Lancaster dog (Bandit) deemed 'dangerous' by court is now thriving at Genesee County animal sanctuary
Buffalo News

With treats stuffed in the pocket of his faded jeans, Matt Albert led a large, fluffy, white and gray dog through the open fields of Against All Oddz Animal Alliance in Darien Center.

“Sit,” commanded Albert, the executive director of the animal sanctuary. Bandit, a 4-year-old Alaskan malamute, complied and eagerly looked to Albert for his reward. “Good boy,” Albert praised, as Bandit happily accepted a treat from his pocket.

Bandit has come a long way since the summer, Albert said, when he was deemed a “dangerous dog” by a Lancaster judge and sent to live out the rest of his life at the Genesee County rescue center.

Against All Oddz takes in animals – mostly dogs – who have nowhere else to go, Albert said. Many, like Bandit, were designated as dangerous dogs by a court. Others come from rescues who weren’t able to handle the dogs.

Bandit used to belong to a village of Lancaster resident named Joshua Gilley. Bandit helped Gilley control seizures he suffers from as a result of a traumatic brain injury. But Bandit was taken away from Gilley in June after escaping from his home and biting a woman in the neighborhood. The woman sustained serious injuries on both of her arms.

Albert, who is also the attorney who represented Gilley and Bandit in court, offered to take Bandit. He arranged for him to get training with a local expert. He’s come a long way,” Albert said of Bandit. “There’s still a way to go. But him and I get along real well.”

After Bandit was removed from Gilley’s home in June, he spent two months at the Town of Lancaster animal shelter, where he didn’t do well, Albert said. “It’d be like you living in a closet for 60 days,” Albert said of Bandit’s living conditions at the shelter.

Once Bandit got out of the shelter, Against All Oddz paid for Bandit’s boarding and training program at BFK9 Training. He had a hard time with all the transitions and didn’t like to be told what to do, at first.

Albert had to work hard to gain Bandit’s trust and go at the dog’s pace. “There’s no substitute for time,” Albert said. “We had to go slower with him than we’ve had to do with other dogs. A lot of these dogs have had seamless adjustments. We’d be lying if we said Bandit was one of them.” But the consistent training is paying off. “He’s doing excellently now,” Albert said. “His true personality is coming out.”

Albert described Bandit as a playful, energetic goofball. He’s fun-loving and “somewhat dramatic,” Albert said.

Gilley, Bandit’s previous owner, is allowed to come visit Bandit and spend time with him. Albert said there is an option to appeal the Lancaster judge’s decision and argue that Bandit should be returned to Gilley, but Gilley hasn’t decided to go down that road, yet.

Against All Oddz is not a high-volume rescue. Its focus is providing a high quality of life for the animals. Against All Oddz “fills a void in the animal rescue community,” Albert said. “We take on animals that others won’t. We believe in the sanctity of all life, including dogs that others have completely given up on. We provide them refuge and a chance at redemption and, in turn, it helps us redeem ourselves.”

There are 13 dogs at the sanctuary now, and Against All Oddz relies on volunteers to help take care of them. Volunteers come by daily to spend time with the dogs, work on training, feed them and take them on walks. Many of the dogs at Against All Oddz have a behavioral issue or history of biting, Albert said, but not all of them will live there for life. The rescue invests time and money in training to rehabilitate all their dogs, some to the point of being able to be adopted.

“We are all about helping animals, but these animals have really helped us,” Albert said. “One of our mantras is ‘empowering people by helping animals.’