Porter
Age: 13ish years (left for the rainbow bridge August 2025🌈)
Rescued from: Last Day Dog Rescue

Porter was found as a stray in Detroit, and was brought into Last Day Dog Rescue. From the beginning, he suffered from severe dog reactivity/aggression. Porter was subjected to force-based “dominance” training. Choke chains, shock collars, prong collars, and aversive methods were all used. After being in rescue for over a year, Jacqueline took Porter on as a foster at 2-3 years old in 2015.

Porter showed all of the signs of a very stressed and fearful dog when he first came home. Although he was cat-friendly at the rescue, he took three months to acclimate to the presence of the cats within Jacqueline’s home. Porter had hair loss, and skin issues. Any dog-related noises on the TV or outdoors triggered Porter. A collar with tags, barking, whining, etc. all caused him to react. It took three full months of decompression, enrichment, routine, and management to help Porter feel at peace. After that, the transformation began!

Using the power of science-based positive/force-free training Porter completely changed as a dog. Knowing that his reactivity stemmed from fear, Jacqueline was able to desensitize and counter-condition Porter to everything that was upsetting to him. He went from a very high level of reactivity (barking, lunging, drooling, panting, taking food rough), to only displaying very low-level stress signals (whining, quivering). He was able to encounter dogs, whether seeing them walking or hearing them bark in the neighborhood, and he very rarely noticed. He thrived on puzzle feeders/toys, and any training. His foster-failure status was claimed just one year after he came home.

Porter lived a very stress-free life and truly became an amazing companion and ambassador for rescue pit bulls. He loved his kitty siblings, and will be deeply missed.