WHY DID
THE BURNABY/VANCOUVER SPCA KILL TYSON?
The
answer is below.
Tyson's
videos:
My
name is Robert Eglsaer and I am a
professional dog trainer/behaviourist.
My company name is Pawsture Dog Training
(www.pawsturedogtraining.ca
). In January 2010 I was called by the
Burnaby SPCA to work with Tyson,
a surrendered young Cane Corso, because
I had recently adopted Karma, a Presa
Canario, and I had left my business
card. What I did for Tyson, I did as an
unpaid volunteer.
.jpg) Tyson's
owners bullied and neglected him
Tyson was
no longer wanted by his owners because
he was too much responsibility. He had
been tied outside and I believe harsh
“corrections” with a choke chain were
used from some of his responses, and
possibly hit because he reacted to hands
approaching him, and a hockey stick was
possible used to get him in and out of a
car. The men of the household two sons
and the father handled Tyson, the mom
of the family was afraid of him and
never interacted with him.
SPCA
employees were afraid of Tyson
Some
SPCA employees were cautious of dealing
with him because of his size and he
seemed very fearful. When I met Tyson at
the Burnaby SPCA he was in a fenced
yard. I approached the gate and
he barked at me to let me know he wanted
me to back away (distance increasing
signal).
I
personally have no fear of dogs
.jpg) I
entered the yard. He moved away from me
and went to the door that enters back
into the building and stayed there. I
approached him to find out his threshold
of increasing his distance increasing
signals. I got to within about 10 feet
and he showed teeth so I backed off a
few feet, crouched down, and showed him
my side being very still. I bake liver
treats for working with dogs and simply
started throwing treats to him. As he
started to eat them I threw them closer
and closer to me and he came to get them
but then retreated back to the door,
occasionally returning to barking.
Someone I knew came to the other end of
the yard and we spoke through the fence
and I threw a trail of treats, and held
one in my hand with my arm outstretched.
As we spoke I paid little attention to
Tyson but kept an eye on him with my
back to him in a crouched position. He
approached and took the treat from my
hand and then went back. I repeated this
several times and he remained in front
of me and I just continued to feed him
treats. At this point I was able to
touch him and pet him (very calm). The
whole process took about 20 minutes, a
sign that Tyson was able to trust
easily. During all of this I was using
my clicker and C/T with every treat. I
put a martingale collar on him using the
clicker and treats and just took my time
desensitizing him to the movements and
reinforced approaches. I clicked a leash
on him and we were off for a walk. Our
first couple of walks simply consisted
of seeing what scares Tyson, his
threshold, and socialize him slowly to
as many stimuli as possible. He was
cautious of music playing on a speaker
system outside a recreation center,
umbrellas, certain people because of
clothing and hats and raincoats, many
typical traits of an undersocialized
dog.
SPCA
fails Tyson using its widely discredited
test
.jpg) During
the first week he was assessed at the
Vancouver branch of the SPCA using a
test that Cesar Milan has said are
unreliable, and was labelled orange zone,
the second greatest degree of failure, because
he barked, and during the grooming part
of the test he barked and went to bite
at the brush twice when it was brought
close to him.
Tyson was not fearful with me
When he
returned to Burnaby I heard this and
immediately took a grooming brush and
could brush him instantly. I gave him
treat as I did it to associate really
good things to the brush and the process
of grooming. My thinking was this
frightened dog was taken away from his
familiar surroundings, brought to the
SPCA, then taken for the day to yet
another place and then failed a test. I
thought it unfair to him.
The Douglas College students and I
treated Tyson affectionately, touching
and speaking gently to him
He was neutered at Douglas College
in Coquitlam by students in the
veterinary department. When Tyson and I
got to the school I went in with him and
he was fine with all the people there. I
must say they were fantastic with him,
really created a positive environment
for him, and were able to listen to his
heart, take his temperature (we all know
where the thermometer goes) and he was
fine. I even was able to teach him to
roll over as he was on his side. Again,
with every new experience I used my
clicker and treats to further create
positive associations with every event.
I was further upset with the SPCA for
giving him a fail on the
assessment after I saw how he was poked
and prodded by up to 8 young women vet
techs at one time at the college and he
was so accepting and calm.
Tyson was only a giant puppy
I took him for a short walks the next
couple of days always working on simple
things like “attention”, name
recognition, loose leash walking,
desensitizing to stimuli. I must say he
walked very well on leash, did not pull
and always came if I called him.
Occasional bursts of grabbing the leash
to play but recovered quickly when asked
to sit. He was, after all, a giant
puppy.
Barry McKnight assess Tyson
A few days after his surgery I was told
to take Tyson to Chilliwack for to a
private evaluation of his temperament
with Barry McKnight, a former
SPCA employee. I was never told the
result. When speaking to Mr McKnight he
did say to me Tyson needed to be with
someone like me who had knowledge of
working and caring for such a dog.
Tyson is sickened by SPCA
facility-kennel cough
A few days after he returned to the
Burnaby SPCA from the Vancouver SPCA he
showed signs of kennel cough, caught
from the Vancouver SPCA. He
progressively got worse with green
discharge from his nose. (Kennel cough
is only a risk in very young dogs and
very old dogs and with proper treatment
it runs its course. Dogs do not need to
die of kennel cough.) Tyson was
transferred to the Vancouver SPCA I
believe late in February where he was
put in an isolation cell where his
kennel cough worsened.
The
decision to terminate Tyson (the photos
show Tyson after death)
.JPG) A
few days later
I found out
the decision had been made to terminate
Tyson due, they said, to increasing
“fear aggression” behaviours displayed
to certain employees and staff at the
Vancouver SPCA. I went that day to see
him and took him for a walk and had a
meeting with Ryan Voutilainen the
manager, Nadine Gourkow, their
behaviourist, and Kim Monteith, the
animal welfare employee, to beg them to
give Tyson to me so I could cure the
kennel cough, care for him, and give him
a life. I was refused. I was told he was
too unpredictable, the legal liability
was too great for such a dog (even
though I said I would draw up a waiver
to release the SPCA of any
responsibility and liability). They
said that the behaviours he showed (in
scary solitary confinement) would take
too long to correct, if at all, even
though it took me very little time for
Tyson to be calm, obedient, safe, and
happy. I was in shock at these responses
especially coming from a behaviourist.
When I had him outside that day after
the meeting he never showed any of these
behaviours. I talked to those who had
no problems handling him and they all
said he was fantastic, even an SPCA
Special Constable.
.JPG) I
ask to be present at his death
I asked to at least be able to be
present when they killed him which was
the next day in the morning. I went and
I spoiled him with treats. I wanted to
show him that, through all of treatment
from the organization that was created
to help him, he did know love and he
loved me in return.
I am very disappointed
with those at the Vancouver SPCA who
made this decision and would not change
it and release him to me so I could give
him a happy life. But it ended with his
death.
.JPG) The
SPCA failed Tyson as much as his owners
had
I have much doubt about those now who
say they prevent cruelty to animals when
I feel the entire process to this poor
dog was cruel. He did not deserve this.
The manager said to me the people who
gave him up failed Tyson. I say the SPCA failed him.
Rest in
peace Tyson.
Robert
Eglsaer
|
| The reason the SPCA
wouldn't let Robert have Tyson was because
it has a contract with the City of Burnaby
to be its paid animal controller, its
dog-catcher/impounder/disposer. The City of
Burnaby has a duty to protect the public
from dogs, and the SPCA takes money to do
that.
That the SPCA takes money to protect
people from dogs when its mandate is to
protect dogs from people, is a blatant
conflict of interest, but one that pays
well.
The City of Burnaby also has a duty to
protect Burnaby taxpayers from the expense
of litigation should a dog, sold by its
animal control agency, bite a person. So
the SPCA assesses and fails and kills dogs
like Tyson under the terms of its contract.
Even dogs like Tyson who was gentle,
submissive, docile and manageable with
everyone but SPCA employees. The SPCA was
more concerned with its contract than with a
dog. It wouldn't even let Tyson live his
life with someone like Robert, who had
proved that Tyson was not a public menace.
 Its
contract is probably why the SPCA killed
Picasso.
 But
would the staff at City Hall, who are so
worried about liability, have insisted that
the SPCA kill 10lb
Munchkin,
especially given that a well-respected small
dog rescue society begged to be allowed to
save him which even had a lawyer write a
letter releasing the SPCA from liability? Or
was that some perversion of the SPCA's
understanding of what the City expects from
it?
 The
probable reason that the SPCA was bent on
killing
Cheech was
that it was the dog-catcher for Delta.
But thanks to savvy staff and a volunteer,
Cheech was stolen from the Delta SPCA before
they could kill him.
 And
how to explain why the SPCA killed little old
Oreo? He was killed
because his family didn't have $500. AAS would have paid the $500,
but the SPCA didn't give the family any information about other groups
who may have paid to keep happy little Oreo alive, just as the SPCA
didn't tell the owner of Howling Dogs the names of any other groups who
would have taken his dogs.
|
| Did you know? The
BCSPCA has contracts with many BC
municipalities worth over $3 million dollars
a year, to enforce animal control bylaws, to
impound, and to dispose, which it does by
selling or killing the animals. It is also
paid to seize dogs which it deems dangerous,
applying for court orders to have the dogs
destroyed (by the SPCA) if the owner doesn't
buckle under to threats of huge fines and
lawsuits. |
Ed Chase is one person,
who though penniless, took on the SPCA and
after a year of misery for his dog Raymond
in a bleak SPCA cell, got him back.
Video, photos, story |
| Why do so many animals
have to be saved from the SPCA by so many
rescuers?
Tippi
is just one of thousands of animals
saved from the $28 million dollar a year
BCSPCA. |
Read the
SPCA's 56 justifications for
killing while the CEO told the media and the
public it only kills,
"to end the
suffering of an animal that
is beyond medical help.'
Look at the list that the
SPCA could choose from when in-putting a
reason for destruction and decide for
yourself if this is a real animal welfare
organization. Although the SPCA has made
changes in reaction to bad publicity there
is still something inherently wrong with it,
as we believe these few stories show |
|
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