Well that went well. I fully intended to get Hiccup/Oso ready for a new home, replete with basic obedience and house manners under his belt. But then I didn’t. I decided to keep him. I have been thinking about my reasoning for doing this more and more lately. Oso is reactive to strangers. He spent his precious socialization window on the street and, after coming to me, being confined with a busted leg. Most of his socialization with people occurred when vet techs and vets x-rayed and palpated his leg. While this was all for his own good, you can see why he might be wary of strangers and bark at them. To sum it up, I grew attached to him and became increasingly worried I would be giving a family a project dog and, at best, he would end up living life in a backyard. He is a lot of fun to work and train and I think, while he will never be really friendly, we can get to a point where he can be out safely and calmly in public. This is the rescuer’s dilemma, right? You can’t save them all and you can fall into the trap of thinking that bad things will happen to your rescues and become overprotective. Maybe it means I am not cut out for it in the long run. I actually do not want lots of project dogs. I like being able to take my dogs places and let them interact with visitors. Oso may always have some restrictions that way.
My first (mistake?) was to give him a proper name. His name from the shelter, Hiccup, was warranted given that he frequently had the hiccups. I decided to name him “Oso” which means “bear” in Spanish. In New Mexico I suspect this is a pretty common dog name, but it suits him.
Oso came to us with a broken leg, in the middle of a pandemic, already 14 weeks old. I have no idea what kind of socialization he got or if his original family treated him kindly or bothered to socialize him at all. But for those last few critical weeks of socialization time, the time when puppies are still really malleable, he got to be in an exercise pen. The only new people he saw were vet staff that held him down for x-rays and palpated his broken leg. He did not have good experiences with strangers touching him. As his leg got better I took him with me to Petco and to Home Depot for trips to get dog food or other necessaries. Despite these attempts, it was clear that Oso was afraid of most men and would bite them if they tried to pet him. It took him a couple days when we first brought him home to stop barking whenever my husband came around a corner.
Cue the professional help!
I emailed the shelter about this and I was able to do some sessions with each of their on-staff trainers. I was very worried that Oso would not do well in a home if I couldn’t help him out.
The first thing they had me to do was use the hand targeting I had already taught Oso and transfer that to strangers. I got Oso a vest with patches that said IN TRAINING and DO NOT PET. Both worked wonders. No one insisted on petting him anymore and I was able to give them explicit instructions about how to interact with him. Now, 6 months later, he is starting spontaneously look for treats in strangers hands and nose touch. He still would prefer not be petted, but approaches in a relaxed friendly way. Our reactivity training on walks continues to go well and he passed no less than three men without barking today. Anecdotally, some owners of German Shepherds have told me they tend to have long painful adolescent periods that often include some reactivity.
During a shelter training session specifically for shy dogs I mentioned I was thinking of keeping him. The trainer said, “Well, would you trust him with anyone else?” and my answer was a quick but firm, “No. I wouldn’t.”
This thinking actually goes against what I look for in puppies and dogs that don’t come to me by chance. I want friendly outgoing dogs that I can take anywhere and sit nicely for the vet. Not nervous dogs that need special vests and muzzles. But she was right. I started to worry that if I put Oso up for adoption that he would turn into a glorified yard ornament or worse, an actively dangerous dog. As a young dog I think he could have, or still could, go either way in terms of becoming aggressive. For now he is a “live and let live” sort of guy, not too worried about people so long as they leave him alone.
It’s worth noting that Oso has met five trainers at this point and not a single one has mentioned abuse. I want to write about this because I think it’s really important. As dog owners, it’s nice to think that our fur babies would all be friendly if they just had the right start in life. This just isn’t true. For every abused dog that’s fearful and mean, there’s another that’s resilient, happy, and confident. And thank goodness for that! I hate to think that every dog that is rescued from a dog fighting ring, puppy mill, or hoarder house is a lost cause. There are lots of reasons Oso could be afraid of men. Abuse by a man is only one of those reasons, but not the only one and we have no way of knowing what his past is. A nice lady found him by the freeway after he was hit by a car. That’s all we know. It also does him no good for me or other people to put that baggage on him or to excuse what could be considered dangerous behavior. Could Oso be an abuse case? Maybe. Maybe not. But it doesn’t benefit me or him to assume that he is. He’s also clearly a mix of breeds used to protect people and property. I assert that we often select for reactivity in breeds that are natural guardians. So, Oso may be doing exactly what he was bred to do when he barks at strangers.
After a lovely Christmas gift from my aunt we did a genetic test and found out Oso is about half Rottweiler and almost half German shepherd. Both dogs are commonly, but not always, bred for natural protection and guarding instinct. In Albuquerque I would not be surprised to find dogs bred for protection specifically. He also has a mysteriously bobbed tail, which would most likely have been docked. That tells me his breeder had some kind of intention with his litter and maybe even thought he was a purebred Rottweiler when he was a newborn. Training, socialization, and understanding will be key to his success as an adult dog. He is now 75lbs at 11 months old. It’s serious business to make sure he is safe around people. And so, the fact that he isn’t very friendly has played into my decision to keep him very heavily.
But my reasons for keeping him aren’t all gloomy. My agility dog Wallace happened to get a muscle strain during all this and I took Oso to a few private agility lessons in Wallace’s place. Oso really enjoyed that and warmed up to the agility trainer very quickly. He’s been the star of his puppy class and, as the shelter trainers put it, is a workaholic. I think as he grows we can likely find a nice niche doing some sort of dog sport.
He’s also pretty easy for my husband and I to handle. He may not like strangers but he is fine at home for baths, nail trims, and really likes other dogs. He goes to dog daycare, is learning the ropes for walking off leash, and we’ve found a Fear Free vet that can help us continue to work with him. He’s the most affectionate dog in the house and likes nothing more than to sleep on the couch or be the “little spoon.”
And so Oso gets to stay with us for better or worse.
P.S. Advice for those interacting with nervous dogs.
One thing that has surprised me over and over with Oso are vet techs. He had to get rechecks on his leg and ate so much kibble one day that he spent a night at the emergency vet. Almost every time the vet techs that came to get him they would make eye contact, lean down, and talk to him. That is pretty close to the worst thing to do. Especially during COVID where the techs need to be able to walk the dog into the clinic without me. This resulted in once instance of him being muzzled and carried. On the contrary, when he is ignored he offers nose touches and, depending on the procedure, may not need a muzzle at all. If you are a pet professional of any kind and work with nervous dogs, ignore them. Do not say “hello”, do not stare, and do not lean down. Be deliberate, slow, and matter of fact when you need to interact and listen to the dog owner. I recommend Fear Free training for all.
The Girl with the Darwin Tattoo 