Mabel the Rescue Dog

Hi everyone, it’s Mabel! It’s been a while since I shared an update about our foster adventures because this past week was a little chaotic. We’re still fostering Cuda the senior girl, but Molly decided to foster another dog at the same time. I told her that was too many dogs, but she didn’t listen to me. Luckily, I still get the most attention though because I’ll always be her favorite dog.

Anyway, our new foster dog is a puppy mill survivor named Tuck, and he’s already been with us for about two weeks. He’s a 1-year-old Maltese who spent his whole life in a crate up until this point. When Molly saw that he was coming to the rescue, she knew she had to foster him. After all, his appearance and story are almost identical to her first dog Zoe.

But even though Tuck is much younger than Zoe was when Molly adopted her, he’s much more scared. Zoe was in a puppy mill for about 6 years, so you’d think she would be more skittish. But sadly, Tuck is the most terrified dog we’ve ever seen. When Molly picked him up from the rescue, he had to be muzzled because he would squirm and bite whenever someone tried to carry him. As soon as she got him inside, he hid in his crate and refused to come out. After all, being in a crate is all he’s ever known.

Yet, day by day, Tuck came out of his shell a little more. He soon started hanging out in my fuzzy dog bed instead of his crate. He didn’t mind being near Molly, but as soon as she reached to pet him, he sprinted away.

He’s still terrified of Molly touching him and picking him up, so she avoids doing it as much as possible. Even so, he’s improving in so many other ways. Before, he would only go outside if Molly carried him out, but now, he goes out if he sees her open the door for him. He knows to do his business outside, and while he’s still potty training, he has had minimal accidents. He tries to play with Cuda, and he even picks up some dog toys occasionally. It seems like he doesn’t know what to do with the toys, but he sees me and Cuda playing with them, so he tries to be like us.

Luckily, Tuck loves food. So, treats definitely help motivate him. He won’t eat them out of Molly’s hand usually, but he likes when she gives them to him. So, every time she walks near him or pets him, she gives him a treat to help him associate those things with something good. Because in the past, being touched was probably followed by something not so nice.

As you might’ve guessed, Molly really wanted to adopt Tuck. She wants another dog and she thinks he could be the perfect one once he gets more comfortable. She even submitted an application for him, but then, she had a scare where he bit her one day. She thinks maybe she accidentally touched the spot where he got neutered when she picked him up, but she’s not sure. After that, she realized that adopting him would be too overwhelming for her right now, and she’d like to give other people the chance to apply instead.

This week, a family met Tuck and they fell in love with him just like Molly did. If all goes well, he will be headed off to his forever home with them next week. I know this will be the hardest foster dog for Molly to say goodbye to, but she’s just so happy that he’s getting the loving home he deserves.

When people buy puppies from pet stores or online, dogs like Tuck are ones suffering and breeding over and over again. So please, if you’re not already encouraging people to avoid puppy stores and questionable breeders, please do so. And encourage adoption instead. There are so many amazing dogs out there already looking for forever homes. Help give them a second chance.

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