Grace, a pretty blue and sable merle sheltie, came into rescue in early January. She isn't my first shy foster, but she has been the one who has needed the most care.
While at the puppy mill, Grace was in a kennel with far too many other shelties. There wasn’t enough food or water and there was no one who would clean the waste out of the kennel. As a result, all the shelties were stressed and they would fight amongst themselves. Grace was one of the weaker ones and she still has scars on her muzzle.
When the puppy mill was shut down, Grace was fostered by a volunteer for one of the shelters that helped with the closure. She stayed at this foster home for 3 months. Then, it was decided that Grace should be turned over to sheltie rescue, so she came to my home, since Holly’s was filled with puppies and our other foster homes were full, too.
Grace greeted the other dogs at my home very well, but showed some odd behaviors. She would roughly sniff the other dogs and sometimes growl and nip at them. Even though my dogs are well socialized, they really had no idea what was going on with Grace, so they started avoiding her. She got the cold shoulder from them, which, at the time, suited Grace just fine.
Towards me, she acted almost feral. She would overreact to noise and movements that I made – jump off the couch so hard that she would slam into furniture. She would run into the kitchen and slam into the patio door, not realizing that it was glass. She would jerk violently at the end of a leash and would jerk backwards when her collar was held.
It really seemed hopeless. I thought about finding a pet sanctuary for her where she could live out her days without human contact. I, who has shy dogs of my own, and who has fostered a number of shelties with behavioral problems, thought that there was nothing we could do for this dog. I cursed the people who did this to her. I cursed myself for agreeing to take her and for failing her.
But, I remembered how she sat in her previous foster mother’s lap. She had gotten up there on her own, under her own power. So, I realized that there was hope. There just had to be.
While at the puppy mill, Grace was in a kennel with far too many other shelties. There wasn’t enough food or water and there was no one who would clean the waste out of the kennel. As a result, all the shelties were stressed and they would fight amongst themselves. Grace was one of the weaker ones and she still has scars on her muzzle.
When the puppy mill was shut down, Grace was fostered by a volunteer for one of the shelters that helped with the closure. She stayed at this foster home for 3 months. Then, it was decided that Grace should be turned over to sheltie rescue, so she came to my home, since Holly’s was filled with puppies and our other foster homes were full, too.
Grace greeted the other dogs at my home very well, but showed some odd behaviors. She would roughly sniff the other dogs and sometimes growl and nip at them. Even though my dogs are well socialized, they really had no idea what was going on with Grace, so they started avoiding her. She got the cold shoulder from them, which, at the time, suited Grace just fine.
Towards me, she acted almost feral. She would overreact to noise and movements that I made – jump off the couch so hard that she would slam into furniture. She would run into the kitchen and slam into the patio door, not realizing that it was glass. She would jerk violently at the end of a leash and would jerk backwards when her collar was held.
It really seemed hopeless. I thought about finding a pet sanctuary for her where she could live out her days without human contact. I, who has shy dogs of my own, and who has fostered a number of shelties with behavioral problems, thought that there was nothing we could do for this dog. I cursed the people who did this to her. I cursed myself for agreeing to take her and for failing her.
But, I remembered how she sat in her previous foster mother’s lap. She had gotten up there on her own, under her own power. So, I realized that there was hope. There just had to be.
So, I re-read all of my behavioral books: the books in my library about fearful dogs, about dog body language, and the ones by people who owned and rehabilitated difficult dogs. I decided that someone had to help Grace and that would have to be me. Once I made that decision, I knew that things would get better.
The first thing I did was to fit Grace with a different collar. She had chewed off 2 nylon choke collars, 2 drag lines and a leash. In desperation, I put a chain choke on her. That worked, but it tightened unmercifully when she pulled and the tightness frightened her, which led to it getting tighter and her becoming more frightened. So, I found a Martingale collar that was made of nylon with a chain bit that hung in the front. It fits just right. She can’t get her mouth into the chain and the collar only tightens to a certain point – tight enough to not let her slip the collar, but not tight enough to choke her.
What an improvement.
Because she chews off her drag lines, I converted the chain choke into a drag line, with a long leash attached, so that I can catch her without cornering her or grabbing her. Now, I can pick up the leash and lead her to her crate or to the door and she doesn’t flip out (like a cat on a rope, as I like to say). She still needs improvement for walking on the leash, but we will get to that later.
I have also assigned to her a crate, instead of a corner of the couch. She was peeing on the couch instead of asking to go out (and then, when I would try to put her out, she would pee out of fear). Now, she hangs out in the crate when I am not there. She hasn’t made a mess of the crate, so she will be able to have her own bed and toys in there now. She is fed in there and gets a lot of treats in there. In just a few days, it has become her safe spot.
She is getting along much better with the other dogs. They still pretty much ignore her, but she has begun looking to them for guidance. If they go outside, she wants to go outside. If they come inside, she follows. She now gets excited about dinner time and has begun enjoying the chew treats. She was really impressed with the Booda Bone I got for her and spent an entire afternoon happily chewing – on the couch without any messes.
She still has a long way to go, though. At the most basic, she needs to be given a really good brushing, have her nails clipped, be given a bath and take a trip to the vet. She doesn’t trust me enough for me to do those things to her yet, though. I would muzzle her (for my safety) and do them, but she’ll live without them being done for the time being.
Right now, I am just happy when she will take a treat directly out of my hand, rather than me having to set it on the couch. It isn’t every time, but it is an improvement.
I keep telling myself that this dog deserves the best chance I can give her. My efforts now will enable her to be placed in a forever home that will love and cherish her. And, I want the next home she goes to to be her forever home. She will stay with me until we find that home.
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