Mylo and Herbie

I know, I know I just resort to writing about dogs when I can't think of anything else. Sue me.

Most of the other dogs I've fostered have been mostly normal, apart from maybe Jasper.

Mylo and Herbie were picked up by me at the vet along with a few other carers who were picking up random other animals which had been rescued from a puppy/kitten mill/hoarder.

It was crazy. The woman brought down about 5 dogs in various states of mood and physical deterioration in a dog trailer and in her Ute she had a several cat cages.

There was a very hyper (and on heat) King Charles cavalier, a west highland terrier who couldn't really see through the hair in his eyes, a spotty dog that the woman was adopting and then there were my two Labrador boys. They were almost comatose.
Mylo has severe mite mange but was wagging his tail but didn't want much to do with us. Herbie would not move. They both had pee and feces on them from the trip and also from soiling themselves anytime there was human contact. I had to carry Herbie into the vet for his vaccination, and got another carer to try and pull Mylo in on his lead. They'd never been socialised and presumably just stayed in the one spot at the back of the shed for their whole lives. They just didn't know what a lead was.

Every time the vet came back into the room, both dogs cowered, the breeder was a man and I'm not entirely sure what he did to them in their 4 months, but their reaction was heartbreaking.

Once we got home, they tried to get under the water bowl (which is connected to the water source and stuck to the wall) and didn't seem to move all day. They eventually found a jasmine bush growing along the wall and managed to wedge themselves amongst its roots.

Luckily they are both quite food orientated so I think this helped to get them out of their shell. They now come into the house by themselves and lay on the rug quite contently, though Mylo is still so skittish. While he initially seemed like the more outgoing one as he walked a little bit around on the first day and is always wagging his tail, he is actually the one that is going to take more time. They just don't trust us enough, and don't understand the things dogs who have grown up in a normal household would. Noises such as the washing machine, the TV are all new, as well as not sleeping in waste and that raising a hand doesn't mean something bad.

They are also now learning how to be puppies which is so sweet. My dog loves having other dogs chase her, and Herbie has resorted into the very puppy like behaviour of stealing things out of rooms and then hoarding them on the lawn.

I know some people get really angry about the people that cause these reactions and behaviours, but I've barely thought of him. It really killed me to see their sad little faces those first couple of days, but now I'm also seeing improvement so I'm glad they were brought out in time. I really can't believe they're the same dogs I met six days ago.