Puppy started feral in life to living with humans: A powerful success story of a very fearful dog and one determined human

Several months ago we got a call from Brenda about her rescue mix, Sophie. Her pup had gotten frightened at the park, ripped the leash right out of Brenda’s hands and bolted for the next county! Luckily, there was a horse pasture to slow down Sophie. Brenda finally caught up to her and got her back on lead. This wasn’t good, Brenda Realized and contacted us immediately!

A little background on Sophie, she was found underneath an abandoned house down south with her mother and litter mates. The mother was apparently very skittish of people(which tells us she was feral). Therefore, she was raising her puppies with the same core values a wild or feral dog would need. Wild animals and wild dogs alike survive out of fear! They learn to be skittish of loud noises, avoid people and strange things altogether. Our main goal was to change the information that mom had taught Sophie from day 1 of life. Which would not come fast or easily.

Several things Sophie had issues with

• Movement from the trashcan(even from 30 yards away)
• Hardwood floors: she would walk backwards on them
• Basketball Court, roller hockey rink: the noises these created would cause her to want to flee with her tail between her legs(these were very stressful for her)
• People big and small: because she was not socialized with people the first 10 weeks of her life. she was very skittish around people.
• Kids riding bikes or skateboards
• New things to a familiar environment: A new van was parked down the road, immediately Sophie was distressed and fearful about it’s presence(not an uncommon trait for animals living in the wild! These instincts keep them alive)

Listen to Brenda below talk about Sophie and the progress she has made under the confidence building plan we developed. We’re very proud of Brenda! Modifying Sophie’s outlook and opinions about her world around her has been a lot of work!