Animals in a shelter: problems of socialization
This is really a problem. If an animal enters a shelter from a happy family, which happens very rarely (usually only if the owner dies), it is much easier to find a new owner.
The second most difficult problem is stray animals that we took from the street. Usually they get along well with people, because this is the basis for their survival. For example, our Mouse, which I found as a teenager, is a very contact dog that knows how to behave among people.
This may seem strange, but the most problematic are the animals that were born (if the dog came to us pregnant) or grew up (if we took them very small) in the shelter. They adore us and do not want to recognize other people.
The problem is that in the area where we live, a very unfavorable situation with dog infections. Therefore, we are forced to keep puppies in a closed area, where they do not see people except us. Then, when they are old enough, we begin the process of adaptation. I take a puppy and go for a walk with him along the street. Gradually, step by step, he becomes accustomed to the fact that there are other people in the world besides us.
But we are a small family shelter and we can do it. In municipal shelters, the situation is often simply terrible. Animals are in complete isolation, they often do not know how to contact people, which makes it incredibly difficult to find a family for them. So it was with our Chocolate. Nobody wanted to adopt her because she is very shy. It took me a full year to stop her being afraid of my husband. She wanted to communicate only with me, who brought her home. But even now she remains very fearful.
my Shih-Tzu doesn't like any other dogs. This is a problem but i suppose I am to blame because I never socialized her growing up. It isn't so easy to do so in Thailand because of all the sometimes vicious street dogs.