An Española Valley Humane Society dog has surpassed the expectations of what kind of dogs people can find in a shelter by entering the life of public service.
Espanola Humane Society Community Outreach Director Nina Stively said a New York Assistant Dog Agency called Animal Farm Foundation showed interest in Rio, a male pit bull, and Feb. 27 he will officially be signed over to the Foundation.
Stively said, “Service dogs have a very specific temperament that you need. You need a dog to be unflappable, need a dog that is not going to be concerned by sound, other dogs or other animals, who’s got a really confident, happy personality, but also is able stay on task in spite of many things going on around them.”
An additional trait to the extensive list of qualifications is a preference to a toy as a reward instead of food. Stively said Rio is “also really really interested in toys, which makes a dog much easy to train than a dog who’s interested in food.”
Despite Rio’s qualification there is one thing about him that kept many assistant dog agencies away—his pit bull genetics.
“We (Animal Shelter) were looking for him to go into Search and Rescue but the local the Search and Rescue said they weren’t willing to evaluate him. So then we kept looking and looking to try and find somebody else,” Stively said.
A few agencies showed interest but one specifically asked for video of the dog in different situations, such as how Rio acted around other dogs and how he reacted when other dogs were being aggressive.
Rio passed the tests suggested by the agency and was accepted into a six-month Emerging Training Program.
“They are an agency that specializes in training pit bull type dogs to become assistance dogs,” Stively said. “They had no hesitation to his breed. They actually found it an attractive trait.”
Pit bull-type dogs may have a bad reputation, Stively said.
“There are a lot of pit bulls out there that are Search and Rescue dogs and people are not paying attention to those,” she said. “They are paying attention to the ones that are inattentive, that are loose, that are un-neutered, that are chained up, that are part of the problem, not part of being great members of the family.”
Not all dogs complete the program, even those bred for the job.
If Rio is unable to complete the program or unsuitable to become a full service dog, Stively said the Foundation might determine he would be better as a therapy dog or as a family pet, in which case they will screen an appropriate home for him.
Rio will be going cross-country with the help of Animal Farm Foundation and a little company, Stively.
Stively said Animal Farm Foundation is sponsoring the gas for the three-day drive to New York, but the locals helped raise money for Rio’s needs along the way.
“It only took us about a day, 24 hours, for people to raise about $1,600 for what it would cost to rent a car, drive there, fly back, food and medical care for him (Rio),” Stively said.