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Terrified Dog Shakes for 3 Months Straight, Then Finally Hops into Rescuer's Lap

By Amanda Thomason August 23, 2018 at 1:35pm

A lot of times, people avoid adopting dogs because they don’t want dogs with pasts. They don’t want dogs who have deep-seated fears about life and the world because they’ve been mistreated or neglected.

It’s understandable that beginning dog owners might not be up to the task of rehabilitation, but fortunately most dogs in shelters are not completely “broken,” and there are still good, experienced people out there to help them when they are.

Blossom is a small mixed-breed pup who was traumatized. She must have had some rough experiences to be as scared as she was, but no one knew exactly what secrets her past held.

What they did know was that she was kept by someone who’d bitten off more than they could chew: the hoarder who cared for her had over 150 dogs.

All of those pups were confiscated and taken the a shelter, where they would hopefully get another chance at life with people who could properly care for them.

When Rocky Kanaka went to the shelter to look at her, he was taken in by Blossom’s big eyes, but she would run away from him and hide under the dog bed in the kennel.

“Myself and a team and the whole rescue community came together and we all went and we worked to clear out the entire shelter,” Kanaka said.

So he took her home and began getting her used to kind, compassionate human interaction. It took a long time for her to warm up to him — in the beginning all she could manage was to hide and “violently shake.”

Fortunately Kanaka had other dogs around to keep her company and help her adjust, but it still took her months to get used to simple things like sunlight, grass, and human attention. She didn’t even know how to drink water from a bowl.

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She had a favorite spot behind the table, where she spent most of her time hiding, but once Kanaka gave her a special comfy spot to call her own and got her to start eating her meals from his hand, she started to warm up to him and slowly crawled out of her shell.

One day, while Kanaka was sitting down and busy with something else, Blossom decided to hop right up next to him for a nap on the couch. That was the first time she’d made such an obvious move to show she was really beginning to trust him and feel comfortable with her new life.

After three months, Blossom finally took an ecstatic victory lap around the backyard, tail wagging and tongue lolling, for the first time since her rescue. Kanaka knew in that moment that the three months of hard work were totally worth it.

Now Blossom is a much happier pup, and ready to find her forever home. Thanks to Kanaka’s patience, Blossom will make a great addition to someone’s family!

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