They brought a ghost dog back from the dead. Now he needs a shelter

It’s like the dark shadow of a wild dog came back from the dead to haunt the animal shelter.

The feral dog that there died and was revived is named Ghost, and looks the part.

As a puppy he escaped as a rescue group moved his litter from the Milgen Road Animal Care and Control Center to a van. For a year he lived wild in the nearby woods.

The staff there repeatedly tried, and failed, to catch him. As they walked the impounded dogs on the trails winding through the trees, they saw Ghost shadowing them, lonely and curious.

On Dec. 4, after four hours of effort, they finally managed to coax him close with treats and capture him.

Then he died.

Casey Smith of PAWS said that when Ghost entered the shelter’s play yard, workers used a snare pole to catch him, and the stress was too much.

“When that happened, he had what we believe to be a heart attack,” Smith wrote in an email.

The dog’s heart stopped. His human captors were about to panic when a registered veterinary technician among the volunteers dropped to the ground and gave Ghost cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“Thankfully a few moments later, she revived him, and we were all so relieved and happy. After that, we sedated him and brought him straight to our vet clinic for further care,” Smith wrote, adding, “Everyone fell in love with him.”

Ghost is a wild dog held captive, now, and he does not understand that everyone is in love with him.

Writes Smith:

“When you meet Ghost for the first time you will see one of the saddest things that you will ever witness. You will see a dog who longs for affection, but has no idea how to accept love. He is very curious and will walk toward you, only to lose his confidence and retreat to the safety of his kennel. If you accidentally make eye contact with him, he will go into his kennel and spin in circles, which is what he does when he’s anxious. Ghost doesn’t wag his tail, he doesn’t know how to accept affection, and he doesn’t know how to trust humans.”

But dogs run in packs, so he has that instinct.

“He likes other dogs and is learning how to play and be a dog from his new buddies,” Smith wrote. “He is quite the different dog when another dog is around, and he loves nothing more than to play with them. But, when it comes to humans, we still have a ways to go.... He will now eat treats out of our hands pretty regularly. And most recently, as of this week, he finally walked outside into a play pen. Of course, he was following his best buddy, Rubble. But Rubble assured him it was OK, and they hung around outside. We all celebrated as he took his first steps outside in the fresh air.”

Feral dogs often are aggressive, but Ghost is not: “Ghost is the kindest, most gentle spirited dog we have come across in a long time. We see a lot of dogs at PAWS, and this one is special.”

PAWS believes Ghost now is about 18 months old, a Cane-Corso mix weighing around 65 pounds.

The Cane-Corso originated in Italy, a powerful dog bred to guard property and hunt big game such as wild boar. “He is powerful and athletic and is best suited to an experienced owner who has a large, securely fenced yard,” says Dogtime.com.

Writes Smith: “Since he grew up outdoors and is acclimated to it, we have been advised by experts ... to allow him to stay in a safe, outdoor enclosure during the day and sleep in his kennel at night. This will help with his mental state by helping cut back on the amount of fear he feels being trapped indoors all day. Ghost has made some progress indoors, but we feel he will make more progress in an outdoor enclosure.”

So PAWS has a plan to resurrect Ghost as a family pet: Raise enough money to build him a shelter of his own.

“His rehabilitation will likely take a year or more, and it will be costly. We are already at the three-month mark, and he still isn’t ready for adoption…. We are partnering with CorePaws, a nonprofit that helps promote hard-to-place animals in shelters across the U.S., in raising $3,200 for Ghost to have a separate enclosure and a partial roofed area.”

People can donate online at www.youcaring.com/pawshumaneresidentghost-771116.

The enclosure will be just for Ghost, at first, but later for other ghost dogs that need care and security before they can tolerate the human touch.

“We want so bad for him to ask for affection,” Smith wrote, “but we just aren’t there yet.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 9:40 PM with the headline "They brought a ghost dog back from the dead. Now he needs a shelter."