The Clearwater Hounds

A Clearwater man passed away last week, and left behind four Walker coonhounds and an orange tomcat. Clearwater isn't so much a town as it is an 'area' in western Jefferson County, near the Gray's Harbor County line, around an hour's drive from Forks. The area has a few homes, a lot of commercial timberland, a minimum security prison nearby, and a fair number of people living in travel trailers and other forms of less permanent housing in the woods.

Normally this is the kind of thing that an animal control agency would respond to, but since Jefferson County Animal Services continually refuses to provide animal control in the west half of the county, the area's single Sheriff's deputy and other local residents were left to deal with the situation. Based on past experience, we have good reason to believe that JCAS would have only killed the dogs anyway, so it was for the best that they weren't involved. A local Good Samaritan contacted Patt Doyle, owner of Pampurred Pet Care in Forks, stating that the dogs were chained, lacked adequate shelter, and that he was unable to approach them. Additionally he stated that one of the dogs was old and sick and would need to be euthanized. Patt visited the site and reported the same conditions, but that the older dog might not be as sick as the man believed.

While short on space, Olympic Animal Sanctuary responded, believing that the dogs would be better off kept temporarily in crates and walked for exercise than to stay any longer in their current situation. The following is Steve's journal:

Day 1, October 22, 2010:

I went with Darcy Gray, a volunteer from Olympic Peninsula Humane Society, down to Clearwater to see the hounds for the first time. Darcy brought a camera to photograph the rescue. There were three, rusted and rotted out travel trailers and a couple of broken down trucks, with piles of lumber, firewood, tires, and debris scattered around the property. Two dogs were chained to trees, one was chained to the tire of a rusty truck, and the older dog's chain seemed to disappear into the ground. All four dogs were living in mud, feces, and urine, with no ability to escape the filth. One dog had a rotten plywood box with no floor for a shelter, one had a plastic dog house, one had only a truck to hide under, and the older dog had a rusty steel drum, open at both ends, with rainwater flowing through it.

The dogs were all extremely fearful; some were snarling and lunging. The old dog was particularly confrontational, made more problematic by a longer chain than the others had. I started with a small dog that had the plastic house; she was chained close to the dog under the truck, and the two seemed to have an attachment to each other. As I slowly took hold of her chain and worked my way closer to her, the dog became stiff; I was able to put a leash over her head and cut off her collar with a pair of shears, and had little trouble walking her to a crate and coaxing her into it. The dog under the truck was much more fearful and tried very hard to escape, so rather than leashing her, I attached a chain leash to the chain she was already on, so that I would have a handle to hold onto after I cut her existing chain from the truck. She was harder to handle, but I was able to get her into another crate.

Next came the largest dog with the wood shelter, who had been giving Darcy a hard time whenever she turned her back. When I drew close she became much quieter, and I was able to leash her and cut off her collar like I had done with the first dog. I had come expecting the dogs to be less fearful and easier to handle, so I only brought three carriers, planning to allow one to remain loose in the covered bed of the truck; since I needed one more carrier than I had, I put the dog into the cab of one of the trucks on the property until we were ready to load up and leave.

The old dog was the most challenging to deal with; she was protective of her area and it took close to half an hour to get her into a crate. I could have done this more quickly, but did not want to injure or stress the dog. I opted to leave her chain attached and cut it the way I had done with the dog under the truck, and then by stringing it through the door and out one of the holes in the side of the crate, I was able to gently pull her in without making the experience more traumatic than it needed to be. Once her front feet were in, she walked in the rest of the way voluntarily.

Darcy and I loaded the three crated dogs into the truck and I was able to get the last dog to walk up a ramp into the bed of the truck with a little coaxing. The next task was to catch the orange tomcat, who had access to one of the trailers by walking up a 2x4 and entering through an open window. After seeing that the cat was inside the trailer, I shut the window and set a live trap in the hallway that separated the front section from the back, being the only part of the trailer that wasn't cluttered with garbage. I baited the trap and barricaded the trailer door shut with an old tire, as the latch was broken and I feared the cat might push the door open and escape. With the hounds gone, it would be especially important to get the cat out of there before it was discovered by any predators the dogs would have otherwise scared away.

With the cat trap set, we left for the Sanctuary; the dogs were given water and left in the truck for the night, happy to be out of the rain for a change. Due to their extreme fear, I felt it was better not to handle them until I was ready to move them inside, and we had a veterinary appointment the following morning.

Day 2, October 23, 2010:

The dogs were noticeably calmer in the morning, appearing to feel the way one does after an especially restful night of sleep. We returned to Clearwater to check the cat trap, and I was happy to see that I'd caught the tomcat. I put the trap in the back seat of the truck and returned to the Sanctuary, where I transferred the cat to a more comfortable carrier; he was happy to be held and it was immediately clear that he would be adoptable, so I began searching for rescue placement for him.

From there we were off to see our veterinarian. We picked up Darcy again so she could continue taking photos. Dr. Tyler and the staff at Greywolf Veterinary Hospital in Sequim did an excellent job with the dogs, and as usual, they were happy to accommodate a somewhat out of the ordinary request, that we examine the dogs inside a fenced area behind the clinic to minimize their stress.

We looked at the dog from the plastic dog house first; Dr. Tyler palpated her abdomen, which had appeared distended, but thankfully found nothing abnormal. Her collar had done some damage, and drawing fluid from a mass on the dog's neck revealed it to be a hematoma that will dissipate over time. Next we examined the large dog that had been left loose in the truck; apart from some lesions on her posterior, she appeared to be in good health.

We examined the old dog next, and found, not surprisingly, quite a few problems. In addition to obvious alopecia, she had several masses, lesions, and sores, and was of course extremely underweight. She did, however, allow herself to be handled much more easily than she had the day before, and we were able to remove her collar without much trouble. The collar had been digging into her skin for years, and when we cut it away we found that it was caked with pus and hair. Before we returned her to her crate, the dog was given vitamin injections to kick start her recovery. Lab work revealed the source of the dog's alopecia to be yeast and bacteria, and the doctor prescribed antifungals and antibiotics to address both issues. Surprisingly a stool sample yielded no intestinal parasites, so there was at least one piece of good news.

Finally, we looked at the dog that had lived under the truck, and found that she was also underweight and in need of vitamins. She had two collars, which we removed, finding that one of them had been so worn from the strain of her pulling against her chain that the metal ring on the collar had eroded away. Imagine how long it must have taken to wear through an eighth-inch steel ring, and the pain the dog must have felt as she pulled, until she finally broke free, only to have a second collar fastened around her neck, and the first one never removed.

Because they had been living in feces and exposed to the elements for perhaps years, we assumed all four girls to have compromised immune systems, and opted not to vaccinate them until they had some time to recover.

The Forks Police Department graciously allowed us to place the cat temporarily in the city shelter until we can find rescue placement for him. Back at the Sanctuary, I set up crates for the girls in an out of the way area and filled them with straw bedding, and brought the dogs inside one by one. The old dog's damaged skin had begun to bleed, but it didn't appear serious. I don't know if the hounds had ever spent a night indoors before; I set up a space heater, gave the old dog her pills, and gave each of them a water dish before turning in for the night. I decided not to feed the dogs yet, my concern being that they would be too nervous to eat, or at least to keep their food down.

Day 3, October 24, 2010:

I took the dogs outside, one at a time, and walked them around the front yard for a few minutes each; they are extremely shy, but they are beginning to come out of their shells. A few of them even wag their tails a bit when I approach. Surprisingly, the old dog, who I've decided to name Mabel, seems to have warmed up to me the fastest, despite being the most difficult to deal with in Clearwater. After their short trips in the yard, I gave each of them a small piece of pork to eat, and when I returned awhile later I found that all of them had eaten what they were given. Mabel continued to take her pills encased in balls of cheese, and the dogs become more comfortable with my comings and goings. We took a few more trips outside throughout the day, and from here, we'll work on establishing a routine and getting the dogs used to being leashed and going in and out.

Day 4, October 25, 2010:

We continued to work on leashing up and going in and out of the building today, and the dogs continue to become more comfortable with me. It's interesting how the dog that was easiest to handle in Clearwater, the one with the plastic dog house, remains the most timid here at the Sanctuary, while Mabel now barks at me to take her out of her crate and is taking her medication out of my hand. Seeing that some of the hounds seemed to respond positively to each other, I let all of them out of their crates to watch how they interacted. All seemed to get along except for Mabel, who set herself about the task of intimidating the other three by following them into their crates, leaning on them, and growling. The shy dog and the dog from under the truck seem especially close, and I suspect they are mother and daughter; I'm now thinking the dog from the truck may be under a year old.

I fed all of the dogs larger pieces of pork than they received the night before, which they each happily accepted and began eating right away. Tomorrow I will add a blend of pureed raw eggs and vegetables to their diet.

Day 5, October 26, 2010:

The dogs are continuing to progress in inches; old Mabel went outside without a leash today and returned indoors and to her crate without any pressure from me. The other dogs continue to be shy, but they are eating well and getting better with the routine. They are also becoming more territorial in their crates, which is not necessarily a good thing, but it does show that they are becoming more confident and feeling more at home. Since the crates are a temporary arrangement, the behavior isn't worth addressing, and interestingly enough, it has only been significant when I have brought other hounds through the room where they are staying - when the wolf-dogs walk through or when I feed Moose, an old chow mix in the same room, they are fairly quiet.

I started taking the puppy and the dog I believe to be her mother out at the same time; I haven't yet decided if they are calmer when they're together or if they make each other more nervous. The puppy is warming up to me, though, licking my hand and becoming a bit excited each time she sees me.

This will be the last of my daily entries. I will write more when there is significant news to report, or when there are more photos.

Posted on October 26, 2010 | Link