Gordon — the homeless pit bull with the broken teeth and screechy bark featured several times in the Akron Beacon Journal — recently trotted down a side street in Stow pulling his new trainer on a skateboard behind him.
He now lives with a family who loves him and plans to keep him, but the story about how he got here has unraveled since first reported in January.
Gordon, it turns out, is not from Akron, according to Amy Beichler, executive director at Public Animal Welfare Society, PAWS Ohio.
He was never scheduled to be euthanized, she said, and it’s unclear whether he was ever used as a bait dog in dog-fighting rings, as was previously reported.
Gordon was picked up running loose on the west side of Cleveland, she said.
Dan Makara — the dog trainer who launched Cleveland Dog Rescue and Rehabilitation Center with Gordon as his first dog — was a “con man” who knew Gordon’s real story for months without setting the record straight, Beichler said.
“In my 12 years as the director of PAWS Ohio I have encountered many different kinds of people. In my PERSONAL opinion Makara is the worst of all I have encountered,” she wrote in a statement she published last week. “He broke personal, professional, and the public trust when he took money that was meant for the health and welfare of animals and did not spend it on them.”
Makara is now under investigation by the Geauga County Humane Society after it seized 15 dogs once in his care.
He insisted he is a well-intentioned animal lover who saves sick or troubled dogs that would otherwise be euthanized.
He said he’s being unfairly targeted by the humane society, Beichler and others in the animal rescue community after he had a falling out with his landlord, whom he describes as a powerful and wealthy woman with deep ties in the animal rescue community. He also said they don’t approve of his leash training method for hard-to-handle dogs.
Makara moves on
After leaving Geauga County in recent months, Makara opened an independent rescue, Cleveland Area No-Kill Rescue and Training Center, in Cuyahoga County.
To support his efforts, Makara said he transferred ongoing PayPay donations that supported the first rescue to his new operation. Neither is a non-profit, and Makara said he never promoted them as such.
The humane society is also investigating how Makara spent money raised for the shelters.
Beichler, who placed Gordon and a collie mix named Bella with Makara, said last week she now regrets those placements.
Gordon ultimately found his home in Stow this summer through Beichler’s PAWS organization after a family who adopted Gordon through Makara abandoned the dog in Wood County. Beichler said Makara hadn’t even housetrained Gordon so her group is paying for a new trainer to work with Gordon on that and other issues.
Bella goes missing
Bella, meanwhile, is missing. She escaped Makara’s care at least twice. Once she was hit by a car. After she was released from a veterinarian’s office, Bella bolted again.
“We don’t know whether Bella is dead or alive,” Beichler said. “I think of it every night and take full responsibility.”
Makara last week described Bella as a feral dog. Bella was among 166 animals seized from a dog and cat rescue in Adams County late last year. Deer carcasses littered the rural property, the remnants of what the animals were apparently fed.
Bella was accustomed to living outdoors, Makara said. After she escaped, she would often visit the shelter at night, standing on top of a hill overlooking the Geauga County farm where Makara lived.
“But if you looked at her or made eye contact,” she would run, he said. “She’s still out there somewhere.”
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.