This blog is about a family that always had dogs, but decided to take in two rescued 5 month old pups, allegedly sisters. Their issues were extreme severe fear, no appropriate kind of socialization, malnourishment, and, frankly, lawfully removed from terrible people.
Upon this particular group of rescued dogs nearing the end of their stay at the vet to see which would recover, we received a call from an animal rescue shelter of an emergency situation where two rescued sister dogs, 5 months old, were finally strong and well enough to leave the vet, but that the sister pups were too traumatized for their shelter environment and asked if we would be able to foster them in our home, for now. After calling my husband about it, as something like that is a group decision (at least with us), since everyone would be involved, I called the rescue shelter back stating we would agree to foster them. The only factor was that we would not take in, foster, or temporarily house dogs known to have any serious aggression issues, which these two dogs did not. Two hours later I arrived at the shelter. A member of the shelter staff helped me load them into their crates then my car and thanked me. The shelter offered nothing for helpful hints, advice, techniques, or tips for anything–Nothing, nada, zilch. Obviously none were needed. So, away we drove to our home—and oh, my Lord!!! My husband and I were in for a new kind of education, as was our teenage daughter!
It was clear when we first saw the dogs that they had been through so much their first five months of life. I will spare you some of the info we did find out. It was very sad and disturbing. Thankfully, many good human beings are out there being unsung REAL LIFE heroes preventing animal cruelty They do work not meant for average everyday people. God bless each and every one of you who do what you can when you can.
I would like to also share that, a few months before I began offering my volunteer services at a particular shelter, our beloved Golden doodle, Nina, also a family member, unexpectedly died after 10 years of sharing her love, intelligence, sense of humor, and devotion with us. Our oldest kids were no longer living at home. We had a dog-ready home, time, experience, and the love to share. In hind sight, we all were probably still mourning the loss of Nina, but, we always had dogs in our lives, so, it was odd and a bit empty not having one around. Things were seemingly a little too quiet for what we had been use to, I guess, but we are what many would categorize as energetic, adventuresome, outgoing people. It just goes to show life is a non-stop learning experience. I hope some of this information can add insight, education, hope, and, perhaps, enlighten future newbies who don’t just take in rescues, but who end up dealing with the complicated and or broken minds of formerly abused dogs with severe fear issues. Not “attacking” or “killing” issues, but severe fear/terrorized based issues. In fact, there wasn’t much hope for them to be adopted given the deep rooted fear issues they had.
…enough of this rambling! Take me to your story!
Rescued Fearful Dogs - Our Tale 