[C&A]

My fiancé and I are fostering a puppy from a nearby rescue shelter. It, along with its 5 siblings, was abandoned and has been living in the wild since it was born. It is 3-4 months old, and is a male lab cross. He is currently so terrified that if you go near him he tries to bite, and wets himself if you touch him. He spent last night in our home (in relative isolation, as per the shelter volunteers' instructions) with soothing music on, and ate all of his food last night and today (when he was sure nobody was looking). I have administered rescue remedy - drops and spray for treating trauma - given to us by the volunteers who dropped him off, and he is not shaking as badly today. However, I am unable to get him outside to go to the bathroom, and am working on gaining his trust so don't want to push him.
Any pointers? I have cardboard down so he can go if he needs to, and i'm not at all squeamish about picking up after him. Please understand that I don't want him to think that it's good to go in the house rather than outside: I just don't think that I can assert the fact that I'm "the boss" when he is this terrified.
My fiancé and I are first time dog foster parents, as well as first-time "owners", and are hoping to perhaps adopt this little guy as his rehabilitation progresses. We would appreciate all of the advice you could give about how to handle a severely traumatized puppy.
Thanks!
C&A

[DoggieVogue]

Aw, poor puppy. He sounds like he is in need of some serious assistance. It can be a very rough task but I believe it is worth it. I had a similar issue with a traumatized puppy we adopted when I was younger. He had been severly abused by his previous owner, particularly with being burned (putting cigarettes out on him etc... just awful things). He was very fearful of us at first just like this dog. Every dog is different but a few things we did was that we had another dog close to his size in the house to kind of show him what a "normal" dog behaved like and that she wasn't afraid of us. We also kept him on a routine schedule. Doing the same things day in and day out made him more comfortable with us. Also, when we first introduced him to the family, we got down on his level. Knelt down and let him come to us. (while I know many say not to do this because you need to be the boss, it didnt hurt our dog to just do it a few times) The sight of a strong male standing over him made him so fearful, the kneeling down helped with that. But these are just a few things that helped for us! I hope it goes well for you.

[Deafdogsrule]

I've worked with feral puppies before, as well as just plain shy. best thing to do is first and formost throw out any Cesar Milan crap you may be thinking. you need to be completely positive with this pup. absolutely NO threatening posture, and 0 corrections.

Here's what I'd do. keep him in an x-pen or similar, somewhere he cant go and hide. go sit outside his x-pen with some really smelly, yummy treats (cut up hot dogs, bits of meat.... etc. bring along a book. Sit outside the pen, with your back turned. and read aloud. periodically toss him a treat, do not look at him, do not address him. at this point, your just getting him used to your voice and presence. also, throughout the day, go to him drop a treat in his pen, then walk away. You want him to learn that all good things come from you.

Try not to ever force him to accept handling, though I have done that with some success, it's best if they come to you.

When he starts eating the treats in your presence then the next time, step over the barrier (if you have one) and sit a bit closer. then continue as before.

Next, youll start putting treats closer and closer to you, with the goal of having him take the treat off your leg or foot, and eventually hand. At this point, your still not looking at him.

Then you want to start sitting, facing him, but go back to tossing treats towards him, then moving in closer and closer. It may take some time, and it may happen fairly quickly. but whatever you do, try to prevent doing anything to him that'll scare him... he needs to learn to trust you. Move slowly, but with confidence, talk calmly, smile alot. Body language is very important to dogs.

Hope you get him sorted out soon!

[C&A]

First of all, thank you so much for the replies, they really help!

So we are on day 4 of ownership, and have progressed by leaps and bounds. Monty was originally isolated in the laundry room, but we started opening the door when we were home so that he would realise that he had the freedom to come to us (he does, to peek). I have been hanging out on the floor and he seems to like that although if I move he tends to start/jump. he lets me come very close, and now eats treats very gently out of my hands, licks my toes, sniffs my pants, and so on. Most often we just tend to look at each other until he sighs and looks elsewhere.
I think I made a couple rookie mistakes though: we eventually had to do some laundry (ironically, it was the blanket he peed on the first night he got to our house) so we gently moved his crate into the kitchen just under the table and then put on the wash. I sat with him during the wash and dry cycles so that he would know that I wasn't afraid of the noise, so he didn't need to be either. Since then, I have not put him back in the laundry room (he is two feet from it however) and have sat with him on the floor in the kitchen when my partner and I are home. Should we always be in there with him when we are home, or can we leave him alone and let him come to us? does he have to be isolated for the trust process to work?
Secondly, he howls and barks all night, and when we go upstairs. Is this normal? Should I be spending the night downstairs with him at the beginning? (I tried seeing if he would be better sleeping in our room since then he would know where we are, but that was a HUGE fail for the rug which he soiled and also the fact that he doesn't understand going down stairs - something I stupidly thought he would understand, having lived in the wild just outside a town... oops) We don't seem to have regressed too much in terms of trust-building, but I know I jumped the gun on that one. Third, how does one go about their daily activities - like sleeping - when a feral puppy is involved? I was and am completely prepared for the lack of sleep, but am unsure if I should let him cry or go to him? I was told going to him will create back behaviour (cry=attention), but I am unsure if that applies in his case.
Finally, I can't take him outside for walks or housebreaking, as we are not at the touching stage yet; should I be trying to? I don't have a problem with the occasional accident in the house, as he is after all just a puppy. any recommendations on products which will clean the floor of all those scents which he can no doubt detect?
Thanks again guys, I appreciate the help!

[Deafdogsrule]

Sounds like you're doing just fine. Do you have a back door? If so, can you leave it open for him to try going outside on his own? if not, than wait for a few more days/weeks (depending on how fast he progresses) then start picking him up to go out, letting him play, than bringing him back in... but I will caution you, he will be hard to catch... maybe having a drag leash on him when outside so you can catch him is a good idea.

He sounds as if he likes your company, but is still afraid. This is a very good thing. But he needs to learn how to be alone too. You do not have to spend every waking minute with him, go about your daily routine, but make sure to spend a fair amount of time with him. If he's sniffing you and taking treats, then the next step is to feed him his meals by hand. At this point, I would introduce Clicker Training.

Here's what I'd do:

Split up his meals into 2 or 3 or 4 parts (depending on how much time you have in a day for this) and dont leave any food down for him.

Sit on the floor with his bowl beside you. Roll a peice of food at him then click as he eats it. (You will want to muffle the sound, or use the end of a pen, or if he's really sound sensitive, use an LED click light, and just flash him. You can use a quiet "yes" as well, but it's not as effective as a click.) Then roll another peice of food, click as he eats. do this for perhaps a handful of food, then wait. when he looks at you (face if possible, but if he's not willing to look at your face yet, just your general direction will do) click then roll the treat. do this for another handful or so, then stop and wait for him to look at you a little longer, if he didn't look at your face before, try bringing the food up to your eye, then clicking as he follows it then roll the food at him.

This'll be enough for his first session, dont ask for more than he's willing to do, and dont say a word while doing this (unless you're using yes as a click)

At his next session, start where you left off, if he's unsure, go back a step, work on that for 5 or 10 peices, then go back to where you left off. This session, you may want to get him a bit closer to you, so wait until he shuffles a bit closer, after looking you in the eye. click for the slightest weight shift forward, if that's all he's willing to give, fine, let him work at his own pace. click for the tiniest increments closer, with the goal of this meal being maybe a foot closer (he may progress alot faster, it's up to him... but dont rush him).

Maybe next time you can have him eating off your leg, or out of your hand. Do this by putting a peice of food on some part of you, waiting until he eats it, then clicking and giving a second peice of food.

work on targeting your hand after he's touching you to get a peice of food. Put a peice between 2 fingers, wait until the moment he touches your hand to get it, click then give him a peice from your other hand. This will be the first time you add in a "command" after you have him touching your hand reliably and expecting the food from somewhere else, start saying (quietly) "touch" just before he does it. Say it once, if he doesn't complete the move because you spoke, just wait quietly until he does it, click and treat, then wait until he tries again and repeat the command touch and wait until he completes the manouver. this may take several sessions, but a hand target is a great default behaviour for when you start trying to do other things with him.

After you're able to get a reliable hand tough, you can move onto maybe trying to touch him... but I'll wait and see if you want to try clicker training with him, before getting into that.

As to the sleeping issue, just ignore the barking, let him sleep alone, it wont hurt him, or break his trust in you... and he'll stop his noise fairly quickly.

Good work, and good luck!

[C&A]

Hi Sara,

Thank you for your replies: it's so nice to have some strong support networks when undertaking something as monumentous as rehabilitatiing a feral puppy.
Monty had a pretty good night last night: Chris slept in the kitchen next to him, and Monty howled only minimally - which I assume is normal. As soon as we have the baby gate installed we will leave him to cry abit - the one thing is that Chris and I live with a roomate, so it's hard to just leave him be as it disturbs her sleep as well as ours. I will ask her, though, if she would be ok with that, and see if she would be prepared to sleep out while we try leaving him to howl all night.
As for the clicker, I think that's a great idea. He does in fact already make eye contact: surprisingly, he only ever looks me in the eye. I have not tried feeding him his main meals by hand, although interestingly enough he always looks at me before eating as if to make sure it's ok with me. I can give it a shot though, and welcome any chance to teach him that he's safe and loved in our hands. I think that he will be fairly easy to train once I can touch him more: it just getting rid of the fear-aggression now that will be the trick. I tried petting him while he ate a treat, and he jumped back, but didn't really snip at me. i must have approached him wro0ng: as i understand, you can't be touching their head or making sweeping gestures with your arms when they are afraid (that will be a tough one to correct in myself: I always talk with my hands) Any suggestions?
So many thanks,
Annique (and Chris and Monty!)
P.s: you rock.

Dear DoggieVogue,

I haven't forgotten about you! Thanks so much for writing back: your tips really helped as well! We don't have another dog, but we "have" a really great cat who belongs to our roomate. Clover has been great around Monty the puppy: standing on the table and staring at him, no hissing or anything. He likes to taunt Monty by drinking out of his water dish (side note: Monty ate the cat's food upon arrival and Clover watched the whole thing but did nothing) and Monty doesn't react at all: except in slight fear of the cat! I have a feeling they will be fast friends later on, and partners in crime when it comes to opening cupboards, etc. (note to self: buy cupboard locks... haha!) It's also good to know that at this stage, and despite everything, Monty has no food aggression and is cool with cats.
Thanks again!
Annique

[DoggieVogue]

Annique,

I'm so glad to hear Monty is doing better I'm sure he and the cat will be up to no good in no time! Keep us updated on his progress!