We’ve all read a story at one point or another about a rescue dog who spent his whole life living on the streets and being terrified of any and all interactions with humans.
But, how often has anyone heard about a stray dog who flat out refuses to be rescued, and is just so conditioned to living outside that houses scare him?
This is my first time. In this story, we will talk about a dog from a puppy mill in California who just didn’t want to be rescued and didn’t like being indoors at all.
The Dog Refuses To Move
When Lauren and Elli-Ana heard of a dog from a puppy mill who was living on the streets his whole life, they felt really bad for him and tried to rescue him.
What they didn’t anticipate was how difficult it was going to be to rescue this sweet Great Pyrenees, even though he was not aggressive or running away from them.
He simply didn’t move. No matter what they did for him, he was lying on the ground and outright denying any affection they showed him.
So, his rescuers thought of a plan to take him to the vehicle. They put a blanket around him and carried him all the way to the van.
After taking him back to the shelter in San Diego, they found that nothing had changed about his demeanor. They still had to lift him up to get him to go anywhere.
A Slow And Steady Progress
Ultimately, the rescuers thought the best thing for this dog, named Olaf, would be to go into foster care where someone could help him overcome his fears of being indoors.
Anneliese, his foster mom, did her best to accommodate him and didn’t force him to sleep inside. Instead, she made a bed for him right outside the door in the yard.
She told The Dodo: The first few days, he would go to the furthest point in the yard and watch me. He wouldn’t let me get within 10, 15 feet of him.
To help him ease up to the possibility of being in a house, Anneliese would often put treats on the porch or leave all the doors open.
At best, he would peek through the doors and then go outside again. However, this started occurring frequently, so it meant that Olaf was making some progress.
Even though he was still somewhat scared of his new foster mom, other dogs at the house were a different story.
Anneliese said: Although he had a lot of fear of me, he had a lot of interest in my dogs.
Olaf Puts His Faith In His Foster Mom
They started playing almost all the time and one of the games they loved was chase. Olaf would chase the dogs, but they ran inside the house, and he would just step back.
The dogs noticed this and paused, wondering why he was not continuing the chase, but he still didn’t like being inside.
However, the biggest turning point for Olaf was the Fourth of July, when there were a lot of fireworks outside and he became really scared.
He went inside the house fully for the first time, which showed that he really felt safe next to Anneliese.
She said: He’s not scared of being inside anymore. I finally got him to take a treat out of my hand.
After everything he has been through, Olaf is finally starting to come out of his shell and be more expressive with his foster mom.
She is so proud of the progress he has made and feels honored knowing that Olaf trusts and loves her.