Poor Scooby...

On Saturday, we attempted to foster Scooby with another one of the TLC dogs that was being adopted... True to his nature and form, he did not much more but hide in the bushes in the person's backyard the first night... The first two days I had him as my foster, I didn't see him at all except as he passed by towards going potty outside... By day two I started to get a bit concerned and knowing that he had to be hungry, took a plate of food to him... So I was not surprised he didn't transition over to a change immediately...

Sunday, I went and picked him up and he was SO glad to see me (but then again, I've been his foster since we bailed him out of the shelter too!)... He immediately went around to all of his favorite spots, tail wagging, kisses to his particular buds, headed off to the kibble container and then curled into his favorite sleeping spot like he hadn't slept for DAYS!



Scooby is going to need a VERY special furever home... One that understands the extreme trauma these dogs go through as they journey through the shelter systems (and in Scooby's case, he's had to do it numerous times)... And someone willing to give him the time and space to come back out of his self-imposed prison on his own terms and time frame...

Although Scooby is probably not a puppy mill dog, many of his behaviors are quite common with the puppy mill survivors... For those that actively rescue the puppy mill dogs, the first thing they tell new volunteers is to throw out all the stereotypes of Lassie and other dogs you've interacted with...

Under-socialized --- then born, raised, bred and dying in cages they can barely stand up in, these puppy mill survivors find the outside world frightening and foreign to them...

The general public believe they are doing great things by 'freeing' these dogs, but in fact, confined areas are all these dogs know... Pushing them into huge open spaces and expecting them to act like Lassie under a wide variety of situations just push these dogs further inside themselves...

It is no different for them than it is for us humans - what we don't know, we fear first... But humans can think on a higher plateau than a dog can, so there is one part of us that says if we can overcome our fears, we might eventually one day be free... Puppy mill dogs don't think to this extent... The most they know is that they're scared out of their mind because they've been taken out of the familiar and comforting way of life they've always known...

And when I say I don't think Scooby is a puppy mill survivor, I'm saying this based upon a lot of observation and experience... Puppy mill survivors don't normally wag their tail at you as they listen to you sweet-talking to them... They won't even attempt to reach out at all... Most will avoid eye contact with you whenever possible... It's like the 'lights are on, but no one is home' kind of thing... "If I can't feel, I can't hurt and they can't get to me inside here" kind of mindset thinking...

Scooby's not in that frame of mind... True, the world is a scary place to him... Lots of people cause him to freeze in his 'statue' mode... Adoptions is a scary thing for him to participate in each week... I put the hammock in the Xpen for him and know he'll do his best to not be noticed by all the people that will mill around, staring down at him... And probably pray that someone doesn't want to pick him up... He now knows it will be over soon, another ride in a kennel and then he's home free for another week...

The person that eventually falls in love with Scooby will know that it is going to take a lot of time for Scooby to immediately come when called... They'll have to be content with calling his name and getting that soulful look and tail wag, for that is all that Scooby can render (at least at this time)...

Now that Scooby's been with me for some time, I see him running around outside and queuing up for meal times with the others... I've even seen him sleeping with a bud in a doggie bed... And he follows us to the bedroom each night, content to sleep in a doogie bed on the floor in a corner... This is a LOT of progress for Scooby... He's probably never going to be one of those dogs you see in commercials, running through a meadow chasing after butterflies... Freedom to Scooby is not being shoved into a small confined space, but a space he himself can relax in and sleep without fears... Sometimes that's not such a bad thing, ya know?

Scooby's probably a bonefide canine agoraphobic... Probably had little control over his situation or circumstances in his life... Human contact hurt and there were no means of escape... When I initially fostered him, he shook when I called his name - now I get tail wags... It's not the mountains that you climb in life but the deep valleys you survive, ya know?... And that's how it is for Scooby... He survives the best way he knows how and one day, he'll attempt to climb a hill, but never a mountain - the shelter system and humans created the fears that are his companions... sigh...