Tuesday, July 22, 2014

learning to understand dogs suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, all bait dogs suffer from this depending on the scope of injuries and its just as real as people PTSD

Both Bella and Buddy have issues....physical issues and emotional issues that stem from their injuries and more: 1) genetic disorders: truthfully, many bait pups come from back yard breeders where they are bred to be disposable surrendered to horrible deaths as bait. Because of interbreeding there may be any number of biological disorders that are passed down. Bella had a nutrition issue and allergies which were finally resolved with fish oil, digestive enzymes, probiotics and spirulina. 2) PTSD: example: Buddy weighing 2 lbs was apparently fed to a fighting dog in training. He was bitten, his ears were shredded and he had several deep puncture wounds on his neck, back and on a hind leg. Now at 90 lbs he finds the world a terrifying place to live. He's a lap dog and a growler and he has fear aggression. He has not bitten anyone nor nipped. He responds to his fear by growling, snarling and, eventually, running to hide in his crate. He will not walk on a leash further than 1/2 block from where he lives. If he is taken for a car rise he will not allow the vehicle to get out of his sight. The little cottage he lives in has been his refuge while fighting for his life. Its all he knows and the world is a very scary place for him. Bait dogs often don't trust the world around them. This fear detracts from Buddy's quality of life. He's Daddy's boy and without Daddy he is still basically a whimpering, whining, injured 2lb puppy of age 3 weeks without a mother and having only a human to care for him. 3) Life altering injuries: Bella was found with a fractured skull, she is blind in one eye, had a horrible injury on her backside from a suspected hit by a car after she was dumped on the north shore of Long Island. She now has epilepsy from brain trauma. We know of 3 bait puppies tossed in the streets on the north shore. Bella and Buddy are two, the other was hit by a car and dyed in the arms of the person that picked him up. Buddy has physical scars, emotional ones and a digestive system issue with some regurgitation of food sporadically. Over the counter stomach acid pills have helped a lot but it is something that's still in progress of receiving proper care. 4) Large vet bills: attachment to a bait dog usually results in vet bills for any number of issues. We have not conquered this issue totally but we certainly advise those having a bait animal to get a page on Facebook and merge interests with various animal rescuers. We would not have been able to save Buddy and Bella without the help of strangers from Facebook. 5) If you find a bait puppy, and want to save its life, please ask the vet to help you save the life of the puppy by helping with lowering fees. If you have an established vet, that will work better, but, it cannot hurt to ask. We tried to find a nursing mother for Buddy by calling rescues. No one wanted him, he was running a fever, he was so hungry and he was injured. He needed a prescription dog food.....what would you do? Right, what can you do? Buddy will be 2 in November. Bait puppies on Long Island, Bella and Buddy, fortunately won a years supply of dog food which really helped while the vet bills were steep.