Three of my four dogs came to me “in-need”. I’ve never really considered myself to be much of a sucker when it comes to a hard luck story, but then I’m not made of stone either.
Turbo is my sweet, if somewhat vacant, Doberman. At the time of his rescue he was four and a half months old, and living in a pile of leaves, in the backyard with a bunch of other dogs. The owner said that’s what the dogs liked. Yeah.
He should have long been gone from his mother, and no doubt was trying to do something repugnant when she attacked him. I’m just guessing. He was probably just being a normal adolescent pup, doing the normal obnoxious things that adolescent dogs do. At any rate, he incurred her wrath, and she nailed him in the throat. She ripped him open badly enough that his owners brought him in to euthanize.
Long story short, he was rescued and the docs fixed him up. At least they fixed him physically. With stitches, and drain tubes, etc, he recovered with very little drama.
It hadn’t clicked with me yet, that the first 16 weeks of his life were CRITICAL to his emotional development, and he was living in the “pile of leaves” at that crucial time. The bonding and socializing and mental stimulation that should have taken place, was completely absent.
It took many weeks of living with us before I could even get eye contact from him. It wasn’t that he was afraid; he just didn’t have any clue what relating to people was all about. He still struggles with that today, along with several other emotional/mental glitches.
He IS a sweet boy, and we love him despite his shortcomings, but the point is that he could have been SO MUCH MORE if he had been given half a chance - been given even a minimal amount of nurturing as a pup. It makes me sad for HIM.
Early socialization and bonding with people is SO important for young dogs. I can’t emphasize that enough. Between birth and 16 weeks they are truly little sponges, willing and eager to soak up anything and everything we can give them. That’s when it’s most important to make sure that all their experiences are great ones.
Perhaps not all of his problems are due to his negligent upbringing. Perhaps some dogs could live the way he did for their first 4 months, and come away with less social damage. I don’t know for SURE that he would have been a different dog if I had him from babyhood, but I certainly would like to think so.
