My carers really don’t know anything about my past unfortunatley. I was found on the carpark early one morning before the Sanctuary opened. Sadly it seems I was actually thrown over the fence in the night and I had been scared running around the carpark overnight, thankfully I didnt get out onto the busy road!

I was very scared, hiding out of sight when staff first arrived so I wasnt spotted until my carer went past me and heard growling and looked out the gates to see if there was a lost dog and then spotted me tucked into a corner.
Understandably I really was very scared and defensive and I didn’t trust anyone for sometime.

The Sanctuary put out appeals asking for any information from anyone who knew me to please get in touch, even if anonymously, to help give them information so they knew how best to care for me as it was hard to tell if I was just so scared and reactive due to being dumped or whether this was normal for me with new people, but sadly no one came forward.

Although I was very understandably defensive when I first came it became clear after some time that my behaviour issues were much deeper than just the fear and upset from my arrival. I had lots of serveral challenging behaviours which made caring for me safely quite tricky for my carers until they managed to build a strong relationship with me and help me through some of them.

My carers have put in a lot of time to building a relationship with me and I now feel comfortable with my primary carers and I have even made a new friend over the summer!! It takes me a long time to feel comfortable with new people by my carers have been working super hard to show me that new people aren’t as scary …. I’m still not convinced but I am trying my best and will have a sniff of them and I’m not too scared now as long as they dont try to touch me or come towards me!!

Due to my challenging behaviours I needed lot of behavior work, my carers here at the Sanctuary did tons of work and I got much better but I still really struggled with new people. I was finding living at the Sanctuary overwhelming at times with how busy it was, even though I was in a quieter space, the daily triggers of unfamiliar people prevented me from moving forward. So I was sent to a force free, positive reinforcement rehabilitation centre for a few months to help me make that next step as well as giving me a chance to decompress away from the repeat triggers that caused me upset. They continued the work my carers did and helped give me some tools to regulate myself when I felt overwhelmed. I still struggled when I came back to the Sanctuary but with patience, gentle encouragement and most improtantly time I have continued to improve and my carers say they are so so proud of the progress I have made!!!

Now I am finally ready to take the next step and find a special foster home that can continue my training, give me the support I need to adapt in a home and work with my carers so that one day when I am ready I can be adopted!!!
Read all about the home I am looking for below and my Behaviour and Health needs.