The Ferals

Some of my greatest rewards and challenges come from working with the feral dogs here. About half of the dogs here are feral. Most of them were rescued from hurricane Katrina. Some had homes before the hurricane and reverted to feral after the owners left. Other were strays that had little to no contact with humans. There are five basic strategies that that we use to help re socialize them. Each case is different and requires adaption to each dogs behavior. 1. Food as the main training tool, we require the dogs to earn there food by socializing. Ex. hand feeding them to get them to associate humans with food. 1b. Gently pushing there boundaries once they learn a new behavior. Ex. Once they hand feed we then touch train to get them used to thinking and petting 2. Spending time with them often, there are two types of time the first is where we try to engage the feral dogs by interaction using treats, other social dogs, play etc. The other type is just being in there pen with them while reading or other actives to get them used to and curious about humans. 3 We use social well trained dogs to interact with and serve as role models to the feral dogs . 4. Getting them used to the sight and feel of a leash, this can be a long process depending on the dog's prior experience with one. 5. Once the dog is walking and interacting with us we take them in the main house where they learn to live and get used to humans again. Since I have been working here I have had the pleasure of watching these dogs transform from shy creatures to friendly tail wagging dogs. Some are well on there way to new homes where they will be loved and cared for others are just learning to trust us enough to eat with us in there pens. Whatever the case I learn from them as much as they learn from me. On a latter post I'll talk more about each feral and how they are progressing.
WRITTEN BY RAVEN Nov 06