Rehabilitation

Welcome to the DHR Rehab Projects page. These are just a few of our projects. Each one of these pups have over come tremendous circumstances and were all pulled from death row hours before the end. Learn more about them in their profiles below.
—————————————————————————————————

 
Willy ( Now goes by Wyly ) – Willy was the first rescue to enter Dog Habitat on Halloween 2009. Due to his lack of teeth, hair and health he was put up on death row. He entered our program an “Old Man” and left a Show Stopper! It took us 5 months to bring Willy into his glory and every single bit would have been unatainable without sponsors like Stella and Chewy’s, Zukes, Ultra Oil and Pet Kelp.
Sasha - DHR’s little blue nose. This girl stole the hearts of every single member of our staff. Found as a stray on the street as a pup her immune system couldn’t fight off a severe case of mange. But that never broke her spirit, although she was afraid of almost every human she absolutely loved every dog around her. We used a combination of Stella and Chewys Frozen Raw in conjunction with Ultra Oil and Pet Kelp to fight back the mange, boost her immune and heal her wounds into an amazing blue coat.
Buster - Late one afternoon we got a call from ACC, they had a 3 year old Jack Russel / Rat Terrier mix that was on the Euth. List for the evening. Rob and Bea being suckers for Ratties weren’t going to let this happen. One problem Buster had Kennel Cough and it was a Holiday weekend so there was no room at Unleash for a sick Dog. Now they needed a foster in less then 2 hrs for this little guy. One word…..Facebook! Posting messages to everyone we know secured us a foster with 20 minutes to spare. Saved from the Euth list Buster arrived the next day happy and full of energy. Due to his condition we were not able to test him with other dogs and he was not able to be neutered right away. We quickly found out that lack of prior socialization, nerves and testosterone made it very difficult for Buster to socialize. He was so over stimulated he couldn’t walk past another dog on the street with out barking intensely.

Our solution?
Slow positive reinforcement training with lots of exercise. The great thing about Buster is that he is extremely food motivated and absolutely loves to please people. It took us two months and help from his foster mom, our staff trainer, our own dogs, the DHR Treadmill and countless bags of Zuke’s and Stella and Chewy’s crunches. Here is a break down of his progress.

- Buster would run 3 miles a day with his foster mom on the weekends.
- During the week while at Unleash he would do 6 miles a day on the treadmill.
- Once we determined Buster’s triggers our staff trainer began working with him on simple but useful commands.
- About 1 month in Rob brought his Rattie Emilia to visit Buster. She is a very calm girl that won’t tolerate any nonsense. The result? Emilia, Rob and Buter took a 3hr walk to the farmers market and back. This marked a huge break through for Buster and a Milestone for the DHR Team.
- Then Buster was Neutered!
- Buster began improving in leaps and bounds
- To everyone’s surprise at the end of Labor Day Weekend BUSTER was co existing and playing with 14 other dogs at Unleash.

Below are some videos of Buster.
Peggy Sue - Deemed a broken down senior with little time left on her watch. She was slow moving, had bald patches. Her coat was coarse dry and brittle. Again Stella and Chewy’s Freeze Dried, Ultr Oil to coat her organs and Pet Kelp Skin and Coat scored huge. Transforming Peggy Sue into a vibrant older Pom.
Ladybug - This is Lady. When she came to us she was 96 lbs! At that weight she could barely walk. We immediately contacted our food sponsor Stella and Chewy’s, lord knows what she was eating before but this lady was going to get in shape! We designed a strict regimate of food, treats and excercise for her to follow. She was a picky eater at first ( hard to believe ) so S&C supplied us with some freeze dried to mix in with her frozen raw at first. By week 2 she had moved soley to the frozen raw. Along with her meals we added Ultra Oil to speed up her metabolism and antioxident Pet Kelp to help flush out her system. Being at the Unleash Brooklyn Daycare during the day was her initail outlet for excersize, at week 3 we introduced her to the DHR Treadmill. Where did all this work take us? After month 1 Lady had lost 20lbs! and gained a waist line. She continues to shed weight but at a slower pace and is a healthy, happy Lady Bug.
 
Scout – Ladies and Gents meet Scout. Scout is an Italian Greyhound that has come to us. She has some serious skin and allergy issues and is quite under wieght, however she is truly a loving soul, that will be amazing when we are done with her. What would a new year be without the start of a new project. Welcome to the Habitat Scout!
- Day 1 Scout is seriously allergic to Chicken.  We won’t be trying that again.
- Day 2 Scout is now on strictly Stella and Chewy’s Duck Duck Goose and recouping fabulously.
- Week 2 Scout is putting on wieght her eye infection and soars have cleared up and her ear is still healing.
On a side note she appeared on LXNY NBC this week. Go Scout!
UPDATE: Scout has been adopted! She looks fantastic you can see an updated photo of her on our Adoption Stories page