In May 2006 I went down to the Humane Society here in Toronto. I had been thinking of getting a dog for a while. I was really impressed by the rescue of Chester, by my friend Adrienne. Its a sad situation down at the River Street Humane Society. The cages are packed with pitbulls. I remember distinctly looking over the top of one cage, because a blanket draped the door. The dog totally lost it, barked and growled fiercely. It wasn’t until just before bed that night, that I realised that was the dog I had brought home.
Afie has severe post traumatic stress and anxiety around sleeping. I think this is do to chronic pain in his rear legs, progressive blindness, and a history of violence. He lacked communication skills and had learned that biting someone ensured that they never touched you again. He had a complete lack of interest in toys or balls, and to this day he has never chewed an object that wasn’t food. He stumbled and was unable to run when I got him.
They told me that he was everyone’s favorite, but that he had bitten almost everyone that had worked with him. Foolishly I claimed to know all about dogs that bite, but my childhood dog had issues that don’t compare to Afie.
I changed his name for Afy to Afie, because Afy just looks stupid on paper. He gained 15 pounds in the first two months and was able to run for a short period, although he wasn’t able to move his legs in tandem for another year.
They claim on his rap sheet that he has a “fear of stranger”, but that was a misdiagnosis. He actually has a fear of hands and an aversion to being pet. Eskies are generally suspicious of people outside their immediate family, and get far to much petting as puppies. And since Afie has chronic pain, he will like you much better (stranger or not) if you don’t try to pet him.
I actually developed a way of asking if it was ok to pet him, which he really responded to. Now he seeks out affection and I can offer it when I want to touch him. In the streets the deal is simple. I ask people not to touch him, and he doesn’t bite them. It works out great.
His health is now declining which is really hard to watch becuase there is still a lot of bad times to recover from for him. There is never enough time in life.
