Who would have thought that the dog in the following video would make such a turn for the better? His name is Otto and he was rescued from a terrible situation of abuse. The rescue staff didn’t even know what to do with him because there was almost no feasible way of working with him. The dog would pee on himself every time anyone would touch him.
It was that serious. The shelter staff had never seen anything like this. Typically, some animals had some sort of trauma, but they could be treatable. Sometimes it only took a doggie toy to be brought to the dog for the dog to open to the rescuers. Other times it was a matter of bringing the right food and the rescuers would have gained the dog’s trust.
With Otto, it wasn’t anything like that. They tried to use a rectal thermometer to see if he had contracted some sort of infection while living in the street, but this would only cause him to pee on himself again and freeze. He would not do anything after that and you would have to wait close to an hour before attempting to move him again.
The staff was comprised of men and women. One of them had the idea of having women work with him, at least in the first phases and see how he would progress after that. They chose the three women who had more experience working with very traumatized animals. The veterinarian was also a woman and she was the most patient of the three.
The time came for Otto to get his round of vaccinations and the staff feared the dog would go back on all the progress made in terms of trust. One of the staff members would be petting him and talking to him very softly, so the dog would understand that everything would be okay. It took them about 20 minutes of petting him for the dog to let them give him his shots.
After that, came the dog’s bath. The staff knew that they still had a long road ahead of them because Otto would continue to pee himself for the next few interactions. Slowly, they were earning Otto’s trust until it came to a point where they could draw blood or vaccinate him without the dog doing any peeing. When that happened, they knew they were on the road to success. But how is Otto doing today?