A gentle giant who got a second chance at life helping others died on March 9 after defending his family from a bear.
Loki was an eight-year-old American bluenose pitbull. After spending the first seven and a half years of his life in Calgary mostly alone in a basement and neglected, he was adopted approximately a year ago by Pawsitive Horizons co-owner/operator Kirby Macinnes and her husband Brian Burden.
"We got up here and quickly realized he was special. I've worked with a lot of dogs, and I've never seen a dog learn that fast," Macinnes said. "People told me it was crazy to use a pitbull as a therapy dog. [But] he had a unique ability to sense what that person needed. He was just there to give, he loved the work."
Pawsitive Horizons provides canine-assisted therapy for organizations including Prince George RCMP Victim Services, St. Patrick Transition House, the Prince George Native Friendship Centre, the Paws for Connection program for parolees operated by the John Howard Society, and the Correctional Service of Canada.
Loki quickly had a large caseload of clients - working with up to 15 in the course of a year, including eight on a weekly or biweekly basis, Macinnes said.
"All he asked for was two square meals, not to be woken before 10 [a.m.] and some pillows," she said.
Many of the clients felt they could identify with Loki's story -raised in hardship, being an often-misunderstood and feared breed -and find hope for forgiveness and second chances, she said.
Despite being a powerful, athletic 83-pound dog, Loki was gentle with people and loved to learn alongside the clients as they did tracking, agility, obedience training and other activities together, she added.
"The dogs get through to people in ways that takes people a long time. He helped the clients move forward in a positive [way]," Macinnes said. "A lot of clients feel the loss very deeply. I never released how Loki effected people until he was gone. It really hit home how important these programs are, how important these dogs are."
FINAL DAY
Burden said on March 9 he put Loki and the couple's two other therapy dogs, Grimmus and Chara, and was outside playing with them when he noticed something was wrong.
"Loki just kind of disappeared," he said.
He started calling Loki and went looking around the couple's semi-rural property on Progress Road when he found a bear den under a brush pile less than 50 metres from their home - so close that "I could have thrown a ball and hit it" from his back door.
"I went and saw [Loki] in the den, and the bear had a hold of him," he said.
Loki and the mother bear were fighting in the den, he said. He shouted for Macinnes and tried to call Loki out, but the dog wouldn't retreat.
The couple and their roommate tried frantically to stop the fight when, "the mama [bear] came shooting out of there and went up a tree," Macinnes said.
Burden was able to pull the mortally-wounded dog out of the den and they drove into town to the vet, while on the phone with conservation officers.
"By the time I got [to the vet's office] the damage was too much. He went in peace with the help of the vet," Macinnes said. "He was very proud of what he'd done. He did what was in him to do, which was protect his family. In the end, he was comforting me."
On the drive back from the vet's, Macinnes said she and Burden were angry and shaken up. They had walked by the den on an almost daily basis, including doing tracking training with clients in the area, she said. Even the conservation officers were surprised a bear had made a den so close to an area full of people and dogs, she added.
However the when conservation officers found three uninjured baby cubs in the den, it changed her perspective. Conservation officers were able to safely tranquilize the mother bear and her cubs and relocate them to the Northern Lights Wildlife Society's facility in Smithers.
Society spokesperson Tanja Landry says the facility is willing to rehabilitate the animals, but needs to raise $4,000 to upgrade its enclosure to accomodate the adult bear - because the shelter normally only takes cubs.
"Once you saw it was nature being nature... we were super happy at the outcome," she said. "In a bad situation, it was the best outcome."
LEGACY
Macinnes said Loki's death has prompted her and her business partner to consider how to help clients cope with the sudden death of a therapy dog. Typically therapy dogs are retired gradually, to give clients time to say goodbye, she explained.
"Loki was a fighter, and he'd want the clients to keep on fighting," Macinnes said.
Also, she said, the couple have pet health insurance for their dogs so they knew he'd have been able to get the best care available without having to worry about the cost.
"That's why we want to start a fund [in Loki's name]... for people without vet insurance, to help pets," she said. "We don't want them to have to make a decision based on the financial implications."
Since the incident, one of her other therapy dogs, Chara, has been too skittish to work, she said, leaving them down two therapy animals.
Since Loki's death they have adopted two new dogs, a German shepherd named Abby and a Maltese cross named Freddie and have begun training them to work with clients.
"[But] I know I won't find another dog like him," Macinnes said.
--With files from The Canadian Press
