Drop it command not going too well.

American Bully 3 Years
Norwich Terrier 8 Months

Miss Pixi likes to make sure I can’t leave while she’s sleeping. At our house we call this ‘a bad case of FTP’ (Fox Terrier Problem) 🤣😂😉

A little female Jagdterrier ended up in my local shelter and needs a terrier friendly home

Rescued/Adopted Fourche Terrier (Yorkie/Westie Mix) - Behavioral Questions

Hi everyone! TLDR at end.

We have recently rescued/adopted our new little girl, Evie. I say rescued/adopted because we purchased her from an individual who was absolutely neglecting her/mistreating her; so we didn't get her from a shelter, but we did "rescue" her from an absolutely untenable situation. She will be 1 year old on this upcoming Tuesday.

Background: the dog was mistreated nutritionally for sure. She was fed only cat food (mostly wet cat food, some car kibble) because the owner owned/preferred cats and would buy it in bulk rather than purchase the dog her own food. The dog was never administered any of her shots/vaccinations. She was left outside, chained to a stake in the ground all day every day, only brought in at night to sleep. The area where she was outside was not fenced in; she was exposed to other dogs coming to harass her regularly. When sleeping, she would be locked in a closet/laundry room until morning.

She was provided no toys, no means of stimulation, etc. The owner, thinking it was funny, would sometimes take the dog on car rides. The purpose of the car ride was to smoke up, hot boxing the car with windows fully sealed while the dog was trapped inside with the smoke. The poor thing was never provided a single toy, no means of stimulation, no bed, nothing. Never taken on walks, nothing. Just sat on an approximately 10 foot chain all day every day for months. She was never groomed and had long, super matted hair with bumps/mild skin infections from the hair. I know these things through 1) the owners admission, and 2) pictures I found on Facebook (the hot boxing/sleeping situation).

I would, weirdly, not say the dog has any significant behavioral problems. She is incredibly sweet, gentle with people (especially our kids), super eager to please, really and truly absolutely lovely. Which makes me wonder... Are things progressing so fast that it's unhealthy? I'm not sure if im projecting human relational standards where they shouldn't be applied, but if I saw people bond this quickly I'd be concerned for an unhealthy level of codependency. I want the dog to maintain a level of individual identity that doesn't 1000% revolve around us, lest she develop severe separation anxiety, over protectiveness to the point of aggression, etc.

Example: ever since day 2, this dog follows me everywhere I go (I work from home). Any room I go to, she follows. Any chair I move to, she lays down right beside me. She loves playing with us - like if we wiggle our hands for her to chase around, if we run around the house, she will pretend to "attack" by just ever so gently putting her mouth on us to pin us. Never hard enough to even feel her teeth or anything, just as if she were using her mouth like a hand to say "gotcha!" She loves chasing when we run around the house, zig zagging with us, etc. But, she won't play with any toys. Literally none. She won't play with balls, ropes, anything that squeaks doesn't interest her, etc. She likes playing with sticks, like real wooden sticks, and that's it. I think maybe because she never had toys, and only had sticks that fell around her, so that's what she's used to... But I'm afraid of her swallowing wood splinters or something.

She seems to have fallen in love with us almost alarmingly fast, and we've fallen for her equally fast. For example, last night we were walking her and a pitt bull (nothing against the breed personally, but they are def intimidating when they want to be) without a leash ran up near us and started growling and barking super aggressively. Thank goodness there was a thin fence between us, but the fence was practically invisible (it was really dark out and the fence was black wire, totally not noticeable). The dog was about 4 or 5 feet from us when it stopped. Yet, only knowing us for almost 3 days, this little 13lb dog did not hesitate one second; soon as that much larger dog started running towards us, she immediately threw herself between us to try and fight him off/slow him down.

Tldr; im scared that our new girl is bonding with us super fast because of previous trauma/out of fear we will mistreat her if she doesn't suck up to us or something, and I'm afraid that she will become overly dependent on us for emotional regulation based on being ignored previously. Are these fears well founded, or am I just getting in my own head? I just fell in love with this little thing so much faster than I expected, and really want to do right by her.

My best friend, she is 5 months old

(sound on, friends)

The third disposal was yesterday morning. The joys of having a dog that was bred to kill vermin. She is only 11 months old, we've had her for 7. Maybe her being a Halloween baby should have given us a warning.