Tank searching his dinner out
Tank’s only interested in his dinner on one side of the gate and our dog, Bort, is only interested in his venison chew on the other side.
I’m the only one who doesn’t have food. 😭
I’m excited to have them out together, maybe in a few days.
I’m really hoping that Bort will help to bridge the gap between Tank and me, and also provide some social companionship and support to him.
Hey everyone! We hope everyone is well.
Today, Tank had a MUCH better day!
He barely paced, grumbled under his breath less, didn’t try to throw himself at the door/windows, explored the backyard, and ate his food.
And probably most importantly, he took all his pills.
Never again will I let him not take them! Even if it has to be forced, he needs to take them.
The difference they make is like night and day.
The only bad thing was that I stupidly grabbed the end of his leash too quickly, and he tried to bite his way free by jumping up into the air.
This was completely my fault, I have a bad memory and forgot not to quickly grab the leash as it’s racing by, when trying to take him outside.
As such, I made the leashes he’s dragging longer, just in case I manage to forget again.
Taking him through the house to the backyard, instead of outside out of the fence to walk over to the fenced in backyard is really helping keep him calmer and also me calmer.
He also is eating most of the treats I toss him, and he even did some enrichment tonight! 😃
I scrunched up a towel and sprinkled cubes of apple smoked Gouda cheese on it that he likes.
This is really basic, easy enrichment with little to no frustration or challenge.
I hope that widely used enrichment will become therapeutic to him.
He’s going to have an appointment with a Behavior Vet Tech for his meds to be evaluated.
I don’t think that what/how much he’s taking now is the best that we can do for him.
If you’d like to donate to help Tank get the care he needs, Canine Humane Network is the rescue that he’s available with.
https://caninehumane.org/how-to-help/donate/
We’d like to thank you for donations, and every other kind of support! Tank has a lot of love behind him to prop him up.
Good night!
Treat n’ Retreat with Tank
Tank comes out to greet me! Then anxiety takes over.
Tank comes out to greet me
I like to gently let him know that I’m coming in, so that I don’t catch him by surprise.
Unfortunately, he then gets anxious and paces around while making his upset moaning sounds. :(
I’ve brought him some deli meat and some chicken breast *lightly* brushed with butter and then baked. (We need the good stuff for this level of stress!)
It looks like he’s been trying to escape, so that’s unfortunate.
Tank checking out some venison while a bird yells at us to get off their lawn
Today’s update is mixed.
His progress is going to be a bit back and forth as his neurology and perspectives change. Some improvements and some drawbacks.
He went to the bathroom today, so that was VERY nice. I’m hoping that putting his potty patch on the outside landing of the basement steps will get him to go without having to take him further- unless of course he wants to.
He didn’t eat as well today, I think he’s dealing with some nausea bc he keeps making mouth noises and stress can adversely affect their digestion- their entire body really.
The big news is that he came out of his crate on his own, he keeps coming over to stand near me, and also is coming up to me to stare at me. He even sniffed me a few times. And he won’t go back into it, although he’s approached it a few times.
I used what’s called calming and displacement signals to try to communicate that I don’t want to do anything to him.
I turned my body away from him, and made myself small by hunching my shoulders. Every time he made eye contact, which is a lot, I either turn my head away, or I do slow blinking.
I can tell that he’s stressed out, bc of his grimace, pivoting his ears around rapidly for the sound of danger, furtive glances around his environment for escape, his hunched posture, trembling, stiff posture, and other signs.
I really like this resource on body language, but there’s a lot out there if you look.
https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/canine-body-language-aspca.pdf
He also walked with me right next to me, in spite of having some 30+ feet to stay away.
Today, Dr. Perl from My Vet Calls (https://www.facebook.com/myvetcalls) came to examine Tank and to prescribe anxiety meds.
He’s going to need to see a dental specialist and otherwise, is nice and healthy, as far as we know!
I’ll be doing a pain assessment when he’s up and moving around more. He may have underlying issues from his neglect, inappropriate housing in the cage, or torture. (The torture is thought by some people to make dog meat more potent.)
Then we changed the bedding in his crate, bathed him (and boy did he need it!), spent a very long time trying to get a collar on him, failed at getting a harness on him, took him outside for some nature therapy, fed him, and put him down for a nap.
All in all, it was A LOT to handle for such a fearful little guy. But it needed to be done.
My #1 priority with him right now is teaching him to move with a leash, now that he’s eating. This will involve teeny, tiny steps where I lure him with very high value treats as we move around.
I don’t use leash pressure to train dogs, it’s uncomfortable and even scary for them.
In order be able to take him outside and to use the potty. He has the option to use the indoor potty, but he only seems to want to potty go outside.
After a while after this video, Tank settled down enough to stop looking for an escape and to start appreciating the breeze, smells, sounds, and other things in his environment.
The good news is that Tank is eating almost everything I give him!
And he REALLY liked the fish stew I made him.
I’ve stopped giving him electrolytes and now just give him food with water mixed in.
I don’t think that he’s dehydrated anymore. He’s drank/eaten about three or more cups today of wet food and water.
I’ve moved a water bowl to the back of his crate, near his head, with the hope that he’ll start to drink on his own.
The bad news is that he still hasn’t come out of his crate or used the bathroom.
At this point, I’d rather he just use the bathroom in there and be kind of uncomfortable than to hold it in for so long. It can’t be healthy.
This video starts out with our standard poodle Bort, and my brother trying to get him to do his “Speak” (bark) cue for Tank. With the hopes that the same species communication might help to bring Tank out of his shell and also to give him some trust in us by watching how much Bort is comfortable with us.
But Bort listens better to me bc I was the one who trains him (😏) and he finally barked.
You can see how excited and happy he gets when he does one of his trained behaviors. I don’t use any coercion to train any species for anything. I only use reward based training, so that they enjoy it and cooperate, which can be very important for safety. And also so that they feel safe!
Unfortunately, Tank wasn’t particularly impressed or even bothered, just kind of non-responsive.
I also put on Dog TV on YouTube for him on my laptop today, instead of just relaxing music on Spotify.
I like to put on “Dog TV”, or “Parrot TV”, or “Cat TV”, etc., for social animals to watch. Especially when left alone.
Now that he’s eating reliably, I’m going to start feeding him progressively closer to the front of his crate, with the hopes of getting him to turn around and to come out on his own.
I’m also going to start pairing a petting hand motion with treats, so that he eventually
You guys….! He ate and drank about 3 cups!
😃😃😃
Turns out he was a fish guy!
I mixed electrolytes with sodium free tuna fish and a can of salmon cat food, and he wants more than I’m giving him. But, I’m only letting him have a small amount every hour, to prevent his getting sick from not eating and drinking for so long.
He still hasn’t left his crate, although we did try to roll it to the door outside and leave him in front of the opened doors to see if he’d go.
One step at a time. He’ll probably have no choice soon after rehydrating and eating.
Generally speaking, I really recommend *tossing* food to scared dogs, or at least putting it down and *going away*, but for whatever reason, he’s only eating when I hand feed him.
That’s fine, but the reason why I don’t recommend doing that for every dog is because A. They can be really scared of us and this is putting a lot of pressure on them and B. Approach-Avoidance Conflict.
Approach-Avoidance Conflict is where they learn to come up to us to get food, but it’s too close for comfort and they feel very uncomfortable being so close.
This can create the conflict, where they end up biting or being reactive (barking, lunging, chasing, etc.). Either instead of taking the treat, or right after.
That’s really something that can be difficult to fix, so it’s best to just avoid it.
So how will the dog bond to you if you toss the food or give them space to eat it?
Easy! They still know that you’re the one who put it there. And they learn that you make them feel safe by giving them this distance, so they’ll organically get closer to you when they’re ready for it.
It may not be as instant as just ploughing ahead with them, but it creates true, lasting behavioral change that’s real and deep. It’s worth it! Tank is worth it.
Little buddy, Tank, ate some salami!
It’s kind of unusual that he won’t eat if you put food down near his face and leave it, but will eat if you reach in and feed it directly to him.
I was able to hide something for anxiety in a piece and got it into him without any struggle.
He looks a lot more comfortable and I’m going to run to the store to pick up some different foods for him.
I have to catch up on behavioral assessments today, so we’re going to be hanging out more than before. Then I’m going to go out again and give him some space.
Right now, I’m learning about him, so I’m trying different things to see what works best with him.
Our dog came into the room this morning, and was very friendly and VERY interested in Tank’s cookies. Tank was pretty interested in him, too.
We kept them separated by a lot of space and limited their interaction to just that.
This is a redo of the video posted last night with Molly, but right side up this time!
For some reason, FB doesn’t seem to allow me to edit the original post.
Tank is here!
Today, Molly picked Tank up from the airport and brought him all the way here. Molly has been instrumental in facilitating Tank’s journey to here.
Nami and her team back in Korea are credited with saving his life, and starting him on this journey to find a great new life.
He’s exhausted, I’m told that this was the first time that he’s slept so soundly in a long time.
We’ve set him up in a very peaceful, private area in the basement.
He’s got a toilet, water and food, and his covered crate to hide in. The lights are low.
I expect absolutely nothing from him but to settle in. If he wants to stay in the crate, that’s perfectly fine. If he has an accident on the floor, no big deal. It’s cleanable.
He’s been avoiding eye contact and doesn’t have an appetite or thirst yet.
I’ve set up a monitor camera so that I can supervise him when I’m not with him.
I’m going to be quietly coexisting near him and at other times, I’m going to give him space so that he can take care of his needs without having to worry about me.
My goal is to take as much pressure off of him and to make all his experiences either neutral or positive. And to protect him from as many negative experiences as possible.
This helps traumatized dogs to find a sense of optimism and resiliency. When their “glass” is mostly half full, it makes the unavoidable negativity much easier to deal with.
A video of Tank, filthy and in disgusting conditions.
He’s scared and anxious. Note his frantic circling, turning his head away to avoid eye contact, and lowered posture to appear smaller. A high tail wagging to the left generally means agitation. It’s not a “happy” wag.
This is a video of a police officer investigating the butcher’s property with the dogs.
