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When we took Dubh in off the street about 7 or so months ago, she had zero interest in people. She was totally into the other dogs (sometimes in a nice way, sometimes in a not-nice way ). She had no interest in being pet or receiving affection from us.
But then she turned around and slowly but steadily became accustomed to being pet and cuddling a bit. Now, she loves it ! She gives kisses, cuddles up to take a nap...she's completely trusting now (no longer afraid of feet...she must have been kicked? ).
I would not worry too much about it, dogs are amazingly resilient and when given the room to do so, can heal very well from their emotional wounds. It sounds like you're doing everything right .
Here are a few pics of Hollywood or Turner.. depending on who named him. I think he likes Turner better personally. He is kind of shy like Josh Turner.. and cute too.
He isn't very tall but has beautiful markings. The first pic is him and the girls playing on the deck.
He is now coming in and out of the house with no fear
Three years ago, I adopted three dogs at once and from the same shelter. One had been badly abused and was very fearful of all people, especially men. He was a one year old lab and overdue to be put to sleep as he had overstayed his alloted time at the shelter. I also had a long drive home with my new charges... 1100 miles. About half a mile down the road, Bailey threw up his dinner. I was also warned that if he got loose, I would never catch him. So on the dog walk breaks, I would walk the two little dogs first, then carefully attend to his needs.
Well Bailey got along well with the other two dogs. I think that it was good having them around because they were relaxed and happy to be around me. I had to crate train him to re-housebreak him. At the shelter, he lived in an outdoor run. I bought him a crate with tiny windows so that he could have his safe cave. I work from home and what I did was ignore him and treat him as invisible. I also was very deliberate and predictable in my movements. This way, I felt he could learn to trust me on his own terms. If I gave out dog treats, everyone got an equal share. After a few months, Bailey would lie under my desk chair with his head on my feet. That was a wonderful feeling! Anyway, I worked hard to be his dog mom/goddess of all good things.
My boyfriend lives with me. And he was a good sport about the process. He loves dogs and while he understood why our lab was the way he was, he felt a bit hurt that my relationship with Bailey developed faster. I would say that it took about six months to a year before Bailey became more relaxed around him. They did good on the couch together watching tv. But my boyfriend is tall (6'-5") and when he stood up, Bailey would get uneasy. These days, Bailey and he are on great terms, but Bailey will always love me best. My advantage is being female (unlike his former owner) and also being able to spend so many hours with him.
Now I have an upstairs tenant. He is blonde wherea my boyfriend has dark brown hair. We think that Bailey's abuser either looked or smelled like my tenant because Bailey was scared to death of him for a very very long time. And my tenant also loves dogs. And another problem was that Thomas would look Bailey in the eye as he tried to make friends with him, and that really upset him. I begged Thomas for months to stop looking at my lab. I begged him to treat Bailey as invisible. Finally he listened to me and that helped a lot. But we used to nickname Thomas as the boogeyman as Bailey would listen for his footsteps upstairs. Last fall, Thomas adopted a dog, and after that, Bailey was fine with him. And it helped that Thomas would throw treats at all the dogs.
Bailey hates loud noises and thunderstorms. During the last storm, I turned up the tv and every time I saw the flash of lightning, I would distract Bailey with a treat. I would give him a flake of Special K cereal. Food is a good distraction from fear. I wasn't rewarding him for reacting to the thunder, I was just taking his attention away from the thunderclap that I knew was coming.
So it takes time and lots of patience. Be constistent and in the beginning, avoid direct eye contact with the abused dog. I think that the company of other dogs will do him good.
Keeper, one thing I forgot to mention and uncertain if anyone else did is that once the initial "honeymoon" period is over, trouble can begin.
Right now, he's just feeling his way about things and therefore you're only seeing his surface. In time, he'll begin to feel more comfortable and might begin testing his limits with both you and the other dogs. Keep an eye out for signs that things are changing
Good on ya for fostering a dog with issues!
I can only second what others have said. Be patient. Every abused animal has different "tender spots" or fear issues. You learning them and treating them carefully can only help him get adopted, as he'll make progress, plus you'll have more information and suggestions for potential adoptors and for his placement people.
The two dogs I adopted who'd been abused had problems with being approached at first. One never was OK about being approached, a hand over him, when he was lying down. He'd snap at the person. He was quite adoptable (I took him!) but anyone taking him would have to know how to be patient and careful with that, and likely it'd be an adult-only household for him.
One of my dogs bit kids. Don't know if he was abused, but he certainly ran wild in the neighborhood. If I touch his hindquarters from behind when he's lying down, he still bares his teeth, but will then turn around and put his head in my lap. Again something that I can deal with, but can't change. (Data point- when I first got him, I'd heard that I needed to dominate my dogs and be pack leader and all, so when he bared his teeth, he bit me. Go figure- I started a dog fight with a frightened dog. Didn't make that mistage again).
My current recent adoptee, after some ten years of abuse and neglect, was very aggressive with his rescuers, but calmed down in a few months. When he first meets anyone (including me) he growls them away for about 24 hours, then stops. The shelter people told me that's what he'd do, and so he did.
Besides treating him with care and gentleness (maybe more so than the average dog), you certainly might help him with his fears, which might make him less adoptable. You also can provide valuable information about how to treat him for everyone involved in his adoption, so you are providing a real act of care and mercy even if he doesn't "recover" completely.
Good luck. Kindness reverberates through the world.
P.S.
It can be tricky bringing multiple dogs together. One formerly feral dog I had (shy shy shy) took months to warm up to me, but then one of my older dogs died, and she became head *****- ended up very seriously attacking one of my existing dogs. He almost died, and I had to send her back to Best Friends. The situation changed, she changed. I will say, though, that there were enough warnings that I should have ended the adoption before the near-lethal attack.
On the other hand, dogs learn a lot from each other in groups. If the foster dog sees his compatriots enjoying attention, trusting people, coming up for treats, etc., he likely will learn trust faster. The group will teach by example. I found that to be true with the two shy/neglected/hoarded dogs I've adopted. Both were fostered by experienced dog people with other dogs in the household at their shelter, and those people said they really think having other dogs to observe and join with can be a big help.
(My top number was six, only for a few weeks, when dear Ezra died at age 17, so I'm biased about how many is too many!)
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). She had no interest in being pet or receiving affection from us.
).
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