Feral Belgian Malinois Who Had ‘Zero Chance’ At Future Learns To Trust
A feral dog has a chance at a bright future thanks to a rescue coming to her aid. A message coming from a shelter volunteer put out a desperate plea to animal rescues to help them with two feral dogs seized by animal control. They were concerned because they felt the dogs had little chance of being adopted because of their fearful behavior. In fact, the person who posted the message felt if they didn’t at least try the dogs would have “zero chance.”
“They have had almost no human interaction their entire life. They have been extremely fearful, but have not show any signs of fear aggression to staff. They freeze and hide in the corner of their kennel,” the message read.
The person was looking for a very experienced person to help and that’s when Coastal German Shepherd Rescue stepped forward and took Leah, the young female Belgian Malinois, and Lex, the male, into their care.
After several years of training and care, Coastal German Shepherd Rescue shared an update on Leah’s progress.
“Leah came to us a terrified, shut down, feral dog whom animal control had confiscated from a very bad situation,” the rescue group wrote on Facebook. “She was so shut down, it took a long (long!) time to get her to allow any type of interaction with humans.”
“We spent month after month earning her trust, socializing her, and teaching her to overcome her many fears,” they continued. “Around 3 years old, she moved from the training facility into a foster home and is doing fantastic, but will need a special adopter.”
“At first, she was scared to enter the house, the tile scared her, and it took coaxing for her to enter,” they also revealed. “Leah now seeks affection, is playing with toys, plays with her human foster, is totally comfortable being inside, crate trained, potty trained, and is learning that the world isn’t such a scary place. She went to the beach for the first time and loved it!”
As Leah’s gotten better they couldn’t help but wonder at her transformation and the rescue wrote an open letter to Leah’s neglectful former owner while sharing a video of Leah’s transformation on social media.
“This is Leah’s life now, after being confiscated from your property by animal control. It was clear that she hadn’t been socialized with people and it took time for her to build trust, but she did. Slowly, she started trusting us and the new environments to which she was exposed, learning that everything new wasn’t terrifying and could actually be fun.”
“She discovered that hiking was just about her favorite activity and has explored many trails. She saw the ocean for the first time. She’s been back to the beach many times since, because she now loves getting her toes wet.”
“Leah has learned that she is allowed inside of the house. She has her favorite beds and toys and is no longer scared of tile, wood flooring nor thresholds. She now seeks affection instead of cringing whenever she is touched. Leah has become a cuddler who dishes out kisses and wants to be with her people.”
“Leah’s life now is much bigger than just a lot which she’s supposed to protect. Leah’s world is enormous and there’s no limit to where she can go. She’s great in the car and loves adventures – her biggest adventure will be when she moves from a foster home into her forever home.”
“Leah is an amazing dog who is as smart as they come and has gone through obedience training. She gets along with other dogs and enjoys cuddling with her canine foster brother. Thank you for getting in trouble with animal control so that Leah could be removed from your property and have a chance at the life she deserves.”
For the rescue, based in Southern, California, Leah’s future family will be one without kids and preferably someone with experience with Belgian Malinois. And as she’s “still figuring out the world outside” she will need an adopter who will be patient with her and help train her as she overcomes her fears.
For adoption information on Leah please visit their website.
