Now and again, while walking Philly near the Rose Bowl, I bump into a dog trainer named Eldon, who generously offers pointers.
My cheesesteak-shaped beagle used to go on strike during walks, but he’s improving thanks in part to Eldon’s tips. I wanted to write about that, but Eldon said he’s mostly retired and doesn’t need the publicity. His only new clients, he told me, are dogs who are still struggling with PTSD from the Eaton wildfire in January.
Come on, I implored. That’s a story on its own.
Maybe so, Eldon said. Dogs are creatures of habit, he reminded me, as much as humans — or more. They like their homes, their neighborhoods, their familiar smells and routines. Rip all of that away overnight, and they’re knocked off balance.
Eldon suggested I call Natalie Langan, owner of Trailhead Hounds, because her clients include displaced Altadenans and their discombobulated dogs. When Eldon showed me a photo of Langan, I realized I’d seen her running pack hikes on the Gabrielino Trail above the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with a garrison of 30 or more dogs in four-legged lockstep.
“I would say roughly a quarter of all the dogs we pick up for our pack hikes are dogs from Altadena who lost their homes,” Langan told me when I called.
Some dogs — and cats — have made multiple moves since the fire and had to get used to new surroundings over and over again. That can put them on edge and heighten their separation anxiety, Langan said, and if their owners are depressed or grief-stricken about loss and uncertainty, the animals absorb those emotions too.
“Dogs see the world in patterns. That’s how we’re able to train them,” said Langan, who advises clients who lost their homes to establish new routines for their pets. “The No. 1 thing is to create a new normal, and that’s for humans as well. My parents lost their home to the fire and I’ve been helping them” build structure into their days and stay on the move “rather than sitting around the condo being sad about what’s happening.”
When I first wrote about the impact of the fires on dogs, cats, chickens and goldfish, I noted that Anthony Ruffin and Jonni Miller’s dog and two cats were badly shaken. Especially Mr. Thelma, a cat who refused to go outdoors at their temporary rental in La Crescenta.
Miller reports that Mr. Thelma, who was found wandering in the rubble of their yard several days after their home on West Palm Street in Altadena was destroyed, is OK, but still won’t go outside.
I also checked back in with Jessica Davis, who runs Boomer’s Buddies, a Malibu animal rescue that helped families track down strays that were scattered by the Palisades fires. She said multiple moves to temporary quarters have been particularly hard on pets.
“Yes, they can be resilient, but some animals carry trauma and they want to be back where they were,” Davis said. “We’re starting to see a surge of people saying, ‘I lost everything and can’t keep my animal’” until getting resettled.
Davis said she’s currently trying to find someone to foster a Bernese mountain dog.
In Altadena, Sharon Moon and Kimbop, her 14-year-old Pomeranian, used to enjoy regular neighborhood gatherings with dogs and their owners, and Moon’s mother would join her and Kimbop on sunset hikes along the Crest Trail.
“Everything is gone,” said Moon, including her home. She’s staying in Silver Lake, planning to rebuild in Altadena, and Kimbop is doing pretty well but still adjusting to different sights and missing her friends. “We all used to have so much fun gathering and chatting [in Altadena]. It was our little enclave away from all the madness.”
Meghan Malloy and her family, who lost their home in Altadena, moved three times before settling into a rental in Sherman Oaks. It hasn’t been easy, because Malloy and her husband have a newborn, two cats (Felix and Mushu) and two golden retrievers (Arthur and Clementine).
The cats are OK and so is Arthur, but he misses his yard and his friends.
And then there’s Clementine, who was “a little anxious” before the fire, and more so ever since.
“She has been absolutely velcroed to me or my husband’s side,” Malloy said. “She was always a pack dog, and had to be with people, and with Arthur. But she has been so clingy, and gets so upset to be left alone.”
Levi, a 4-year-old mutt, suffered through “a month of real instability,” said owner Jenn Burt, as they moved into temporary quarters with a series of friends in the Pasadena area. “Having to get used to a new place every week … and not knowing what the rules were in each of the houses … was quite hard,” said Burt.
Levi had enjoyed sofa privileges in Altadena, but those rights did not travel with him. He’s improving, but he’s still more anxious than he used to be and rattled by fireworks in the nightly warm-up for Fourth of July.
Boudica, a shepherd mix, is “definitely traumatized,” said Katie Jordan. When they lost their Altadena home, she, her teenage son, two cats and Boudica tried squeezing into her boyfriend’s one-bedroom apartment, but it was a tight fit, and a rental in Glendale has been better.
Jordan once took Boudica back to their destroyed neighborhood in Altadena, before debris was removed, and realized that might not have been a good idea. “It was heartbreaking,” Jordan said. “She just ran around whining, like she was so confused.”
There is one activity, though, that always brings relief to Boudica: “Being in a big pack is her dream, and she feels so safe,” Jordan said.
I know what Jordan means. Philly gets excited every time we get within three blocks of dropping him off with dog handler Burke Stuart, of Man’s Best Friend, so he can run around with his pack.
On Wednesday morning, Boudica joined 23 other dogs on a Trailhead Hounds hike at Crescenta Valley Community Regional Park. Langan was joined by two other trainers: her husband, Chase Langan, and Soyun Ahn.
Boudica had a lot in common with Cosmo, Freckles, Lucy, Ruby and Levi, all of whom either lost their homes or were forced to move out temporarily. But I couldn’t have picked them out as the ones with issues. Tails were wagging and most of the dogs had that expression that looks like a smile, mouth half-open, tongue dangling. With plenty of grass, trees, dirt and hints of scatological delights in the air, they were in dog paradise.
The dogs are all trained not to pull on the leash, to stay in formation and to steer clear of rattlesnakes by sight, sound or scent. It was all very impressive, but I kept thinking Philly — who travels nose to the ground, zigzagging through the world — would have been kicked out of class.
About halfway through the hike, the dogs went off leash but stayed close. Two of them wrestled on the grass, and a few climbed onto a twisted tree trunk to pose for a group photo that would be sent to the owners.
All in all, it was a pretty therapeutic way to start the day. And not just for the dogs.
The post Lopez: Five months after wildfires, it’s still PTSD for animals: Pets trying to shake depression appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
