As you can see, they aren't happy at all. It's assumed that, based on their teeth, they are between 2 and 4 years old and don't appear to have had much of any human contact in their lives.
This morning, three weeks after receiving them, this is where they're at:
Their progress has been phenomenal.
The point of this particular blog is not to describe their progress and how I did it. I really want to go into what I'm learning from this process and the mistakes that I've made. I'll get to the procedural stuff about our progress when they leave for their foster homes.
They need space
I have portions of my house blocked off with baby gates. Essentially 2 living room sized areas. I have Hoakey and Kreacher on one side and Winky on the other. I separated them because Kreacher and Winky kept going at each other. Once I observed them in the backyard, with 4 times the space of any of the indoor areas, I noticed they generally kept to themselves. I decided that inside I would open the gate between the two areas for a larger space. Sure enough, they stopped going for each other. I would attribute this change to how they went from having the entirety of the world as strays to just 175 square feet. It was a mistake to try and apply my general knowledge of structure and boundaries to these dogs.
They get into everything
These dogs are used to digging things up, pulling stuff, and generally searching and scrounging for everything. These behaviors do not change once they are in the house. I use this to my advantage by hiding treats under blankets or bowls or in between couch cushions.
They aren't house broken
Pretty simple. They're used to relieving whenever and wherever they want. It's a huge pain and requires a lot of diligence and watching and treats to break this habit.
Boundaries, both physically and emotionally, are important
I do not allow dogs in my kitchen. I expect dogs to wait at doors and wait for permission to leave. Learning these sorts of house manners are important for maintaining order in the house.
Emotional boundaries however, are harder to set and maintain. I always invest fully in whatever dog comes into my house. If I don't invest and treat a dog like it is my own, then that dog does not get the best of me. I wouldn't ever give less then everything to any dog in my house. The problem is in maintaining the emotional attachment that these dogs have to me. Teaching dogs to be alone is very difficult, as demonstrated by all the problems I see with crate training and destructive chewing.
Their community structure is complex and deserves time to understand
Being isolated from human contact, they've developed their own structure. While calling it a pack is technically correct, I really want to get away from all of this wolf comparison nonsense. I'll call it their community.
The complexities and intricacies of how they interact are worth understanding because that is how I learn who these dogs are. Their personalities come through. What really comes through is the type of techniques I can use. There are 12 million ways to teach sit. For Hoakey, he likes to sit with his head held proud while the other two swarm around him. A hand placed sit won't work here. For Winky, he never sits and does not mind being handled. A hand placed sit could work for him. Kreacher does not like to be handled, but takes really well to a food lure. If I did not see how they interact with each other, my approach to training would not be fully informed.
Safety is the most important consideration
I installed baby gates to keep dogs I don't know away from dogs that I do know. I keep leashes on dogs I don't know at all times. I kennel train them for safety reasons. I will never stop being concerned for every dogs and my own safety. Bites can condemn a dog to death and cause nasty infections. Bites also cause irreparable damage to your relationship with that dog. Prevention is the best way to approach safety.
Document everything
I take all sorts of videos of everything I do and upload them to youtube. It's fun because I love seeing the progress I've made. Documentation also allows me to rewatch what I do and improve.
A lot of these lessons are not just for feral dogs. They really apply to any dog I've worked with. These lessons came to the foreground very seriously because of these dogs.
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