Ziggy is a medium-sized crossbred dog, who came to live with me a bit over a year ago, when I started fostering him. If I had to guess, I would say he might have a bit of staffy in him, and maybe some bull-arab?? Being a true cross-bred, it is really anybody’s guess though. He came from DAS in Canberra, where he had been handed in as a stray. Nobody ever claimed him, so after doing his legally required time in the pound, DAS was looking at options of what to do with him. Ziggy could not be put up for adoption as it was pretty clear that he had a major issue; he was absolutely terrified of everything. He spent his days in his kennel hiding in the far corner, would soil himself if anybody so much as looked at him, and refused to eat or drink other than in the middle of the night when everything went quiet at the pound.

So, DAS asked ARF for help, and ARF asked if I would be able to foster him. I agreed to go and meet him at the pound, to see for myself what I would be getting myself into. When I met him, my first impression was that he was still a very young dog and was scared out of his brain. He soiled himself on the way to the meet-and-greet yard, crawled around the yard on his belly, and tried to climb in between the fence and some netting to find a dark place to hide. He did his utmost best to stay as far away from any humans as his lead would allow. However, despite his obvious distress and fear, he never showed any sign of fear-aggression, which was pretty amazing. I saw a lovely boy buried deep underneath all that fear, and I agreed to foster him.

Before coming to me, Ziggy stayed with another foster carer for a while, as I was moving house and did not want to add that stress for him. When I picked him up from her place, he travelled in the back of my car in a crate, and by the time we came home he had soiled all through the back of my car (even managed to get it outside the crate!) and was utterly freaked out, despite the chill pills he had been given and the anti-anxiety medication he was on. He moved into a crate in my living room and did not voluntarily come out for weeks. Similarly, it took weeks before he dared eat while I was in the room, or before he would let me touch him without flinching.

However, with a lot of time and patience, we made progress. It was slow, but it was there. The ‘firsts’ with a dog like him are amazing. The first time he took his dinner out of my hand I nearly cried. The first time I could touch him without him pulling away was fantastic, and the first time he very cautiously asked for a belly rub when I petted him I could hardly believe he was doing that. The first time he hesitantly tried to tempt me into a game of chase in the backyard was exuberating. There are of course also the set-backs; its two steps forward and one step back with a dog like him. My partner terrifies him a lot more than I do, and their relationship has been very rocky. It took months before Ziggy stopped soiling himself when my partner approached him for example. It has taken/is taking a lot longer to get Ziggy to accept my partner, and men in general, then to accept me.

However, again, progress is slow, but it is there. Ziggy has now reached a stage that he fully accepts me, and if I’m the only one around, he is almost a normal dog now. The relationship with my partner still needs a lot of work, and Ziggy is still scared of him, but that is also slowly improving. He is still very scared of strangers though. He will have a mental meltdown if we see any strange people on a walk, even if they are all the way in the distance. If we get visitors, he disappears. We are working on this and have a dedicated group of volunteers come in one at a time a couple of times a week to meet with him, and hopefully show Ziggy that strange people are not necessarily bad. This is going to take time though – as with everything Ziggy related; progress happens, but it is slow. This is also the reason he is not up for adoption just yet; he very much still needs to learn that I am not the only ‘safe’ person in the world who he can interact with without being afraid.