The Story of Maska's Rescue

As many of you know, On Tuesday, October 17, 2000 Robyn Leff and I went to the East Valley Shelter here in Los Angeles and adopted out a three year-old male Caucasian Ovtcharka. Maska (Russian for mask) has now been permanently placed in a home near enough to me that I can check up on him and offer any help or guidance that might be needed.

I consider the story of his adoption, while ultimately successful, to be a primer in what can go wrong in rescue and how truly awful breed politics can be. I am telling this story today so that others may be warned of what they may have to go through to get good work done, but also because I want to thank so many people for their kindness and help. There are so many of you with hearts of gold, and you should know that your good graces are very much appreciated.

Several wonderful people from this country and Canada stepped forward with homes for Maska, available immediately. Many wrote with kind words of support and offers of any kind of assistance I might need. In all, I dealt with more than 120 pieces of e-mail on this one rescue alone! You all are incredibly giving and should rightly feel proud of your commitment to rescue and to Maska. He can’t thank you, but I can.

This then, is the story of my involvement with Maska:

On Monday evening, 10/16 I checked my e-mail and found four messages alerting me to a female CO in the East Valley Shelter here in Los Angeles. The dog had been there since the 7th and was listed on a web page and the mail included links to that page.

I have rescued many dogs over the years and I maintain a confidential mailing list for people interested in adopting Livestock Guardian Dogs. (The list membership is kept private to prevent any misuse and it is a one-way list, content only comes from me. There are currently 77 members in the US and Canada.)

I immediately sent out an alert to the names on the list. The next morning, Tuesday, 10/17, I found several messages from people outside of California saying they had tried to contact the shelter but the toll free number wouldn’t work. I called the shelter to get an alternate number, and while on the phone I inquired about the dog. I was told that the dog was not a female but a male, and that if I wanted to adopt him I would need to come that day as he was scheduled to be destroyed that afternoon.

I sent an emergency note to the list to update the situation with the new information I had received.

Robyn and I both cancelled our work for the day and went to evaluate the dog. COs are not an easy breed, and they can be aggressive. I will not place a dog that I consider dangerous. I realize that evaluating a dog is not an exact science, so I follow my instincts and experience.

Maska appeared to be a great dog. Sweet, soft and easy-going, there was nothing about him to make me think he would be anything but a wonderful candidate for rescue. Robyn and I agreed to adopt the dog out of the shelter and find him a permanent home.

I took him out with the understanding that I would keep Maska in my care until I found the right home for him, regardless of how long that might take.

We drove him to my house and introduced him to Tovarisch and Ilka. Amazingly, Maska seemed to sense the situation he was in and was deferential to both dogs. I took him to my Vet for an evaluation and to make sure there was nothing that needed doing.

I returned home with him and began to integrate him into normal life in my house. I sent another note to the list to let people know that I now had the dog and was looking for a home for him. Robyn posted further details to LGD-L and ASD-L.

Maska had been surrendered to the shelter by his owners. He was covered in mats and clearly was not successful in shedding last year’s winter coat. I worked for many hours to remove the old fur and to trim out the mats. I filled a decent-sized garbage can with the remains and he looks much better!

Maska’s personality began to peek out. At first he seemed withdrawn, scared, not sure of what was going on, all of which is appropriate for a dog that has spent the last 10 days in a shelter. As he grew more comfortable with the routines that developed he began to come out of his shell and showed himself to be intelligent and emotional. It was a wonder to come home on Thursday and watch him get excited to see me. I’m not sure he took regular walks in his previous life, but he really liked them here and even asked for them.

The first time we walked he kept his tail down, but by Thursday he walked with it held proudly over his back! Of course that might have been because I had removed so many of the mats by then that it probably weighed significantly less!

He showed himself to be a soft and emotional dog, asking for greetings and to be petted, rolling onto his back to have his tummy rubbed (previously too scary to contemplate) and even holding his head still without me holding it so I could trim the mats from around his ears.

I’m sure anyone reading this can see that I fell for this wonderful dog, and I know Robyn did too. Both of us will really miss Maska!

I have no doubts about his personality after these last few days, but it wasn’t until Friday morning that he finally barked for the first time in my care! A neighbor stuck their head over the fence to get a look at him, and I imagine that by then he’d taken responsibility for the yard, so there it was, a goofy, tentative bark, eventually rising to the sound I know so well. I was also heartened to see that he advanced on the fence, not retreating. I believe that he will soon show that his instincts are intact and will be an excellent guardian.

Over the course of the next few days I juggled work while I fielded dozens of inquiries via telephone and e-mail, attempting to find the right situation for this wonderful dog. Robyn did the same.

One of the first contacts came from a woman in a very rural area, about 50 miles out of Los Angeles. She has fenced property, a dog run, an interesting menagerie and a pair of Great Pyrs guarding livestock. Maska’s responsibilities will be to the people on the property and he will have access to the house. All of this is very in keeping with the personality I saw in this dog and I am happy for him and for the lucky people taking him in.

I am also happy that he will be close enough that I can visit and check up on him. I know he’s going to do well and I can’t wait to see him grow into his new home! I hope that in the days to come this family will decide to let you all know of Maska’s progress.

The sad part of this otherwise excellent rescue experience has been that while doing everything I could to find this dog a permanent home, I was forced to endure shameful attacks from a woman in Ohio named Stacey Kubyn. This is not the first time I’ve had to deal with her and each time is a regretful experience. I will do my best to cut through what she had to say to the specific charges she has been making in countless locations across the internet.

1. Ms. Kubyn says I stole this rescue from the shelter or from her or her representative, Dottie Sisco. – I did no such thing. I had no knowledge of what efforts she or they may or may not have been making on behalf of the dog. I operated only on what the shelter told me, and I have e-mails that make clear what I knew and when. I heard about her charges only after the dog had been legally adopted out.

2. Ms. Sisco has posted publicly that I took the dog in conflict with a “hold” she had placed on the dog – I did not do this at all. In fact, I have another e-mail from Ms. Sisco that includes the following quotation “I spoke to the girl who adopted out the dog, she said she knew nothing of a hold but had released the dog to a rescuer who did not have a white card, a card from LA County that allows you to adopt at lesser fees but you need a 501 non profit to get this card.” Clearly, the shelter believed they were acting correctly. I don’t have that card as I am not a 501 but rather an individual and the West Coast Rescue Coordinator for Caucasian Ovtcharka International.

3. Ms. Sisco has charged that even after being apprised of her efforts on behalf of this dog, I refused to turn the dog over to her. – This is correct. I contacted sources in the Great Pyr community to determine what to do and it was suggested that I should keep the dog and continue with my own efforts. I trust my sources and followed their advice.

4. Ms Kubyn charges that my interference cost this dog a permanent home. – I have no knowledge of such a home, despite the fact that several people privately and publicly suggested that this home be brought forward for the benefit of the dog.

5. Ms. Kubyn charges that I nearly caused the death of a previous CO in that same shelter when I evaluated the dog as potentially aggressive and not a good candidate for rescue. I stand by my evaluation, I did the best I knew how and I believe I have enough experience with this breed and with dogs in general to make that kind of evaluation. Since Ms. Kubyn placed the dog, I have learned that the dog in question was placed with a man facing charges for a vicious dog attack. This does not sound to me like a solid placement.

I encourage anyone concerned about any of this to contact me if they would like more details. I have kept silent on the subject until now because finding the right home for Maska has been my priority. With that taken care of I want people to know that there is a very different telling of this tale. I don’t subscribe to any of the lists that Ms. Kubyn maintains or is subscribed to, so I would appreciate it if someone would cross-post this information to them and allow my voice to be heard.

Ben