Monticello, NY Dog Gets Second Chance at Life Training With K9 Organization

A dog who was found brutally beaten in Monticello is getting another chance at life.

On May 31st, 2023 news broke that a man was arrested in Monticello after police saw as the man was "aggressively slamming a female Pit bull dog against the pavement and then using his feet to stomp on the dog."

24-year-old Samuel Stanford was immediately arrested and charged him with aggravated cruelty to an animal. The dog, Zola, was then brought to Joanne Gerow and Catskill Animal Rescue Inc. Later, Stanford  was let out on bail, which then inspired Joanne Gerow to create the Justice for Zola movement.

We spoke to Gerow back in June and she told us Zola suffered from a broken cheekbone, multiple lacerations, road rash, 2 broken ribs, and other internal trauma. She added that Zola was living with her as the shelter was not a comfortable place for Zola to recover.

READ MORE: Sullivan County Animal Rescue Fights for Abused Pup

Zola was reactive to other dogs, but Gerow was doing everything in her power to rehab Zola so the pup could get a second chance at living.

Gerow and Catskill Animal Rescue were able to get in contact with Christian Losiewski of Real World K9 LLC. In a statement on Facebook in June Gerow wrote:

Due to Zola's dog aggression issues, we have made the decision to recruit a top Schutzund trainer to work with Zola to modify her behavior and channel her intensity into positivity!

And it looks like everything is going smoothly out in Michigan at Losjewski's facility. On July 1st, Losjewski wrote:

I’m working on teaching her to be obedient to odor, ignoring the distractions of her environment and going for odor when it’s placed. I’m also working on marking and rewarding for continuation of putting her nose at the source of the odor as well as being more independent. Tons of things she still has to be taught before we move onto final response, etc. but she’s going

Take a look:

Since that video, Zola has been doing bite work along with other odor detection drills. You can keep up with Zola on the Real World K-9 LLC Facebook page and learn more about Justice for Zola on the Catskill Animal Rescue social media pages.