Juno's story is very hard to tell. Juno' was owned by a single elderly man that had owned many "backyard dogs" in his lifetime. His strong belief of dog ownership was that dogs should never be allowed indoors. He insisted that a doghouse with straw inside and food and water once a day was all that was necessary.
There was a woman who lived in the neighborhood that watched this man's idea of dog ownership for 32 years! She was nervous of saying anything to him, but made several attempts to help each one of the dogs he had owned. Time and time again she was told that he met the minimum requirements and that his dogs were always well fed. Each dog he owned, one right after the other would live tied day and night in the same place for no less than ten years. Not once were they walked, brushed or provided with toys. All they did their whole lives was bark constantly and dig holes for relief from boredom.
Four month old Juno was "adopted" by this man last fall when he was in his late 80's. His health was severely declining and it was noted that he was barely capable of his own care never mind Juno's. In the late spring of this year that same concerned neighbor noticed that Juno's owner didn't come out for several mornings as he usually did with Juno's food and water. On the third day she knocked on his door and he didn't answer. She then looked inside his window and realized the elderly man was on the floor and had probably passed away. Once the police arrived it was confirmed. This elderly man had no family but luckily for Juno the neighbor decided to adopted him! This woman contacted me to help her. Before we started all Juno used to do was hide behind the couch in her home all day long. He only came out to eat when she went to bed. He was never socialized to anything and was terrified of all humans and mostly everything else in his environment as well.
Juno's progress will be slow. He is estimated to be around ten months old with virtually no social skills. He is frozen with fear but thankfully not fearfully aggressive. He has been neutered and treated for heart worm, now he is finally ready to learn about the world. I am grateful he understands the concept of a leash and collar (Probably from being tied up) The first thing we are doing is keeping him by his new owners side whenever she is home by keeping him on a leash. We are having him follow her from room to room. Juno's new owner is hand feeding him little bits of dog food throughout the day while using his name to teach him to trust her. I got my first report that on Sunday when she returned from church Juno came out from hiding and wagged his tail when he saw her!!!! He did not approach her but waited until she came to him. Progress is being made but it will be a slow and careful process. I look forward to this extreme challenge but I feel very sorry that Juno got such a poor start.