My last boy was a pound dog (estimated about 3 or so years old). At the shelter, he never barked, was so quiet when I picked him up, loved the other dog when they met. Within two weeks he was barky, had endless energy in the yard, and his joy when I called him, he recognized his new name, and figured out it was his forever home was so touching. There were a couple of months of learning my rules, but he adapted.
Ready to Riot, I think you are going to have great success with your newest addition.
As for my border collie, thanks for the discussion of shy dogs. She is remarkably improved since we got her. She walks around the house to get petted and wants to be around people. She’s pretty confident that none of us are going to hit her. At this point, we can go up to her outside and pet her, too.
She doesn’t lead and she doesn’t transition out of the house well, though she did well this morning. It is far from those first days where the weather was subzero and we’d have to either leave her inside or really worry about getting her back inside.
When she came, she had lost a lot of weight at the pound, had lost most of her undercoat and her overcoat was so very coarse. Better food changed that a lot, but we have now added iodine to see if that if of benefit to her. It seems to be.
My new vet who had a similar dog and worked at a pound suggested the one medication which I haven’t felt the need to use yet and probably won’t for her. It’s not a sedative, but a heart med that is supposed to calm them by preventing an increase in heart rate.
She does enjoy the yard now, enjoys the house, likes to be petted, and likes the other two dogs - so there is a lot of positive already which is the reason I held off on the meds.
As far as having full range of the house, he is with me the whole time. he doesnt wander far and if he does, I call him and he comes back. I don’t see how I am setting him up for failure
I think she means that the dog doesn’t know the rules of the household and thus is bound to start breaking them once he comes out of his shut-down shell of not-doing-anything-much which is what he is in right now- he won’t continue being that way for much longer, he’ll start doing things, and they will probably often be the wrong thing since he just doesn’t know the difference right now.
Whenever you bring home a new dog- puppy or adult- it’s always a good idea to treat the dog like a completely untrained puppy, because that is what the dog is, basically. Namely, the dog is supervised or confined 100% so the dog can’t start practicing “bad behaviors.” Dogs are creatures of habit, and what they practice doing, they tend to do more and more often.
I would suggest tethering the dog to you for the first three months and confining in a dog-proofed room, x-pen, or crate when you can’t tether the dog- thus the dog cannot possibly practice bad behaviors without you noticing and gently re-directing to more appropriate behaviors. Leaving the dog outside alone unsupervised is also not a good idea- the dog may start digging holes or whatever, and you won’t be there to help the dog realize that isn’t allowed; plus it’s a good idea to spend some time praising the dog for every outside potty effort for the first few weeks so the dog is very clear on that concept. Plus if you’re not with the dog, it’s hard to bond with the dog.
I’d also suggest knocking off the “No’s” and instead work hard on rewarding any good behavior you notice. No’s are punishment, and tend to shut dogs down and make them scared of making mistakes, which is the last thing you want a shut-down scared shelter dog doing.
Instead work on trying to catch the dog being good- at least 50 times a day- and praise and reward. This can be as simple as not-barking, not-peeing-on-the-couch, lying quietly, not-pulling-on-the-leash-for-one-second, wagging his tail, looking at a toy, anything you like.
[QUOTE=Ready To Riot;7340624]
I have had him since Friday morning and he hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to get out of any fence he was put in. Not mine, which has our neighbors dogs running all around barking, nor my parents, which has their neighbors female running around trying to play with him. I think he is good in a fence. As far as having full range of the house, he is with me the whole time. he doesnt wander far and if he does, I call him and he comes back. I don’t see how I am setting him up for failure[/QUOTE]
It is far easier to institute rules from the beginning and then relax as the dog earns freedom with consistent behavior. I am sorry, but deciding that he is good in a fence (that you stated in your other thread was four feet tall) because he hasn’t gone over it in the 72 hours you have owned him is a recipe for disaster.
Most newly adopted dogs go through a period of time in their new homes where they are on their best behavior. And then the day comes when they aren’t anymore. So anything that you are seeing with this dog, today, is almost guaranteed to not be what you’ll see three weeks from now. Or a month from now.
So he could be good in your yard, right up until the day he isn’t. But you, thinking that he won’t ever test it because he hasn’t so far, won’t know that until he is gone. Then what?
So why not start off with supervision? And let him earn his freedom through his consistent, long term behavior? Make it easy for him to make the right choices. If you don’t want to crate him, tether him to you. Is he at least dragging a leash in case you need to redirect him?
I have been doing this for a long, long time. Sharing this advice with you isn’t my way of telling you that you shouldn’t have this dog, or that you can’t train the dog. Or that I think adopting from a shelter or rescue is a bad idea. I did this for a living. I use to get paid to help people like you make the initial period a good one, so that the adoption was successful. I am sharing this advice with you because I have seen how some of the initial decisions you have made can turn around and bite the adopter in the butt. And I don’t want that to happen. Not only could a poor outcome turn you off adoption, but most importantly for me, the animal in question almost always ends up paying the higher price.
72 hours is nothing, in the scheme of things. You can’t base assumptions on his future behavior on what he is showing you now. The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies here. It doesn’t matter if you think he needs it or not at this point. The fact that he might should be enough to make the extra effort worthwhile, don’t you think?
Sheilah
[QUOTE=Coyoteco;7339307]
Now, this is interesting to me. One of the dogs I got is a border collie who is just a basket case which is the reason I got her. She really has real difficult going outside from inside, or coming inside from outside. During the time we’ve had her, she has come a long way, and now, she will come in from outside which is much better. She just collapses most of the time when we try to lead her.
The vet prescribed a heart med for her limit her anxiety and I haven’t used it yet as she really is progressing, but I did pick up the presciption. I’m thinking of having a full thyroid test run.
It seems that your collie is similar to my bc.[/QUOTE]
Coyoteco, she probably just needs more time. It took Folly a good year-plus to become the confident happy girl she is today.
My clients adopted a female Lab from a retriever rescue down South. She was coming 4 and was the last of 4 pups rescued when they were about 4 mos. She had a long transport due to other stops along the way. She came off the trailer a totally fearful basketcase:eek: She was as spooky as a freaked-out young horse, and wouldn’t, couldn’t stop shaking–for days. Terrified of the husband, better w/women, terrified of doors and stairs; wouldn’t go to the bathroom for days:( Since they asked me which dog I would pick and I chose HER, (she had the most lovely, kind, sweet soft photos on her Petfinder page:tickled_pink:–) I was a bit anxious that we she was perhaps more than they could handle. She was just so darned scared, it was heartbreaking:cry:
It took lots of time and patience, but the inner Folly has happily emerged. Its been exactly 2 yrs since she came North after being in a kennel situation, and she is honestly a dog I’d love to call my own. She has become a soft and sweet, easy girl to be around; a bit bossy especially with other girls :winkgrin: but all of her fears have disappeared or subsided to where they are of no concern. She just needed time and patience and love and exercise:yes:
RtoR, just give him time and let him adjust to his new life. I board dogs at my home, and though I know them before they come here(unlike a boarding kennel), I often have youngsters or newly adopted adult rescues like Folly here. My routine is to give them a safe place like a crate to chill and to observe the goings on and routine. If they turn down the friendly overtures of my dogs, I will back them up and remove anything stressing them. I allow their personality to bloom – it takes as long as it takes;)
I would suggest just being cautious about leaving any new dog in a fence that he might be able to escape from. I was just talking about this with a friend who just also adopted an adult dog. She was telling me that she had been through it before and that she knew that the new dog was cautious right now because of the upheaval in her life - but one day she thought she would try to run off if she wasn’t really careful about it. She said that in her experience, they are careful at first, but then as they become more comfortable they try to explore - which could be dangerous.
I, too, think that he will come out of his shell. Shepherds can be somewhat reserved just by their nature, though. This month’s Dog Fancy has an interesting article about GSDs that you might be interested in. My own dogs have thick coats and will not stay on a bed or couch with me for more than a few minutes - they jump off panting and go to a cooler spot.
lovey1121, thank you for the information about Folly. It sounds like she is doing great and you made the right choice. I think you are right about time for my border collie . She has really made great strides in the month we’ve had her and the others. I just want to make sure I’m doing all she needs. She is very sweet.
Thanks.
Oh my give him time! 
I have had my rescue scottie a year in Feb and his just starting to come around and be cuddly and not such a snob. But he is fiercely loyal and protective in his own way. It is all so rewarding to finally see him wag his tail at me…
