# Teaching your rescue to play!



## Romë's Mama (Jul 15, 2010)

Hi I'm Nikki  We've recently taken in a 3.5-4 month old gsd mix. Before we adopted her she was living in the very back part of her previous owners yard, tied to a tree with a leash and a choke collar to keep her from getting loose  She NEVER had food or water, was covered in her own feces and urine since she didn't have the option of using the potty away from her sleeping area, and never got any attention from the people who had her. She's since become an inside dog, got a bath/puppy shots/etc. and is starting to fill out and put on weight, BUT she doesn't seem to grasp the concept of play, and since this is our first rescue we're not really sure how we should go about teaching her that she's ALLOWED to play with her toys, that we WANT her to chew on them, chase them, completely destroy them if she wishes, after all they're HER toys and she's just a puppy :/

Does anyone have any experience with teaching a previously neglected puppy how to just be a puppy?


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## Inspire2be (Feb 1, 2010)

I just posted a thread in here (life of a puppy mill rescue) and i say give her some time......its reallllyyy hard and may take awhile. Our rescue spent her whole 5yrs of life in a cage breeding over and over. Weve had her for almost 4wks and she finally started to play for like a minute with me she play bit me a couple times and that was it. Otherwise when she gets excited and tries to play she'll stomp her front feet and run and get that excited look to her. I dont think she'll ever play with toys from her neglect but we wont stop trying  She also began to run! 

I guess time will tell. Thank you for resccuing her!!!!!! Your amazing!


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## Romë's Mama (Jul 15, 2010)

Thanks for the advice  She HAS started to play a bit, unfortunately her favorite plaything seems to be my socks :/ lol I figured I'd be able to break that habit and point her towards a toy I wanted her to play with, but my girlfriend got fed up with her attempts to get into the dirty laundry while I was at work yesterday and tied knots in an old sock for her. Luckily she seems to only go after HER sock now, and we even caught her tossing it around the kitchen and barking at it last night XD Hopefully she doesn't decide she wants to add anymore socks to her collection of toys!

We've known for a while we wanted to rescue, and had tried 2 other times before this and something always happened, we've just taken it as a sign that we were meant to hold out until we could find Romë


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## That'llDo (Apr 13, 2010)

If you can take her to a puppy socialization class or puppy play time, it could help a lot. I've seen puppies go from too shy to approach another puppy, to willing but unsure how to play, to right in the fray in a matter of a few weeks when they have other puppies playing to learn from. For getting her to play with toys, you might also see if you can make some of them really irresistible to start with. That kong may be waaaaay more interesting, once she's discovered that sometimes it's full of peanut butter. Does she run and play on her own at all? Like, jumping around, zoomies, etc? If she does, and you can get her chasing you, you might try doing that, and "playing" with the toy yourself while she chases you, throwing it up, throwing it away and pouncing on it, and praising her if she does go for it. You pup is still very young, I bet she can be rehabilitated thoroughly! Way to go on rescuing her. She'll never forget it.


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## Romë's Mama (Jul 15, 2010)

She's started occasionally tossing her tuggy in the air and attempting to catch it, it's amusing to watch because she usually misses it then looks down at it with this bewildered look on her face and huffs at it XD lol! If we get down on the ground with her and belly crawl backwards she'll belly craw towards us and bat at our hands with her paws. And our landlord has a border collie mix pup that has been visiting us since we moved in here so she comes up and plays with her, Romë also has 2 "cousins" that she's gotten the chance to play with almost every day since we brought her home. She seems to understand the concept of dog to dog play, it's just getting her to play with people or toys that we're having trouble with. It's our problem really, we've never had a rescue, never dealt with a puppy/dog that was so neglected it didn't know how to play with people or even what a toy was. We're learning with her, she's adjusting well but is still a bit skittish with sudden movement, loud noises, sometimes little noises, etc.


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## Inspire2be (Feb 1, 2010)

I just had to share these pics of her playing (in her own little way). After i took these that night she played with me for 5mins and was making grunting sounds...SUCCESS!

It sounds liek your rescue is coming along too


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## Romë's Mama (Jul 15, 2010)

This is Romë(pronounced Row-me)








She was staring intently at her make shift tuggy(a sock tied in knots)

And this is Romë and her American Bulldog cousin Erius(also a rescued pup, and now one of the best dogs I have EVER had the pleasure of knowing!)

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This was after a LONG day of playing and both girls were thoroughly worn out! Needless to say after so long with little to no exercise Romë over did it and was a little bit stiff the next morning 

She got a real tuggy today, one of the "It's a girl" gifts from her "aunts" and spent a good 15 minutes alternating between tugging with me and tugging with her other mother XD She also got her first bone, and is right at this moment going at it with a vengeance  Today has been a happy day, not only did she actually PLAY with us a bit, but she hopped up on the couch and cuddled right up to me for a nap, I hadn't intended to allow her on the furniture but I couldn't help myself while my heart was melting! lol


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## Newt* (Apr 24, 2009)

Hi Nikki,

Reading this and seeing the pics just warmed my heart! Do be sure to remove the sock toy and never give it to her anymore. If you were to wash the sock toy and it has the smell of your laundry, she will think that all socks will be her toys. Thankfully the sock toy smells from your friend and not anyone in your household. I've learned the hard way that offering old socks, shoes or gloves will only reinforce that those are for chewing and play!

There are some great sites on the web about rehabilitating and socializing mill dogs and chained dogs. Sure sounds like you're on the right track. Here's one from Dogs Deserve Better, but you can do a google search with terms such as: rehabilitate chained dog or rehabilitate mill dog
http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/rehab.html

Newt


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## ZeeDoggy (Jul 16, 2010)

Dogs love clothing covered with our scent which is why the usually go for socks & underwear. I slept with the first toy I bought for my dog so it would smell like me. Rub your sweatiest laundry on their toys, they love it! Be patient with your rescue and she will learn to trust you. It's amazing to witness a weary rescue coming out of its shell! <3


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## GSD (Jul 18, 2010)

She is a good looking pup.


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