Experiences before and during stay at animal shelter leaves dog terrified (video)

This is not news. It is pretty obvious if you know anything about animal shelters and the kind of life dogs and cats can have before they are rescued. The combined experiences can leave the cat or dog terrified. It may be be that the shelter alone scares the dog because they can be scary places.

Perhaps they can sense that death is around the corner. If they've been placed on a list of dogs to be euthanised, perhaps some of them sense this and understand that their death is impending. We don't know. But dogs are very sensitive and intelligent. It's certainly plausible to suggest that they might understand that their lives are in danger.

Combine that with the small space they are living in. The sterility of the place. The noises. The unnaturalness of the environment and you might have a scared dog.

A dog might have come from a good home and then suddenly thrust into sheltered life which would be a great shock to them. Either way, the video we see on this page is not, in my experience of researching these matters, unusual. This dog looks terrified. She won't even turn her head towards the person petting her. You can see that they have covered her up perhaps to make you feel more secure.

One great problem with a dog becoming scared like this is that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Dogs that are scared and timid and hiding or trying to hide become unadoptable. This means that that they are earmarked for euthanasia.

Or perhaps their reaction will be aggression in defence of what they consider to be a hostile environment. This also can make them unadoptable.

It just looks to me as if like this video indicates a failure in dog domestication. This is what it has come down to in this instance. It shouldn't be like this.

Fortunately, I can report that this dog has been fostered and once they live in a foster home they often flower and their personality comes out. They behave more normally and become unadoptable. 

That simple step of going into foster care can save their lives. Perhaps you know all about this because it's quite common knowledge but if not this little video which I find very difficult to watch might be instructional.

Terrified dog at animal shelter. Screenshot.

-----

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.