Rescue disaster, please advice

[law1558]

I agree with all the suggestions given - especially having the crate in your bedroom with you at night so the dog starts to associate comfort and security with your scent.

Don't give up hope - we rescued a dog recently and although he didn't seem to have the issues you describe, it was still a good couple weeks before he settled in to where you could tell he felt more comfortable in our home. We also subscribed to the "it's all about us (us meaning our family)" mentality for the first few weeks he was at home - no outside friends, no visitors, no nothing - just our family providing food, walks and interaction, so the dog didn't feel so overwhelmed as he adjusted to his new home.

Good luck and keep us posted! Hang in there!

[Mrs.K]

DO NOT START SOCIALIZING HER WITH OTHER DOGS, YET!

Give her a couple of weeks to settle in. She has an Odyssey behind her. Pound, pulled, placed in a new home, dumped at the pound again, pulled again, with other dogs and now in a new place. No wonder she is freaking out. Give her time to get settled.

Buy a Crate, put that Crate right beside your bed over night.

Also, I would suggest Crate Games for her to make the Crate a good thing and it also helps her to get to know you and it will help you later down the road with so many things.

However, give her time to settle, DO NOT SOCIALIZE with other dogs yet. Let her settle in first. Start on the Crate Training including the Crate Games. You can also load the Clicker.

But NO SOCIALIZING, NO DOG PARKS, SHE IS NOT READY YET. Give her time!

[Betty]

Poor girl, she's really been through the ringer hasn't she?

I agree with the crating and perhaps tethering her to you. She may be a dog that really needs a steady routine right now, sounds like nothing in her life has been steady, predictable, or permanent so far.

[msvette2u]

Please do A TWO WEEK SHUT DOWN. Here is the info. Begin this immediately.

It's basically a "REBOOT" of the dog's system and brain.



"I introduced her to 15 people" " he was a bit leery but seems to like my other 3 dogs"
"she went everywhere with me "
All in the first few days of the new home..... (!!!)

Two weeks later we read
“I think we will have to rehome the new dog" "the new dog barked and nipped at my kid"
"we had a dog fight"

Ok, folks, here it comes; some feel this is extreme, why? I really do not know.
But when bringing in a new dog, post finding, adoption, buying, etc, Give it time to adjust to you
your family and the dogs in the new environment.

TWO WEEKS - "shut down"
For the first two weeks, (sometimes even longer) a dog takes in the new environment, who is the top
persons, dogs, who ARE these people! By pushing a dog too fast and throwing too much at the dog we look like we are not the leaders and the dog can feel it MUST defend itself, as the leader is surely
no one he has met so far!
We coo, coddle, drag the dog to home to home to person to person, and the dog has NO idea who
we are.
As member Maryellen here said, "This is the dating period NOT the honeymoon"
When you first met your "mate”, you were on your best behavior, you were not relaxed enough to be
all of yourself, were you? Just think of the things you do physically once you get to KNOW a person,
you wouldn’t run up to a stranger and hug them and squeeze them!
Imagine, if on the first date, this new person, was all over you touching you and having their friends hug you
and pat you on the head, and jostle your shoulders, then he whisked you off to another stranger’s home and
they did the same thing. Would you think this person normal and SAFE? Wouldn’t you feel invaded and
begin to get a bit snarky yourself? Wouldn’t you think to push these people away for obviously your date
is out of their mind and they aren’t going to save you from these weirdos!!
Yet we do this to our dogs, and then get upset or worried that they aren’t relaxed and accepting of EVERYTHING
instantly!

By shutting down the dog, it gives the dog TIME to see you, meet YOU, hear and take in the new sounds
and smells of your home.
I crate the dog in a room by itself if possible.(Believe me, dogs are sensory animals, they know more than you think without seeing it).
I take it out on a leash (so I don’t have to correct it ..I don’t have that right yet!), I give it exercise time in the yard,
I do no training at all, just fun exercise and maybe throw some toys for fun, leash the dog if you don’t have a fence outside. But I DO NOT leave my yard, AT ALL.
No car rides, no other dogs, (unless crated beside them), no pet stores, no WALKS even, nothing but me, my home, my yard. (Unless of course the dog needs to go to the veterinarian)
Believe me dogs can live two weeks without walks. Walks are stressful for there is so much coming at you! And the new person you have no clue who they are yet. The dog may react to something and we start correcting it with the leash and we just installed a VERY STRESSFUL moment to the dog!
TEACH the dog by doing the shut down, that YOU are the one to look to, that you are now here for the dog! He can
trust in you and look to you as its new leader!!
In the house I have the dog out only for about 20 minutes post exercise/yard times.
And, ALWAYS on a leash.
Then PUT THE DOG AWAY. Let it absorb and think.
I do not introduce the dogs for these two weeks, they can be side by side in the crates, (not nose to nose for they can feel defensive) . Some dogs will bond instantly with the other dogs if we don’t bond FIRST with the dog, and this can lead to some other issues, as the dog will look to the other dog(s) for guidance and not YOU!

Literally in two weeks you will see a change in the dog and begin to see its honest and true personality.
Just like a house guest...they are well behaved and literally shut down themselves these first few weeks, then
post this time, they relax and the true personality begins to shine thru!


So, please, if nothing else for your new dog, give it the time to LEARN YOU as you are learning who they are!
This method works on shy dogs, confident dogs, abuse cases, chained dogs that come in, rowdy dogs, all temperaments!

(From PBF’s “luvnfstuff”, revised for spelling errors)

[Holmeshx2]

Originally Posted by msvette2u

Please do A TWO WEEK SHUT DOWN. Here is the info. Begin this immediately.

It's basically a "REBOOT" of the dog's system and brain.



"I introduced her to 15 people" " he was a bit leery but seems to like my other 3 dogs"
"she went everywhere with me "
All in the first few days of the new home..... (!!!)

Two weeks later we read
“I think we will have to rehome the new dog" "the new dog barked and nipped at my kid"
"we had a dog fight"

Ok, folks, here it comes; some feel this is extreme, why? I really do not know.
But when bringing in a new dog, post finding, adoption, buying, etc, Give it time to adjust to you
your family and the dogs in the new environment.

TWO WEEKS - "shut down"
For the first two weeks, (sometimes even longer) a dog takes in the new environment, who is the top
persons, dogs, who ARE these people! By pushing a dog too fast and throwing too much at the dog we look like we are not the leaders and the dog can feel it MUST defend itself, as the leader is surely
no one he has met so far!
We coo, coddle, drag the dog to home to home to person to person, and the dog has NO idea who
we are.
As member Maryellen here said, "This is the dating period NOT the honeymoon"
When you first met your "mate”, you were on your best behavior, you were not relaxed enough to be
all of yourself, were you? Just think of the things you do physically once you get to KNOW a person,
you wouldn’t run up to a stranger and hug them and squeeze them!
Imagine, if on the first date, this new person, was all over you touching you and having their friends hug you
and pat you on the head, and jostle your shoulders, then he whisked you off to another stranger’s home and
they did the same thing. Would you think this person normal and SAFE? Wouldn’t you feel invaded and
begin to get a bit snarky yourself? Wouldn’t you think to push these people away for obviously your date
is out of their mind and they aren’t going to save you from these weirdos!!
Yet we do this to our dogs, and then get upset or worried that they aren’t relaxed and accepting of EVERYTHING
instantly!

By shutting down the dog, it gives the dog TIME to see you, meet YOU, hear and take in the new sounds
and smells of your home.
I crate the dog in a room by itself if possible.(Believe me, dogs are sensory animals, they know more than you think without seeing it).
I take it out on a leash (so I don’t have to correct it ..I don’t have that right yet!), I give it exercise time in the yard,
I do no training at all, just fun exercise and maybe throw some toys for fun, leash the dog if you don’t have a fence outside. But I DO NOT leave my yard, AT ALL.
No car rides, no other dogs, (unless crated beside them), no pet stores, no WALKS even, nothing but me, my home, my yard. (Unless of course the dog needs to go to the veterinarian)
Believe me dogs can live two weeks without walks. Walks are stressful for there is so much coming at you! And the new person you have no clue who they are yet. The dog may react to something and we start correcting it with the leash and we just installed a VERY STRESSFUL moment to the dog!
TEACH the dog by doing the shut down, that YOU are the one to look to, that you are now here for the dog! He can
trust in you and look to you as its new leader!!
In the house I have the dog out only for about 20 minutes post exercise/yard times.
And, ALWAYS on a leash.
Then PUT THE DOG AWAY. Let it absorb and think.
I do not introduce the dogs for these two weeks, they can be side by side in the crates, (not nose to nose for they can feel defensive) . Some dogs will bond instantly with the other dogs if we don’t bond FIRST with the dog, and this can lead to some other issues, as the dog will look to the other dog(s) for guidance and not YOU!

Literally in two weeks you will see a change in the dog and begin to see its honest and true personality.
Just like a house guest...they are well behaved and literally shut down themselves these first few weeks, then
post this time, they relax and the true personality begins to shine thru!


So, please, if nothing else for your new dog, give it the time to LEARN YOU as you are learning who they are!
This method works on shy dogs, confident dogs, abuse cases, chained dogs that come in, rowdy dogs, all temperaments!

(From PBF’s “luvnfstuff”, revised for spelling errors)

But how can you train a dog to look to you as the leader without putting your hands on it and forcefully making them obey?

Seriously though this is GREAT advice (so is what everyone else said) give the dog time to relax and feel secure. We have a foster pup now and even as a pup she is just starting to show her true colors after a week however she went from her owners house to a shelter to the lady that pulled her then to me within a little over a week. She was friendly and loving from the beginning but shes just now starting to settle in and realize she's not being shipped off any time soon and viewing this as "her house" even though we are just a foster home.

Your dog needs time to settle in and feel like she can "unpack her suitcase" so to speak. Kind of like when you go on vacation and don't unpack because you're not gonna be there long, you act different because again your not gonna be there long.

Right now you just need to give her a break. Give her the time to realize she really is living there and can feel safe and basically open herself up to trust you guys to do right by her finally. You can not give her freedom she needs a routine and needs to learn to count on things too much freedom will screw with her right now. Definitely get a crate this way she knows its HERS if she is feeling anxious around you she can go in there and be left alone have her sleep next to your bed so she just absorbs your scent. If she starts opening up to you some simple obedience such as asking for a sit for a treat is great or if she wants to engage with you with toys great if not dont push it.

Most rescues come in either crazy because they are gonna live it up like Las Vegas for the short time they are there then once they realize they are staying and can trust you the calm down and start letting you see who they truly are.

OR

They come in super shy and timid not wanting to be around anyone, don't trust, don't want to bond (after all why should they when they are just gonna leave again) then after awhile they settle in and realize you are not a bad person and can start trusting you.. then they become either extremely loving or show they are truly a wild child after all they had to be on their best behavior so you would take them home.. hmm just like dating haha

[lorihd@comcast.net]

hi ana'

there is some wonderful advice here, i personally rescued a dog from the pound and after 3 days i was ready to return her. it was like she was having a nervous breakdown. i would leave for work and she would howl for hours, the tenant above my apt would let me know everyday how many hrs she would carry on well i didnt have the heart to return her so i kept her. after about 2 weeks she started to come out of her shell, i enrolled her in to obedience training, and she turned out to be such a wonderful dog. gee i cant believe i ever thought to return such a gift. hang in there it takes time ana, i think crate training is a good idea, and all the other good tips mentioned on this form. good luck to you

[Ana1967]

I really, really appreciate all your input. I my last dog was a St. Bernard, Lilly. She died about a year ago. She was a shelter dog. I guess at some point she must have been in a good home. She was well trained and I really never had any issues with her. I guess in my ignorance and/or fantasy I thought it would be the same with a new dog. To make things even worse, and it is embarrassing that I did not mention this before is that I also have two cats in my household which is making her more anxious. I will post back and update how things are going. Thanks again,
Ana

[Bismarck]

ok, so just about every post here said to crate train the dog.

what exactly don't you like about that? not only is it for you and your propertys safety, it's for her safety also.
think of the crate as her own little den, where she can go to get away from everything.
when she's in the crate, that's her place. she's off limits in it unless she's in danger.
the crate isn't a bad thing, it's actually a good thing to teach your dog, and dogs learn to relax in them.

*edit*
just saw the 2 cats part.
i too have 2 cats, and when i brought my foster dog in, he was crated if he wasn't with me, on a leash in the house.
msvette gave some awesome advice.
we recommend a month, but it all really depends on you, your house, and the dog.
let the dog sit in the crate and watch you. when you're watching tv, have the cats come sit on your lap, and pet them, talk to the, etc...
the dog will see they're part of your pack. you will have to make sure the dog knows that cats are above her in the pack ranking too.