"Mary Healey" wrote in message
.4...
Jim Manson wrote:
I have experience in rescues and have dealt with an abused Klee Kai
successfully. The problem is that the Eskie almost seems to be, for
want of a better term, autistic.

Shell-shock might a better analogy, IMO. He's had little physical or
mental stimulation up until now, so taking him from the only home he's
known (no matter how inadequate) and putting him in an environment where
he's exposed to a barrage of new experiences might be quite overwhelming.
It seems reasonable to me that what we consider a quietly normal home
situation might be an isolated dog's version of Grand Central Station.
During an air raid. With the circus train unloading.

...He will come if you hold out a treat but
that is a recent development according to the foster mother.
Originally he didn't know what a treat was or that people gave them.

He'll be making discoveries like that for a long time to come. Are you
thinking about keeping this dog yourself? He'll likely be a long-term
project, because it will take time for him to become comfortable in his
new
circumstances. Once that happens, he might start doing some exploration.

He might never become a highly interactive, people-oriented pet. I've
owned a few animals that were shut down by the stress of changing
circumstances, although none was quite this unresponsive. Establishing a
regular, low-key daily routine goes a long way towards building a feeling
of safety. The truly hard part is the waiting.

I agree, and your experiences and observations are similar to mine. It took
a long time before I was able (or willing) to allow Muttley to spend most
of the time in the house, so for about six months he was tethered outside
while I was gone, and also much of the time while I was here, as he was
aggressive toward my cat, and he would mess in the house.

Now that I have more experience, and have learned from reading and
interacting with people here and elsewhere, I can see where I made some
mistakes, so I can relate both negative and positive experiences, unlike
those who seem to think they have never made a mistake, and always know the
"one true way" of dealing with any dog-related situation. Yet many of the
posts from these "regulars" continue to be problems. I usually post about
good experiences, and they get quickly drifted to criticism and negativity.

But, my point is that, eventually, Muttley and I learned to communicate
with each other, and eventually he actually "told" me that he did not want
to be banished to an outside tether. I trusted him, allowed him
increasingly long periods of free run of the house, and he proved that he
was worthy of that trust.

My second "rescue dog", Lucky, adapted more quickly, but she was a
different sort of dog who was not running wild, but instead (AIUI) had been
confined in a small fenced area and neglected and had been picked up by AC
to be euthanized. When we got her released, she had an almost mangy coat of
fur with about a dozen ticks, and she was very frightened and skittish. But
she warmed up to us, and rode very nicely on my lap as Helene drove her to
a friend's place. But she reacted aggressively to her dogs, and we had to
find other arrangements for her. Some mistakes were made during that
adventure as well, but I always had her best interests at heart, and she
became a very sweet dog. On the last night before I surrendered her, I had
Muttley in a crate, and she spent the night quietly in bed with me, and
finally seemed to accept my touching her without the flinching that she
usually expressed previously. I almost canceled my appointment at the
rescue on Monday, but the overall situation with her and Muttley was not
good for any of us, and she was adopted within a week. I visited her on
Friday, at which time she was wearing her "adopted" jersey, and she was
very happy to see me. This is a shelter with very strict adoption standards
that even I would probably not meet, so I'm sure she is now in a good
forever home.

Paul and Muttley