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Animal shelters around the country receive animals almost every day, and sometimes these animals are not just abandoned but also badly abused. Kitty and Puppy Haven is such a shelter and we visited them to find out what is involved when trying to get a pet to trust people again.
Yogi, a Corgi cross was found tied up outside a shop. He had obviously been beaten as when he arrived at Puppy Haven and Marissa, one of the volunteers, tried to touch him, he bit her. After some time he eventually came right and is now a happy chappy dog. But this takes much time, lots of love and lots of attention.
Fear aggression
Even when people came to feed Yogi, he would bite them in fear. This type of aggression is called fear aggression. A dog who has been hit for doing something wrong (in his owner’s eyes) will be abused for this reason, just like Yogi was. The ‘wrong doing’ might be something petty, like him urinating where the owner walks. The problem is that the owner sees this as extremely bad behaviour and will then hit him, even though the dog hasn’t really done anything wrong. The dog will then try to defend himself by biting back, which could make the cycle even worse and tempt the owner to hit even harder than before.
Long lasting results
The effects of cruelty are extremely sad and don’t just go away. “Fear aggression is horrible to see but is not as bad as a submissive type of fear,” explains Marissa. Saffron, a township dog from Soweto arrived at Puppy Haven’s door in April. She was heavily pregnant at the time and had clearly been abused.
Marissa explains: “She was really scared even to be touched and would cower down at any sign of a hand reaching out to stroke her. This type of behaviour is harder to rectify than fear aggression as the dog is so incredibly scared of anything and everything. Fear aggression you can work through over time but a submissive dog will most probably always be scared in some way or another.”
Education
One of the reasons that many female dogs are abused is because people in townships and in other places often think that a male dog is the only one that can protect them, so if they have a female they are more likely to get rid of her or hurt her. Another reason as to why there are more females that are abused is because she is likely to have puppies and then people do not know what to do with the pups. People are not aware that they can bring their female dog to any shelter and get her sterilised free of charge.
How to turn it around
Yogi became the dog that he is today through a few things. In his case, the volunteers of Puppy Haven would sit with him and give him treats in order for them to gain his trust. They would also not look him in the eye as this would translate into a challenge for him. Through this, his mind started to think that “these people are good,” but he did not think this way with everyone.
Even after he started to trust a few of the volunteers, he was still scared of some and would bite. “Dogs who are this scared need to get used to the thing that scares them,” she says. “One of the rescue dogs that was adopted is still incredibly scared of a broom. This is obviously what he used to get hit with. Whenever his new owner (even though he is now a happy dog) picks up a broom, the dog cowers behind the couch or under the table,” Marissa continues.
The trick is to not make a big fuss that there is a broom in the room. “If you go up to the dog and kiss him and cuddle him, he is going to think there is something wrong with the broom. If you carry on with your daily routines, he will eventually start to think that it won’t hurt him but this is not saying that he won’t still be scared of it.”
Marissa also says that the best thing to get a dog to turn around is foster care. If the dog gets to be in a new environment coupled with love, he is much more likely to get over his horrible past life and step into a new, happy one.
Contacts
Kitty and Puppy Haven always has loving dogs and cats that are looking for homes.
Kitty and Puppy Haven
Address: 34 Rahle Road
Bramley North
Tel: 011-440 2404 or 083 387 1012
Text and photography: Kerry de Bruyn
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