Improving... Leaps and Bounds

I still remember the day I met him.  He was under the table I was sitting at when the words "he doesn't like feet" were said.  I was trying to get him to take treats and he refused. He was so far over threshold all he could do was bark at me.  When his owner stood up to move towards his room he backed up into her and continued barked at me.  He clearly wasn't comfortable with me being in his home. 

Honestly,  at that point I wasn't comfortable with him either.  He made me nervous but I felt such a strong conviction to help him. Watching him was like watching a child who was conflicted beyond help. 

We set out on helping him learn to make better decisions in life.  When he wanted left alone,  we taught him to retreat to his room.  When he was upset,  we taught him his room was comfort and safety.  Most of all,  we made his world extremely small.  His family,  Kayla and I interacting with him. 

He lived with two other dogs and one of the other dogs were bullying him.  He was found as a stray and the animal control officer wasn't able to catch him so a rescue came out and picked him up.  Loud noises set him off on barking fits and fast movement of hands and feet cause his fear to rage out of control.

We started teaching the family the most important part. We showed them exactly what they were seeing when he reacted badly to things. We had a couple touch and go moments but this summer we saw something amazing happen.

The family adopted a fourth dog and we normally tell families to not adopt another when they have a dog who has such emotional baggage. In this case,  it worked the opposite.  The new addition is a beautiful pit bull.  She's a sweet and very amazing girl. 

While the family was on a trip to Arizona for 11 days we cared for the dogs in their home.  We knew boarding was out as our problem dog resource guarded,  the bullying dog became an emotional wreck without his family and the other two kept having scraps with each other.  We were their best option. So,  we packed our bags and hung out with their dogs for 11 days.

The dog who had been bullying had a hard time with it.  He whined a lot and we tried to engage him every chance we got.  The fearful dog suddenly started politely asking for attention. I would sit on the couch and he would hop up near me and lay down. He would rub his head against my hand and would run around the yard with their pit bull.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.  I was stopping to let the dogs out and sat down on the couch.  He came running and jumped on the couch and just sprawled across my legs.  My first reaction was to not move but he was wiggling against my hand so I softly petted his side.  Today,  I let them out and again he asked for attention. This time,  I was in his room. I fed him treats while he gently rubbed his side against my hand.  I offered treats while I sat in his room and softly touched his legs and rubbed his rear. 

With his fear this was huge.  We've come so far and I am so proud of his family who have worked tirelessly with him.  He has become my favorite part of my day when I get to see him.  He has such a great loose body wiggle for me. Compared to that scared dog who backed up into his owner and just barked for me to leave is huge. 

We have built this relationship on trust and reinforce of the good things and even more reinforce of the bad things in life.  Touching my hand resulted in jackpots of treats. Removing himself to his room got him treats.  His safe room in the house has become his place to relax and unwind.  He is the only dog in that room although today I didn't close the gate and his best friend,  that same pit bull, was giving him licks on the mouth to soothe him as I was touching him and giving treats.

Two years and a lot of love and positive interactions with a very small world has brought us to this day.  And now it's time to start making that tiny world slightly larger.  We go at his pace though and we never force his interaction.

And if need be we have "his pit bull" there to help him through it.  He's a good boy and his family has been one of the most amazing families I have ever met.