Rescue Pup's (my story + tips)

Please tell me other people have the same problem I do. There is something about a vulnerable thing that can't fend for itself that hits me right in the soft spot of my heart. That quality causes me to do anything and everything, sometimes over and above what is considered reasonable, to remove them from their situation or protect them from any further hardship. Also, just look at that face...

That sweet little pup, who would be named J.D. This dog was 6-8 months old, a stray (we were told), skinny as a rail, obviously sick and unbelievably pitiful. He slowly sulked up to me and plopped his head right in my lap. I knew if I didn't take him home, he wouldn't have a great chance of being adopted. I didn't have the best backyard situation at the time though, so I needed the boyfriend and his 3 roommates to get on board with backyard daycare during my classes. 

After a few days, we got him in to see the vet. The poor thing had fleas, infection in both ears from extreme allergies, kennel cough and was so sick he didn't eat more than a 1/4 cup of food or less in a day. Keep in mind, I was in college, so the bill they gave me for this dog made me feel like I had to sell a kidney to get it done. I was so in love with this sweet dog that needed my help to live I didn't care what it took.

J.D. has been a huge help to my mental health while my boyfriend traveled a ton for work. Unfortunately, there have been some drawbacks to my rescue baby. The pup has anxiety issues, issues eating and drinking slow enough to prevent barfing, health issues brought on by allergies, and issues playing nice with other animals. All of these things, I think, are related to his first 6-8 months of life fending for himself and not having enough to eat.

If you love a dog that has some issues, here are some things that we have done that really helped him not make us feel helpless to prevent his bad behavior:

EATING AND DRINKING TOO QUICKLY

This issue I think stems from J.D. not having enough to eat in the first few months of life. He sucks down everything he can get right when it is available to him because he is still not secure in the fact that there will be more to eat and drink later. That breaks my heart a little. Raising the bowls is a big thing that the vet recommended for us. It won't slow the eating down at all but the angle that they eat at when the bowls are raised doesn't let them suck down as much air with the food and water, which can prevent the issues with the barfing of undigested food. That helped but did not completely solve the problem. Another thing that we have been recently looking into is a dog bowl that has different compartments or sections. This bowl makes the pup take his time between sections and unable to get to everything all at once. If anyone has used these bowls, I would really appreciate your feedback on them.

ALLERGY ISSUES

NOTE: PLEASE TALK TO YOUR VET BEFORE TRYING ANY NEW THERAPY FOR YOUR DOG. DIFFERENT DOGS RESPOND VERY DIFFERENTLY TO THE SAME TREATMENTS. There are some horror stories I have heard from other people which leads me to believe we are on the tame side of this issue. My dog's allergies do not manifest in the form of hotspots. We see his allergies come through in yeast infections in the ears (which have occasionally led to hematomas), incessant scratching and licking, skin sensitivity and bright red skin that shows through his short and thin fur. We tried the expensive food from the vet, for some people this is a miracle cure. However, we saw no difference in the symptoms for our pup and switched him back to the cheap stuff that he likes better. We now have him on a regimen of a daily Zyrtec and weekly ear wash provided by our vet to stave off the infections. The pup has moments where he is itchier than others, but overall the symptoms are totally contained. Before his allergies were controlled and symptoms were awful, our wonderful vet had him on Apoquel for the itch. He has since been weaned from that, but I keep a small stash just in case.

SEPARATION ANXIETY DESTRUCTION

Leaving him alone in the yard during the day was one of the worst things we struggled with in J.D.'s journey to become a good dog. We gave him treats in his chew toys, bought him a dog house, tried tying him to one specific area on a long chain and nothing we did kept him from hurting himself, destroying door frames, house siding, lawns and fences. Here's the system we finally came up with for him. We still give him chew toys with treats, lots of food and water every time we leave the house, but he never seems interested in that while we are gone. We have to keep him from things that have nails. We have put goat fencing around the fence line and put two adjustable free standing dog pens with gates that we have opened up and connected to the goat fencing to protect the house. The dog is terrified by the noise the fencing makes if he touches it, so he steers clear of it and stays in the middle of the yard. Before we knew this, we were planning on putting large pavers around the edge of the fence to keep him from digging out. You can do this if you need to, but it turns out that the fence was enough to keep him from digging out.

The last piece of advice I can give you, listen to your gut. You will have a better idea of how your dog will react in different situations. If you feel your dog can handle a new situation but people are warning against it, go for it. The opposite is also true. I am a worry-wart, so people normally tell me things will be fine. Those are famous last words in my house. If you think something will be harmful to your pup or to others by putting your pup in a new or stressful situation, DON'T DO IT. At the very least do an ease into type situation where you can work up to the full situation while not over stimulating the dog to a catastrophic event.

What behavior issues have you found good solutions for? Do you have a soft spot adoption or rescue story to share?