What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

 

 

DESERT DOGS

 

The Gabbs dogs might be siblings. Or cousins. Heck, Herbie might be his own grandpa! They come from that sort of situation: indiscriminate breeding. They lived out in the desert in large pens, each pen holding a milling aimless mob of dogs. Other than the few minutes it took to throw some food on the ground or replenish the water, they got no attention from humans. There was no structure to their days, no routine other than the passage of the sun overhead: endless days, on and on, spent roaming around in the pen, dodging dogs they didn’t like, fighting for food, surviving.

The owner, a woman who lived near the town of Gabbs, Nevada, claimed to love the dogs, all one hundred and forty-four them. The dogs knew nothing about her love. They were outside twenty-four seven in the harsh Nevada climate with only rudimentary shelter; she had heat in the winter and AC in the summer. They slept on the dirt while she slept in a bed. They were not trained, groomed, or petted. Her love was more a matter of theory than practice. In the end, the biggest favor she ever did for the dogs was to die.

With her gone, the dogs got rescued.

It was a huge effort.  Luckily, after the hoarder/rescuer’s death, the property owner continued to provide food. Liz Finch of Best Friends coordinated efforts to get the dogs off the property and into placements. Kris Brown became involved in 2007, through her volunteer activities with the Yerington, Nevada, dog shelter. Over the next year, Kris and others managed to place all but fifty-seven of the dogs. From the dogs’ point of view life went on as usual--days of discomfort, boredom and loneliness—but with one new element: dogs kept disappearing. Week by week there were fewer dogs to compete with for food or huddle with for warmth. Many of the dogs that left were adopted into homes, but the dogs left behind didn’t know that. They just saw people come, and dogs go. It was a strange, stressfull, confusing year.

Then rescue efforts stalled out; the remaining dogs were feral, rescues were full, volunteers were tired…and the situation, while not good, was safe. The dogs had the basics: food, water, shelter.


INTERLUDE IN RENO

Once again fate intervened, this time in the form of bad weather.  The pens flooded, cattle ate the haybale shelters built for the dogs, and dogs escaped through holes in the crumbling fences. Crisis led to action: Best Friends, HSUS and Red Rover organized one last push to get the remaining dogs placed. About half went to Bay Area shelters, while the rest went to “Camp Reno”, an old unused shelter in Reno. There the dogs went through a crash course in socialization.

All of the dogs were, at that time, in good physical condition. Mentally, emotionally—well, that was a different story. The dogs named Tippy, Itsy, Herbie, Dixie and Able were among the most feral, the most frightened. To them, life with minimal human contact was normal. People were providers of substance, that’s all.  They had grown up in a strange limbo, not family pets, but lacking in the instincts and rearing to be wild animals. They did not know how to live without people, but didn’t know how to live with them, either. The rescuers started looking for a sanctuary placement for the Gabbs five. They found the Olympic Animal Sanctuary.

In February of 2008, Steve Markwell agreed to take Tipp, Abel, Dixie, Herbie and Itsy. This is a link to the Red Rover site that has a story about Steve picking up the Gabbs dogs:
 http://www.redrover.org/article/few-final-stories-camp-reno

This is a link to the video Steve made about taking the Gabbs dogs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sArfWcUdCeM&noredirect=1

They were at the “sanctuary” for five years.

 

 

DESCENT INTO HELL

In September of 2013, Kris Brown saw a picture of Itsy and realized that OAS was a cruel scam.

 

I can only imagine the horror she felt. Years ago I thought about contacting OAS about a feral dog that lived in the woods. I didn’t contact Markwell—there were little indications that put me off—but I almost did. When I think of that dog, that old feral dog, and how she would have suffered if I had placed her in Markwell’s hands—well, that’s when the fantasies about attacking him with a Taser start. Me showing up at his door, Taser in hand, zapping the son of a bitch, then frantically searching in the chaotic darkness, running from crate to crate, seeing the desperate needy faces of the dogs I could not help while looking for an old black dog…

Steve Markwell had betrayed the trust of people who sent him dogs. He had betrayed his obligations to his donors. Worst of all, he had betrayed his obligations to the dogs. He had promised a high quality of life: good food, exercise in playfields, rehabilitation. He had presented himself as an expert in dog behavior and a dedicated rescuer. It was all a lie. He had no expertise, he provided none of the services claimed on his website. His organization wasn’t even managed legally.

 

 

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=16.52.207

 

Forks police photos show evidence of multiple violations of the very minimal standards of care required by the law: lack of adequate food, lack of potable water, cramped filthy conditions, health problems from excessive confinement and lack of exercise, untreated medial conditions. The photos also shoe the claims made by Markwell on his website about the living conditions and services offered by OAS were lies.

The dogs did not get home cooked meals; they got uncooked, unrefrigerated garbage. The dogs did not go out into the play fields in compatible groups: they rarely were allowed out at all and, when released, the groupings were random, resulting in deaths and injuries from fights. Many dogs had untreated health problems including in grown toenails, cancerous tumors, and wounds. Far from being a happy, nurturing environment, the facility was noisy, filthy and stank.

How were the Gabbs dogs treated at OAS? Here are the dogs that appeared in police photos taken in early 2013:

Kris immediately emailed Markwell and asked for the return of Dixie, Abel, Herbie, Tippy and Itsy. Her email was polite. Markwell respond with lies and threats: be claimed that all of the dogs were well, claimed that Itsy needed to continue the imaginary rehabilitation services he had never provided, and threatened Kris with a harassment suit if she contacted him again.

Kris spent the next year as an active member of the growing Facebook movement to free the dogs.  This link provides a summary of that story, plus a list of links to primary resources: police reports and photos, emails, and other evidence.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/28/1295316/-One-hundred-and-Twenty-four-Dogs-Rescued-by-Facebook-Activists-Twenty-Five-Still-Need-Help


 

ARRIVAL IN ARIZONA

The Year of Freeing the Dogs is a story worth telling, but not here. This story is about the five dogs from Gabbs. All five may have been alive in 2013, but we have only Markwell’s word for that and his word is not good. What we do know is Markwell jammed one hundred and twenty four dogs into crates in the back of a truck, drove for four days and finally turned the most of the dogs over  to the Guardians of Rescue in Arizona on Christmas Day in 2013.  Kris was one of the many people anxiously looking, hoping, praying as dogs were unloaded into the bright fresh air of the Arizona desert.

Some of the dogs had to be carried off the truck. One escaped, fled into the desert, but collapsed, too weak to keep running. Three were rushed to a veterinary clinic, near death. But where were the five Gabbs dogs? Where they still alive?

In the evening of December 29, Kris got a call from Dori of the Guardians of Rescue: Itsy had been identified. On New Year’s Day, a driver from Safe Haven, Kris’s rescue, left for the rescue site. Over the next couple of days Herbie and Tippy were identified. Markwell said that Dixie was dead. Abel was rumored to still be with Markwell, but hidden.  It is possible that Dixie made it to rescue, but was taken away by Markwell. That might be Dixie in the pen with the dogs Markwell kept:

 

 

So Tippy, Itsy, and Herbie survived, but Abel and Dixie are missing.

The of the three survivors were in terrible shape emotionally: shell-shocked, terrified, depressed. They were taken to Safe Haven, a rescue in Yerington, Nevada. There a local vet examined them.

Herbie was in the worst shape. He had an injury to his leg which the vet estimated it was 4-6 weeks old and healing. There was nothing that could be done to undo the damage. Herbie was still a feral, so there was no hands on exam. He was given pain pills and antibiotics for the injury.

Herbie was seen by Dr. Steve Talbot at the Carson Valley Vet Hospital in Minden, Nevada the next week. He was sedated and given a full exam and blood work was done.

The leg injury was noted, but again, it was healing, so it was not an immediate concern.

Noted in the vet exam was:

      Body condition poor, very thin and malnourished.

      Ear infections with pus draining from the ears

      Partial nerve paralysis in his face either from trauma or the ear infection

      His blood work showed anemia from starvation or  possibly parasites

      He also had a low T4 indicating hypothyroidism. The vet explained this as possibly due to stress and malnourishment, as opposed to a chronic condition. As is seen in vet record 2, it is self-correcting without medication.

·         A common condition known as compensatory hypothyroidism, or sick euthyroid syndrome (SES), may account for many of the false diagnoses of hypothyroidism. The difference between true hypothyroidism and SES is that in SES, the thyroid gland retains the ability to return to normal function. SES describes the situation in which dogs with normally functioning thyroid glands have decreased thyroid hormone levels with an appropriate cause. Virtually any condition trauma, stress, injury, illness, poor diet can affect thyroid hormone levels and cause SES.

SES is actually a protective mechanism. When the body experiences altered demands and priorities such as illness or stress, the thyroid gland tries to compensate by minimizing energy requirements. Energy is conserved by reducing thyroid hormone secretion. This, in turn, lowers the body's metabolic rate.

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 Tippy had many of the same issues as Herbie: poor body condition, anemia due to starvation or parasites. She also has a condition around her eyes. Autoimmune.... it seems to be stress related, but may, like Lupus, react to sun light. She still has abnormal blood work. Still anemic.
 

 

Itsy was in the best shape, perhaps because Markwell anticipated having to return her and fattened her up a bit.  However, her teeth were worn down to nubs, a side effect of having been confined to a crate for years.

 

HAPPY ENDING

What a long strange trip it’s been from hoarder to rescue to hoarder to rescue.  The three Gabbs dogs arrived in their final rescue nearly affectless with depression. They were close to giving up.

But they have finally landed in a safe place where people will treat them with kindness. Each day brings a reason for hope. Now they have choices and opportunities and are adapting to the experience of being loved. All of the dogs are more comfortable, better fed, and have become active and interested in life.  Herbie has a new dog friend in Apple. Itsy can go on off-leash walks. Tippy’s eyes have improved. They are beginning to believe that happiness is possible. They are in permanent home now, and their travels over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Itsy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Herbie

 

 

  

 Happy Tippy

Thank you, Kris.