Trevor ‘happy to see everybody’

After returning to the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter, a dog that bit multiple people is one step closer to having its behaviour evaluated.

After returning to the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter, a dog that bit multiple people is one step closer to having its behaviour evaluated.

Two weeks ago, a young German shepherd-Rotweiller cross named Trevor was given a second chance by a Yukon Supreme Court judge, who ordered Trevor be assessed by a trainer before a decision on whether or not to euthanize the dog is made.

Last month, Trevor was classified as a dangerous dog by John Taylor, the manager of bylaw services, when Trevor’s owners, Tamara and Matthew Allaby, signed him over to bylaw.

The Allabys said they could no longer keep Trevor because he had bitten at least three people.

Last January, when a bylaw officer responded to a call about an aggressive dog in the McIntyre subdivision, he found the dog, Trevor, had a chain embedded in his neck.

Trevor was treated at the Alpine Veterinary Clinic and taken to the animal shelter, where he was later adopted out to the Allabys.

A condition of this month’s court order is that bylaw and the Humane Society Yukon work together to find the trainer, who will determine whether Trevor is fit for re-release into the public domain.

If the assessment is favourable for Trevor, he will remain at the shelter until he can be adopted out.

If the assessment shows Trevor cannot be trained so that he is not a danger to the public, he would be returned to bylaw, where he would be euthanized.

Until that time, Trevor will reside at the animal shelter.

Its administrator, Tracy Smythe, said Thursday that Trevor is adapting very well to being back in the care of shelter staff.

She said there have been no more incidences, and Trevor has shown no signs of aggression.

Smythe said that when interacting with shelter staff, Trevor is happy.

“He licks everybody; he’s happy to see everybody,” she said.

While the shelter and bylaw search for a trainer to do the assessment, Whitehorse dog trainer Erika Roza has offered to work with Trevor for free in her twice weekly classes.

“What I’m doing is teaching him the ABCs of how to communicate with people and vice-versa,” she said.

Roza has been training dogs since she was 12 years old. She began teaching dog training classes when she moved to Whitehorse in 1992.

“We’re not bleeding heart animal saviour people,” she said.

She has worked with thousands of dogs, she added, and has recommended that some be put down because of their vicious behaviour.

She said Trevor is not a vicious dog.

Vicious dogs “don’t want to learn, they do not respect or they chronically fear. Those that (are) genetically … not sound, not balanced,” she said.

Roza began working with Trevor and his kennel attendant, Chris Dingwall, last night.

In her experience with Trevor, Roza found that he is curious, attention-starved, friendly and “a little bit rough around the edges,” but very responsive.

She said that she doesn’t think Trevor needs to be rehabilitated, but only needs training.

Keeping a dog as a pet is a lot of work, said Roza.

With any new dog, owners should put at least one year of training into their young puppies, or 18 months for dogs with history.

Roza acknowledged Trevor’s rough beginning, but said dogs don’t hold on to trauma the same way people do.

She said that just like Trevor, any dog has the potential to bite if it is not trained properly.

“No, you cannot put this dog back in the public and be sure that he won’t offend again, but I can say that about any untrained dog,” she said.

Dogs bites occur when people don’t respect that their dogs are not people, and if they don’t know how to properly train their dog, it could bite, she said.

“If you treat the dog like a person,  then the dog will treat you like a dog.”