This is Avery, the blind Beagle from Georgia who arrived back in May, and whose very painful eyes our veterinary ophthalmologist had to remove a few days after he came to us. I had mentioned in that arrival post that he had clearly had a rough life and had been beaten a lot, judging from how he cowered and cringed. One of his "triggers" is being picked up, which can cause him to start howling and peeing submissively.
Ironically, some of these triggers became more pronounced only after we had his eyes removed; the only explanation I can come up with is that he was in so much pain from his eyes that this is what he focused on more than anything. Once the eye pain was gone, it allowed more of his fears from past abuse to come to the fore, and that's what he began to focus on.
We have learned that he is less afraid about being picked up when there are a bunch of other dogs swirling about him at the same time, all of them jumping up and down and wanting to be picked up. As an example, when we're bringing dogs in for the evening, Avery's often cowering on the ramp by the door, clearly wanting to come inside but too afraid to do so. I'll bend down and make all over him while blind Fuzzy and blind Sophie and the others are milling around excitedly. As I slip an arm under him, I'll do the same with one of the others, and pick both dogs up at the same time. This seems to reassure him that all is well … or, at least, not so bad … which means that while he still may howl a bit, he won't submissively pee all over me.
Other times I will scoop him up while holding on to blind Cedar or blind and deaf Spinner, and as long as he knows the other dog is there and going in as well, he's more comfortable. Using treats and other positive reinforcement techniques don't seem to matter to him; the comfort really comes from having other dogs with him. Success is a no howl/no pee trip into the house, which is happening more often these days.
In the mornings, he is very fearful about coming out of his crate. He loves his crate because it is his safe haven, his personal little den. (He's often at his happiest just after we put him in his crate at night, when he lets out little happy barks.) If Alayne and I try to pull him from his crate, he often will scream and cry out and in general, have a complete melt-down. So we typically just open his crate door while we're letting all the other dogs out and let him decide on his own when he's ready to come out. Some mornings that might not be until 10 a.m. — he's got a wonder bladder! Alayne took that photo one morning last week, as he was beginning to think about leaving the crate … but wasn't ready yet.
We can't imagine the abuse this poor dog suffered in the past. He definitely has the emotional scars to show for it. As we said about three-legged Ella when she first arrived, also full of fear, Avery's real disability is in his head and it's called "distrust." As with Ella, the cure for this is time, patience and love.
Meanwhile, the cure for being peed on is a fresh change of clothes.
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Upcoming TV Show On The Farm
Back in July we had a blog post about a TV crew that was here to do a story for New Hampshire Chronicle on WMUR-TV, Channel 9, in Manchester. The producer told us last week that the story will air on Wednesday, September 28th, at 7 p.m. Here is the program's webpage with the promo on the piece. After the show airs, they will post a video on their website. At this point I do not know when it will go online, but I will announce it on the blog as soon as we find out.
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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