Bugsy was a dog who once placed his trust in people, only to have that trust brutally shattered. He learned to have faith in people again. But in a moment of panic barely thirty minutes after arriving here, Bugsy turned on us and abandoned us. It was a terrifying experience, and suddenly we couldn't trust him. However, there is a very happy ending because we learned to trust each other.
We knew that Bugsy had suffered immensely before coming to us. His eyes had literally been torn out of his head due to trauma. Someone had called animal control in a North Carolina town to report that they had found Bugsy in their yard, with his eyes out of their sockets. Really. We saw the horrific photos.
Bugsy was at a veterinary clinic to undergo surgery when we were asked to pick him up. He then spent a few weeks with a wonderful adoptive family that adored him. They described Bugsy as an adorable cuddle bug and sent photos of him sitting on their laps. The transport driver who picked him up said Bugsy was a sweet and lovable dog.
After letting Bugsy roam in the front yard for a while, Alayne went out to bring him inside. That's when he attacked. Without warning, Bugsy lunged at her, growling and baring his teeth. She stepped back, but he kept approaching. Alayne managed to stay one step ahead and fled inside the house, shocked.
We managed to get Bugsy into a box. When we closed the box door with a thud, Bugsy turned and lunged, trying to bite our hands through the door. We took him into the house in the box. The next morning, still growling from inside the box, we took him to a separate yard. We opened the box door and ran to the house. Bugsy stayed inside the box, only venturing out to go to the bathroom and then returning to it. At night, we sneaked out, closed the box door, and brought him inside.
After a couple of days of this, we called in a specialist in veterinary behavioral medicine for help. She thought that the horrific injury, combined with too many changes, had overwhelmed Bugsy, causing fear and aggression. She gave us a plan to follow.
One thing we had already done was to place another blind dog, Willie, in the yard with him so Bugsy could model Willie's "I love people" behavior. As the days went by, Bugsy became more comfortable, but he still spent most of his time in the crate. At least he was no longer growling at us.
Then we added another dog, Louie, to the mix. We could see Bugsy sitting in his crate, head tilted, listening to the happy sounds of Willie and Louie greeting us enthusiastically at the door. Bugsy stopped retreating into the crate every time he heard us approach and began staying outside in the yard while we were there, though he kept his distance.
The big breakthrough finally came weeks later when Steve was in the yard tending to Louie. Bugsy was nearby, listening to the sound of a happy dog being loved. And he wanted to be loved again. Slowly, Bugsy approached closer and closer until he was resting against Steve's leg. Carefully, Steve knelt down to pet him, and Bugsy rolled over to have his belly scratched. Exposing the belly makes a dog very vulnerable. This was his way of showing that he trusted us.
From there, he began seeking us out for affection. He would lick us, wag his tail, and get excited when he heard us come out of the house. Now, there were three very happy dogs at the door.
As for that rolling over? Every morning when we open his crate, Ellmore Bugsworth III, as we sometimes call him, rolls over to get a good belly scratch before coming out. That's how he likes to start the day.
