Over the years, we have rescued dogs that are great with other dogs but terrified of people. I’m not writing about human aggressive dogs or even fear biters, these are just dogs that would rather hide under a table if you look directly at them. In general, if the dog is over 16 weeks, it’s almost impossible to ever really change the super shy dog. This type of dog will always have issues being comfortable in new social situations. Now this is not to say that a dog that has not had a lot of human contact early in her life, if still young enough, can’t be adopted. It’s a process that takes time, patience and a lot of routine. I’m working with one now named Bernadette.

On Saturday, I took Bernadette back into our kennel. Like her brothers Dino and Curtis, they were probably all kept in a backyard in Compton without any human interaction until they were several months old. Fearful, skittish, whatever you want to call this, it’s a dog that hesitates and tries to hide when meeting new people or experiencing a new situation. For a rescue, showing a dog like this is extremely difficult at an adoption event and like my boy Curtis, the dog spends most of the time under the volunteer’s chair or hiding in a crate under a blanket. These are the dogs that, we, the volunteers, usually keep as our own personal dogs.