Not just any rescue dog but YOUR rescue dog
Your rescue dog will be unique. They will probably be a mixture of breeds and have bits of many traits that have, over hundreds of years, been selectively enhanced by breeding programs. Now all those things have been thrown into a pot and your individual dog has been created. So how do we get this uniquely quirky dog to settle into a new home?
Most of these dogs have had to have their wits about them to survive, so they will be logical and learn quickly. The strangest of things, that we haven’t even considered, can seem like a life and death situation to them.
It’s all a bit scary!
Initially they will be suspicious of everything, they will have a strong sense of self-preservation, and their natural instinct to survive may place both you and them in harms way. They will need to feel safe before they can trust you and before they can learn anything about their new environment. This is why it is so important to give them space and time to settle in. Allow them to have the choice of whether to stay in the spot they have chosen or to explore further when they are ready to do so.
Build trust, build confidence
Your first mission is to get them to trust you, to have confidence in you, to know you mean them no harm. It might well be inconvenient to you to have to work with your dog in slow, steady, plodding steps. After all in this day and age you can have pretty much anything you want right now! That won’t be the case with your rescue dog, it will take time and patience, from both of you, before you earn that trust in each other.
When looking at re-homing and, for want of a better word, rehabilitating these dogs you have to work with what is in front of you. Your dog is a unique character, and must be cared for and educated as such. There are no quick fixes. There is no magic bullet. You need to learn your dog’s little idiosyncrasies – you need to learn to understand “dog”.
Learn to read your rescue dog
You may tell me that your dog is just sitting there doing nothing, or that they reacted to something “without any warning”. This is just not true – they are sending you messages all the time. It’s up to you to learn the subtle ways of canine communication so that you can ensure that your dog is free from stress and anxiety and is in the best state possible to settle into this strange new environment.
If you go to give your new rescue dog a hug, and they back away with their ears right back, then listen to them and move away, give them the space they are asking for. If you don’t listen and react accordingly, then the next time you get too close, too soon they might not bother with the subtle hint, they might move directly to the next step of the aggression ladder. Then you might be faced with a snarling, growling dog. Then you might start to listen. But you will probably then blame the dog and tell me they are aggressive, despite the fact that they had already told you they were not happy with you being that close. But it was you that ignored them.
If there is one thing that will make your exciting journey with your rescue dog easier it is learning to listen to them. Then act in a way that reduces the stress and anxiety in your dog. You can find out more about canine body language here.
