Recent comments in /f/aww

Throat_Such t1_ixrk887 wrote

Reply to comment by ZogNowak in Gumbo, my new Coon Hound who had been in the animal shelter for 2 years. by ZogNowak

Kudos to you for seeing past his shyness! People don't realize that when dogs are surrendered, they're nursing a broken heart! Or when they've been left somewhere strange and have to fend for themselves for the first time. They are terrified. Then they get thrown in a cage with many barking animals around them. The dog's personality cannot possibly come out until he is removed from that environment and given the proper care and lots of love! I wish you both much happiness together!

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ktgrok t1_ixrj3rj wrote

Reply to comment by Abject-Feedback5991 in Gumbo, my new Coon Hound who had been in the animal shelter for 2 years. by ZogNowak

lol, we joke that our coonhound mix (also has bloodhound and a bit of newfoundland of all things) is a GREAT hound, but a terrible dog. He's not really terrible, but NOT an easy breed. Or maybe it was that he had a lot of baggage when we got him? He was bred in GA somewhere, given to an elderly man in North Georga, who then took him to a shelter. A rescue group in Florida took him in, he was in two foster homes, then adopted, then returned, back to another foster, and then to us. All by 12 weeks of age. He was "reverse crate trained" in that he'd walk across the room to go into his crate to pee - I'm guessing because he'd been kept in a crate 8 hours plus a day by the people that adopted him, so he learned to pee in there. Or from being in a cage at the shelter. He also HATED the crate - he gets car sick easily and was in a crate the whole ride from North Georgia to Central Florida so maybe associated it with being sick, plus then with being kept in it too long, etc. Hardest dog I ever had to train, and he just didn't pay much attention to humans for the longest time. Now he's a sweet heart, but of course will go out at night and bark at any creature he spots - if there are no creatures up in trees to bark at he will and does bark at birds flying overhead, planes, helicopters (will jump into the air as if he might catch it!) and a few times, the moon itself. Sigh.

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