Feral Puppy Does A 'Complete 180' With Help From Her Foster Dog Siblings

Fostering dogs and cats is not for the faint of heart. It requires patience, discipline, endless reserves of love, and the ability to let go when the time is right. But fostering is extremely beneficial for the most troubled animals, especially since shelter surrender is worse for a dog than you thought. Florida resident Tracy Fosterling lives with five dogs and two cats of her own, and she also opens up her home to foster animals — around 60 of them over the last eight years.

One of her most challenging fosters was a Jack Russell hound mix named Blossom. In a video that's been viewed more than 443,000 times on YouTube, the feral dog clearly felt terrified, growling constantly and resisting coming near humans. "She would actively go out of her way to avoid me," Fosterling told The Dodo. 

Very quickly, Fosterling realized that Blossom only felt comfortable around the resident dogs. She said, "I would start bringing my dogs in and just having her watch me pet them, having her watch me interact with them." Over the course of several months, Blossom started to relax and play in the yard with the other dogs, even allowing her foster mom to pet her head a little bit. Fosterling said, "The Blossom that I first picked up was a wild animal. And then the dog I see now, she's a complete 180."

Viewers of the YouTube video heaped praise upon Fosterling and her happy, well-trained pooches for teaching Blossom how to act like a dog. "This girl did great! A dog is the very best way to teach a dog how to 'dog'👍🏻🫡," one person wrote, while another commented, "I've always felt the best way to get a scared dog back to normal is interaction with other good dogs. Golden retrievers seem to be the best ones to show them how to dog."

A fearful dog who has been abused or neglected can learn a lot from having a confident, well-adjusted dog as a companion. In fact, some animal rescue organizations stipulate that certain dogs — especially poorly socialized ones born in puppy mills — can only be adopted into homes that already have a resident dog to act as a role model for the scared, anxious pup. A nervous newcomer can learn much by interacting with and imitating a friendly resident dog. As one netizen wrote about Blossom, "The poor dog didn't even understand what being a dog was until she saw you with your dog."

Want to read more heartwarming stories about rescue dogs who get taken into loving foster homes? Check out this "broken" shelter dog who blossoms into a whole new pup with the help of her foster sister, and this foster mom who realizes her rescue dog understands Spanish.