Looking for others who’ve rehabbed a fearful rescue, progress is happening but slow

I adopted a rescue from Ukraine. Her name is Polly, she’s about 9–10 months old, and she’s one of the sweetest, gentlest dogs I’ve ever met, but also extremely fearful. I don’t think she was abused, more like she lived around lots of dogs and never had to navigate the world solo. When she arrived, she mostly stayed in her crate or on the couch. She didn’t follow us, didn’t explore, and wouldn’t go outside voluntarily at all.

We’ve been working slowly and gently, using consent-based handling, no forcing, no leash pressure, and giving her lots of agency. She loves affection in bed or on the couch, she’s starting to follow us from room to room, and she has definitely bonded to us. The biggest breakthrough recently was taking her to Scotland for 3 weeks with a calm, confident dog. She started venturing outside, running laps in the yard, choosing to explore, and coming back inside on her own. We’re being careful not to push her too fast using a long line, predictable routines, and micro-sessions.

Our goal now is to get her comfortable walking on leash when we are back in London. Indoor leash desensitization is going slowly, and the sound of dragging spooks her. We bought her a crate that you can clip into wheels making more like a stroller so we could get her outside. She’ll take one or two steps outside the stroller then retreat, but it is improving. We are speaking to behaviourists (still vetting) and looking for a calm dog to walk with her regularly for modelling and confidence.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has been through something similar:

• How long did it take until walks became normal?
• What actually moved the needle for you, something small or a repeated pattern?
• Did confidence come gradually or in sudden leaps?
• What helped most with threshold hesitation and leash tolerance?
• Any wins that kept you going when progress felt microscopic?

I am not looking for magic fixes, just the perspective of people who have walked this path and come out the other side, even if it took months.

Polly is slowly finding her feet in the world and I want to support that the right way, without rushing her or creating setbacks. Any stories, timelines, or things that worked for your nervous rescue would mean a lot.