Judge is my exempt pit bull that I have been the owner of since October 2023. He has spent his entire life in kennels after being seized at only 4 days old with his mum and siblings. He grew up in a kennel environment and with little to no socialisation. I have very little information on him from this time, other than he lived his first 3 years in one kennel, before being moved to another when the kennel location was leaked (kennel locations of seized dogs are completely secret).
I first met Judge when his name was Sid and I was assisting another Expert in her assessment of 'the puppies' as they were called (despite now being 4 years old). The case had been ongoing and the expert had been asked to remeasure and assess the dogs prior to a court appeal.
When I looked into the van, Judge's little boss eyes were looking back at me. Since knowing him I know these eyes are more pronounced when he is feeling stressed. It was love at first site. I assisted in the assessment, but handled Judge. There was the potential for one of the puppies to go home with their mum, so I handled him for this assessment as well as some of his other temperament tests.
I have handled many dogs for assessments, known thousands of dogs through rescue, and known and handled many that I sadly know will be euthanised, but there was something about Judge where I felt I had to help him.
Dogs who are 'of type' are not allowed to be rehomed unless you have handled them prior to court, and dogs who have been in kennels since 4 days old have had very minimal handlers, so Judge was likely to have had a destruction order (euthanasia).
I spoke to the solicitor and put myself forward as a 'keeper' for Judge. There was just something about him. This meant going to court and giving evidence and being cross examined by the prosecution who felt that I had not been legally 'in charge' of Judge for long enough - it was a legal battle rather than personal. The Judge did not agree and granted me keepership of Judge. Sadly I was not there for to learn of this outcome as I had to rush and leave Court to go and say goodbye to my lovely dog Colours who was incredibly poorly. I had rescued Colours when she was 12 and she passed at nearly 15. I like to think she waited until she knew I was going to be looked after by Judge. I still miss her every day though.
I collected Judge a few weeks after being granted keepership. I had to liase with police and apply for exemption with DEFRA via the Dangerous Dogs Index. Once all the paperwork was in place I had a date to go and get him! I arrived at the police station where he was handed over. I had to get him out of the van and put a muzzle on him straight away. He didn't love this, but was so incredibly tolerant. The officer was really kind and loved him. She let me take him to a secure area for him to go off lead and stretch his legs before journeying back. He was such a sweetheart. Obviously bewildered, but optimistic.
Judge has always been both optimistic and resilient. Everything I ask of him he tackles with trust. If I take him to new places, he explores. If we go off the beaten track, he follows. Every hotel visit, every long journey, every new experience, he just gets stuck in. Don't get me wrong - he has struggled with a few things. Environmentally he is very underexposed - so everything was new.
Lamp posts - terrifying.
Cars - large, fast metal boxes of doom.
Fallen down trees, particularly logs with the flat face facing him - The DEVIL!
He still occasionally finds things in the environment worrying, today he had a shout at a dangling bit of ivy over a pond, but generally, through a mix of habituation and desensitisation, he has come on leaps and bounds!
I will write more about Judge's Journey - but this is just the beginning of his story. We have the best yet to come!
