By Jack Beresford
Copyright newsweek
A Florida shelter has highlighted the heartbreaking plight of a dog so traumatized, she struggles to even leave her kennel.
Staff at Orange County Animal Services (OCAS) don’t know much about Chey’s past life. “Chey came in as the result of a resident’s report of an injured stray in her neighborhood,” Bryant Almeida, a Public Information Officer at OCAS, told Newsweek.
What was immediately clear, however, was that whatever Chey had been through had left its mark. “When we found her over a month ago, she had terrible injuries to her paw pads that kept her from running off,” OCAS explained in a video posted to its Instagram.
“It looked like someone or something had burned off her paw pads, and she could barely walk on them. And because of this trauma, Chey is extremely shut down.”
Almeida said the shelter had “no clue” how Chey could have been injured in this way. “They were burns; and it could have been something as simple as walking on hot pavement for too long,” said Almeida.
Chey is thought to be around 2 or 3, and the video OCAS posted to Instagram highlights how the injuries she has sustained have left a lasting impact that goes beyond anything physical.
“Chey will not leave her kennel, and has to be carried out. Every single time,” said the video. “Chey is extremely fearful, especially around people she doesn’t know or has never met. She takes a very, very long time to feel comfortable and even when she does, she still cringes and jumps at every touch.”
Almeida said that whenever Chey was taken out of her enclosure, she would begin doing something staff refer to as “pancaking.” “She lays flat on the ground, eyes closed and shaking from fear,” Almeida said. “Every single time we tried to take her outside.”
Chey seen cowering in her shelter (Orange County Animal Services)
The busy shelter environment will have likely contributed to the dog’s anxiety. A previous study published in the journal Physiology & Behavior found dogs confined in the shelter had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their system over the first three days of their stay than canines who had resided there for nine days or more.
Watching the OCAS Instagram video, filmed weeks on from her arrival, however, it looks almost as though Chey is still struggling to bring those cortisol levels down. Almeida believes that is understandable. “The shelter can be a loud and chaotic place and for most dogs that aren’t accustomed to it, it can be terrifying,” Almeida said.
The worry with a dog like Chey is the fact they could be locked in a vicious cycle. “The more time she spends at the shelter, the more shut down she becomes,” OCAS warned in their video. “She can only handle so much stress: even a few minutes in the yard can leave her exhausted from fear and anxiety. And she always has to be carried back to her kennel.”
The post drew a glut of responses from worried animal lovers on Instagram. “Praying for a loving home,” one viewer wrote in the comments section accompanying the post. “Please save this precious dog,” another added with a third writing: “This breaks my heart.”
The good news, for Chey, is that progress has been made since that clip was filmed. Almeida said: “Chey does eventually calm down and start seeking affection, but it takes her a very long time.”
Though staff are still unclear about what caused Chey’s shutdown state, the good news is that she is going to continue her recuperation and recovery in a different setting. “She was pulled by a private rescue,” Almeida said. “The long-term goal now for her is slow and patient socialization, and finding her a good home.”
Chey still faces a long road to recovery, but the shelter hopes she’s now on the right path toward finding a forever home where she no longer has to be fearful of anything. “We’re hoping she finds a quiet and calm home, preferably with another dog present, and a family with a lot of patience and time for her,” Almeida said.
