Trust is earned, especially when it comes to pets, and even more so when they’ve already had their trust betrayed.

When Roscoe arrived with his two housemates from local animal control, their story was a complete mystery, and it seemed like something had broken their trust. It’s quite the challenge when pets arrive with no known history and an inability to communicate their stories. Time and behavior assessments help to answer some of the basic questions.

The team’s initial assessment of Roscoe immediately told them that this pup was anxious, and that he wasn’t going to trust anybody very easily. It was going to take a lot of work to ensure Roscoe felt confident and comfortable enough to go to a new home, but the behavior team here was up to the task.

Between his daily care, more behavior assessments, and interactions Roscoe had with staff, the behavior team discovered that the key to Roscoe’s heart was string cheese and tennis balls. That paired with patience and positive reinforcement, and Roscoe was becoming more trusting every day. Gaining his trust meant that they could work on his behavior with strangers, other dogs, and in busier environments that might mimic life in the outside world for Roscoe. His consistent daily training was going well, and soon enough, Roscoe was ready for adoption. It didn’t take very long for somebody to fall in love with that sweet face – but CHS’ extremely dedicated adoption and behavior teams made sure that his new family understood his limitations and that they would need to go slow and continue to work on his training.

Today, Roscoe is having the time of his life with loads of tennis balls on 6 acres of land, and playmates just down the street!

When you support the Connecticut Humane Society, it means more than just getting pets into homes; it means you provide pets with all of the unique care they need for a fresh start. And it’s because of supporters just like you that pets like Roscoe are able to transform into loving, trusting companion animals here at CHS.