I'll try and keep it brief.
It's day 8 since we adopted our 2 yo rescue. We've also got a 7 yo female JRT cross.
Today's not been the best day. He seemed to start to relax in the house then we had a big setback this morning. My neighbour's son was wearing a head torch and large coat and thought it would be a good idea to lean down over our gate and try and make friends with our new arrival. It was 6.30am and I'd not long been awake so I asked him firmly to leave the introductions as he is nervous.... cue terrified barky dog.
We live in a terrace with a shared passageway and have carers and an elderly ladies' family constantly coming up and down during the day and night. I've moved the dog beds so he can't see out of the window, and come down in the night to firmly tell him to stop (barking) if he hears them. My other dog is unphased by the noise as we've had her from 10 weeks and only rarely barks.
This morning's incident tipped over into our walk with him whining, panting and pulling to come home despite my reassurances and treats. He then decided to take a treat from a complete strange man on the way home!! Grief!
To top it all, my retired (female) boss who is lovely and a massive dog lover, came round to meet him this afternoon to be greeted with growling. I ignored it as did she but it continued. She tried to give him a treat but he wasn't interested. He didn't hide away, but sat glaring at her and any move she made he would resume growling. I spoke with a friend later who is a dog walker of many years, and she said that I should have firmly said 'No' and if it continued then to remove him from the room.
Is this the best way to deal with this? I'm really sad that everything is making him so stressed, and to top it all I feel that I've not got the tools to help him and feel that I'm getting so much conflicting advice.
My OH is working away this week and my teenage daughter is terrified that I'm going to send him back without even trying. When we've seen videos of him on the rescue site, and spoken with the foster carer (where he was for about 6 months) she said he was playful, gentle and calm - I really hope that we see this side of him soon. I realise it's very early days, but can anyone offer some helpful advice?
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The doghouse
New rescue dog question
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Allfurcoatandnoknickers · 25/02/2020 17:06
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