How do you get a scared rescue dog to trust you? Joel’s Story

The shelter is a scary place. Whatever happened before a dog finds itself there has probably been pretty traumatizing, too. Most dogs are a little bit shy and anxious, especially when they first arrive. However, every now and then, a dog is truly terrified. I’ve never met a dog more petrified than Joel. How do you get a scared rescue dog to trust you? Especially if they’re totally shut down?

My experiences with Joel are an awesome learning opportunity for what to do –and not do– when working with a fearful rescue dog.

How do you get a scared rescue dog to trust you?

To get a scared rescue dog to trust you, be mindful of their situation. They’ve just gone through significant trauma. Provide a small, safe, low-stimulus environment and gradually extend their horizons as they relax. Other animals may be very helpful for some dogs. Safety first, always use a secure martingale and harness when working with potentially skittish dogs.

Joel is a timid, sensitive soul who came out of his shell with cats and dogs but took time to warm up to people. He has the perfect home now, with someone who loves him for the goofy, worried boy that he is.

It takes some time to help a nervous dog-like Joel adjust to life in our human world, but as he reminds us every day, he’s worth it.

Follow Joel on Instagram

Tip 1: Assess the Rescue Dog’s Fearfulness

When I met Joel, he was on foster plea because he was so fearful in the shelter. Shelter staff felt the shelter environment was so terrifying for him that it was cruel to keep him there.

Dogs like Joel, with an extremely low quality of life at the shelter, may be considered for euthanasia if a rescue or foster can’t be found.

Joel would never go through the guillotine door in his run to the outside. He alternated between pushing himself as far as he would go into a corner and moving in rapid jerks, pulling away from the leash and then freezing until I coaxed him forward again.

Staff thought maybe a day out would do him good and potentially attract a foster, so I took him for an outing. When I lifted him into my car, he relaxed a little, snuggling into the corner of the seat. It was back to terror when we got to the park.

He ran at the end of the leash in circles around me, abruptly tugging and then freezing. I don’t have any video of that first walk because I wouldn’t have attempted to hold a camera or phone and him at the same time. It was only after several hours, when we sat down for a break that I felt confident enough to shoot this video.

The only time he stopped was when I pet him. Then he would stand still under my hand, leaning into me ever so slightly while he looked around with a terrified expression at everything around him. This was my only sign of the connection to come.

There was absolutely no sign of aggression, which meant that I felt he was a good fit for a foster home.

While he would freeze, it wasn’t stiff. Joel wasn’t reactive to touch or leash tension. He never made threatening eye contact or any noise at all, much less a growl. He accepted touch from people on the walk, neither seeking it nor avoiding it.

Tip 2: Get a Fearful Dog Out of the Shelter ASAP

A dog who is deeply terrified at the shelter is likely not to improve there. It happens, but not often. The shelter’s goal is to get these dogs out into foster homes. Thankfully, my outing had the outcome we’d hoped for, and a foster stepped forward for Joel.

She was a friend of mine, so I brought him over to my house so she could meet him. He needed a quiet space to open up, not a public park or the lobby at the shelter.

Joel was still a very worried boy, but he opened up a lot on this second outing in my home.

We got to see him express a little interest in toys, and for the first time, he sought out affection and came for treats. He was adorably concerned whenever someone left the room, jumping up to look out the window in the back door.

Joel was still very nervous and paced around constantly, but we got to see a little bit of the dog he might be. He also appeared to be housebroken, since he did his business once we took him out after he’d been inside for several hours.

He seemed to enjoy just chilling out on a blanket and watching video games, which was very cute.

A quiet, low-stimulus space like this is the perfect place for a nervous shelter dog to begin healing.

This meeting was enough to convince the foster to commit, and we prepared to bring Joel home to her apartment.

Tip 3: Send Nervous Rescue Dogs Home with a Foster

When the staff at Alachua County Animal Services heard that a foster had come forward for Joel, they were very surprised, although relieved.

“She is going to have her hands full with him,” was the understandable reaction.

Nonetheless, the foster was determined. Shelter staff tested Joel with some of the shelter cats to see if it would be possible for her to have him with her two cats. He reacted with the same fearful disinterest he showed to pretty much everything around him.

When Joel’s foster came to pick him up, the foster director again emphasized her concerns: “I needed reinforcements to catch him from the yard. He hid the entire time behind the bushes.”

The foster was not deterred. I got Joel out of the kennel, talking to him gently until he stopped spinning in nervous circles on his bed and let me put the slip lead on him. He plunged straight ahead down the gauntlet of barking dogs. I took him into the play yard to give him a bath.

Joel seemed to like the bath. His eyes half closed. He was still other than licking his lips every now and then as the water rolled down his nose.

When he was clean and dry, we drove him to his foster home. He sat quietly between my knees, my feet going numb under his weight in the front seat while the foster drove, since the crate and supplies that Animal Services had given us took up the entire backseat and trunk of her car.

Tip 4: Friends can Help

Once Joel was settled in his room with the foster’s cats in another room, I left them alone. Over the course of the next three or four days, she gradually introduced Joel to her cats and watched him blossom.

Joel became playful and goofy. He was excellent at communicating with the cats. He backed right off when a cat swatted at him.

Joel clearly understood play gestures, offering lots of play signals like play bows and toy offerings, along with giving them space when they wanted it.

Seeing a fearful dog play bow for the first time is pure magic. I couldn’t believe how much progress Joel was making with the cats.

Joel still had a ways to go before he was the self-confident, happy dog that he deserved to be. He still worried about something bad happening, or someone being mean to him, at any second.

That said, it is astounding how far he came in only a few days. What a scared rescue dog really needs is to go home with someone who will show him love and take some time… and perhaps have some cats willing to do the same.

Tip 5: Safety First

I go into a lot of detail about how to safely leash a dog here, but I’ll give you a quick takeaway here. There is no harness or standard buckle collar that a determined rescue dog can’t slip out of.

The only fool-proof way to contain a rescue dog that may bolt on you is to use a properly fitted martingale collar, ideally attached to a harness. Martingales restrict when tension is applied, so the collar can’t slip over the dog’s head.

After about a month of fostering, Joel was becoming increasingly calm and happy, and the foster was understandably growing tired of putting the entire collar and harness setup on him. One day, he slipped out of his harness and bolted. In a flash, he was gone.

The entire paid and volunteer force of the shelter rallied to catch Joel. He was gone for a day and a night and was sighted in the morning.

Sightings poured in. Volunteers tracked the incoming reports of sightings on a Facebook post as they closed in on his location. I was four hours away on vacation, horrified and unable to do anything.

Finally, Joel was caught, rather heroically. A good samaritan on a bike saw the volunteers trying to catch him, chased him down, and jumped on him.

Joel had a minor injury to his foot and was exhausted and dehydrated, but otherwise okay. 

Tip 6: Fostering a Fearful Dog is a Community Effort

I’m lucky to belong to a deeply committed and collaborative rescue community. We know it takes a village to save a dog. Joel is a great example of those collaborative efforts in action.

Joel stayed at the shelter for a few weeks while the medical staff observed and tended to his injury. When he was ready to come home, his foster was out of town, so I took over fostering him for some time.

He seemed to be VERY happy to see me and even happier to get out of the shelter.

Joel did well with the three small dogs I had at the time, including the disabled one; although he wanted to play so badly, he annoyed them. He was really starting to show his personality now. He was goofy, mischievous, and affectionate.

Joel liked to try to groom my hair, leaving little ribbons of drool. He “flea-bit,” nibbled, on my jeans and arms. He loved tossing toys up in the air and trying to catch them. It was hard to believe this was the same dog who had been so terrified in the beginning.

(wondering why there’s a dog in a diaper in the video?)

Tip 7: Train Correct Panic Response

By now, Joel was walking well on the leash unless he was overstimulated, in which case he still tried to bolt. He would respond to recalls when in this state about 20% of the time. I worked steadily to train him to freeze instead of run when he was scared. 

Teaching a nervous rescue dog the correct response to fearfulness reduces the danger of bolting, even if the leash fails or the dog slips out of the house without a leash.

Tip 8: Nervous Rescue Dogs May Benefit from a Partner in Crime

Joel’s foster had returned and took Joel back. He was thriving, and we started looking more actively for an adopter. We wanted to bring him somewhere to get some publicity, but he was still very nervous outside and around new people. We thought he would benefit from going out with another dog.

Therefore, his foster, me, and sweet Maggie, who was at ACAS at the time and could use some extra publicity too, took a trip to the Haile Farmer’s Market.

Joel and Maggie met as if they’d been friends all their lives. They played non-stop, wrestling and chasing toys in the yard until we took them to the market.

Maggie is the picture of confident and outgoing, about as opposite from Joel as you can get. She did a great job reassuring Joel and drawing him out.

Joel loved meeting all of the dogs at the Farmer’s Market. He was even happy to meet some people.

Maggie so clearly loved everyone she met that Joel couldn’t be too worried. The more dogs were around, the happier Joel was to meet people. It was like his confidence was fueled by their energy.

Joel was especially wonderful with kids. He was more likely to stay still and accept petting from children than grown-ups. He even reached out for affection from children.

Joel was a very good boy, had a wonderful time, and got lots of attention from potential adopters, both at the market and when I published the pictures.

Tip 9: Don’t Sob When a Nervous Shelter Dog is Finally Adopted

Joel’s foster mom did an amazing job advertising for him on social media. She even gave him his very own Instagram handle. Finally, the perfect forever home came forward.

It was hard for me and Joel’s foster mom to say goodbye, but it was wonderful for both of us to see him find such a perfect new home. We still follow him on Instagram.

When you’re working with a scared rescue dog, remember, you’re not seeing the dog. You’re seeing the fear. Watching that fear wash away and reveal the wonderful, goofy, playful dog within is why I love working with nervous rescue dogs so much.