Hi Sara. Regarding went to start walking, it’s there’s no right answer and it will depend very much on your dog’s confidence. You can make a start even now, but the important thing is to watch very closely for signs of anxiety. The best thing is to stay very close to home and be ready to put off the experiment repeatedly until confidence is high enough.
As for potty training, that’s extremely difficult with these dogs, given the time they have spent doing it the wrong way. It will just take tremendous levels of time, patience and supervision.

Hi Linda. She’s probably never worn a leash or harness before so it will be extremely frightening. Like always, the commonsense approach is to do it in slow stages which you’re probably already doing. If there’s a way that you can break it up into steps then do so, but under no circumstances put the lead on and let her run around with it, as it will get caught on something and give her a far worse fright than if you were holding it. Regarding harnesses, the one I sell called Perfect Fit allows you to assemble it around the dog instead of having to put it over their head or through their arms which is really useful for anxious dogs. You may be able to find something similar

Hi Linda. This is all very typical for a dog with such a history. The advice in the article should be all you need to know, but stay in touch with your vet and get a behaviourist involved if necessary. Good luck.

Hi Elizabeth. You’re exactly the sort of person this article is for, and there are plenty of tips in it. The main ones of course are to not try and do it alone, and to be patient as things do get better if you persist.

Hi Sue. It sounds like it’s something that should resolve with time, especially since you have another dog as a role model. You’re doing the right thing and not trying to go it alone, so I would be reasonably confident that things will slowly improve.