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This is Hilde, our new Balkan Underdog rescue who arrived 4 weeks ago from Serbia. She was so scared she had to be carried to the car and then into the house when she arrived.
For the first 10 days she would only emerge from her safe space (soft kennel in my office) to eat and toilet, the latter on puppy pads. She was utterly terrified of everything.
She eventually decided to come out when existing resident, Oscar, re-introduced himself and she decided he was the best thing ever - rather than a terrifying horror as she reacted the first time.
Still not house-trained, but going on walks with us. Roads, loud people, buses, bicycles, scooters, cars are all still very frightening.
She’s about 18 months old, and has lived at a “pension” since she was a young puppy, so is more used to being around other dogs and playing in fields than she is to an urban household.
Oscar seems to like her, one of the three cats has shown her who is boss. She still chases the other two though. She has an unhealthy interest in “Chilly” the parrot, so our lives are an extended version of that “fox, goose, grain across a river” puzzle.
We’ll get there, eventually, fingers-crossed.