Kelly Comstock remembers when Clyde first arrived at the Pima Animal Care Center.
“He shut down,” she said. The big Chow/Shepherd-mix didn’t want to walk on the leash. “He was just trying to hide from the world around him.”
Comstock has volunteered with PACC for five years, and is part of the decompression program the shelter started this year to help socialize scared dogs to the point where they can be placed for adoption.
She didn’t learn Clyde’s story until later — that the 3-year-old mix had been rescued last month from a filthy back yard, with five puppies and no access to shelter or water.
“All of the dogs were thin, undersocialized and in desperate need of care,” said Karen Hollish, PACC’s development director.
Some of the most heart-wrenching cases are animals turned in by their owners — they are bewildered and terrified. Comstock said. “Their whole lives have been turned upside down.”
When Karyn Carlson joined PACC’s medical staff as a veterinarian this year she wanted to do more for the dogs who are stressed and scared, Hollish said. That has included the prescribing of trazodone, an anxiety aid that the county could not buy but was donated by the Friends of PACC.
Next year, Hollish said, PACC plans to launch a desperately needed dog-training and behavior-rehabilitation program for $300,000 funded by two estate gifts totaling $1.3 million.
The decompression program’s volunteers take shifts, working with behaviors, confidence building and trust. Some are skilled at Reiki and dog massage as well, she said, and also use calming scent therapies like lavender diluted with water spritzed along kennel walls and bedding.
The medication helped Clyde with his cowering and the positive attention from volunteers started paying off. “He began enjoying the walks. He learned to play,” Comstock said.
Potential adopters are informed about the program as well as what the animal may need to transition into his new home. The couple who recently adopted Clyde posted a video on PACC’s Facebook page for alumni.
“It’s a cute video of him running and playing like a normal dog. He’s definitely not leading the life that he lived before,” Comstock said. “And they were excited to spend their first Christmas with him.”
