidson
1996
If there ever were a sweeter dog than this, I would be surprised. Especially when considering the things she has been through in her life, I am constantly amazed at her stability. When my first Rottweiler, Brutus, died of cancer, I made a decision that his death would not be in vain. Indeed, this was a chance to save a dog, a deserving animal that would otherwise be doomed. Since at the time I felt capable of only really being able to keep one dog, I saw many that were worthy of rescue, but I was unable to save them. Now, due to Brutus' ultimate sacrifice, I was in a position to save one, if only I could find the right one.
In the days after Brutus died, I went by the local Animal Control facility daily to see what dogs were available. If you have ever visited such a facility, then you know what sad places they are. Rows upon rows of cages are filled with poor, bedraggled animals who will each, unless they are extremely lucky, pay with their lives for the sin of being born. As hard as it was to go there, I knew that was what had to be done. On each of my first two trips I found several Rottweilers among the multitude of dogs, but all were either very obviously sick or in other conditions which would preclude them from becoming the dog I was seeking. It was necessary to get past that feeling that I was, by passing them by, bestowing upon them a death sentence, and instead use the point of view that I would be able to save only one. That made it essential to make the correct choice.
On my third trip I struck paydirt. I met the sweetest little girl. I looked at her and she looked at me and I just knew. If you have ever experienced such a look then you will understand, if you have not, then several pages of explanation would not be enough. Suffice it to say that when we shared that glance, we each communicated something at a level beyond my understanding. What I did understand though, was her nature. She was exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, physically she was in pretty rough shape. She was just skin and bone, weighing barely 55 pounds, and had obviously recently had a litter. She had scars on her neck where a rope or chain had worn into her and her teeth were a mess. She had been abandoned by a former owner who moved out of his rental house in the middle of the night and left her tied to a tree, waiting for him to return.
While I felt somewhat experienced at raising Rottweilers, I felt totally inadequate when it came to assessing the overall health of such an animal. One of the problems with adopting from Animal Control is that they will neither provide any kind of assessment of an animal's health, nor will they allow the animal to be taken to a vet to obtain a second opinion. In fact, the attitude I constantly came up against with most of the personnel at that place, and especially from those in charge, was that they would much rather put an animal down than have it adopted. I suppose that attitude is the result of their adopting animals out and then having to pick the same animals back up when they are not being properly cared for. Whatever the reason, I found the attitude totally unacceptable and still do. Unfortunately, as my experiences with these self-serving jerks progressed, things worsened considerably.
The policy at this place was to keep an animal for 10 days and then if it were neither claimed by its owner nor adopted, it was destroyed. Knowing this was the case; I had some time to get outside help before I committed myself to a situation about which I was unsure. I was still deeply grieving over the loss of Brutus and to take on another dog which might also ultimately die from its current physical condition was unthinkable.
I contacted Nancy, a friend who knew a lot about the breed and she agreed to meet me at Animal Control the next afternoon. We were allowed to take the dog out to the parking lot on a leash and as I walked her back and forth, we both looked her over, trying to assess such things as hips, gait, etc., as best we could. The underweight condition, which was my main concern, was of no concern to Nancy. She was more interested in trying to assess the dog's temperament. I was convinced that her temperament was not a problem since the dog and I had 'bonded' the prior day. Given that Nancy did not see any physical problems that concerned her, I decided to go ahead and adopt the dog.
I took the dog back in and signed some kind of agreement. The next step was for her to go to the vet for shots and neutering and then after all that was complete I would be able to take her home. The next morning I received a call from the Animal Control people and was told that the dog had tested positive for heart worms. I was then advised that the dog would be put down. I was devastated. I didn't know anything about heartworms, what they were, what damage they caused, or whether it was a condition that was even curable. I was informed that I had the rest of the day to make a decision. I got out my trusty copy of the Rottweiler Quarterly and started making phone calls.
I called several places before I finally met a man involved with Rottweiler rescue in Georgia. He was very helpful and took a lot of time to explain things to me. He explained that while heartworms were a dangerous parasite and if left untreated would surely kill a dog, most healthy animals could live through the treatment required to eliminate them. The two-part treatment consisted of intravenous injections of an arsenic solution to kill the adult worms and then an oral treatment used to kill any juvenile worms. The treatment could best be compared to chemotherapy used to treat cancer. The only problems are that the treatment is quite expensive and also physically quite hard on the dog. Also, after the adult worms are killed, they tend to break apart in the heart and pieces usually float into the lungs where they lodge and cut off the flow of blood to the surrounding tissues. Much of the lung tissue thereby dies, decreasing the ability of the lungs to perform their duties. My vet later summed it up pretty well when I asked him how serious this was and he said, "well, she will never race again!" I was also told that there was a success rate of 90%+ in such cases.
Now I had to weigh the costs (from $300 - $500) of the treatment for a dog I had just met and knew little about, against the possibility that in her starved condition, she might not recover from the treatment. Given the words of encouragement that I had received and the positive way the dog responded to me, I decided to go ahead with the adoption. I was shocked and somewhat disheartened at the reaction from the people at Animal Control when I informed them of my decision. They spent a lot of time trying to convince me that the animal should be destroyed and that I was wasting my money and that essentially it was a stupid thing to do. I told them I wanted to do it anyway, stupid or otherwise and they accepted my decision (only because they had little choice) and told me they would go ahead and schedule the dog for neutering. I was alarmed that they would require a dog in such a condition to undergo this surgery before the heart-worm treatment, but I was given the old "rules are rules - we don't make them we just enforce them" talk. I asked if there was any way around the rules and stated that I would prefer to have the heartworms treated first and then proceed with the neutering. I was told that only the man who runs the operation could make the decision to modify their sacred rules of operation. I asked to talk to him.
I explained the situation to him and two other men who were in the room. I asked if it would be possible for me to adopt the dog and put her through the heartworm treatment and then, after the dog recovered from that procedure, put her through the second operation for neutering. He told me that no exceptions would be made to the rules. He explained that unscrupulous people would do anything to get an un-neutered animal from them so that it could be bred. I again tried to explain my concern for the animal's well-being. It soon became apparent that these people did not care one bit what was best for the animal; after all, these were the same people who tried to explain to me earlier that the dog would be better off dead! I finally asked point blank "is there any way to get around this rule?" I was told that only with a letter from the vet who is under contract to the county stating that the animal's life was endangered was there any possibility of circumventing normal policy. I told them that I would be back and to please hold the dog for me. Their reaction was less than blissful!
I had heard many reports about this particular veterinarian. Still, he was my only chance. I called my own vet to get his opinion. He said he had had little contact with the other vet but that he expected the man would be reasonable. He agreed with my concerns about the neutering and suggested that I call the other vet. I called and fortunately, found my concerns to be unwarranted. I found the man to be not only helpful, but I really could feel his concern for this case. He agreed to write the letter to the county but asked one thing in return. He just wanted to make sure that I followed through with my end of the bargain and did get the animal neutered afterward, for he certainly did not want to create any more friction with the county than he had to since they provided him with his livelihood. I agreed and thanked him. His concern and sweetness were unexpected and greatly appreciated. This was the first positive news I had had and for the first time I was encouraged.
I called Animal Control to tell them to hold the dog and that the letter was on its way. I was told that there was no one there who could talk to me and was asked for my phone number so that they could call me back. I waited for several hours but did not receive a call back. I again tried to contact them and was again told that no one could talk to me. It felt like I was being given the run-around. This went on all day and even when I drove down to their offices I met with the same stone-walling. I drove home disheartened. That evening I felt like I had lost the battle. I suspected that the dog had been destroyed either accidentally or otherwise. I didn't know where to turn or what else to do. I called a local Rottweiler rescue person and explained the situation to her. She laughed and started telling me about all the times she had had to go up against these same people and told me that the only thing I could do was to persevere. Her last statement was "Bob, go down there and fight for your girl, you are her only chance!"
That did it. I was angry at the way I had been treated and frustrated that this poor, sweet animal was caught up in a system where her life could be snuffed out quickly, even though there were people who wanted to take on the burden of saving it. How could this happen? Certainly this situation was not acceptable. The next morning I called again and this time the reaction was different. I don't know whether they sensed that I would not take "no" for an answer (probably not, I don't think these people sensed much) or whether they had received the letter and knew that they had little choice. I was asked "when are you going to come down and get this dog?" With no hesitation I said "immediately!" I was overjoyed. To really understand, you must remember that this was less than two weeks after my baby, Brutus, had died in my arms. Still, I was hoping I had made the right decision about adopting the new dog.
I brought her home. She exhibited all the sweetness I had expected but she was a little withdrawn, as would be expected. I went through list after list of dog names. Why is it that there are so many great names for male dogs but so few for females? I felt that German dogs should have German names. The selection of great German names for female dogs is pretty lame. The best I could do was Lisle, so Lisa it was! Lisa was a wonder. Her wounds and scars were healing up nicely and she was and is to this day, always a lady. Although I am sure that she had never had any obedience training, she was very quick to learn anything I took the time to teach her. She had obviously never been fed commercial dog food before so it took a while for her to get the hang of that but she was always hungry. Since I felt so sorry for her, I fed her as much as she wanted and she quickly ballooned up to 105 pound. After a few months of dieting with low-fat kibble, she was back to a more manageable 85 pounds. After being abandoned by her former owner, she wasn't about to let me out of her sight. If I even left the house she would cry and cry until I returned. She was a champion when it came to riding in the car and we took her everywhere.
I enrolled her in basic obedience training, as much for the socialization as for the training itself. I had already taught her most of the basic commands, which she mastered in less than a week during our evening walks. I was lulled in to a false sense of security because Brutus had always been so good with other dogs. Our first class was a disaster. She tried to attack nearly every dog in the class and in some cases she succeeded. Even with a prong collar on, she was able to lunge at every dog that came within her range and would do so without any warning at all. She excelled at the agility exercises due to the fact that she always wanted to please me. Aside from her dog aggressiveness she was perfect.
Several months later, I again enrolled her in intermediate obedience training. In the beginning, I had some problems with dog aggressiveness but ultimately, but in time she improved dramatically and ultimately passed her AKC Canine Good Citizenship test. In all, Lisa is a wonderful companion and I would eventually like to train her to do therapy work. She helps me greet the customers at my plant nursery daily and shows them that you can't judge a breed by what you see in the news. One thing I have learned from her is to trust my instincts; I knew who she was from the first second I met her. She is a wonderful being and I am thankful that we were brought together in that moment of need for each of us.
Addendum
On April 27, 2002, three weeks after she was diagnosed with osteo-sarcoma in one of her legs, Lisa's life was ended. She was a perfect girl until the very end, so full of life and enthusiasm. While Zeus was asleep on his bed each evening, Lisa would sit there for hours just looking at me with those big brown loving eyes. We had a bond that could be understood only by those who were close to us.
She will be missed by all those whose lives she touched. I am glad I had the chance to turn her life around and give her 6 more years she would not have otherwise had. She was cremated and her ashes will be spread this summer on our land in Nova Scotia.
Bob
My thanks to Peggy Rose for the Rottweiler artwork