It was just an ordinary day at the park when a woman found this poor puppy.
Actually, this puppy was thrust at her by a random guy, who said he found the puppy by a dumpster. Judging by the looks of the puppy, who was quite healthy, she wasn’t abandoned but discarded.
Mr. Bones & Co. and Rescue the Runway, an animal welfare group and shelter based in New York City, consulted with behavioral consultants, trainers, and a veterinary animal behaviorist to determine what happened to the puppy.
They all agreed on the same conclusion.
The puppy, who they named Maddie, was being bred to be a fighting dog. She looked to be around four to five weeks old at that time and they believe she was removed from her mother to be trained.
Thank goodness someone took her out of that situation before it escalated!
However, the early and little training she received already took a toll on Maddie. She was very aggressive and didn’t trust any human. She was always growling and barking whenever she came across any stranger.
That’s when the rescue group asked for help from an expert.
They sought the help of Suze Cullinan, the co-owner and lead trainer at Instinct Dog Behavior & Training Englewood NJ, to rehabilitate Maddie. They didn’t want to resort to euthanasia so they needed an expert to train Maddie.
Suze is a canine certified behavioral consultant and worked on a rehabilitation program with Maddie for three weeks. The first week was tough and Maddie could only stay with the other dogs for two to three minutes at a time.
Thank goodness the rescuers turned to Suze!
She was able to calm Maddie’s anxiety and they clearly saw Maddie’s desire to exercise control. When there are new people around her, she is still scared but she really tries not to be afraid of them anymore.
Because of Maddie’s progress, Suze decided to foster Maddie so they can continue to work together until she was stable enough for rehoming.
After a few months, the aggressive Maddie they knew no longer existed.
From rage, she was simply full of joy. Her original rescuer came to visit Maddie months after and Maddie ran up to her and planted kisses on her.
Her rescuer couldn’t believe it was the same dog.
It looks like Maddie is ready to be rehomed. Who will be her lucky forever family?
Well, it turns out Maddie has already been home. She was adopted by Suze, the same expert who had been training her from the start.
The rescuers joked that they had a secret to tell Maddie. She had actually been home all the time. Can you believe it? Maddie is finally going to have a forever home.
Plus she’s got a very important job of helping train the other dogs.
“I am incredibly proud of Maddie. This little dog is all in… she’s trying so hard every single day,” Suze shared of Maddie.
Watch Maddie turn from a dog full of rage to a dog full of joy in the video below.
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