Adopted!

Minden is leaving Austin today en route to her new home in Oklahoma. I figure after 6 months Minden is about 20% of the way to being her normal self. She continues to make small improvements every day, each one being a bit larger than the last.

I'm sure over the next year she will really continue to improve and find herself with her new family.

First Trip to the Pet Store

I had a much better than expected result on a trip to the pet store. Minden, although cautious, seemed pretty interested in the pet store checking out all the new smells. She didn't seem to nervous.
Over the past couple of months Minden has really improved in these areas:

• Recall - I worked with Minden for a short time on an extension rope and it was apparent she didn't have any intention of leaving. We go on frequent walks in our open areas and she does well off leash and has pretty good recall - or at least she won't run away.
• No more bookcase. Although Minden likes her quiet kennel or a cold corner in the pantry, she is not as inclined to huddle in the bookcase or otherwise try to disappear.
• Lound noises. She's still startled, but only slightly now. She used to try to get out of hear collar when something startled her, to the point of harming herself, but not just keeps a cautious eye out.
  
• Strangers. New people were like loud noises, something to avoid and evade at all costs. She actually has approached and sniffed a few new people at our house, but generally she likes to keep a safe distance.
• Approaching family members. She will approach most of us in the family for a treat in our hand, somehthing she never would have done.
• Affection - She still likes her personal space, but I always get a lick when I'm at the front door with a leash in my hand. She also will appraoch for affection if our other dog is getting some ear rubbings and she doesn't want to miss out.

However, there's more work to be done:

• Minden has a little separation anxiety when crated for more than an hour (though she generally likes her crate and sleeps through the night)
• Not startling when there's motion in the house. Minden likes to keep a safe distance from antyhing that is moving in any direction. So it will take more time.
• Basic commands: down, stay, out. She has "kennel" down to some extent, but becuase Minden isn't too food motivated and still very timid, any training has been put off.

Minden seems to take 2 steps forward and one step back, but that is progress and she's been a pretty easy dog to have in our house.

Group Therapy

We took Minden for a visit to animal training expert and behaviorist Janice Patton. We had a group session for 3 of the Missouri dogs in Austin that are suffering from extreme shyness and maybe a bit of depression. It was kind of a reunion for the dogs and Minden actually seemed interested in one male as if they had some sort of reunion. Minden doesn't typically find interest in sniffing other dogs.

The first step is for us to work on the "find" game. This entails one person (in a non-distracting environment) to first throw some high value treats on the ground. One treat in front, one behind and then gradually getting treats closer so she will take it out of your hand. So we'll work on this as the first big step to get Minden use to approaching one person, then another will try when she is comfortable with that. Hopefully as she learns to approach people (at least familiar ones) she will be less inclined to hide in the book shelf or under the desk at all times.

We've been trying to limit Minden's options for hiding in places and I've taken to pulling her out and making her walk to her kennel if she needs a quiet sanctuary. I've also been attaching her leash to my belt when walking around the house which keeps her close and does not give the option of hiding, which so far has been working well and we'll continue to do that.

So Janice had a nice analogy as if you were put in a foreign country and had to learn all new custums and a language and a high rate. You would likely be too overwhelmed to processes much of anything. So an under-socialized dog is pretty much the same. Their brain has no concept of human communication (verbal or nonverbal) so they revert back to their primitive hind brain (maybe the wolf brain) and avoid all situations. So the find game will be the first step in trying to create a new imprint in her forebrain that we aren't so bad and we aren't just trying to fatten her up to send her to market.

We've already greatly improved on leash and have been trail running 1-3 miles at a time and she does quite well as long as there are no distractions. But what can we say about future behaviour? It's hard to say exactly because when a dog is essentially in flight mode 90% of the time and utilizing the primitive brain; you can't really tell what the dogs true behavior is. However, Janice introduced us to her very well adjusted Pomeranian that was at a puppy mill for 1.5 years. When she got this dog is was terrified and to look at him you would never know. So there is hope, but it will take a lot of patience and training. And there are some glimmers of Minden's behaviour on the rare occasion now that she shows some playful behaviour with toy or a joyful wag of the tail in the morining. Hopefully we'll see more of that soon.

Great Progress!

I had been taking Minden on short walks on a short leash for the past 4 days and she generally has seemed very curious about seeing what the outside world smells like. So even though she still generally will not approach any one in the house, she likes to stay close on the leash as I think it gives her a little feeling of security (being on the leash) venturing out to unknown territories.

So I left for a bike ride today and Minden apparently was a bit distraught that I left without her. This was pretty encouraging to me now that I know we have some sort of bond and are getting close to some sort of understanding, which is: Leave me alone unless you are at the front door, then we'll talk.

So to get Minden to come to me all I have to do is open the front door, close it and sit down. Then she will approach me and let me massage her ears. She won't leave either until I go somewhere else or take her for a walk. So apparently we've got myself and door associated with something pretty good. Minden is a tough nut to crack, but we're getting closer. The odd thing still is that she runs from me pretty much every where else in the house, but if I change rooms she gets up to check where I am.

Here's some pics of her outside to show better how she's looking.

Ferrell Dogs

Well, I don't know how to spell "feral" (or wild animal). So I was googling around for "training ferrell dogs" and this is what I got. (Click here to avoid a commercial)

Clean Bill of Health

We just got Minden's records from the Raytown Animal Hospital. Great check-up. The summary essentially says "the described canine is free from all diseases".

They estimate her birthday to be September 4, 2007 (1.5 yr/o). I'm not sure if any of these dogs had any previous records kept.

I checked her poop samples in the backyard and they look healthy. I was fully expecting to see rocks and sticks as I heard this account from many of the other dogs, but no such thing.

Poor Minden just doesn't know what hit her. Most of the time she just wants to be alone in the smallest hole she kind find. I was talking to some other fosters and reading some stories about the other Missouri dogs and many of the dogs do appear have a fear/distrust of humans and have no concept of a leash. Minden doesn't act like she was physically abused and she eats well, but pretty much every new experience has been met with quite a bit of trepadation. A quick attempt to put her on a leash and take her out didn't get further than the front yard.

We're working on feeding Minden by hand to build her confidence in us; good things come from the hand that feeds you. Our 4 year old has been feeding Minden frequently and crawling in small spaces with her keeping her company, which Minden doesn't seem to mind too much. So every little step towards confidence and reassurance with Minden is quite big right now. And it's nice to see the (infrequent) wag of the tail.

And she hasn't had an accident in the house yet.