Free DogTown by Stefan Bechtel

They were a family from Oregon who had adopted from Best Friends before, a formerly shy spaniel mix named Jolene (also a featured dog on a DogTown episode). The parents, Susie and Phil, had eight dogs in all and were happy to invite Aristotle to be part of the family. They had a big house and yard, complete with a saltwater pool (which is perfect for a dog with sensitive skin, as the salinity helps soothe the skin). The more they considered it, the more Kristi and the Dogtown team were confident that this home was the place for Ari.
    Once they learned their adoption application had been accepted, Susie and Phil brought their whole doggy menagerie to Kanab to introduce them to Aristotle before they took him home. Their first glimpse: a white flash of fur as Ari bounded out of Kristi’s house and introduced himself. Next, after a series of introductions with them, he tore around the yard with Susie and Phil’s dogs. The couple sat on Kristi’s porch to watch the fun while talking with Kristi about Aristotle’s needs. It was a perfect match for the little guy—he had plenty of playmates who shared his enthusiasm and energy, and he had two loving humans to look after him.
    After taking him back home to Oregon, Susie and Phil still post frequent Ari updates to the Guardian Angel website. Phil reports that the dogs have worn a muddy “racetrack” around the pool in the backyard, where they love to run laps. Ari is far and away the fastest of all the dogs. Ari’s fans and friends can learn about his latest adventures—whether it’s a trip to the groomer or his first camping trip, which included cruising in an RV over the dunes in a park (Ari needed to wear special goggles to protect his eyes, but he tolerated them like a trouper—once the vehicle started moving, he hardly noticed them).
    Aristotle’s high energy and joyful side might never have emerged if he hadn’t made it to Dogtown. The sick, frightened dog he was upon arrival is now but a distant memory, thanks to the dedicated team of medical experts there. Today Aristotle is radiant and healthy—a bundle of fun covered with a healthy new coat of brown-and-white fur.

Shy Bingo dreaded meeting new people and other dogs.

04
Bingo: Opening a Shut-down Dog
    B ingo was one of those swap-and-switch mutts whose body looked like it had been assembled by a committee of children; none of the pieces quite fit together. He looked to be mostly a yellowish Lab, possibly a shepherd mix, but with gangly legs suggesting there might have been some Great Dane or even greyhound in the mix. He had big, lugubrious brown eyes, sad as Eeyore’s, as if to acknowledge how sorry he looked.
    But when he first arrived at Dogtown on a dusty spring day in 2008, those sad, frightened brown eyes, peering out of a box, were the only part of Bingo that could be seen.
    Dog trainer Ann Allums had just pulled into Dogtown after a long drive from Southern California with a truck full of 14 new residents. She’d made the trip to pick up dogs from an animal sanctuary that was in the process of shutting down. The owners of the sanctuary, called Sage Canyon, had grown too elderly to continue running their operation and were sending their 14 toughest cases to Dogtown. Now several trainers, including Ann and Pat Whitacre, unloaded the carrying crates from the trucks, let the dogs out, leashed them up, and introduced them to their new runs. All the dogs seemed happy and grateful to be released after the long trip.
    All of them, that is, except one—Bingo, who was so panic stricken he refused to be coaxed out of his box. Immobilized by fear, he just cowered in the back of his crate. Finally, after Bingo had spurned all treats and entreaties, Ann and Pat had to pick the crate up and carry Bingo into his new home at Dogtown inside his crate.
    “It was as if there were 14 crates but only 13 dogs—the other dog was invisible,” Pat said.
    When he was finally enticed out of his crate, Bingo emerged with his