Sassy came to Colorado in mid-June, 1999 by way of CUR, the Canine Underground Railroad. A volunteer drove her from Omaha to Ogallala, Nebraska and a volunteer from Colorado picked her up there and delivered her to me. I knew she wasn’t very socialized and that she needed help, but I was not prepared for the fear-frozen, undersized, and shaved dog that came to my door.  We had to pry her out of her crate, and as soon as she came in the house she peed and pooped.  She was terrified.  She had been shaved because she was so badly matted that they couldn’t do anything else with her coat.  While at the groomer’s she got loose, and it took them 2 hours to catch her in the small shop. I know that the only reason she was considered for fostering is because amazingly she was not fear aggressive despite her extreme fear and lack of socialized behavior.

     I found out just after she arrived how terrified Sassy is of loud noises.  Neighborhood fireworks were intolerable to her and thunderstorms weren’t much better. I could only crate her and try to mask the noise.  Now that she is more comfortable and relaxed she is not as upset by noises.

     No one was sure whether she had ever been bred or had puppies, but her nipples were larger than normal so it was possible.  Her age was estimated at 18-24 months (too young for breeding by any reputable breeder).  I decided that January 1, 2000 would be her second birthday.

 If she got loose, it was almost impossible to get your hands back on her unless she went in her crate.  Fortunately, the crate was her safe spot, so she always went there for safety and security.  From there I could gain control. For the first few days I had to remove her involuntarily from her crate and she would immediately run to the back door.  I kept her on a leash or a long-line when she wasn’t in her crate for the first couple of weeks so that I had control.  Because Sassy was so small, I had to cover up the underside of my deck before I could let her loose in the yard. I knew that if she went under the deck, I’d never get her out.

     Having no formal training in socializing dogs, I did what felt right for each situation.  I sat with her on a little couch out on the deck which became a safe spot.  She didn’t really want to sit with me, but she would not fight; she would instead acquiesce and just freeze. I could put her in any position I wanted (next to me or on my lap).  I talked to her, petted her, stroked her, touched her all over her body, handled her feet, and just tried to let her know that I was OK and she was safe.  The first time I stopped petting her and she lifted her paw to me as if to say ‘don’t stop’ I almost cried.  Each micro-step was a cause for celebration.  The first time she kissed me on the chin.  When I could sit with her and not have to hold onto her to keep her there.  The first time she walked over to the toy box and looked.  The next day when she looked around and then took a toy.  The next time when she dug around in the box and found something she really wanted. Every advancement she made was a huge leap of faith for her.  I admired her courage in the midst of the fear I knew she carried.

     Sassy was suffering from an intestinal disorder when she arrived.  She was on soft prescription food, and after about a week she developed severe diarrhea and vomiting.  The vet thought she had a bit of giarrdia, so we treated her for that.  After a month or so, she went through the runs and vomiting again, and as a result became dangerously underweight to the point that my vet was very worried about her ability to fight illness off.  Finally she stabilized and I weaned her to dry prescription food, added a supplement, and doubled her food intake until she gained a few pounds.  After 6 months I tried again to wean her off of prescription food, and after 3 months of gradually changing the prescription-food-to-regular-food ratio was able to get her on a regular maintenance food. 

 Sassy bonded with my two dogs almost immediately.  She seemed relieved that there were others of her own kind with which she could have a relationship.  She ran under my large male’s chin for protection when she felt threatened. As a very submissive dog, she accepted my male (not me) as her dominant alpha.  She exhibited many characteristics of a wild animal so it was very illuminating to watch and learn.  When I was finally able to have her in the yard off lead, she would stay on the periphery of wherever I was.  If I was with people on the deck, she would stay a fixed distance away, yet seem as though she really wanted to join us but just couldn’t. 

     I continued to watch her internal struggle of want vs. fear. She could not be forced to do anything.  Patience and encouragement worked much better and more quickly. As an example, once when I wanted to take the dogs to open space my dogs went from the yard into the garage to get into my van.  Sassy wanted to go, but wouldn’t get close enough for me to put a leash on her.  She kept coming towards me but stayed just out of arm’s reach.  It took 15 minutes of patience on my part just kneeling by the door, and 15 minutes of an internal struggle for her to finally decide that she really wanted to go and that she had to overcome her fear to do that.  After that, it usually only took a few seconds.  It was a big breakthrough.

     When Sassy first arrived I fed her in her crate since that was the only place she was relaxed enough to eat.  Eventually she ate with my other dogs.  She always ate looking over her shoulder as if she was afraid someone would come and take her food away. It was another feral behavior.  It made me wonder whether she previously had to fight to get food and since she was so submissive, maybe she often didn’t get any. We’ll never know.  I could only surmise her previous treatment based on the behavior I observed.

     After Sassy had achieved a minimal amount of comfort I started taking her places where she could interact with the outside world. We started out just staying in the front yard where she could watch people, cars, and normal activities. On walks around the neighborhood, I asked people to slowly approach her and reach out to her.  Often she would poop from fear, but she tolerated the attention if she had to.  I took her to dog training classes with my other dogs, dog shows, and anyplace where she could see the world, learn that people were OK, and the world didn’t have to be so scary. I walked her around agility obstacles which were very frightening to her (although a couple of times I got her to walk over a bar jump that was on the ground), and I let other people walk her around when I could.

 The best thing about her acquiescence to things she didn’t like was that I didn’t have to fight with her for unpleasant things like going to the vet, getting a bath, doing nails, and grooming.  She put up with it, which was a godsend for me. 

     After 6 months of foster care, I placed her in a home with a person who believed that even with her problems he really wanted her.  After a month he returned her to me.  Despite everything I’d told him about her special needs and personality, and even a trial visit, it really didn’t sink in until later that she demanded a lot of work and attention.  She bonded with his dogs and had a great time playing with them, but she never came close to having a relationship with him.  The responsibility was on us humans to initiate any relationship. If given her choice, Sassy would relate only to other dogs.

     Out of this we learned several things.  One, she seemed to relate better to women than men.  Perhaps women are less threatening.  Second, just having her in a totally different environment made her subtlely more relaxed when she came back to me.  At that same time, while talking to another foster mom, I found out that changing foster homes can be helpful to unsocialized and feral animals especially when they have reached a plateau of improvement. I also learned that T-Touch massage can be very helpful.  The instructor at the Boulder Valley Humane Society was kind enough to teach me how to do the basics.  I started massaging Sassy every night before bed.  As we worked, she began to let go a little at a time.  At one point, she finally opened up and gave me her belly and after a couple sessions she lost bladder control for about 24 hours.  I suspected, and later confirmed, that letting me get to her belly helped to release a lot of emotion and that caused her temporary loss of bladder control.  It was a big accomplishment for both of us!  After that she let me do her belly and would even roll over on her other side so I could work on all of her. She loved sleeping on my bed and was most relaxed in the bedroom with me and the other dogs.  She was also good at waking me up if she had to go out in the middle of the night. 

     The massage made a huge difference in Sassy’s progress.  I wish I had known about it from the beginning.  As a result of it she started coming to me more for pets and attention.  She let me approach her more. She even tried to play with me a little.  She started coming to me in the yard which she would not do before.  However, none of this behavior was consistent, but it did continue to improve.  Sometimes she still ran the other way when I approached her--even in the house.  I had to learn right away not to take it personally; it was her own thing and I respected her boundaries (even as I pushed at them little by little). She reached a point with me in my home where I would consider her to be about 75% normal.  No one else ever saw that because as soon as another person came in the dynamics changed.  She truly has a ‘sassy’ personality and was a big tease with the other dogs, and eventually with me.  She is very sweet and I’m sure would have been a great mom.  She established a relationship with one of my kittens where the kitten would curl up against her chest and Sassy would give her head a bath.  Unfortunately, Sassy doesn’t like cameras pointing at her so I never got a picture of those sweet moments.

     When we walked anywhere on a leash, Sassy walked in 360-deg circles most of the time.  She was always looking over her shoulder to make sure things were safe and that nothing was coming up from behind.  She didn’t have any manners when I got her; I doubt she had ever been in a house.  She would launch herself into the back door from the edge of the couch on the deck.  So we learned ‘off’ and then she learned to take a treat from me because the dogs get a tidbit when they come in when called.  Next she learned to sit with the dogs and take the treat.  She learned ‘crate’, ‘out’, ‘come’, and ‘bedroom’.  She also learned to go potty with the other dogs on command (in my yard only, because it was safe). I did not get to a point where I could really do any serious training with her because she was still too insecure.

     Off and on I had calls from people interested in looking at her for adoption.  I was very torn about it because on one hand, in my household it would be nice to have just two equally-trained dogs, yet I couldn’t let her go to just anybody.  When I talked to people I deliberately didn’t paint her in the best light because I wanted people to understand what the reality of having this dog in their family would be like.  A few potential adopters decided after a phone call that she wasn’t the right dog for them.  Others came over to visit and decided after meeting Sassy that she was going to be more work than they wanted. Everyone who met her, though, thought she was really sweet. Eventually someone came to visit, really liked her, and asked for a trial visit.  After 2 weeks I visited the home to see how things were going.  Sassy had another Sammy to play with, an older mixed-breed dog to be around, a big yard, and a nice cool basement.  She came to me when I visited the home which was a great reward and made me feel great.  In a short period of time she seemed to have reached the same state of security as she had in my home; there was no sign of additional trauma.  The time for the big decision has come.  Give her up or take her back?  I had started fostering her with the expectation that if the right home came up she should go.  If it never did then I would keep her for life.  I decided to let her stay and cried most of the way home.

     Her new owner calls with updates including how Sassy (now called Sassafras) voluntarily came up to her looking for pets and attention!  What we take for granted with our own dogs can never be taken for granted with Sassy and we should appreciate the relationship we have with our so-called ‘normal’ dogs.  Sassy’s new owner accepts that she may always remain at her current level of emotional security and although she hopes for continued improvement she doesn’t count on it.  She is continuing the massage and taking things slowly. 

     I still have visiting privileges and will always be grateful for the many things I learned from Sassy. She provided a unique opportunity to increase my understanding of dog behavior.  I hope no rescue group ever has to again rescue a dog like Sassy that has been left unsocialized, unloved, and put in a situation that could generate such intense fear and insecurity.  Unfortunately, I know Sassy wasn’t the first and I’m sure she won’t be the last. 

     I will never forget the 14 months she spent with me and am happy to know that I was able to play a part in helping her face her fears and realize some of her potential.  Hopefully she will continue to beat down her fears, one step at a time.  She will always be my ‘Sassy Girl’.

Jane Reller, foster mom

United States: visit http://www.samoyed.org/rescue_org.html or email samrescue@samfans.org with the area in which you live. 

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Last Modified: October 14, 2000
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