19/08/2024
Please take the time to read the story of our longest stayer, Hannahā¦one of the most scared dogs we have ever taken in at Many Tears. This was so well written by one of our incredible staff members, who has looked after Hannah throughout her journey and even welcomed her in as a foster dog, to give her the chance she desperately needs š
āI've worked at Many Tears Rescue for 3 years and 4 months. I want to tell you a story of the most shut down and scared dog I've ever seen.
Hannah's story.
Hannah arrived on July 7th 2023, with who we now suspected was her daughter, Hazel. They were both very shut down and scared, but Hazel started to become friendly and brave about two days in. Hannah on the other hand, did everything she could to make you go away. She would growl, lunge, snap. When we did initial health checks and check overs to put her in the system, we couldn't get close enough to age her, so we went off her energy levels and said 4.
We gave her some time to decompress in a kennel where she could run out to the yard, but she didn't show much progress, so we moved her to a kennel where she had to be walked out to the yard. With ex breeders, they're very different to average, scared, domesticated pet dogs. Sometimes for any progress to be made at all, you have to put them in situations they are uncomfortable in, for them to see that it is okay, and with each time they become more and more confident.
Hannah would only eat hot chicken or cat food at this point, and only if she was shut in a really quiet area for about an hour each time.
So we got Hannah walking on a harness, in and out to the yard. She was very scared, but very quickly got used to the route to and from the yard; as long as nothing new or scary happened (other staff walking by or loud noises.)
Initially we had to leave 2 leads trailing on her in the yard, otherwise we couldn't get close enough to get her back in. After about a week, maybe 2, we didn't need these leads any more. She knew her routine: when we came into the yard to get her in, Hazel would run to us all excited, and Hannah would wait by the gate to have her lead put on.
After a month or so, we decided it was best to split Hannah and Hazel, we felt Hazel was holding Hannah back, and Hannah mixed with more confident dogs with hopes to take some of their confidence. Hannah very quickly made it apparent that she did not like to share her space with female dogs.
In the last week of August 2023, Hannah came onto my section with a male poodle, and she never left. At this point, she was walking happily to and from the yard, and sometimes, very rarely, we'd see her playing with her kennel friend if she didn't know we were watching. She would still growl at you if she was especially spooked, but she allowed you to handle her and approach her.
At this point, Hannah liked to eat raw, but still she'd only eat 1 of her meals a day. She was so unbelievably thin, and still very scared. The more food you put in front of her, and the more ways you'd try to get her to eat, the more scared she'd become.
We kept to the same daily routine and Hannah started to come out of herself more and more every day. Through the winter I started taking her and her kennel friend for walks. Initially she was very scared, but quite quickly I noticed once we were away from the barking at the centre, she'd be sniffing, wagging, happy, and even better the more confident one, showing her dog friend how to be brave! This was when I really saw the potential in Hannah. It was just frustrating that it was only ever so far away from the centre, and she didn't trust anyone else to see it for themselves. Then I asked Mal, our regular volunteer to start taking her out, and then he could see it tooš„°
This was when Hannah started to make real progress, with the confidence she had learnt from her walks. She started coming out from the back of the kennel in the day. Lying in bed in the front of the kennel with humans around!
Around April, we had a huge donation of Millie's Wolfheart food, and one day Hannah wouldn't eat anything, we tried her with the Wolfheart and she demolished it, looking for more. Finally! We'd found a food Hannah really enjoyed! She would eat 3 tins a day, providing someone she knew gave it to her. If a stranger gave it to her, she wouldn't even sniff it. This was a real turning point for her. We started seeing weight gain in her weekly weigh ins, and then Hannah started getting playful with me in the yard! She would play bow, bark, and then zoom around me! This was HUGE! Hannah stayed at this level of confidence for a while.
Then in June Hannah's poodle friend got adopted, so she had to have a new friend. It's amazing what different dogs bring out in eachother. Her new friend is the most affectionate dog I've ever met. This resulted in Hannah moving closer and closer for sniffs and the odd chin scratch every now and again š„ŗ
At the end of June, I took Hannah home to foster. She still has to come into kennels with me in the days, but she LOVES her quiet evenings on the sofa. She secretly snuggles into me, and has even started to ask for a chin scratch now. All she does at home is sleep, recovering and decompressing from the days she spent in kennels while I work.
Since having Hannah at home I have changed her age from what we thought was 5, to probably more like 7. She's an older lady who really appreciates her peace and quiet I think.
Since having Hannah at home I've come to know her even more. I've been socialising her with all types of dogs, and she has made it very clear that she still doesn't want to spend time with female dogs. However, she loves all her boyfriends! She gets so excited and playful to meet a new boy dog now (providing its some where she's comfortable, like her favourite yard.)
Hannah is still a very scared girly, in terms of "pet dogs," but once she knows her routine, she is a breeze. She has had 1 super scary day where the washing machine malfunctioned and really scared her. On this day, she growled at me when I went to put her lead on. I don't blame her, she was terrified. This is the first time she's done this for so long, and I trust that we wouldn't see anything more than that now.
I am desperate to send Hannah off to her forever home now. After over a year of kennel life, she deserves so much more than she's ever had in her life.
The second photo is the day after Hannah arrived and the third is how she's doing now šā
For more info or to apply please follow the link
https://www.manytearsrescue.org/display_mtar_dog.php?id=38483