Sometimes there is no quick-fix
From early on we knew that taking a dog from a rescue came with baggage included and maybe like most people we thought 'whats the worst that can happen'. Our 6yo German Shepherd Ben had four owners before we clapped eyes on him, and that was before his 3rd birthday! We have learnt to deal with most of his issues and happily live alongside one or two others.
You can't fix everything sometimes and you need to experience this and move through it to be able to deal with others. Its not such a big deal if your dog can't be left on his own for long times, neither is it the end of the world if they cant be let off lead in the local park. Like everything else there are ways around it if you are prepared to deal with it.
The point of this piece was to update the progress we have had with our latest project, Max. He is a Romanian rescue that has lived in kennels for the last three years, it is estimated that he is six now and its anyones guess what his life entailed before he came to the UK. Whatever it was it included having two thirds of his tail chopped off!
Kennel life is better than no life, or Romanian street life for that matter but for a fit young dog being locked up for 23 hours a day is not good. The funny thing is that most people who came into contact with Max at the kennels ended up having a soft spot for him, probably out of pity. Unfortunately thats where the interest ended and he wasn't even being advertised as available by the sanctuary.
The problem with this kind of situation is that the longer the dog is in solitary confinement, the bigger the anxiety issue grows and the harder it will be for the poor animal to be domesticated. Max had never lived a house as far as we know and the chances of being re-homed was pretty remote.
Suzy started working at the kennels and it wasn't long before Max became her long term project. She was determined to move him on to the next level and started to take him for a walk, just up the nearby field. He was ok with other dogs but wasn't that keen on the human variety, as with many Rommies.
Max was terrified of anything that moved quickly in his direction, he would react in the only way he knew how and that was to bark, very loud! It was very difficult to approach him and this made Suzy even more determined to help him as he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Any prospective new owners would soon be put off by his unsociable behaviour, not his fault but very evident all the same. The thing is there are hundreds of dogs to choose from, you don' have to pick a dog full of issues.
As the weeks went by slow progress was being made, Suzy and the staff at the kennels were engaging with Max and then one day she popped him in the car, really just to see if he would get in it. Having accomplished that she thought she may as well get in and drive somewhere. She ended up at our house and brought him into the back garden. Slowly one by one we introduced him to the pack and all bar Sky welcomed him as they always do to a new foster dog. Sky was very aloof to new pack members, they had to go to her for approval not the other way round.
Anyway that was an unexpected turn for the better and further visits followed. It was pretty obvious by this stage that Max was ear-marked down as a possible future pack member, if he played his cards right that is. He started to come to stay for weekends, just to see if he was happy being in a house and with other dogs. It's like when you here about long term prisoners being released and cant cope with the outside world, you just never know how they are going to react.
One weekend visit turned into a permanent move for Max, we are now a couple of months down the line and we still have a long way to go. Things didn't work out for Suzy at the kennels but she is convinced she was sent there just to get Max.
The barking problem has been the only issue since he joined the pack, he gets on really well with the other dogs, he goes for various walks and even gets to run on the beach a couple of times a week.
We tried a few different things to stop the barking, he's fine with me on his own and with Suzy, it seems to be when we are together and maybe Max feels the urge to protect Suzy?
Its weird and only seems to happen in a couple of places in the house, where he seems to need to defend. Suzy came up with the idea of me announcing myself by calling Max and at the same time holding a treat when I approach a 'hotspot'. This has worked well and so far the amount of barking has reduced greatly. Its such a shame he feels this way and just goes to show how long it takes to sort out some of these poor dogs.
At the other end of the scale we have Leo who also came through the same trauma, he spent two years in a public shelter and was caught just before it was too late. He is the cutest little lap dog you could ever wish to meet so there are some that respond well to family life.
I'm confident we will get there with Max, its early days yet in the grand scheme of things and that's how you have to think of it. This is not unusual behaviour for a Romanian rescue, its just worse because he was left too long before finding help. He has it now and finally he can be called 'one of the lucky ones'.
To be continued.................
