01/02/2024
Iris…. So I figured I’d share Iris’s story as she is one of many that share a similar story and I’m sharing this in hopes of trying to educate anyone unaware of dogs similar to her. Iris was relinquished to rescue September 2022 as a 9 month old pure bred German Shepherd Dog that couldn’t be sold from an Amish puppy mill. When Iris came to me she was extremely shut down and scared of absolutely EVERYTHING.
PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE A PUPPY FROM AMISH PUPPY MILLS or any puppy mill for that matter. But in our area Amish puppy mills are where so many puppies come from. If you don’t purchase a puppy from them most of them are now reaching out for rescues to help. The best way to stop puppy mills is to NOT buy a puppy from them. You are not saving them, you are funding them. Most of them now reach out for rescues to help place their retired adults and puppies that don’t sell. Look at local rescues, there are soooooo many of the popular breeds even.
Back to Iris’s story…. She just turned 2 years old last week, and has been with me 15 months now. She was originally a foster that we ended up adopting because she simply was not adoptable. Not for any aggression, but fear. She is a dog whose rehab per say is life long. When she arrived the crate she was transported in had to be carried into my yard/house. She peed, pooped and vomited all over herself in the crate. She was literally frozen in fear and had to be removed from the crate. EVERYTHING was scary to her. One thing she knew was dogs. So I brought out my rockstars Tango, Jax and Scout to help Iris. Those three played an extremely important role in Iris’s rehab. They helped me show Iris the human world and how to live in it. They helped me build trust with Iris. For those of you that know BK, you know how Oliver was extremely important to his rehab process. Jax become Iris’s Oliver.
So many things have been done over the past 15 months and I have been able to build a good trusting relationship with Iris now. She will wake me up most mornings wanting to interact with me. She seeks out physical affection from Christina and I now. She is a typical pet German Shepherd inside our house with just us now. However if anyone new comes in we are still working on. She will run away at first but now will come back out to investigate with my guidance. She has also learned going for hikes are now enjoyable instead of constant fear. Is any of this perfect, no. Has she made drastic improvements yes. But her rehab is far from over and because of that we felt it was best to adopt Iris and make sure she had everything she needed to continue to gain confidence in this human world.
I’d be happy to answer anyone’s questions about Iris, her rehab, puppy mills, etc…
