# Advice needed on rehabilitating a stray dog!



## Anna-marie (Oct 21, 2021)

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice regarding my foster rescue dog, here is a bit of back story, I rescued Betty from the beach in St Lucia, hurricane Elsa was coming and she had 10 newborn puppies, the puppies wouldn't survive a hurricane, so I took all the pups to but was unable to catch Betty until a few days later, she weathered the storm on her own. This is probably nothing new to her as I believe she's been a beach dog for the two years of her life. The pups were then separated from Betty at 9 weeks old and later all adopted in the UK, Betty was spayed and has been living in my garden ever since! This is the problem, she allows me to stroke her, she gets excited to see me and my husband, she gets on well playing with my other two dogs but she won't come in the house at all, she's been here for 4 months and I feel the progress with her has been very slow, I'm looking for any advice to help her move forward and trust me more, as I'm starting to feel she is just happy and content to live the life she is living, but sadly we are only ex-pats here and one day will have to move away so she can't live in the garden forever! My hope is for her to be rehomed in the UK just like her pups, but that feels like a long way off! How do I teach her that being a pet is great and she doesn't have to be so independent and by herself? any advice is appreciated at this point! Thank you for taking the time to read my post😍


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

Does she enjoy food and treats? I would begin feeding her inside the house so she associates being inside with really great things. Not all the way inside at first, perhaps just feeding her near the back door, then slowly moving her bowl farther and farther inside. Make sure she is allowed to leave the house when she wants. I imagine there are many scary things inside a house for a dog that was not raised in a home, so it's important to take her introduction to living in a house very slowly. 

Does she enjoy training at all? Basic obedience? I would try teaching her very basic things like sit, down, come, etc. She doesn't need to come in the house for that! That might help her associate humans with great things, too, and if she associates the humans with great things she might be more inclined to want to be where they are! Additionally having some basic obedience and leash manners might help her get adopted.


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## Anna-marie (Oct 21, 2021)

Lillith said:


> Does she enjoy food and treats? I would begin feeding her inside the house so she associates being inside with really great things. Not all the way inside at first, perhaps just feeding her near the back door, then slowly moving her bowl farther and farther inside. Make sure she is allowed to leave the house when she wants. I imagine there are many scary things inside a house for a dog that was not raised in a home, so it's important to take her introduction to living in a house very slowly.
> 
> Does she enjoy training at all? Basic obedience? I would try teaching her very basic things like sit, down, come, etc. She doesn't need to come in the house for that! That might help her associate humans with great things, too, and if she associates the humans with great things she might be more inclined to want to be where they are! Additionally having some basic obedience and leash manners might help her get adopted.


Thank you so much for the great advice, I have been leaving treats just one tile into the house and she will grab it and run, her food bowl is right next to the door but tonight I will try putting just on the inside the door, great tips, she loves food and will take treats from my hand but she skittish about it, not sure if I tried to get her to sit she would probably back off and then not take the treats at all, my other two rescues do tricks for their treats but they were both tiny pups when they were rescued so are just spoilt normal dogs rather than rescues! Thank you for the advice is very much appreciated.


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

Make sure you are luring her into behaviors, not physically manipulating her, and you might be surprised what you can get her to do. If sit is too much, you can even teach her to touch your hand with her nose. It doesn't have to be a useful behavior, just something to introduce her to the idea of doing things to get food.


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## Toedtoes (Sep 25, 2021)

You may also want to just sit and talk to her. Start out sitting outside by the door. Then move to the door. Then sit on the threshhold. Then just inside. And so on. If she balks, go back to the previous position. Don't touch her unless she nudges you - she may think you're trying to grab her otherwise. Do not close the door at any time she is inside. That is the scariest thing for a street dog.

You can also get her a nice soft bed to sleep in. Just like with feeding and your attention, once she likes the bed, slowly move it towards and then into the house.

If you can get her into the house for attention or the bed, you can start moving around in the house deliberately, keeping the door to the outside open. This lets her get accustomed to the activities in a house. Allowing her to run back out of the house at any time, will help her learn she's not being trapped.

Good luck! You're doing good by her and her pups.


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## Anna-marie (Oct 21, 2021)

Toedtoes said:


> You may also want to just sit and talk to her. Start out sitting outside by the door. Then move to the door. Then sit on the threshhold. Then just inside. And so on. If she balks, go back to the previous position. Don't touch her unless she nudges you - she may think you're trying to grab her otherwise. Do not close the door at any time she is inside. That is the scariest thing for a street dog.
> 
> You can also get her a nice soft bed to sleep in. Just like with feeding and your attention, once she likes the bed, slowly move it towards and then into the house.
> 
> ...


I always sit on the floor and talk to her and wait for her to approach me, as I learned quickly she doesn't like it if I'm towering over her, or if I approach her she moves away, I will start sitting closer to the door to try getting her to come to me, I think the big mistake I made was when she had to be spayed I grabbed her and brought her inside so the vet could collect her as my garden is massive and we wouldn't have been able to catch her if she was outside! her puppies were still outside that morning and she could hear them and when she got home the next day her pups were all gone, so she could recover in peace, she backed off after that but has come back around from that now, last week I did have to put her on a leash so the vet could give her an injection, which she wasn't very happy about either, but it's hard when you're trying to keep them healthy, they don't understand! I really appreciate all your advice, thank you so much for taking the time to help this precious girl!


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