Blitz’s Story: How illness led to behavioral euthanasia

Blitz and I met in 2014 under unusual circumstances. Due to an NDA, I cannot disclose the details regarding his history or rescue, but I will tell you that our bond was solidified when he climbed in my lap and licked my face clean of the tears that streamed down my cheeks. He remained my faithful sidekick for many years.

Coming to me as a rescue with an unknown past, and as a pitbull, I knew how critical it was for Blitz to be a model citizen. I also knew that it was irresponsible to assume that he would never act aggressively, which is why he lived in a muzzle for the first 8 months of our relationship. I taught him everything he needed to know so I could guide him through real life stressful and overwhelming situations, teaching him how to exist in a world too overstimulating for his mind. He came everywhere that I did, learning to be calm and obedient, building his confidence in life and in me as his handler, and socializing him to the world, strange people, kids, and dogs. By 2016, he had gone from being a liability, to a Canadian Kennel Club Canine Good Neighbor Citizen, graduated from a life in a muzzle to a life of freedom and adventure.  

Blitz has been the face of my business since day one. He came with me to Dog Trainer’s School and assisted with evaluating, training, rehabbing, and socializing all of the dogs that have come through the door. It was an extremely common occurrence that after handling Blitz, clients would state that they wanted to take him home. He had turned into a happy, social butterfly who trusted me, and I learned to trust him too. We were a team, and together, we could accomplish anything!

Over time, Blitz began to show signs of allergies; he had red, itchy, sticky, raw skin, was losing his fur, he had a fairly consistent routine of vomiting and diarrhea in his kennel, and his behavior was at times mildly erratic, occasionally growling at the other dogs if he felt confined with them. We did everything we could to find the source of the issue, including multiple vets, comprehensive testing, antibiotic and steroid treatments, allergy testing, and a trip to the Veterinary College of PEI to see a Dermatological Specialist. It was determined that Blitz was allergic to Mackerel, a fish that was in the Omega oils he was eating every day, and that he had a systemic yeast overgrowth. The vet suggested regular antihistamine medication for the rest of his life, but I decided to see what a species appropriate diet could do for him.

In 2017, Blitz began to eat a properly balanced raw diet, and within weeks his skin began to look healthy again, his bouts of sickness ceased, and his demeaner changed from being on edge to being able to remain more calm under stressful circumstances. Up until this point, he as a 65lb dog had been eating enough kibble to feed a 120lb dog, yet he couldn’t put weight on. When we switched him to the raw diet, he began to put weight on in all the right places, but the one thing that did not change was his fur; it never did fully grow back in. Blitz felt better than he had in a long time and it showed. He was the model citizen we knew he could be, social, poised, appropriate, and an excellent roll model for all of the dogs we worked with. He stayed on this diet for the rest of his life.

When I rescued and trained Blitz, it was assumed that I would adopt him out to someone else, but the connection I, as an empath, had with this insanely sensitive dog was unbreakable. Blitz had such a way with the dogs, there was no way I could let him go. Don’t get me wrong, to describe him as intense would be a major understatement, but while he came on strong, was assertive in his approach, and a bit of a bully, he was completely non-aggressive and would back down the moment another assertive dog would give him an appropriate warning. The quicker they corrected him, the less he bullied. If they tried to avoid him, he would continue to push until they either gave him a playful response, or they appropriately corrected him at a level that matched his current intensity.

He wanted attention but he wanted to avoid conflict too. Once he was off leash trained and I had complete control over him, I could guide him through the socialization process to show him how he needed to act and react in the areas where he would cause problems, so he could work effectively with any dog that came through the door.

Our favorite dogs to train were the insecure ones, because, when he was told he could do so, Blitz would appropriately pester them until they felt confidence to react to him. He would then show them how their communication would work toward getting them what they wanted. He would get a rise out of them, then jump backward and to the ground, or run away and take the pressure off at the perfect moment. The key to putting pressure on a dog is knowing when to take it off again so not to frighten them or make them uncomfortable. Because Blitz was so sensitive, he had impeccable timing, and the other dogs would feel stronger because of it. Normally I would not recommend anyone allow their dogs to be so pushy and demanding with other dogs, but this was Blitz’s job, and he did it well. He knew he could not go up to other dogs without asking me first, so it was never a problem, but it could be a major problem for an untrained dog.

I had Blitz in the room for every consultation I did out of my house, and in the car for every one I did at someone else’s. It was Blitz who would tell me what I needed to know about the dogs we were assessing. If the dogs were on the submissive or non aggressive side, he would be more excited and happy to see them. If they had more aggressive tendencies, he would avoid. I remember one time I had him in the room and I walked a Cane Corso Mastiff Pitbull into it. The Mastiff made no physical motions, no vocalizations, ‘no’ warning signs at all. It ‘appeared’ to be cool calm and collected, but Blitz told me another story. He had his head shoved so far in the corner of the room trying to not exist at that moment that I instantly knew what this dog’s intentions were, and we were right. This dog took the longest amount of time to rehabilitate out of all dogs to date, but regardless, we were successful. To the average person though, this Mastiff was just sitting in the room, but he was communicating so clearly with Blitz with just his eyes.

People do not realize how important it is to pay attention to their dogs’ eyes. People think that if the dog is not physically acting out that they are fine, but dogs have minds, they have thought processes, and they can have naughty intensions. They can be thinking naughty things while being petted by someone or given treats, having their intentions reinforced and making them more likely than they otherwise would have been to act inappropriately.

If a dog is fixating on any triggering thing for longer than 3 or 4 seconds, it’s attention should be broken and redirected onto something else. If a dog is looking at something, it is thinking about it, and if it is thinking about it, it is likely to do it. Maybe in that moment, maybe at a later time, but it will eventually act on its naughty thought if it is reinforced enough. Eyes are the windows to the soul, so they should be kept upon the leader, not outside stimuli.

By 2018, it was noted that if Blitz ingested even 1 small piece of kibble, he would break out in hives. The odd time, he would find some kibble left over from the other dogs, would have a flare up, and if it was bad enough, we would be off to the vets and prescribed more drugs. During one of his many visits, we discovered that he had a cancerous mast cell tumour on his leg, which we promptly removed. In 2019 Blitz started to become lethargic, lacked interest in most activities, became intolerant of the cold, was disinterested in engaging with any dog he could not push around, had no interest in play, and he slowly started to show signs of fear toward people he had known for years.   

After moving to a new area and seeing a number of vets who were more interested in prescribing vet-recommended food and life-long medication than diving deep to figure out what was wrong with my dog, I took matters into my own hands. I was tired of putting a bandaid over a bullet wound. On a whim, I bought Jean Dodds’ book, The Canine Thyroid Epidemic, finished it in a week, and discovered that Blitz had almost every symptom listed for a thyroid disorder, but I had had his thyroid tested multiple times, and it was fine. Upon finishing this enlightening book, I learned that an endocrine disorder is far more complex than one simple T4 test, and that new-age full panel testing needed to be done in order to read the bigger picture.

Armed and ready to confirm my suspicions, I went to a new vet on the high recommendation of a number of people. I explained the symptoms, was yet again prescribed medication, and when I rebutted that I was not interested in drugs, but wanted further comprehensive testing done on my dog’s thyroid, I was refused, told that this vet would NOT be doing that, and if I wanted that done, I was going to have to take my dog some place else. If you know me, you know that this unexpected response did not go over well. I am a fighter. I fight for the ones I love, and I was ready to fight for my dog. I told this vet that I was there, I was paying, and that they would in fact be taking his blood, sending it to a lab, and forwarding me the results so I could take them to a vet who knew how to read the findings. I had had enough of not being taken seriously and I had had enough of watching my dog suffer.

Between the time of the testing and getting the results back, Blitz got bit by a dog. It was extremely minor, only 2 small punctures to the side of the face. Until this point I had been able to do anything to this dog, but because he was sick, this time was different. As I attempted to examine the wounds, Blitz became extremely fearful and defensive toward me, showing me an energy I had never expected he would direct my way. It was diffused, worked through, and once I found out the results of the blood test, I chalked it up to a situational occurrence. Blitz’s thyroid was fine, but he did have an endocrine disorder where his T4 hormone was not being converted into the T3 hormone so his body could use it. Phobias and aggression are symptoms of an endocrine disorder. Under the advise of an endocrinologist, we started therapy and Blitz started to feel better, his skin wasn’t sticky anymore, his fur grew in, he had energy again, could mind the cold weather, and regained some of the confidence he had lost. Since he was doing so well in so many ways, the medication seemed to be working, and his re-training bootcamp had been so successful, I continued to believed that my dog would never bite me.

That’s the thing about dogs; they are animals and an unhealthy animal will not act rationally, so to look at all of this in a rational way was naive. In 2020, 3 weeks after Covid Lockdown started, Blitz felt trapped in a small space with one of the other dogs. In the past, I could handle him by his leash or tab and remove him from the situation safely, but not this time. This time when I put pressure on his short tab, Blitz redirected and bit me. I was shocked. This was not normal behavior, but I was not ready to give up yet. Since safety is the most important thing, I decided to have Blitz wear a muzzle anytime he was out of his kennel room. With an illness, you never know what an animal will do, or when, so muzzling was the safest option for everyone. At first I was concerned with what people would say, but the funny thing is that no one ever said anything. No one ever questioned why Blitz was suddenly wearing a muzzle, so for 2 years, we continued to live this new way of life, and 99.9% of the time things were great and life went on like usual. Blitz was my sidekick, he looked to me for direction, and I continued to work him with the other dogs because that is where he found the most amount of joy. He was a social creature and he deserved the chance to have purpose and engagement in his life.

Blitz was always so great with the dogs that came through for training, but toward the end, he struggled to exist well with the other dogs in the house. He craved attention and they pretended like he did not exist. They are strong minded, and they could read that he was just not quite right, so over time, they wanted nothing to do with him. Have you ever had anyone tell you how disappointed they are in you? You know how much that kills you inside to hear? That is what it was like for Blitz to be shunned by his house mates. I would see him go start an engagement with a play bow, they would snuff him off, and his body language would go limp as he huffed and flopped himself onto the ground. Since the relationship he had with them had dissolved, he did not trust them anymore and he started to resource guard, which caused bigger problems. In 2021, he went into a fear state, triggered off of one of the other dogs, and redirected his energy onto me. He was muzzled and did not try to bite me, but he certainly challenged me. Again, this was not normal behavior.

After 2 years of vet visits, hormone therapy under the advise of a specialist, a biologically appropriate diet, and living a structured yet extremely fulfilling life, we discovered that the medication was not regulating his hormones properly, and his levels had dropped back to almost where they had originally been.

In the last year Blitz had become a little like Jeckle and Hyde. Most if the time he would be playful, engaging, happy, social and confident, and then sometimes he was lethargic, physically uncomfortable, antisocial, fearful and unstable. In June of 2021, he triggered on me again, and I finally realized that it was naive of me to think that I could fix a medical issue with a behavioral approach. The medication wasn’t working, the behaviors were getting worse and more frequent, and Blitz was becoming a liability.

Until this point, I had never lost a personal dog. As a child, my dogs were often given to other families, but the only euthanasia I experienced was in conversation once and through a neighbor who had to euthanize their dog because it bit the neighbor’s kid and there was a kid in the home. It didn’t matter that I told them I saw that kid hitting the dog with a stick over and over before it finally had enough and nipped the kid, so they shot it. I was eight and even at that age I believed that if you knew the reason why the dog bit, the dog could still live a happy life in the hands of a good owner.

I would like to call myself a good dog owner. I live my life for my dogs, giving them whatever they need. I spent the past 7 years living for Blitz, trying to make him happier and healthier, giving him what he needed to thrive in life. I love that dog, which is why in June of 2021, I decided that in 6 weeks, I was going to euthanize him. At the time I was urged to do it immediately and not tell anyone about it; let it slide under the rug. But I thought that would be doing this dog, this dog who spent 7 years helping others and teaching me more than I could have possibly imagined, a major disservice. I decided that I needed to send Blitz off with some dignity, remembered for the things he did to help so many other dogs, for the families and relationships that he helped save, for the loving, happy go lucky goofball that he was. The last thing I wanted for him was to go out in a state of fear and defense, and I did not want to remember him that way either.

I had 6 weeks to mourn, to grieve, to consider all of the what ifs, all of the things I could have done differently, all the things I could do instead, but what it all came down to was that Blitz was sick, uncomfortable, and in pain. He wore a muzzle almost every day for 2 years and we were constantly battling the sores from muzzle rub, despite our best efforts. When he was a year old I felt he looked stiff in his back end and xrays revealed minor, progressive hip dysplasia. On his final day, he struggled to get up off the floor. Considering everything, I knew that the time had come to give this dog the freedom he deserved.

On Blitz’s last night in the house, Diesel, who had previously committed to avoiding Blitz entirely, curled up behind him in what was the closest thing to a cuddle they had experienced in almost a year.

I also had 6 weeks to spend time with him, accomplishing so many of the goals we had set over the years. This dog who was once afraid of the sound of water was now diving head first under water, swimming across lakes, and swimming for personal enjoyment rather than as a task. I taught him how to paddle board, something I had wanted to do for many years. He spent a ton of time at his dog sitter’s cottage, swimming, fetching and socializing, we attended agility and scent detection classes, and he got to spend time with his family. I stopped having expectations of him, other than that he be socially appropriate, and I slept with him in my bed every night. His last week was one of his best in a long time. We kicked it off with a Celebration of Life party with some of his closest people and dogs, followed by a camping trip, then 3 glorious days at the cottage where he played, swam, fetched, boated, barked, acted foolish, adventured, socialized, ate a ton of awesome food and lived freely without his muzzle. I do not think he could have been any happier, and I do not remember the last time our relationship felt so strong.

Blitz’s first and final swim across the lake

The day of was a particularly hot day. We spent his final hours relaxing in our yard, chewing a bone and existing peacefully together. He was tired and despite all of the pain management, was very sore, and he was ready to sleep. One of our friends is a vet so we were lucky enough to have someone he knew and loved come out to the house. As we sat in the grass, she pulled in, got out of her truck and as she approached, the skies opened up. It poured a warm rain the entire time, and the song Goodbye by LP came on just as we said goodbye to my best friend.  

Blitz has taught me so much over the past 7 years. He taught me how important it was for many dogs to live a structured lifestyle with appropriate outlets, he taught me how to read dogs better, how to socialize them properly, to let loose and have fun, and he taught me how adaptable and resilient dogs can be. He also taught me that no matter what, the health of a dog is the most important piece of the puzzle; if health is poor, so will the behaviors be, no matter how hard we try. He taught me, he taught other people, and he taught so many other dogs. He was special, a real character, and he will always be remembered for the good that he did by those who’s lives he touched. I am so sad to lose him, but I am thankful to know that he is no longer struggling and I am so thankful that I got to have the last 6 weeks to celebrate with him to the fullest. As I took Blitz’s body to Peaceful Acres Pet Cemetery & Crematorium, the skies cleared and the sun danced off the puffy clouds around us. I knew then that everything was going to be ok, and that he would always be with me.

May you rest in peace Blitz. You are safe, you are loved, and you are free.