In article
outpets.com,
fourpups wrote:

I have always rescued the dogs I have. I am seriously considering adopting
an ex puppy mill dog in the near future. He is 6 years old and has spent
his entire life in a puppy mill. I am trying to read any bit of info I can
get my hands on as to the care these dogs need and "what to do". This has
been a dream of mine for quite some time, and now I have the time to
dedicate my attention on this little guy. He was only rescued about 1 1/2
months ago. He is still in rescue and they are taking care of his
immediate health problems. I would appreciate ANY advice anyone has for
me. Thanks.

We are working to rehab a puppy mill brood bitch (Libby) - she is
somewhere between 4 & 6 years and a bichon frisee. We have been looking
for elists and, of course, watch this newsgroup (it isn't too active
and has been dominated by puppywizard unhelpfully). What we did was to
go to yahoo groups and look for elists for our breed and that has been
helpful. If there is a general.state or city newsgroup near you, you
might inquire there. Our preference was to find a support group in our
area where you can talk face to face with others doing rescue.

Our little girl was fearful of everything and after 3 months is slowly
getting better. I made sure I did a lot of holding and comforting - we
still kneel of the floor as she eats. When we first got her we left the
crate door open but after a few days of her hiding in it we coaxed her
out then closed the door permanently. We were fortunate in having
access to another well adjusted but very active and yound bichon, which
helped a lot. After about a month we fell into an opportunity the adopt
another bichon that was a 'normal' female puppy (Dinah). She has helped
us a lot without, of course, knowing it. Another thing we did was get
Libby into obedience training, after consultation with the instructors.
Our aim was not to instill obedience but to give her experience being
around other people and dogs - we think this helped Libby to get past
some of her fearfulness. A friend who did a rehab of an abused golden
retreiver told us that it took over a year for the dog to become a dog
again.

Keep the news groups up to date on your efforts and good luck.