An adult male wearing a light blue disposable surgical gown, holding an adult Labrador Retriever mix in what appears to be an animal shelter or veterinary clinic with beige walls and greenery outside. 4:40
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How a puppy mill dog learned to love petting

Coconut came out of a puppy mill so afraid of people that no one could touch her. When her trainers came near, she tried to get away. more

Dogs like her are the reason the ASPCA opened its Rehab Center. Kept alone in puppy mills and hoarding cases, they never learn to live around people, and ordinary life scares them. Many sat in shelters and never got adopted. Some were put down because they were simply too fearful.

Coconut was a hard case even by those standards. At her first checks she wouldn't let anyone close, and one of her trainers admits doubting they could help her at all.

So they started small. Food came from a hand, and she learned a few simple tasks to do when people were near, so that people began to mean good things. At three weeks she was "a different dog already," and her trainer could very carefully touch her. She was still nervous, but she was letting it happen.

A white dog stands behind the metal bars of a cage, with a red wall behind her. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Three weeks into her rehab, she's still nervous but starting to accept a careful touch.

She was a quick study, and very smart. Leash walks came next, first in places she knew and then in new ones. Touch was still the hardest part. It terrified her.

The fix was to put her in charge. They taught her to press parts of her body against their hands and rewarded her for it, so she was the one who started the touch. "Eventually she realized that it felt good," her trainer says, "and she discovered that petting was awesome."

An adult male wearing a light blue disposable surgical gown, holding an adult Labrador Retriever mix in what appears to be an animal shelter or veterinary clinic with beige walls and greenery outside. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Coconut came out of a puppy mill so afraid of people that no one could touch her.

Her final check came after only six weeks. When her trainer walked into the kennel, Coconut was jumping up and down. She walked well on a leash and stayed relaxed while being handled. For a dog given such a poor outlook, the team called it an extremely quick recovery.

An older couple gave her a home. "She adds so much to our lives," one of them says. Mornings start with coming down to fix her breakfast, and "she gets a breakfast before I get my coffee."

The dog who once tried to get away from every hand ends her story in a home of her own, tail wagging. That part is hard to fake.

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