Photo by DVGRR
I love this. Flat out love it. At the Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue in Pennsylvania adult survivors of puppy mills are provided with skills to make the transition to being pets. Not only does DVGRR accept mill survivors they actively seek them out and make relinquishing these dogs easy. Their no questions asked acceptance policy means that more dogs will find their way to them for help.
It’s difficult to imagine what it’s like to have spent every day or your 5 or 6 years of life in a cage. Understanding the challenge of leaving that cage and being confronted with the stimulation of the world outside the mill is important for handlers. As well-meaning as many of the people involved in rescue and foster care might be, the implications of early deprivation are often not fully appreciated or acknowledged. In the rush to give a dog new life dogs are frequently overwhelmed and frightened.
Project Home Life provides mill survivors with the opportunity to learn about houses and the things in them. Several times during the day trainers and volunteers bring dogs into an apartment set up specifically for this purpose. Common household sounds can be scary to dog who has never heard them. A refrigerator door opening can be startling, as can chairs moving, doorbells ringing, and footsteps on stairwells. Assuming that a dog will somehow get used to these and the myriad other new objects and events they will be exposed to, is naive. Pet owners or foster care givers, as committed as they might be to a dog, may not have the skills for effectively desensitizing and counter conditioning to home life and the complete immersion may be too much for a dog regardless of their handler’s skills. Some dogs will adapt but many others will spend their first days or months cowering in a back room. Project Home Life minimizes the likelihood of the latter occurring.
I wish I had known about this program when Sunny first came to live with us. I might have been more sensitive to his needs and his early life with us might have been easier. Even if you are unable to recreate Project Home Life exactly, given your access to resources, understanding why this step is important may help you create new protocols for special needs dogs.
