The Humane Society of Jefferson County nick-named this guy “Dreadlocks” because of his twisted, knotted fur.

Hopefully he’ll be able to be groomed one day soon and the moniker won’t fit any more.

Last Updated: July 11, 2020

Base Info:

• Arrival date: Feb. 06, 2020
• Breed: Poodle Mix
• Sex: Male
• Age: Puppy, Young Adult, Mature, Senior
• Weight: 26 Pounds (April 23)
• Neutered: Yes
• General Health: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor
• Temperament: Wants to interact, but cannot be handled.
• Departure date: July 11, 2020 returning to H.S.J.C. then to Carolina Poodle Rescue 7/14

History

Camden was one of several dogs pulled from a hoarding situation in Green county that ended up at the Humane Society of Jefferson County.  He is not at all aggressive but is terrified of being touched, so he cannot be handled — or groomed.  He needs a low-stress environment to just chill out and learn to trust.

Camden’s Progress Summary:

Detailed notes on this foster dog’s progress are posted below the summary.

Gallery

In chronological order, newest at the bottom. Some pictures are linked to a more detailed Doggy Tale about that update, click those to open the related story.

Progress Updates

Progress notes are listed below, in chronological order, newest at the bottom.

Feb 6

Camden has just arrived, so we don’t know much yet.  However he tolerated riding around in a transport box without fussing and crying.  I checked on him frequently.  During the transport and after being released into his kennel he seemed guardedly interested in Marie and me.  Not shrinking away and cowering in a corner.  That’s a good place to start with him.

Feb 12

Camden has lost his fear of me to the point he tends to be underfoot a lot while I’m in his room doing “housekeeping”.  He will come right up and take bits of cheeseburger (sliders) from my fingers, but won’t let me pet him yet.  Working on it … we’re getting there.

Feb 16

Cammie is making some progress with his fearfulness.  He won’t quite let me touch him, but he will take treats from my fingers and will come over and sniff my hand.

During this cold, I set up an old transport box that’s missing its door inside the garage/lumber-shed/kennel.  It’s on a sheet of Styrofoam to insulate it from the cold concrete slab and held in place against the doorway through the wall with concrete blocks. I draped a blanket over the box leaving the louvers on one side open, put lots of blankets inside it, and set up a propane furnace to blow warm air through the open louvers.  That gave him a warm place to go when it got down to 24° at night.

April 8

Made some progress with Camden today.  He has been willing to come out and be quite close to me any time I’m in his kennel with him, but is leery of my hands.  If I reach out to touch him he scampers away.  Every day at noon I take him a few hot dog bits.  He will take these from me if I pinch them between thumb and fore-finger, but if I lay one on an open palm he stays back.  Until today.

April 24

Camden was neutered at Humane Society of Jefferson County (HSJC) on Wednesday the 22nd.  While he was unconscious, they shaved off the tangled mat he was wearing and checked him for hidden problems.  I’ve seen matted up dogs like this end up with colonies of maggots underneath, living in skin lesions.   Not the case here: aside from and ingrown and infected dew claw and one small skin lesion he’s in good shape.

He is not happy about being naked, though!  That will grow back, and I need to get him accustomed to being touched, so he can be brushed (at least) and (hopefully) groomed occasionally.

May 11

It’s been almost three weeks since Camden’s neutering and he should be all healed up now.  I can’t tell for sure because he will not let me look closely let alone touch.

It’s time to take the cone off, but it does not untie by pulling on the ends of the gauze rope.  I’ll need to cut it off, but he still reacts badly to touching and I don’t want to accidentally stab him in the neck with scissors.  I’ve been in touch with Julie, Manager at HSJC, about getting him a dose of something to relax him.  She says she has some Trazadone in the proper dosage that should do the trick.

I had hoped to be able to use his cone to protect me from being bitten so I could try some “forced petting” but that has not panned out.  His fear of being touched is deeply ingrained, not just an aversion.  Yet he meets me at his kennel door when I bring him food, plays around my feet while I clean his kennel, and will all but climb into my lap (I’m sitting on the floor)  when I feed him his mid-day hot dog treats.  He will take them off my open palm.  But will not allow me to touch him. (sigh)

July 3

I got word over the weekend that Camden has been accepted by a Poodle rescue in North Carolina.  They say this “Social Distancing” behavior is quite common in abused Poodles, they know how to deal with it and can help him.

While in our care, he has become a friendly, happy, little fellow who will come out of his dog house to cavort around my feet as I clean his kennel.  He just backs away from being touched.

He got out of his kennel once and went around checking on the other dogs, who thought this was quite exciting!  I was able to herd him back into his kennel without incident.  Another time he decided to moosh himself between his dog house and the fencing of his kennel with his back pressed up against the fencing.  I came along and decided to try scratching his back.  Usually that would result in a flying leap over the dog house to get away.  This time he turned his head to stare at me with a “What do you think you’re doing?” expression and drew himself up a little but there were no panicked acrobatics.  Maybe he’s made a little progress with this too.

July 8

July 11

Camden was safely delivered back to Humane Society of Jefferson County.  It took only a little coercion to get him into hos transport box, he rode well, and at the other end he came right out, trotted around and hopped up on the cushy raised bed they had prepared for him.  Happy as a clam in silt.  Happy tails to you, Cammie!