Please tell me about settling in your rescue dog

[InterruptingGiraffe]

DDog arrived this week and we are settling in. Our first dog. She's 2, has been in a home so not coming from kennels, but she had lots of dogs there.

She's friendly with us, clean in the house, has been fine about me leaving to do school run, settled in her crate nicely overnight.

She has seemed a bit subdued today. We're taking it slow with going out and I think she is probably a bit bored. But we were advised not to overstimulate her too quickly.

I'd love to hear stories about rescue dogs settling in. Top tips. Happy endings. Funny things. Whatever you have. We are so enormously happy to have her and she is absolutely lush. But it is rather daunting!

Interrupting - I didn't see the pictures either. She looks lovely!

Friends of mine came to drop off their daughter this morning for the day and again with the barking and guarding. They have a rescue too so were pretty good with her but as soon as you think she's settled the growling or barking starts again. She's so stressed - licking, yawning and shaking body like she's trying to get water off etc. I feel sorry for her but I can't not have people over as I'm their childcare etc.

I'm really hoping the behaviourist has some solutions of how to calm her down and distract her. She's quite a 'hard' looking dog as she has a GSD face so it can feel quite intimidating.

It's good to here from others that their addition felt more secure eventually. I'm in a bit of a tizzy this morning about it all but we're all still getting used to each other.

Ginger - I must have crossed posts with you. What did you do for the positive reinforcement training?

I'm encouraging her to walk behind me on the lead so she doesn't feel like she must protect. She does it beautifully inside but she struggles outside as she goes into sniff overdrive. I stop and refocus her if she gets too pully on the lead and block her vision and walk in a different direction (or directions as she'll crane around to try and see - especially cats) which is what we've been advised so far.

We had a bad bedtime where she decided she didn't want to be in her crate or confined at all. Crying & barking. In the end we let her have the run of downstairs and she was fine. Hoping to corner off a smaller space today and keep working on getting her to feel safe in her crate.

I'm just hoping she doesn't start objecting to being left at all. That would be very difficult as there are school runs and the like to do.

Sounds like you're listening to her needs.

I'm finding if I sit in on the sofa next to the crate she'll go and sit in there over until last 2 days. She's laying in there now - pretending to be asleep but I'm pretty sure she's shutting out the kids as she's turned her back on them. However, they just started making noise as I wrote this post and she came out and growled at them. She came away when called and voluntarily went back in her crate where she is now.

Has anyone experienced this? The children are never allowed to be alone with her (or any dog to be fair) but she does this from time to time but always comes away.

I've not given her free range to outside today as she was so pacey - back and forth, back and forth yesterday and this morning. I'm hoping that's the right decision.

Over the last 2 days that should say! She wasn't doing it before.

I don't know much about growling, except you're meant to accept it as a warning and back off.

Ours is currently in the conservatory, she retreated there when I got her down from the sofa. I am backing odd and letting her chill out there. If it wasn't such a sauna in hot weather we could turn it into her doggy den.

Great cartoon!

Oh, she is absolutely gorgeous!!

We saw the behaviourist last night and he thinks the dog is over stressed and is trying to protect and control us constantly and has the potential to bite a visitor.

If we're going to keep her, no walks, visitors and really intensive clicker training multiple times a day before very, very slowly reintroducing her to those things when she has solid sit, lay, bed, comes to her name, walks behind us on the lead in the house/garden and has stopped pacing, yawning etc. He thinks she's an overthinker and very intelligent. She doesn't trust that we can protect everyone so she's taken on the role for herself. We've covered the crate and moved it to face the wall plus much, much more. Going to ask for one more week and see what headway we make. He advised that with the children, we might not be in the best situation to deal/cope with it.

The behaviour must have started in the last place and has built on at ours. We felt terrible for her. The amount of responsibility she must be feeling must be horrendous. When we described how calm she was in the centre and body language he said if we'd have known that would have been our first indication that she would think in this way.

Oh that sounds really hard roundtable. I hope you can make some progress, but it does sound like a lot to take on.

Things have gone a bit pear shaped here after a spook from another dog. Lots of barking happening because she is unsettled. I'm seeing if I can get a 1-2-1 training session before my classes start so we have something to work with. I think potentially she could get over protective like your dog, roundtable.

Oh no Giraffe - ask your rescue centre if they have a behaviourist linked to the centre that can come and assess situation/ I've advice.

We've been told to pretty much communicate with the dog without talking - apart for getting attention. Any reassurance can confirm unwanted behaviour. We've also been told to make sure she is directed in her behaviour constantly. If they're barking/looking at you, they're asking you a question and waiting for you to answer.

We were hoping to book another session with him but his prices are eye-watering so I don't think we can afford it.

Good luck

Thanks. I think I might be over worrying. I just took her out for a walk and she was fine. Very interested but not a bark and she pretty much did what I asked. I think she needs good training right now. If we don't do that it could develop into problems. But if we do, we should be able to nip it all in the bud.

I am massively reassured that she has not barked at any of the deliveries we've had or at anyone out walking. I think the dog invasion made her nervous, but we can move on that.

I have successfully got her to sleep in her (open) crate. Turns out she loves cheese so tiny tiny cubes are working well. I think she needs a safe space again. The dog invasion made her think her safe space by the garden door was not safe, I am going to make her crate her safe place. Through the medium of cheese!

Cheese is a well loved treat here too.

Sounds like you're on the right path if she's settling. Fingers crossed for you.

I posted too soon on the settling. Last night was dreadful. She got so anxious she barked every time we moved. Especially when my DH moved, she snapped & growled at him. It was awful.

We have some calming products for her. I went out with the kids today in the hope some one on one time with DH would help. She has been sitting next to him and been a bit better. But things are definitely not great.

I'm waiting to hear back from a training person. The rescue place have given some suggestions. We're going to see how it goes. It is hard work.

Oh no - is there a behaviourist local to you that could assess body language?

I'm finding it easier to notice (mostly) when she's stressed now. Like this afternoon, I practised doing some calming circles on the lead and she started to weave and pull. When I stood still she lay down and had clearly had enough so I took the lead off and brought her back inside. She must have felt like but probably worse every time we took her out. But I'm only understanding the behaviour now if that makes sense? She's still very stressed and pacey quite a lot though. She was calmer this morning then lead training freaked her and she did another of what I think are stress poos.

I hope you get there with the training, I really sympathise.

The dog training place I am going to do behavioural stuff as well. I'm waiting to hear back from them about a home visit.

One of our new rescues has started getting very barky and snappy with visitors too.
She's fine with everyone who lives here including the DCs, lovely with people when we're out and about but goes mad as soon as anyone knocks at the door.

Behaviourist coming later this week but I've put a few things in place to try and stop the madness:

Note on the front door asking people to call my mobile rather than knock.

Me, DH and DS1 knocking at the door instead of just letting ourselves in.

Putting her lead on and bringing her with me to open the door. Lots of enthusiasm and cheese!

Visitors giving cheese without trying to stroke her.

She's now ok about new people coming in if I do this but will still get barky if they move about the house once they're in.

She had a terrible start to life so I imagine she's only just started feeling safe enough to show us her fears. Really hoping we can turn this around for her though. Will let you all know what the behaviourist has to say.

This is an excellent FB group. Loads of info in Files section. You can also post a question and an admin will answer you.

Unfortunately no happy ending here. It's become more clear that she is stressed & unhappy and not suitable with our kids. They are doing their best to be calm & quiet. They know not to disturb her. But just walking past her raised a very scary reaction that I am not willing to risk.

She needs a quieter home with adults. Not us. I've spoken to professionals and they have agreed.

Really sorry to hear that, Giraffe It sounds like you did everything you could, but sometimes it doesn't work out. Will the rescue be able to take her back fairly soon?

I saw the same thing happen with a rescue dog that had been rehomed to a family (I follow loads on FB). Sometimes, it just isn't the right fit and it's hard to judge until you've spent a few days together.

I know it's hard to think about it now, but I hope it doesn't completely put you off a rescue. Lots of smaller rescues often have their dogs in foster homes, with kids/other dogs/cats etc so that a better assessment can be done in a similar environment. That might be the way to go if you consider it in the future. Best wishes.

She's going back today. I know we are doing the right thing. She is so unhappy with us. If she was happy with us & miserable with something else maybe we could have fixed it.

We're not planning to get another dog soon. We'll wait and get over this one. And then look either at dogs who have been fostered in similar surroundings, or rescue puppies.

All the best giraffe

We're at a bit of a cross roads with ours. She's sometimes responding to training but is still growling/barking and chasing the kids back to where she thinks they should be. We can't have visitors she barks/ growls and lunges and I don't want to put her in the position where she feels she needs to bite someone.

Tempted to try her on a miniature walk this evening to see how she copes with interaction with the world. She hasn't been since for one since Friday. She's shattered though because of the amount clicker training I've been doing with her! We do a session and she goes and sleeps for 2 + hours. She gets very confused though. Not sure what to do for the best...

It is so hard. For us the thing was we could see she could be a brilliant dog in a diffeeent environment. Because she was sometimes wonderful with us. But she got more and more stressed when she was with us. And my kids are too young to be able to do the behavioural stuff it seemed we'd have to do. A fast return to the rescue where she was doing well seemed preferable. But every situation is so different. A part of me does think maybe we gave up too soon, but the rest of me thinks it was the right thing for her.

I opened your thread with hope that I would find answers to my own situation but I see you have come to a decision. It's seems like I am in the same place.
Unfortunately we have had our rescue for 5 months nearly. We have got over some things but he shows signs of being stressed and has been aggressive towards my DC.
My heart is breaking, I have formed a real bond with him. I can't imagine how I'm going to hand him back. Like you, I'm feeling like maybe I should be doing more.
I'm sure your dog, and mine, wi find the right home in the future. It's so hard, isn't it?

Oh that's so hard! There is only so much you can do with training/counterconditioning though and if a dog is struggling to cope with your normal life it is best to give them a chance of finding a better fit.

Ours is lovely with all the DCs including annoying teenager and pre-school twins.
She's never so much as given them a cross look so our situation is very different.
The measures we put in place have worked well so far. We've not had a single woof at 'strangers' coming into the house and she's even happily accepted treats with a nice soft waggy tail.

Can't bear the idea of sending her back after all she's been through but realistically, in a house like ours, there's no way we can safely manage a fear reactive dog.
Behaviourist is coming on Monday now. Will let you know how it goes.