Months later, our pets still bear the costs of our fires

Now and again, while walking Philly near the Rose Bowl, I bump into a dog trainer named Eldon, who generously offers pointers.

My cheesesteak-shaped beagle used to go on strike during walks, but he’s improving thanks in part to Eldon’s tips. I wanted to write about that, but Eldon said he’s mostly retired and doesn’t need the publicity. His only new clients, he told me, are dogs who are still struggling with PTSD from the Eaton wildfire in January.

Come on, I implored. That’s a story on its own.

Maybe so, Eldon said. Dogs are creatures of habit, he reminded me, as much as humans — or more. They like their homes, their neighborhoods, their familiar smells and routines. Rip all of that away overnight, and they’re knocked off balance.

Eldon suggested I call Natalie Langan, owner of Trailhead Hounds, because her clients include displaced Altadenans and their discombobulated dogs. When Eldon showed me a photo of Langan, I realized I’d seen her running pack hikes on the Gabrielino Trail above the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with a garrison of 30 or more dogs in four-legged lockstep.

“I would say roughly a quarter of all the dogs we pick up for our pack hikes are dogs from Altadena who lost their homes,” Langan told me when I called.

Some dogs — and cats — have made multiple moves since the fire and had to get used to new surroundings over and over again.

That can put them on edge and heighten their separation anxiety, Langan said, and if their owners are depressed or grief-stricken about loss and uncertainty, the animals absorb those emotions too.

In need of a new normal

“Dogs see the world in patterns. That’s how we’re able to train them,” said Langan, who advises clients who lost their homes to establish new routines for their pets.

“The No. 1 thing is to create a new normal, and that’s for humans as well. My parents lost their home to the fire and I’ve been helping them” build structure into their days and stay on the move.

When I first wrote about the impact of the fires on dogs, cats, chickens and goldfish, I noted that Anthony Ruffin and Jonni Miller’s dog and two cats were badly shaken. Especially Mr. Thelma, a cat who refused to go outdoors at their temporary rental in La Crescenta.

Miller reports that Mr. Thelma, who was found wandering in the rubble of their yard several days after their home on West Palm Street in Altadena was destroyed, is OK, but still won’t go outside.

I also checked back in with Jessica Davis, who runs Boomer’s Buddies, a Malibu animal rescue that helped families track down strays that were scattered by the Palisades fires. She said multiple moves to temporary quarters have been particularly hard on pets.

“Yes, they can be resilient, but some animals carry trauma and they want to be back where they were,” Davis said. “We’re starting to see a surge of people saying, ‘I lost everything and can’t keep my animal’” until getting resettled.

Davis said she’s currently trying to find someone to foster a Bernese mountain dog.
In Altadena, Sharon Moon and Kimbop, her 14-year-old Pomeranian, used to enjoy regular neighborhood gatherings with dogs and their owners, and Moon’s mother would join her and Kimbop on sunset hikes along the Crest Trail.

“Everything is gone,” said Moon, including her home. She’s staying in Silver Lake, planning to rebuild in Altadena, and Kimbop is doing pretty well but still adjusting to different sights and missing her friends. “We all used to have so much fun gathering and chatting (in Altadena). It was our little enclave away from all the madness.”

Meghan Malloy and her family, who lost their home in Altadena, moved three times before settling into a rental in Sherman Oaks. It hasn’t been easy, because Malloy and her husband have a newborn, two cats (Felix and Mushu) and two golden retrievers (Arthur and Clementine).

The cats are OK and so is Arthur, but he misses his yard and his friends.
And then there’s Clementine, who was “a little anxious” before the fire, and more so ever since.