Crispin Guppy, the president of the Humane Society Yukon, is standing behind a decision made earlier this year to euthanize a pitbull.

Meanwhile, the dog’s former foster mom is arguing the organization should be seeking more input from those dealing with the animals on a day-to-day basis before such decisions are made.

Last year, Gaia – the subject of a poignant letter in Wednesday’s Star –was taken in by the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter, which is run by the society.

While the pitbull was assessed by professional trainers as being aggressive with other canines, those assessments also reported that with intensive training, Gaia could be a safe animal, Guppy said.

As Shannon Naylor, Gaia’s former foster mom, recalled in an interview Wednesday afternoon, Gaia was found on the side of the road with a puppy and taken to the shelter around July 2013.

Naylor, who had recently moved to Whitehorse, started volunteering to walk dogs at the shelter.

It wasn’t long before she found herself regularly walking Gaia. When she moved to a place just before Christmas that accepted dogs as pets, she decided to foster the canine.

While Gaia was clearly aggressive toward other dogs, Naylor said she’d usually try to take her on walks in areas where there weren’t a lot of other dogs.

Or, if she was in an area with other animals, she’d make a point of holding the leashed animal if they came across other dogs.

As a pitbull, Gaia was “all muscle” but small enough that Naylor could hold her in place.

Having previously had a pitbull, Naylor said she knows the breed and was working hard to train Gaia, who made considerable progress in the months she was with Naylor.

In fact, Naylor said, Gaia was at a point where she could give the leash a tug to let her know to settle down if other dogs were approaching. Gaia would sit and let them pass.

This compares to their early days when Gaia would immediately start losing control and have to be held tight when another dog was in the area.

“She got much better,” Naylor said as she recalled Gaia as a quick learner who was extremely well-behaved with people, including children.

Each night, Gaia would sleep on Naylor’s bed.

It was an incident during a walk on a trail in Copper Ridge that led the humane society to the decision to put Gaia down.

As Naylor recalled, as she was walking Gaia, she heard some dogs behind her. They stepped to the side to let the other dogs pass, as she normally would.

While Gaia was on a leash and a halty (designed to help control the animal’s head), the other dogs weren’t leashed, and continued coming closer.

“They were right in our face,” she told the Star.

While the woman walking the other dogs – reportedly a dog sitter – called to them, they weren’t listening and continued toward Gaia and Naylor.

In a matter of seconds, Naylor found herself between Gaia and the other dogs, suffering a bit of bruising in the attempt to keep them separated, but Gaia ended up grabbing onto one of the other dog’s legs.

In the aftermath, Naylor offered her information to the woman and contacted the then-shelter manager as well as bylaw officers to let them know what happened.

It wasn’t long afterward that Naylor was informed by shelter staff that the society’s board had reached a decision to put Gaia down.

It’s a situation that has brought much emotional turmoil to Naylor, who would like to see changes in how the board makes such decisions.

As she pointed out, she wasn’t contacted by the board to describe exactly what happened before the decision was made.

Recognizing she had no legal authority over the dog that she had began the adoption process for and therefore she could not change the outcome, she said she felt she had “moral authority” and had a vet come to her place, where she stayed with Gaia when she was put down. She has kept Gaia’s ashes.

In an interview Thursday, Guppy said that while the board didn’t speak with Naylor before making the decision, there were staff members who made it clear they didn’t want Gaia put down.

“We felt we had the information we needed,” he said. He pointed to the assessments on Gaia, noting that while the other dogs involved weren’t leashed, the wounds to the animal were severe.

Guppy described the wounds as more severe than those of a dog defending its space.

He also said that part of the foster agreement was that Gaia would be muzzled when out in public to prevent dangerous situations.

Naylor said this morning that no one had informed her of such a condition.

When she had walked Gaia with a muzzle in the past, she noted, the pitbull would just dig her face into the ground, making it difficult to take her for a walk.

The halty had enabled her to control Gaia’s head in the past, she said, while still allowing for an enjoyable walk.

While Naylor was using a halty to help control Gaia’s head, it acts as more of leash, and doesn’t restrict the mouth, as a muzzle does.

The society has a no-kill policy for animals deemed adoptable.

While it was believed Gaia had been making progress, Guppy noted that the humane society cannot adopt out dogs that are a danger.

He noted the board looked for alternatives such as breed rescue societies, which take in specific breeds (in this case, pitbulls) and work with them, but all potential alternatives had no room for the dog.

Ultimately, given the situation, the board decided to order the dog euthanized.

Naylor would like to see changes to how the board deals with such situations. She argues the board should be hearing from those involved with the animals every day before opting to end an animal’s life.

She has since adopted another dog from the shelter, which opened 16 years ago this month.

While she may have an issue with the board, Naylor said, that won’t stop her from providing a good home to a needy dog.