Puppy mill dog behavior

Puppy mills are dog breeding facilities where irresponsible dog breeders attempt to enhance production and profits by reducing the living conditions of breeding dogs and their puppies. In some cases such conditions are more than deplorable, animal abuse is in such cases a much too light of a term. Such puppy mill survivors are dogs with special needs and require professional handling before they can be passed on to owners. There are many people who offer dog puppies for sale, sometimes the dogs are genuinely bred in proper conditions, but are being sold improperly, but mostly the reason why such people exist are the people who buy dogs from dealers without a positive reputation.

Nevertheless, there are puppy mill dogs around and chances are that you may run into one, even if the dealer you are buying your puppy from seems genuine. Such dogs and puppies are displaying behavior which is inconsistent with the breed and may cause problems for the owners when handling such animals.

Such animals display a sheer terror of being manually handled. Any touch, even a hand reaching out is viewed as a threat, petting such an animal is not possible until the dog has been reeducated and taught to trust the owner. This may take a long while.

Other behavioral problems include the aversion to eye contact. The forceful submission methods of puppy mill kennels subdue the dog that far, making the dog scared to make eye contact with the humans in general. Gentle approach and continuously talking soft and calm to the dog will help the animal overcome this fear.

Puppy mill survivors may also display the fear of feeding. Every time the puppy has been fed, the cage was opened and the abuser placed food in front of the puppy. The puppy remembers the action by the abuser and has fear of similar abuse, or relates that feeding experience to other abuses by the same person. Therefore, feeding reminds the dog of the abuse and the breeder who mishandled it, displaying fear of the feeding procedure as a consequence. The best solution is to leave the food for the dog and simply go away and allow the dog to eat without disturbance. With time this behavior may pass.

Other behavioral problems may include lack of housetraining and marking, and extreme risk of flight. It will take a long time for the dog to adopt you as its pack leader, because the previous pack leader did abuse it. The puppy will use any chance to run away, simply because it does not know any better, it is scared of the owner and will run to escape, therefore, collar and leash are imperative.

Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/