Have you had experience training ‘rescued’ dogs or cats?

I'm asking the question in the title of this post because my son's girlfriend, a veterinarian, often ends up taking in cats or dogs people have abandoned at the emergency pet clinic where she works. One of the biggest problems she has is being able to teach those dogs and cats the basic behavior to live together peacefully -- and housebroken! -- in her small house.

That's not exactly the same as caring for and training cats or dogs rescued from various "puppy mill" or bad breeding operations. But she has a real problem, and I've heard that rescued pets often face such severe problems that they really cannot be "disciplined," but must be trained with many, many months or even years of loving, gentle care.

Have you had any experiences with rescued dogs or cats? Tell us about it, please, so that we may all learn from your experiences.

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