A large grey dog with golden eyes stares into the camera — *We’re sharing* ***Fred****’s story today, in the words of his longest foster mom, Chentel*

At Path of Hope Rescue, one of our core values is transparency. We all want the happy endings where a puppy born in horrible conditions was rescued, found his perfect home and has a happily ever after. But sometimes, this isn’t the reality.

My Dearest Fred,

I am sorry that things ended up turning out this way. I am sorry that humans have failed you, your entire life. I am also sorry that you never got to live the full life that you deserved.

I am thankful that I got to spend the majority of your life with you. You taught me so much and helped me grow as a person. You gave me the confidence and courage to make big, scary decisions.

I am grateful that I got to watch you grow and learn for a year and a half in my home and that you trusted me enough to let me go on that journey with you.

Your life was never easy from the moment you were conceived. Although we don’t truly know if your parents were related to each other, we could make some pretty good assumptions based off deductive reasoning.

Your first humans not only allowed that to happen, they allowed you to be stuck in a kennel that was too small for your mama, let alone her plus you and your siblings. They left you all in there for hours, days, and weeks on end: a tiny kennel in a hot, tiny trailer, on top of a small little table. You were never taught love, how to be a dog, boundaries, etc.

The day that Ferry County Sheriff's office showed up at that hell hole of a home was the best day of your life. They were able to contact a local rescue, Path of Hope Rescue, who with the “yes” of a foster was able to take you, your siblings, and you mama in. Had that not happened, the likelihood of your litter making it a few more days or weeks was not in your favor.

a small grey puppy with a red collar — ***Fred*** *at just a few weeks old after he traveled up the Path of Hope from Texas to Spokane, WA*

Your new journey started the day you came to your new foster home. You were showed love, attention, care, etc. You grew into a spry and spunky little puppy with a side of attitude. I remember coming over to your foster home and playing with you all and watching you sleep. So precious and innocent. Once you grew out of being with your litter-mates, you got to go to another foster home with one of your siblings. Although you were safe, humans failed you in this season of life as well.

You learned how to be a dog, you learned what love was, but you weren’t started on your best foot forward with boundaries and being told no. You were matched with a new family, this was supposed to be your furever home, your fresh start. You were going to have hooman siblings to run and play with; your new family discussed training with our matchmakers and how it would help you to be the goodest boy; and our adoption contract was written so that you would always have a place with us if things didn’t work out or something happened to your family.

Thank goodness that was in there because at 13 months old you made a mistake and had to be returned.

Your first “furever” home failed you. They got you at a time that the world decided to shut down, which was hard for everyone. They chose not to socialize you in any capacity, or work on training with you to help set you up for success. You never got to meet other dogs and learn how to play.

You never left the house and became scared of everything. All of a sudden you were growing into this big dog, leaving that cute puppy stage behind, and your family realized that they no longer had control over you. You learned that by growling and biting you could get out of uncomfortable situations instead of learning how to work through them and be okay with them or choose to walk away from them.

You learned to be afraid of new people, pets, love, affection, and everything in the outside world. Your family became so afraid of you that instead of seeking out help with training and behavior modification, they chose to medicate you. Although it calmed your mind temporarily, it never taught you how to work through that fearfulness. It was simply a band-aid on a symptom and never got to the root cause of the issue.

You eventually made a big mistake by biting one of your hooman sibling’s friends. I don’t know the exact situation of that bite to cause the reaction, but I do know you reacted the only way you knew how. Shortly after that, you were returned to the rescue.

I remember getting the notification that you were coming back and why. There was something that spoke to me telling me that you needed me; little did I know that I needed you just as much. I will never forget the night you were dropped off at my house.

It was late on a Sunday night in mid-November. Your family pulled up with you in the car and got you out leashed. I walked up and said hi to them, ignored you, and took the leash out of your moms hand. She was hesitant, I could tell she was afraid you were going to do something. I assured her it’s ok, and she handed me the leash. It was clear you were anxious and didn’t understand what was going on.

Your dad continued to unload the car with your food, toys, etc., and Cody came out to help bring that stuff inside. You never did react to Cody or myself that night, why I will never know. Was it the trazodone you had been drugged up with? Was it that you just knew we were there to help? Was it some other reason?

You parents said goodbye and drove away forever as we walked into the house. This was the start of an incredible journey for all of us!

***Fred*** *and Cody lounging on the couch*

The first night here you paced and paced and paced, you would look out the window for your family, you would look at the door hoping they would come back. After about 24 hours, you finally realized that they weren’t coming back. For the first few days we just let you exist in the home and get comfortable being around us.

You eventually started seeking us out for pets and attention. I will never forget the first time you leaned into me demanding affection. My heart burst into a million pieces. I knew that I was going to need professional help to get you to conquer your fear so I called a trusted balanced trainer to come do an assessment. The first time you met Courtney was wild. I tried the prong collar on you, but I hadn’t really spent the time to condition you to it.

I later found out was a missed step on my part! Courtney came in and stood in the living room, I went into the other room and put on your prong collar and leash to bring you out to say hi. The minute you rounded that corner you were instantly terrified and went into fight mode.

You were lunging and growling at Courtney. Without that collar and leash on, you definitely would have taken a chomp or two of her leg. When the prong collar corrected you as you lunged, you immediately turned and directed that behavior towards me.

Thankfully, I was paying attention and able to move out of the way. It was this day that we learned A) You need to condition a doggo to using the prong collar (sorry about that!) and B) Just how much work it was going to be to help you.

Courtney continued to come over weekly. We got a muzzle on you for safety for everyone. And, we continued to work on many different things. The beginning stages were all about building trust and growing our bond. We worked for a couple hours a day on very basic things such as the art of doing nothing (which helps immensely with anxiety), basic obedience (and man I had never met a dog as eager to please as you were), place, stay, conditioning to loud noises and knocks on the door.

You eventually grew to love Courtney and looked forward to getting to see her. As you progressed through each step of training, we increased the challenges for you and helped you overcome things one by one. At one point we were doing 3 hours of training a day… man was that exhausting! This was centered around building off of the obedience training and entering into the official behavior modification training.

We worked on alpha rolls, getting you comfortable with touching your paws, being comfortable in a vulnerable position, having your ears touched, your muzzle touched while on you, nail trims, etc. This was such a tiring and trying phase, there were days that we both struggled, but neither one of use gave up, and we both grew into better versions of ourselves.

***Fred*** *and his house mate Piper, muzzles on for everyone’s safety*

Hey, do you remember my best friend Lesley? She came over to stay the weekend with us a couple of times and even brought her daughter. She sat by your kennel and talked to you much to your displeasure. She just wanted to love you, but you weren’t quite ready yet.

After you had calmed down and worked through having someone new in the house and by your kennel we let you come hang out with us. She gave you treats and in exchange you let her pet you.

She was one of the very first people you let pet you. Man I remember that day, watching you grow in that moment made my heart swell. I had such a proud mama moment.

The next time she came over she brought her daughter Paige. You still weren’t fond of Lesley sitting by your kennel, but you definitely seemed to recognize her as you warmed up fairly quickly.

This weekend was a special one, it was the first time outside of myself, Cody, or Courtney that you went and sought out love, attention, and affection. You got up on the couch next to Lesley, and you went over and leaned into her asking for pets.

This was such a special moment, and I am so thankful we all got to be part of it. Heck, you even went over and investigated Paige. She reached out and pet you, even though we told her not to, and you tolerated it for about 2 seconds until you realized what was happening. You then reacted in a poor manner. Thankfully, you were muzzled and you were corrected and didn’t make the same mistake again.

You continued to grow, learn, and become a better version of yourself with each passing week. You overcame your fear of nail trims, being brushed, new people entering the house, loud noises, cars driving by, and so much more.

You were able to allow people to pet you and even go ask for pets! I remember taking you on outings that I'll admit I was nervous about, but you constantly proved to me that you were ready.

***Fred****, muzzled for everyone’s safety, getting pets from Lesley*

We went to a training class with other people and dogs; a big event at Brickwest Brewing with lots of people and kids; and even Bark in the Park with a TON of people and dogs everywhere.

At Bark in the Park, you walked right into a circle of people like you were part of their group and you had never met one single person in that circle. As two of them walked away, you started walking away with them. I'll never forget the laughs and proud mama feeling of that moment.

Fred, we had some amazing times and made some incredible memories. But I will admit that I too failed you. I am not innocent in the failures of your story.

I do promise that I will NEVER stop being your voice or telling your story. I got too complacent and comfortable with your progress.

I knew that you had come to a point that you could go live with another person, your furever person. If they continued to build on the balanced training that we had been using, which yes included training tools like a muzzle, ecollar, and prong collar, then you would go on to live a fulfilled and happy life.

***Fred*** *at a BrickWest Brewing event posing in front of some angel wings.*

My complacency turned into laziness, and I stopped taking you on all the adventures. You didn’t get to continue meeting people as I had hoped, and we didn’t work on training like we had. In that I failed you and I am sorry! I allowed my season of life to take complete control.

I remember the day an application came through for you, I was so overjoyed that someone finally saw you for the incredible good boy you were becoming. I read through the app and had such a good feeling about it, I emailed to schedule the call right away.

Although I was excited for you, I was trying really hard not to get my hopes up. I still had to go over your history with her and not everyone believes in second chances.

The call was a long one, we chatted about her history and abilities, she had raised Great Danes and had them as show dogs, she had lots of experience with training, I was getting more and more excited.

I remember thinking well shoot, if she can handle Great Danes then she can definitely handle you and your training needs. I told her about your history, including the bite of a child, I told her about the fear aggression and reactivity and how you had overcome most of it outside of some reactivity still in the kennel.

We chatted about second chances and how she didn’t plan on having you around any kids so that shouldn’t be a problem. I remember her telling me that she found you on YouTube and saw your video on there. She saw the look in your eyes and knew you were special. I remember feeling so overjoyed and excited for you that she wanted to come meet you.

The day of the meet and greet was so exciting. I was filled with so much pride and joy. We greeted her in the front yard, and you had all your training tools on so we could make sure to set you up for success.

You greeted her, sniffed her, and then allowed her to pet you no problem. I had her take your leash and walk you around, and you walked with her like such a good boy.

We chatted some more and talked about your history again. She asked some questions about the severity of the bite, what caused it, and I told her I don’t know the circumstances surrounding the bite or the severity of it, but only that you had bitten a child.

I told her you had attempted to bite me a couple times when we were first starting training, but that was my fault because I was trying to push you as far as I could. The bites were warning bites, and you never actually clamped down. It was an open mouth warning bite.

We talked about your training tools; how they helped set you up for success; how I wasn’t comfortable with introducing you to new people without the muzzle so we always used it as a precaution.

We chatted away about the balanced training we had done and about Courtney and how far you’ve come. We talked about how you should remain on a balanced training program and that Courtney was more than happy to continue working with him.

I remember you just laying on your place bed hanging out, going over to her as she sat on the couch, and asking for pets. We talked about her experiences with training and who she had used in the past.

***Fred*** *laying in the snow for a special photoshoot*

Hindsight is always 20/20 as I should have done my research on those trainers. Not that they are bad trainers as I have never had any personal experiences with them, but they were positive only trainers, which we knew wouldn’t work for you.

In that aspect I failed you and I am sorry for that. I should have been more diligent and insistent on training being done with ONLY Courtney since you were familiar with her and she was familiar with you.

The meet and greet lasted about 2 to 2.5 hours. It was the longest meet and greet in the 4 years I had been fostering, but I didn’t mind. I wanted everything to go smoothly for you and make sure it was a good fit.

I told her that your adoption process would be slightly different than our normal process because I wanted you to have time to adjust and be successful. After all, you had never been away from me for more than a few days at a time.

It was now time for the home inspection and in home trial. I knew this would be emotional for me, but I was confident that this was the right next step for you. She was confident in being your leader and not allowing you to revert back to bratty behavior and had done a lot of training in the past.

We started in the backyard and hung out there for a few. We came inside, and you investigated every inch of the house. I was so impressed that this home was designed around dogs and knew you would be loved here.

We eventually took your muzzle off. Yes, we came with all of our training tools on to set you up for success. I was nervous, but she was confident. You proved me wrong and did so well! I was so proud of you!

We stayed and tried multiple things with you in your new home, and you succeeded in everything. You did have some bratty moments, peeing & marking in the house, and growling at me when I went to take a toy from you. But overall, you didn’t do too bad for being in a new environment with a new person.

We finally left you after being there for about an hour and a half, it was time to let you fully spread your wings and fly.

We checked in on you throughout the process, but not too often. We wanted to give you and your new mom some time to adjust and just be with each other. Your new mama noticed some stuff that I had missed and for that I will forever be grateful to her for.

She noticed that you had a granuloma from licking on your chest, which could be a result of some unknown allergies. I had never heard of a granuloma before and didn’t really know what it was so did some research on it.

Apparently you get it from obsessively licking and/or chewing one specific spot and it turns into a sore of sorts and you lose your fur in that spot and can become a secondary infection. It can happen in a matter of hours, days, weeks, or months.

She reached out to us immediately, and we got you some care for the granuloma, as well as an allergy test so we could see exactly what you were allergic to.

When the results came in, your new mama did some serious research to find you a food that would work and have 0 of your allergens in there. There was no doubt in my mind that she had love for you.

Cody and I went over to see you and check on how things were going. She was so proud of the progress you made and was so excited to tell me of your adventures to the Walmart parking lot. She had brought you over here during the trial to pick up some meds, a laser for your butt, and to say hi.

It was apparent that you were being well taken care of medically and physically. You definitely showed some signs of anxiety and over excitement that I brushed off as still forming a cohesive bond with your new mom.

When Cody was laying on your bed with you and told you not to chew on it and you growled at him, I should have taken that more seriously that maybe the balanced training wasn’t being continued. Hindsight is always 20/20 though.

The day I got the call that she wanted to officially make you part of her family was one of the happiest days of my rescue career.

I was so overwhelmed with joy, gratitude, faith, and happiness. We did it; you did it; you finally had your forever home; or so I thought.

The day she handed me back some of your training tools was the day I should have started becoming more insistent. But instead, I subconsciously chose to take a back seat and see how things unfolded as she worked with her training team, a group of individuals that she had worked with previously with her other dogs.

I originally thought they were there to meet you and evaluate her and her ability to continue your progress; however, I was mistaken. She had planned on working with them solely and not continuing with Courtney.

She believed a different training philosophy of positive only and not balanced, even though it was explicitly stated multiple times that you required balanced trainers.

Once the contract of adoption was signed, it felt like there was a shift in the dynamic. You were successful in the home for some time. But unfortunately, you made another mistake, one that will end up costing you your life.

It wasn’t your fault. Did you know better? Yes, but you also were not set up for success in this interaction. You ended up making a poor choice and biting a trainer in the home. It was a severe enough bite that it required medical care.

Ever since I found out about the incident and had the call with your mom, I have been on a whirlwind of emotions. Lots of sadness, anger, guilt, hurt, etc. I don’t think that training requests and tools were ignored on purpose. I don’t think that you were set up to fail intentionally because it was obvious that your mom cared deeply for you. I do think that it was done out of ignorance and a lack of willingness to be open to a new training philosophy and trainers.

We are now left with some hard decisions to make. Your mom now believes you to be a danger and threat to the community and wanted to euthanize you. She is not wrong in this thinking of euthanasia as you have now become a liability risk.

It's not fair to you I know. But unfortunately whether humans failed you or not, this is the consequence of these actions. We will be taking you back into the rescue but not to rehome you because that would not be responsible of us.

We are willing to give you another shot with a rescue that feels equipped to take you on as a permanent resident. But its not a likely possibility. The more likely possibility will be that you come back to our home and live out the rest of your numbered days here.

Chentel holds **Fred**’s paw as they reunite after 3 months of being apart.

My boy, my Fred, I am so sorry it has come down to this. Trust me this decision was not made lightly. If we do not get another rescue to commit, then we will have to euthanize you. It will go quickly, and I will make sure that I am there with you until the end.

You will know how loved you truly are. This is not a fair decision, and it was done with much agony and heartbreak. You will have left a mark on my heart forever, and I will be forever grateful and thankful for the growth and strength you inspired in me. I am sorry that You. Were. Failed. By us all!

I love you always and forever,

Chentel Morrison, Your longest mama.