My Rescues Traits -What Was Her Life Like?!

Hi!
Congratulations on being a rescue dog mom! I have a little one that doesn’t have the issues yours exhibits, but she does have some issues.
First thing, be sure that you DON’T use acepromazine. This is a sedative frequently prescribed for dogs with sound-triggered anxiety. The thing is, it actually increases their sensitivity to sound.
Second, if your dog is whimpering and crying in her sleep, be really careful about waking her. Speak softly to her before you try to touch her.
Also, her crying/whimpering might be because she had puppies and they were taken from her. I’ve had friends talk about giving their dog a stuffed toy to help with the empty nest anxiety.
Finally, do a google search starting with “why does my dog ___” and fill in the blank. You’ll likely find a lot of information you can use.
Good luck! She’s a pretty baby!
P.S. Tennis balls will wear down their teeth – something about the fibers breakdown the tooth enamel. Check out Benebone for a good chew object.

Welcome to the rescue mom club!! My boy Thor is a big blue pit bull that showed up at my moms house out in the country the day before Thanksgiving almost 5 years ago. He was in horrible shape. I was staying at my moms taking care of her and he showed up and adopted me. When he came he had been beaten, fought, and badly abused. His ears had been cut off with scissors and they were infected and crusted with fly eggs. It was horrible. Thor is the love of my life but he has issues, the first is he is extremely aggressive with people he doesn’t know, and he doesn’t like people who are loud. I found out that before he showed up at my moms he had lived under a bridge about a mile and a half from her house for over a month all alone. I was told by people who saw me walking him on a leash ( since he jumped the 4 ft chainlink fence) that as many as10 people had tried to capture him but some evil people would drive by and throw things at him, scream at him and try to run over him. I took him to the vet and had him neutered and his shots and found he had the beginnings of heart worms so we treated for that. One of his issues is the same as your baby, the crying and whining suddenly and when he was sleeping. I personally think it’s something like PTSD and I have zero idea what triggerd it. The good news is that we seem to have gotten past that but it took 3 years. He is still extremely Food aggressive and I know that if he had been picked up by any type of animal control they would have put him down. I’m very cautious about his interactions with people who come over and I never leave him outside in the yard when I’m not home. Since he was only about 8-9 months old when he showed up (wearing a collar that was too tight) I often wonder what happened to him before he found me.i truly believe he was sent to me because the immediately answered to the name I gave him and he has always allowed me to do anything to him. I would venture to guess that your baby’s teeth are so worn down from being chained up and trying to chew through the chain or being starved and chewing on rocks and wood try to get something to eat. However, if she ground her teeth it could be from that. I’m positive the teeth grinding came from the stress of anxiety she has from the abuse she endured before you became her mom. As for the dog aggression, most likely she was chained in a yard with zero socialization and it’s actually fear that she hides by being aggressive, my Thor does the same thing. If he is scared he hides it by being aggressive. Only time, patience, love and training will get rid of that and sadly it may never go away. Just do your best and love her because I can assure you they know you saved them and they appreciate it so very much! Congratulations on this adventure with your rescue baby!!