Hi,

Last night I picked up my latest foster dog. She's a 6 y/o F/S australian shepherd.

She spent her whole life living with her three siblings and elderly owner. When her owner died, she was dumped at a shelter, where a rescue group pulled her, kept her for three months, and then transfered her to the group I work with.

Obviously, she's very frightened. When we're out in the yard, she sticks pretty close to me. In the house, she tends to hang out in the bedroom, while my other dogs and I are in the living room and kitchen.

In the 24 hours I've had her, she's gotten a little braver, and will sometimes peek her head around the corner, and once ventured into the living room. We all sleep together in the bedroom.

My instinct is to let her go at her own pace, but I don't want her to get used to hiding out in the bedroom. I've heard some people recommend tethering the dog to you, but I don't want to force her into anything. I've been hand-feeding her food, and she does well with that.

I guess I'm just looking for advice on how much if at all to push her, and when, etc. I know it will take time, don't think that I'm trying to rush things, and I'm thrilled with the progress she's made in just a day. I just want to make sure what I'm doing is the best thing.

Any thoughts?

I would not push her at all. I would give her plenty of time to get settled in at her own pace. In fact, I know plenty of foster homes that don't even integrate the foster and resident dogs for some time, giving the foster plenty of alone time to try to acclimate to all the changes he/she has been through.

I wouldn't force any interactions right now, not with the other dogs or with your family. Definitely wouldn't do the tethering idea. I'd give her a quiet place where she can go when she's overwhelmed, give her love and attention, but don't over do it, let her come to you for now. If she's frightened to be outside with the other dogs, let her go out alone for now. If she's comfortable with you, give her some one on one quiet time.

After a while, she will let you know when she's ready for more, this could take a few days, or a few weeks, who knows. I do believe it's important for her to feel secure after all she's been through and you can't rush that.

Good luck!

I agree.

The dog sounds like she's had a pretty good life up until all the disruption that landed her in rescue; she should be resilient enough to get through this but it will take more than just a day.

I will generally give a new foster dog three days to do things its own way, going wherever it feels comfortable and letting it observe, if it chooses to, rather than participate. After that, I start easing it into the household routines, if it hasn't already become a part of things.

I make sure that they have a safe place -- a crate or a bed in a corner of a main room -- so they can watch things from there and not feel isolated, but also not feel run over. I check on them periodically, if they aren't checking in with me, and talk to them conversationally and hand-feed them little treats.

If she's not way more comfortable after 5-7 days in your house, I'll be very surprised. Poor girl, her world has come apart.

(Shutting up now, before I suggest that I adopt her ... !)

Poor girlie. I agree with the above advice- no forced inetraction including tethering. Let her come around on her own time.


Yes Connie you need to add an aussie to your 5 shelties- that would be fun! The craziest kind of fun maybe, but fun!

My mantra in dealing with dogs who for whatever reason are feeling some post-traumatic symptoms - routine, quiet, and space.

Give her some place where she can watch what goes on in your household with no demands on her. Write up a fair schedule for pottying, walks if she will walk without being terrified (this is not essential), and feeding. Don't worry about "treating" any fear symptoms, but rather ignore these completely. Don't overwhelm her with baby talk, hands on interaction - but be as matter of fact as possible. Use a leash right in the house to go back and forth from her quiet place out to exercise (if she's okay with that) and do her business. Keep her on leash at these times too.

Physically, literally face her as little as possible, talk as little as possible, touch her as little as possible. This is the space part. Let her absorb and come to understand the difference between negative and positive stimulation before you start forcing it on her.

You will know she is ready when you start seeing her seek you out at the times you would normally do things, and show some excitement, and above all seek eye contact and even physical contact.

Good luck!

It'd whip these slackers into line in no time! They've gotten a little fat and lazy, you know ... an Aussie wouldn't permit that!

I can just picture that!

You've gotten great advice. Good luck with her.

Thanks so much everyone!

Connie, she's a very cute, smaller aussie. I bet she'd fit in perfectly with five shelties

Everyone seems to agree with letting her go at her own pace, and that is what I'm most comfortable with as well.

She seems to be a little more interested in what every one is doing today, and is exploring more instead of just staying in one place.

She is such a sweetie Whoever ends up with her is going to be very lucky, I think.

Thanks again!

Ack! No, you didn't just say that! No, take that back!!

I would like to say that tonight, when I "lost" Sundance for all of ten minutes, before he slunk out of the tomato plants -- my first thought was NOT "oh, now I can get that rescue Border Collie that I want" -- no, my first thought was "OMG, my darling Sunny, where is he?!?!"

The Border Collie thought came second.

I'm glad to hear that she's doing better and I am sure that will continue. By next week she will be acting like she's lived with you for years.

I say go slow and easy. I have a Japenese chin that was rescued from a puppy mill and the first week of her life, she wanted to be in her crate all the time...we put the crate here in our office and put her food just outside it so she could stick her head out to eat. After a week, she got so much better and within the next week, I fed her outside her crate and when she was out of it, would close the crate door for a period of time...after the first week, we put her in the bed with us and she soon loved the nice soft bed with the people, a JRT and a cat surrounding her....she still loves to sleep under our desks (she likes being in closed areas), but in the time I have had her (since July 7) she's made huge strides....we do everything slow and easy with her and here at home she's a totally new dog. We cannot get her to go in her crate at all now....during the day she sleeps behind my JRT's crate - between the crate and the wall. Slow and easy is definitely the way to go.

I'd love to see pictures and hear how she's doing!

Connie!