[Madra Anamchara]

Wow, @ShyDog , this is amazing progress. You are right to be very proud of her. I am always so happy to hear stories like this, because I know what it is like to take on a very shut down rescue dog and see the progress they can make. Thank you so much for sharing her story with us.

 

[Curls]

It's great to hear the update. What a difference in the life of this dog.

The theory that she might not move around much because she grew up confined in a cage is very interesting. It would certainly explain a lot. (It reminds me of a betta fish I had once. I put him in a 30 gallon tank when I brought him home from the pet store, and he really struggled at first. He didn't have the physical conditioning needed to swim from the bottom to the surface to get food, and his little fishy mind was blown by the fact that the world had no edge.)

 

[JoanneF]

That's a lovely update, thank you.

You realise what this means though? You need a second dog

But on a serious note, spending more time with your friend's dog, or another confident dog, sounds like it will be really useful.

 

[ShyDog]

Thank you all, we are very happy for how she's doing around 9 months in after 3yrs+ of kennel life ☺

I am sure there's still some anxiety at play regarding her not moving around the house much - but her behaviour change was pretty instant regarding handling, playfulness, confidence in the garden, food motivation, etc so it was noticeable that she still didn't move out of her zone without us prompting her to do so. It's like she needs to wait for the humans to give the go ahead that it's okay (which has it's perks and I'm sure some people might be a little envious of this issue 😅 but we would like to know she felt able to move around freely)

And in all honesty we had always intended to be a 2-dog household long term, we just thought it would be a longer wait before we genuinely considered adding to the pack 🤣 we are trying to resist impulses and stick to dog sitting friends' dogs just for a little while longer, and they're happy to let us have him as they just had a baby so they appreciate short breaks! But it is fairly inevitable that we will get a second at some point. We plan to go back to the same rescue as they know her and us quite well now. They offer as many local visits as you want before adoption (as well as the possibility of trial overnight stays) and have excellent follow-up support, which gives me confidence in finding the right match with them. As much as she adores having literally any other dog around, she's massively submissive and our friend's dog basically pushed her around as much as he wanted and we had to manage him a bit around that. So we need another "gentle soul" who is ideally already relatively comfortable around people so that they don't feed of each others anxieties.

 

[Madra Anamchara]

It's great to hear the update. What a difference in the life of this dog.

The theory that she might not move around much because she grew up confined in a cage is very interesting. It would certainly explain a lot. (It reminds me of a betta fish I had once. I put him in a 30 gallon tank when I brought him home from the pet store, and he really struggled at first. He didn't have the physical conditioning needed to swim from the bottom to the surface to get food, and his little fishy mind was blown by the fact that the world had no edge.)

I love the betta fish story.
And I have seen this also in a foster dog who came from a puppy mill/hoarder. He'd spent his whole life, 2 years, in a small cage. He was utterly overwhelmed by space and terrified to move. The only place he could be for weeks was the small laundry room, and it took months for him to be comfortable being outdoors and away from the house.
But eventually he turned into a whole dog. Goofy, happy, playful and loving. And he had a great life.

 

[ShyDog]

The power of a history of positive experiences and reinforcement: our girl spooked in the garden a couple of nights ago badly enough to try to sprint back inside and not register the closed glass door, which she proceeded to crash into despite our efforts to stop her. We of course opened it immediately and she went inside very shaky and fearful for the evening. Thankfully physically she seems unharmed but she absolutely would not leave her bed again for the rest of the night.

Even a few months ago this kind of experience would have essentially meant that she wouldn't approach the garden door again without a huge amount of persuasion/luring and the highest value of treats, probably needing to be on lead (if at all).

But as she now has a history of 4+ weeks of successful experiences with the garden door, where she gets treats for going through it in either direction, she has already recovered in less than 2 days to almost "normal" behaviour again, going in and out on her own (with a slightly increased value of reward and encouragement from us). It's kind of huge that it hasn't even affected her other activities aside from the very first morning walk after where she was a little unsure and quiet, but still nothing major.

It's nice to have reawoken this thread to celebrate some recent successes she's had. She's such an amazing girlie 🥰

Pic attached of her in one of her favourite happy places on an adventure:

 

[JoanneF]

Well done all of you. It's great when they build enough resilience to bounce back after something happens, and very much a testament to how much hard work you have put in.

What am gorgeous girl she is!

 

[lhveal]

Hi - I know it has been a while since the original post.... I just wanted to let you know this has been very reassuring to me. I have a new rescue and we are approaching the 1 month mark, we very limited progress. Like yours, my girl only stays in her one spot literally only moving when I take her out to potty. She literally curls on the bed 23 hours a day. It is very difficult for me to watch - I know I should be patient, but I am a nurse and I like to fix things! So it is good for me to hear that waiting it out is fixing it... slowly. I have had rescue dogs before and dealt with problem behaviors but nothing like this level of shut down. I have been really tempted by the second dog solution but would have to get permission from the landlord, who seems hesitant. Plus I am recently divorced and not keen on taking on 2 dogs solo. And lastly I know I should give her more time before making decisions like that. She has had a rough start. Her owner died when she was young, just under a year I think. According to neighbors she stayed on the property for over a year as a stray and then ended up in a high kill tx shelter for nearly 2 years. She finally got a foster in FL, where I met her, and promptly we moved to start my new job in Montana. So basically feral, major kennel time, and then 2 cross country transports - I understand why she has a lot to decompress from.... I just want to be able to DO more about it Anyway thanks again for posting your progress and let me know if you have any recent insights or developments. All the best, Laura

 

[JoanneF]

Welcome Laura. How long have you had her?

 

[lhveal]

Welcome Laura. How long have you had her?

Only about a month.

 

[JoanneF]

Ah, that's very early to expect progress. They say about three days to decompress, about three weeks to learn the household routines, and three months to feel at home.

Give her time, let her set the pace.

 

[ShyDog]

I apparently didn't receive any notifications from these latest messages but I am happy to confirm our girl got to a really really good point as a solo dog. We could treat her much like the average slightly more quiet/sensitive dog. Perhaps with a bit less physical cuddling of course. We were able to do all the standard grooming/handling essentials without too much discomfort, take her on hiking holidays or visits to familiar family and friends very smoothly, and do all of our local walking routes with minimal stressors. She also finally got to a point where she could mooch about downstairs and join us in whichever room we were in if she wanted to. Lots of hotdog, chicken, beef and liver paste got us to this point!

Once she had reached this stage (and we had made sure we had finances in place 😅) we then made the decision to finally adopt a second dog! While we were originally looking for a "gentle soul" who wouldn't push her around we actually ended up with a bolshy adolescent who quickly got nicknamed Chaos Demon 😂 Chaos is actually very sweet but being young, very under-socialised, and having been pent up in a kennel for most of her days she had a lot of energy to burn and boundaries to test!

They are fairly polar opposite in character but having a consistent (high energy) canine companion has been the final piece in the puzzle of bringing Shy Girl out of her shell.

I think, based on her continued progress, Shy Girl would have got to around this point eventually in another few months/a year or so. But as we knew we wanted a second anyway it worked well for us. It fulfills my desire for a higher drive dog who thrives on lots of training (we don't officially know her breed mix but rescue suggested some herd guarding breeding as well as saluki - so she's a zippy and intelligent creature), without me being tempted to put pressure on Shy Girl who prefers a steadier pace of life. In the process Shy Girl has learned how to demand cuddles, beg for food and occasionally attempt to shred blankets from her new little sis - perhaps not a usual set of behaviours to celebrate but we are actually mega happy because they're all such "normal" dog behaviours!!

She could even be considered a "stooge" dog in most scenarios - able to walk past any number of possible triggers completely calmly and be unaffected by other dogs reactions to things. The only things that still stress her are car travel, vet visits and extremely busy high streets (our local small high street she is fine with). For longer car journeys and vet visits we use situational meds to help her out. We simply avoid busier high streets as that's not a goal for us.

Basically a very happy update from us - hopefully it can help motivate or reassure those with new pups who are figuring out this big scary world.

 

[Madra Anamchara]

Great to hear it is going well for all of you!

 

[Curls]

I'm so glad the second dog is working out for you. Organizations that specialize in placing puppy mill rescues often recommend that the household have a calm, well socialized dog to mentor the rescue. Of course, if you don't already own such a dog, bringing in a second rescue dog may not be the answer. Having two shut down rescue dogs isn't the goal, lol. I'm glad your new pup has a chaotic good alignment.

 

[JoanneF]

Thank you for the great 'good news' update!

 

[ShyDog]

I'm so glad the second dog is working out for you. Organizations that specialize in placing puppy mill rescues often recommend that the household have a calm, well socialized dog to mentor the rescue. Of course, if you don't already own such a dog, bringing in a second rescue dog may not be the answer. Having two shut down rescue dogs isn't the goal, lol. I'm glad your new pup has a chaotic good alignment.

Absolutely agree! We were very careful to wait until Shy Girl was solid in her day to day routine as well as having a lot of discussions, meetups, and trial fostering for new pup to make sure they would work together ☺ we were definitely worried about the possibility of two spiralling anxious pups!

 

[ShyDog]

Our little dynamic duo

 

[JoanneF]

Ooh, lovely photos. Nothing beats a good beach. Which one is which?

 

[ShyDog]

Ooh, lovely photos. Nothing beats a good beach. Which one is which?

Beach is now their favourite place in the world since they had their first visit. Dark short hair is Chaos (who is a bit under 2yrs) and golden fluffy is Shy Girl (now just over 5yrs)

 

[JoanneF]

Shy girl looks very much like one of my late dogs.