8 minute read
THE MAN BEHIND THE “MUTTS”
Words by Bec Doyle | September 16 2020
Zach Skow reached his lowest point in 2009, searching his life for meaning and connection. Eventually, it was his passion for animals and volunteering that led him from terminal diagnosis, to miraculous recovery. Along the way, he created two incredible organizations: Marley’s Mutts and the Pawsitive Change Program.
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Today Zach has a beautiful family and works tirelessly to save and rehabilitate “extreme case” rescue dogs. And now he also works to rehabilitate people, giving time and energy to inmates at correctional facilities. This initiative, known as “The Pawsitive Change Program,” takes Zach and his colleagues into correctional facilities, giving inmates the the tools and training needed to rescue dogs and, in doing so, move further down their own road to rehabilitation; giving rise to the organization’s slogan “Rescue dogs, rescuing people.”
After hitting rock bottom as an alcoholic and addict- diagnosed with liver failure at 28 and given ninety days to live- Zach turned his life around with the help of his dog, Marley. “My dogs just saw that I was there,” he says. With his life revolving around alcohol, he struggled to process the severity of his diagnosis, leading him to delay medical care. Finally his dad stepped in. “It was just a terrible time,” Skow recalls. When his symptoms worsened to the point he could no longer conceal his deteriorating condition, he was admitted to Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, where his health continued to decline.
With six months sobriety required to be eligible for a liver transplant and given only ninety days to live, his future looked bleak. In a last ditch attempt to save his life, a nurse suggested Skow’s family take him to the emergency room at Cedar Sinai. He signed out of the hospital against doctors orders and, after what must have been the most terrifying two hour drive of his life, made it to Cedar’s, where he was successfully admitted to their transplant program as an emergency. Their job was to keep him healthy enough, and ensure he survived long enough, to get the transplant he so desperately needed. Withdrawals began as they took him off the long list of medications he had been on. "That was the first real thing that my dogs helped me get through, because I thought I was dying... I wasn’t mentally prepared for it, I was hallucinating, hearing voices and seeing things..."
Skow with Marley's Mutts rescue Courage
One night after a particularly bad episode, he watched the sunrise and embarked on a new routine: He began by writing in his journal (a practice he kept up for 8 months) and walking in the hills with his dogs. At first the walks were, necessarily, short, but with each day his strength improved, and he found himself adding more and more dogs to his pack. Facilitating the adoptions of dogs and writing their stories gave him a new sense of purpose; “Being of service really took me out of that negative headspace,” he adds. “People at the veterinary hospital and pet lodge kept telling me: you should start a dog rescue.” He started to raise money and began speaking at high schools and grade schools, taking his Pitbull, Marley, with him, sharing their story and striving toward recovery. “By the time I got my six months sobriety I no longer needed the liver transplant... that’s how Marley’s Mutts was born”, Skow says.
A couple of years in, Skow was featured in the “We Like This Guy” segment of ‘O’ Magazine, which gave the rescue’s trajectory a massive boost. If I ever get to see Oprah, I owe her a hug and a high five! Skow adds with a warm chuckle. The relationships he formed with local media remain important to this day and have been integral to the success of the organisation.
Marley’s Mutts is, predominantly, a large dog rescue located on a 20 acre ranch in Tehachapi, California. Taking in the hardest cases- the dogs no one thinks can be saved. Skow proves time and time again that, even in the worst case of abuse or injury, these dogs are worth fighting for. A very special dog named Cora makes a regular appearance on the organization’s social media. Cora survived and thrived after a double front leg amputation. She has become a beacon of hope and love for everyone following her story and was adopted by Skow and his family. “Cora causes people to rethink their notions of ‘the disabled’ and rethink what ‘quality of life’ means..."
In what Skow now describes as the central focus of his life, the Pawsitive Change Program has saved hundreds of thousands of dogs and worked to rehabilitate close to a thousand people, both prison inmates and recovering addicts at sober living facilities. After a friend of Skow’s was released from prison, he adopted a dog who had been shot and left for dead in the California desert. Skow says that when Robert adopted Shadow, it completely changed the trajectory of his life, giving Robert the direction and confidence he needed to start over. “It became very obvious that if we could get into the prison system to train, that was something that we needed to do.”
In 2016, after an arduous four years trying to get the Pawsitive Change Program officially into prisons, they were finally accepted by the California City Correctional Facility. Skow credits Warden David Long as a huge advocate in facilitating this milestone.
The passion with which he talks about the program makes it apparent how invested he is in the recovery and rehabilitation of the participants. “It’s just a magical program, there’s so much that happens within that program aside from the dogs. There’s the fellowship that we develop with our guys. Substance abuse progress that guys make in their sobriety, their recovery, their confidence.”
Past participants publicly praise the program, crediting it as the most valuable program they had available to them. As Skow points out, “many of our guys are professional dog trainers now, professional kennel workers, working in behavioral modification and stuff like that.” With that in mind, it was extremely disappointing when he learned that the program was not renewed. As Skow explains, the grants for these programs are renewed every three years and are predominantly awarded to new ideas. “It Costs a lot of money to run,” he admits (the program costs $70,000 a year in insurance alone.) He has not yet given up hope, although the pandemic has made fundraising for prison programs especially difficult. With the success of the Pawsitive Change Program, Skow’s next venture is currently underway.
To this end, Skow is working with another organization to set up “tiny homes” on the “Marley’s Mutts” ranch, for participants to stay for the entirety of the thirty day (minimum) program. The program is set to commence as soon as the money is raised.
As with so many organizations like Marley’s Mutts and the Pawsitive Change Program, they receive no government or state funding and rely entirely on donors to fund these life changing initiatives. If you want to help but are unable to donate, there are other ways to help: “Donating is really important, fostering is really important- but another thing people can do to help is sharing our stories on social media. You can digitally advocate,” Skow explains. It’s now easier than ever to contribute and advocate for a cause you’re passionate about, a simple “share”, could make all the difference.
Skow with daughter and rescue pup Cora
