5 month old Husky just rescued from puppy mill

Question
We have just gotten our 5-month old Siberian Husky from my boss's niece last week. She was rescued from a puppy mill along with 200 other dogs. She has had barely if not no human contact her whole life up until 2 weeks ago when rescued. There is myself, my husband, and my 2 1/2 year old daughter in the home. I'm not for sure how to describe my huskies behavior or attitude. Since we have had her she spends nights in our room in her kennel and days while we are at work in her kennel and she has had only one accident, so as far as that goes she does very well. However, we are having major issues with her being completely scared of us. She will not come to us, she will back away from us when we approach her. She will not go outside unless carried but runs part of the time when you try to get close to pick her up. However once close enough and she knows you are going to pick her up she is relax she will lay her head on your shoulder. I'm not for sure how to ease her into getting to know us or encourage her to interact with us? She will lay beside us on the floor while we are watching TV. She will approach my daughter and smell her, but, when she moves the puppy gets scared and runs away. She does not show any signs of aggression. She seems to be very loving and has never even growled. We want to know how to get her used to us? How long this usually takes? We really can't get a handle on her potty training until she'll come to us. She won't come to us, so we have to chase her to put a leash on and then still have to have treats to get her to go outside. Or if she won't move after the leash is on she is carried outside. And once outside she just lays in the snow. I don't think that she knows what to do outside. And she has never went to be rewarded for going outside. We also have puppy pads inside but we can't get her to go on those either.

We are new at having a puppy mill dog. She has such a sweet personality right now that we want to do whatever we can so she has a nice loving home. We just need help and advise for her and us on how to get us there. Whatever you can give us is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Answer
It does vary from dog to dog the amount of time in which a dog like this will settle in. What you can try is to offer small treats in exchange for her to just to come up to you,once she accepts that for a few times then hold out a treat and then slowly reach out to her,and give her the treat when she accepts. That does help-and in most cases esp a dog this young,they will usually come out on there own. You also have to be careful into not forcing her into things as that might make her even more scared. Also once she is a bit more settled in,taking her to obedience classes will help her as well. As it does socialize them,and trained dogs(once they are able to get to that point)also have more confidence