Not to sound like Sarah McLachlan from those ASPCA commercials, but there are so many dogs in shelters right now who need love. They are being cared for, but only behind cages, they don’t know what it’s like to be unconditionally loved by a human. Adopting my dog from the shelter 10 years ago was one of the best decisions I’ve made in life. It is amazing to be able to give a precious animal nothing but good things in its life.
My boy, Bubba, is a part of my family; that goes without saying. But even though he gets so much love, it was not an easy road to care for him and gain his trust. I got my boy for my tenth birthday. He was so eager to come home, and he was treated like a prince - he still is as an old man. But soon after we brought him home, we noticed he was afraid of stairs and men. When I say scared, I mean you could see him cowering in fear and he tried to run away from our house multiple times.
We figured out that before we adopted Bubba, the family that had him probably abused him. We knew he had a rib that stuck out from his belly, and we pieced together that a man most likely kicked him down the stairs, and then gave him away to the shelter. The shelter left out that detail, and we were left to figure it out and make him trust that we would never do anything like that to him.
All dogs that were adopted from shelters have trust issues. And shelters might not always be completely honest with the information they tell you about your dog.
It is to be expected that it will take your pup some time to feel comfortable in its new surroundings. The people at the shelter couldn't even tell us for sure how old he was and his exact breed.The sad truth is that your rescue pup might have separation anxiety or a phobia of something that traumatized them in the past. You won't know until they are triggered.
It’s easy to think you’re doing something wrong when you see how scared they are. All you can do is learn what triggers them and try to alleviate the fear. No matter how perfect of a family the dog goes to, they will never completely get over having some anxiety. Just keep in mind that they probably haven’t ever been treated with so much love and goodness before. So be patient and just keep on loving them.
