The first clip is Hopper on the first day… he was defensive, shaking, and absolutely terrified. Especially when I brought out the leash. He was very clear in his body language that he was not interested in any sort of direct pressure from me. I listened to him, put the leash away, and just sat next to him for over an hour to gain his trust.

The next clips are him later on that day. I decided to bring some dog friends over to hang out with him and loosen him up. This helped take the pressure off of just interacting with new scary humans. After playing with the dogs for a few minutes, he got very curious and started to come up and climb on my lap. He allowed some pets and his guard started to come down.

With the help of the amazing rescue team, Hopper quickly learned to trust us and flowed right into a routine. You could only imagine how difficult it must’ve been for him to go from living in the same home for seven years, and then suddenly dropped into a completely new environment with brand new people.

Over a year later, Hopper is a super happy, very playful little guy. He does, however still have defensive aggression and anxiety issues but will make a wonderful companion to the right person, no doubt.
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Fearfulness in dogs exists most certainly on a spectrum. I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of dogs with fearful issues and no two are the same. They challenge you to fully understand their language and point of view. Which sounds easy when you say it out loud but putting it in practice is a lot more difficult. Humans are really good at putting their emotional assumptions of what the dogs need ahead of what the dog actually needs. With fearful dogs, you have to go at their pace while at the same time pushing them past their comfort zone little by little when the time is just right.

This is Vince. One of the more feral, untouchable dogs I’ve worked with. I didn’t have all that much time to work with Vince as he arrived towards the end of my pregnancy but the time we had together was valuable. He wasn’t able to be touched without biting or able to walk on a leash without completely freaking out! We’re talking alligator roll, snapping all over and full on flight/fight mode.
With the help of the amazing team at the rescue, Vince made huge strides in a short amount of time. He is the kind of dog that will have chosen to never be touched by human for as long as he lives. In order to live a full life, we had to get him comfortable with things like putting a leash on, going for walks and getting vetted. If that wasn’t possible, his life would be terribly stressful and limited.

Step 1, trust building.
Step 2, desensitizing so he learns other modes of communication and extinguish the snapping and biting.
Step 3, leashing.
Step 4, walking on the leash.
Step 5, being held for vetting.

Stay tuned for Vince Part II !