Chico

Male, medium size, mixed breed (mostly Podenco mediano and Siberian husky)

Chico was adopted at 4 months from a shelter in Portugal. He was transported by land to Denmark on a 2 day travel with other rescue dogs in kennels, during Covid lock-down, in winter of 2020.
As many rescue dogs, Chico went through the “3:3:3 Rule” of adopted dogs:
• The first 3 days his stress levels were still very high from travelling, new home, new people, no siblings, cold and darkness of Scandinavian winters. He would hide in his kennel in the living room and didn’t dare to walk far from it. Still, he dared to accept food from our hands and it didn’t take long before he learned his name.
• After the first 3 weeks, he started to settle in. He was curious and explored different rooms of his new home. He accepted petting on his belly on his first Christmas eve and was more comfortable around his new mum and dad. He still wasn’t comfortable leaving the apartment, though.
• At first 3 months he conquered the building stairs and learned that a harness and leash weren’t that bad if they were coupled with tasty treats. He was still very fearful, but his curiosity was bigger and he dared to go out to the streets around this time. As he became his true self, some behavior problems started to appear. Separation anxiety was one of them.
We started training to desensitize him to our absences, with the help of specialized separation anxiety trainers. We could  never leave him alone unless he had a sitter. We built slowly the time he could be left home alone from 1 second to 2:30 hours. This is still work in progress as training to overcome separation anxiety is never a straight line, but with ups and downs and we always have to go at the dog’s pace.
As soon as Chico became an adolescent he started to dislike other dogs, specially males with long hair and/or bigger than him.
We had to castrate him as per adoption contract and that exacerbated his over-reaction with other dogs.
After a number of thorough vet check-ups and consultations with a vet behaviorist, Chico was diagnosed with anxiety and required medication to help him cope with the environment and his fears.
Chico continues training every day and he advances one step at a time.
He has accomplished vast amounts since he first arrived to Denmark and despite his anxiety, he is as happy as he can be with his family, where he is loved and understood.