We (wife and I) have been fostering a 17 pound mixed-breed all-white dog for 2 years. He came to us at about 1.5 years old so he is probably 3.5 to 4 years old now. This poor guy is the most traumatized dog we have ever fostered. He has made progress, but, it is VERY slow. His first foster had her cancer return and there was need of a quick shuffle of Griff over to us so she could care for herself (and she beat the cancer again!). She was an inexperienced foster and let the rescue group move her along the rehoming "conveyor" to the point that Griff was adopted by a single older male who returned him the next day saying "Get this dog out of my sight". Once we saw Griff's personality, we were especially surprised the group or the foster would even have considered him adoptable.
He had both health and behavioral issues that were nearly overwhelming and obvious.
- When we received him, the skin on the outside of his penis had been sliced-though with the penis sticking out of that new hole. We never got a reasonable explanation for how or when that happened. Our vet took care of that problem the very next day (this was around 2 years ago).
- He has a mild seizure about every 6 months. He's been on anti-seizure meds for 2 years under our care, but they still happen about one time every 9 months or so. He lays down, rolls onto his side, stiffens, but is not fully rigid. He's calm and remains calm once he can sit and walk. The immobility phase of the seizure is over in about 2 or 3 minutes, but he's a little out of it for another 15-25 minutes, though he is alert and nominally normal-looking.
- He has luxating patellas on both back legs but doesn't seem to be in pain. He does "skip steps" on one or the other back leg as he walks at times.
- He has had some sort of spinal injury in the past that occasionally makes his back legs a little wobbly, but there is no indication of pain. The spinal injury appears to have been in the area directly above his penis, but there is no pain sensitivity in that area when using massage-like finger-tip and whole hand massaging.
His traumas
- Frightened of EVERYTHING (but far better than 2 years ago). It took me 3-4 months to get him to walk off of our small cul d'sac (about 12 homes altogether on lots that average about 1/4 acre). If a garage door opens as we approach or pass a home, he seems certain something is going to be coming for him. He would be OK walking on the cul d'sac, but he would get to the last house before the intersection at the entrance to the cul d'sac and just not be willing to go any farther. To avoid creating new trauma by pushing him too hard too quickly. I would only push him to take 1 step forward towards the intersection from where he wanted to stop. Over those weeks, he did get closer and closer to the STOP sign at the intersection road. Once there, it took 2 more days to get him to turn the corner and walk up the "feeder street" for the neighborhood... still with homes on both sides of the road. When he walked with me away from the intersection up another street with me, I got a little lost in the emotion of what he'd finally accomplished. He never hesitated at any other intersection on our walks.
- He absolutely freaks-out if a human head gets too close to him. You can pet him on the head, no problem, but if you move your head closer, he leans away, and turns his head away from you with a fearful side-eye look. If you do this while holding him, he pushes very hard to get farther away from your head.
- We have an 8-year old female white 18 pound mixed breed we adopted from our county shelter 4 years ago. We call her "The Queen of Serenity" (actual name, Ivy). He tolerates her, but is not adopting her calm demeanor. We see her trying to "teach" him how to "dog" but he seems oblivious. It's hard to say they are friends, but there are no conflicts between them either.
- He growls about everything... if he likes it, he growls, if he hates it, he growls. About 1 out of 10 times, I do NOT get a growl when I pet him on the head or body, but if I move my head closer, growl.
I would REALLY like to get him over his relentless fear of human heads, but we have not found any techniques that improve this specific fear. We would love to try any suggestions people have. In the first 6 months Griff was with us, if your head got too close for his comfort, he would snap at the head. He nicked the edge of my nose in the 3rd month or so when I picked him up, holding him with my right arm as most small dog owners handle their dogs, but I happened to be holding him a little higher than usual, against my ribs instead of holding him closer to my belt-line. I wasn't watching him, being focused on something else, and he reared up and nicked the edge of my nose slightly. There have been no repeats of that. And holding him up high doesn't bother him, EXCEPT for the head-proximity bit. He has not used biting for anything else in the time he has been with us. Any thoughts on how to trick him into welcoming the touch or closeness of a human head. I have been kissing him on the head from behind just to show him bad things don't happen from a human head getting close. It's over before he even knows it was coming, but he still growls in the aftermath. About 6 months ago, we were rough-house playing on the bed (getting him to play took most of 1.5 years! to play with dog toys or to rough-house play on the bed. He actually loves playing on the bed now (our big king size bed). And as he is preoccupied with playing, I intentionally inch my head closer to him when he's not paying attention. When he finally realizes how close he is to my head, he gets bug-eyed and tries to move away as quickly as possible. He doesn't seem capable of holding-on to the realization that the head being close is not a sign of doom or pain.
I would love to hear any behavior/training suggestions that might help him get over this fear.
#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment#PetSupportServices*------------------------------
Doug Blackburn
Retired-fostering dogs
nothing specific
CA
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