It sounds like you got this dog from a very heartless person. He probably has never had much love or security in his life. He needs a stable home to learn that he can trust his new owner in. I hope you will be committed to teaching this little fellow that he is now loved and that he can trust you to be there for him. It is going to take patience and compassion to get this little guy to trust you and to start living a normal life. It is going to take some time. You have actually rescued this dog from an unhappy life. This is a project. Yes, the longer you keep him the harder it will be on him if you decide you don't want him anymore. I would not consider taking him back to where you got him from. If you are expecting this dog to act like a normal dog after such a short time I'm afraid you will be disappointed. He has to learn to trust. His world has never been stable and you may be his only hope of learning to live a normal life. If you don't know how to do this perhaps you can contact a trainer or some other person experienced in helping dogs to adjust after a difficult previous life.

I adopted Coral from a Yorkie rescue. She was skitish and would never turn your back to you. We bonded right from the start. I was the only one who could pick her up from the ground.

When we first got her she bit my son and would knip at his heals and bark and lunge at him everytime he would walk into the room. She only did this with him and it would break my heart. But I knew that I would not give up on her.

One day she jumped our fence and my son, Seth, found her in the neighbors yard. She would not let him get close to her she just stood there barking. The neighbors didn't have a gate ,knowing how much she meant to meant to me, he stayed there even after it stated to rain watching her so she would not get out. Finally another neighbor came out after they heard her barking and took her inside our house for him.

It took her a whole year but I will never forget the day I walked into his room and she was sitting beside him and he was petting her. Just thinking about it makes me cry .... I miss her so much.

You never know how long it will take them to adjust. You just have to be willing to take a chance on them. :)

I am fostering a puppy mill Yorkie. Her name is Molly and she is blind. When I first got her she hid, would not eat and was scared to death. I have had her a couple of months now and she has changed so much. She plays with the pack, wants me to love on her at all times but we also have the DH problem. Molly barks and growls as soon as DH comes in a room and speaks but she has started letting him pet her although you can see she is not happy abput it. It will take a long time to earn his trust but in the end it will be worth it

When I started adopting rescue greyhounds, it was always conditional and contingent upon their getting along with the existing pack, my family, my children's friends and that they were in general, good canine citizens with other animals and strangers. Regardless of my own 'big heart', big dogs with big teeth have the capacity to cause big damage and I wasn't about to put anyone in my home or neighborhood at risk. I never had to give back a single dog, not even the spookie ones.

It took days, months or even years for my adoptees to develop complete trust in me and show their true selves. Ultimately, it is up to you to know up front what you think you can handle regarding a 'troubled' dog as well as what behaviors you can live with in the event that they remain unchanged. There were also times when information regarding an adoptee had been purposely withheld from me, or the dog exhibited new and previously unknown behaviors in my home within the first few days and I had to reevaluate the dog's eligibility to remain with us.

As stated, no dog who came into my home ever had to be returned because I was realistic in calculating what our chances of success were before I took them in. I must confess that more often than not, my heart overruled my head and I DID bite off more than I could chew, but LOVE heals, it really does..... and I simply refused to give up.

I wish you strength and patience. I can see that you already have a big heart..

Give him time and more time. You will get discouraged, but don't let that stop you. Dinky was terrified of my husband for at least 3 weeks, and then the progress was slow. Now, over after a year and a half, Dinky loves and trusts my husband as much as he loves and trusts me. Hang in there!

Even when you buy a pup from a breeder, there is an adjustment period. Mine came from a breeder. When I got my first, there was an adjustment period for her, and when I just added the second, we are now still going through an adjustment period. We have had her for a month. Sometimes it's two steps forward, three steps back, but we're getting there. Just give it time and don't get discouraged. I'm sure given patience and love your little one will come around.