Terrified adult pekignese from puppy mill

[nafsika]

Hello, I am a member on an animal welfare association in Greece, and we very often handle very scared/agressive strays. With patience and love, we manage to socialize them, do basic training and give them for adoption. But with our last case, none of the things we know work.

We got 3 pekignese adults, confiscated from a horrible puppy mill. The dogs were fed once per week, and their only contact with humans, was when their babies were taken away. They are social with other dogs, even though they have experienced cannibalism, pups and weak adults were eaten by other dogs. The 3 our association took, show the same behavior: Terrified by people. The 3 are split in houses of different volunteers in a quite environment. The first days they were frozen, they didnt dare to eat and were sqeezed in a corner, and didnt even dare to look on us. They do their needs only at night (peeing, eating etc). They are not bitting, even if you lay on the floor, not looking and trying to approach them very slowly, they poo and try to go away. They pace non stop in the room when there is presence of people. Of course, they dont dare to take food from you. You can touch them, but they try to avoid it and definately they dont enjoy it, so we are not pushing them. The only change the last 3 weeks we have them, is now they dare to look at us for a few seconds.

In this case, the training we are used to use, with treats and positive reinforcement is not working. You cannot reward them with food. We are advised by a trainer to use flooding (not waiting for them to feel confortable, but force them gently to accept human touch and the outside world).

Is there a method we can use for these poor souls, with out traumatizing them more? They are very traumatized and we would like to use the best way for them to socialize them

Thank you

Nafsika

[Helen2009]

Hi Nafsika, what a terrible, horrendous awful start these poor dogs have had to life. No wonder they are traumatised. I can't offer you much advice but would only say that positive reinforcement DOES work, but it takes time, there aren't any quick fixes and the process for these dogs I imagine would be lengthy. You say in your post that the only achievement they have made in three weeks, is that they can look at you for a few seconds. Believe me, that IS an achievement and for them to do that in three weeks I think is quite brilliant. They have had absolutely no contact with humans, only when these wretched people take their babies away. No wonder its taken so long to want to look one in the eye. I think that's amazing personally. Maybe some of the other members can offer you some further advice, but please do not flood the dogs, the tiny amount of progress they have made already may be wiped out. Everything needs to go in mega slow motion with these poor mites. Good luck and keep us posted.

[nafsika]

Thank you for your reply, we know it will take lots of time for these dogs to start being dogs and enjoy life. But its frustrating seeing that we cannot do more than leaving them in their peace and talk softly to them. We will not flood them, as we dont like the stress we will put them through. I was just wandering if there is another "trick" we could use in cases like that.

[Nettle]

I am so glad that you will not be using flooding.

I would suggest that these poor dogs are getting comfort from being together, and will gradually become more confident with you and your staff, but it will take a long time.

If there is enough space in their accommodation to allow someone to go in there every day, read a book or magazine while avoiding eye contact and ignoring them totally, but leaving some food on the floor when they depart, this should help them to learn that human presence isn't necessarily awful. Also a radio on quietly should accustom them to non-threatening human voices, but choose the station carefully - no shouting or angry dialogue.

[Nettle]

Nearly forgot: you may get good results with Bach Flower Remedies. Rescue Remedy is probably the most suitable here, but there is also Rock Rose for terror, or Walnut for change of circumstances. Worth researching a few others because these Remedies would help some of your other dogs as well. I have had really good results: they are not expensive and are very safe, and can be used safely with any other medication.

[nafsika]

Thanks for your reply, they are already taking Bach remedies in their water. All 3 of them are fostered in 3 different houses of. We split them up, to our experience when we put a scared dog with a very friendly one, the scared one starts copying the behavior of the friendly one. We avoid having scared dogs together for this reason.

[doxielover]

Are they able to be fostered with someone who has a well-adjusted dog? As they are comfortable around other dogs, I would think even watching a well-adjusted dog interact with its owner might be a positive experience for them. Although I've never had a case this severe, most of my foster dogs definitely take cues from my own dogs. Even shy, timid ones eventually approach me as they see my dogs receiving love, attention, and treats.

Like I said, I've never dealt with this extreme a case and I'm not sure if it would work in your case...It was just a thought. Good luck and thank you for caring for these poor dogs. I hope the people who did this to them pay dearly.

[doxielover]

Ok, so I just saw your post saying they are being fostered with another friendly dog. Hope it works. Somehow I missed your last post.

[Nettle]

Then it's just a matter of time. Keep us informed on how these dogs are getting on

[Pawzk9]

Do you have any TTouch practioners available to you? I've known that to make quite a difference for ferals and unsocialized dogs. Sandy in OK

[emmabeth]

Do these dogs have crates or similar, so that they can feel safe and secure hidden away even if someone is in the room with them?

I would have them in crates (not put into them, provide crates so that they can choose to go in them, cover them with a blanket so its a secure cosy den)... and then have people mostly ignore them, but come in and sit sideways on or with their backs ot them and just read out loud for a few minutes, leave some tasty food and go out of the room again.

It is going to take a long time for these dogs, but flooding is liable to terrify them further which may shut them down more and for longer or could provoke an aggressive reaction which once learned will be hard to fix.

Also, though using confident happy dogs to help them is a good plan - limit this and make sure the confident dog is spending time doing confidence boosting stuff such as clicker training, games, etc, as all too often a scaredy dog can teach a confident dog to be scared - its upsetting and worrying for a dog to be around another dog who is freaked out and frightened, it makes the confident dog wonder what the heck is going on, maybe they ought be scared too (will vary from dog to dog though some are about as sensitive to others feelings as a plank.... some are like sponges soaking up others emotions!).