Sensory Deprivation and Puppy Mill Rescue Dogs

From time to time someone asks me what type of dog takes the longest to train. They expect the answer to be a specific breed. But the truth is that the most difficult dog to train is not a breed, but a group.

That group is breeding dogs that have been rescued from puppy mills.
Puppy mills are the equivalent of the sweat shops of the early industrial age.

Their goal is to turn out lots of puppies at the lowest possible cost. The way they do it is appalling.

Breeding dogs are selected and kept until they are about five years old. Then they are discarded and either destroyed or rescued by one of the rescue organizations.

A lot of people think that all these dogs need is love and occasionally it is just that simple. But most of the time it is not.

These dogs are normally kept in very small cages. They have had no meaningful contact with humans and minimal contact with other dogs. As a result they simply have no idea how to live or even survive outside of the crate or cage.

All dogs come in for an assessment before I train them. The primary reason is so that my client understands what I do and how I do it. But by looking at the dog before the owners decide to train with me, can figure out what the greatest needs are. We start by having you drop the dog’s leash as soon as you walk in the door.

What I want to see is a dog with enough confidence to leave your side, enough curiosity to explore the center, and a little bit of caution since the dog does not know who or what may be in here. With the puppy mill rescue what I usually see is a dog that just stands there with its head and back lowered.

The dog not only cannot make a decision, it literally does not know how to gather information to make decisions. It has had so little sensory input, that even an empty center with only its owners and I in the room, it does not know how to find out what it needs to know to do anything.

And so begins a very long period of working the dog to just get ready to train. I know that with time we can have a confident dog, but the problem is going to be the owner’s expectations. If they are going to train with me they will need to invest a lot of time and effort before they see much improvement.

The first thing we must do is give the dog time to learn to watch and figure out how this new world works. At the same time we cannot put any pressure on the dog. So I put the dog on a line attached to the wall. The line is a form of security and often dogs will lean against the wall to reassure themselves. Then I put a calming collar on the dog knowing that the collar puts pressure on the pressure points in its neck, calming and reassuring the dog. Finally since the dog has spent its whole life watching through a cage, I put an exercise pen in a large semi circle around the dog.

Then we just let the dog be there while I work with other dogs. Other than an occasional “you’re fine” told to the dog by its owners and myself, there is no inter action with the dog.

I ask the owner to come in with the dog whenever we have our Neighborhood Pack Sessions or on weekends when I have lots of trainings. I can never predict how long it will take to stimulate interest.

The first sign of interest in what is going on is when the puppy mill dog starts watching the other dogs and people. At first it is only an occasional glance, but gradually it begins to take an interest in what is going on. Maybe for the first time in its life, the dog is gathering information.

I know we are getting close when the dog sits and watches the entire time it is here. The dog is learning how to learn.

We wait for the magic moment when the dog barks. It is the first step into the world. Now the training can begin.

The dog is worked in short periods. All we are looking for is just a little progress. There are still weeks if not months to go, but the dog is now on its way to being normal.

Rescue and Re-homed Dogs

The number of rescue organizations has mushroomed in the last couple of years. In addition to the breed rescue organizations and the local shelters, a number of other volunteer groups exist in almost every community. You see them outside the big chain pet stores on most weekends.

Rescuing a dog is a wonderful and generous act. But it is often very traumatic on the dog.

Dogs are pack animals. And for thousands of years dogs were born, raised, and worked, spending their entire lives within the same pack. They were working dogs and the farmer, rancher, or herder needed a pack to ensure that they had a reliable source of working dogs.

Today most dogs are pets, not working animals. So instead of staying in the same pack their whole lives, they end up moving at least once. Now to a young puppy (8 to 14 weeks) that move is usually not too traumatic. The excitement and attention of new people, combined with the fact that all the normal attachments have not been completely formed, make the transition to a new home comparatively easy.

But for the older dog, the effect is much harder. And if this dog has been given up from a home where it has lived a while, that dog it has now lost at least its second pack. It begins to believe it cannot trust that it will be a lifelong member of a stable pack. In nature losing your pack means either death or the difficult task of finding a new pack and fitting in.

Move a dog too many times and it may lose the ability to trust.

When you get a new rescue dog, then the dog needs time to adjust to its new pack. Where we are all excited that the dog now has a secure and loving home, the dog is wondering if this time the pack will accept and keep it.

The dog will often come into your home as the Omega dog. The Omega dog is the lowest ranking member of the pack. It is often the stress relief to the rest of the pack. It will be nipped and harassed, but not harmed. It is the last to eat. Its only job is to play with the pack’s puppies. But in a well established pack even that dog has a sense of security and belonging. But a rescue dog may see this as only a temporary position.

We refer to this as the honeymoon period. Usually this is about a month, but it can be shorter or longer. The dog seems very subdued, submissive and passive. The dog is calculating how high it can move up in the new pack. If it decides it can be the Alpha dog at the end of the period it will “take over.” And if it considers you a weak or ineffective pack leader you suddenly have an out of control dog.

But if it has lost all hope it may actually give up on even being the Omega dog. And without the security of knowing it is a valued member of the pack neither your life or the dog’s life will be very pleasant.

Before you get a rescue, have a plan to establish trust. Also make sure you know how make the first few weeks as stress free and successful as possible. Talk to a trainer so that you know the things to do to make that transition work so that you end up with the kind of dog you want. And make sure the trainer knows the difference between working with a rescue dog in the honeymoon period as compared to a rescue dog that has been in the home for quite a while.

Doug