What have I done?

[OhWhatHaveI]

Rescued a dog. She's 9 months, a lurcher.

I'm overwhelmed. It's day 2. My anxiety is through the roof :(

Help.

That’s huge progress!!

And I love that your DH slept on the floor with you.

That’s brilliant. How lovely. As she gets more settled and confident she won’t need to check on you. Great she took herself out of sight. Mine wouldn’t have done that in the early days. Well done you.
And CMOTDibbler has lots of experience and gives great advice. Glad it’s working.

That’s how I got my rescue lurcher sleeping too. That was 13 years ago now! He’s currently sleeping on my bed as he’s taking advantage
I clearly remember the feelings of dread and anxiety and ‘what have I done?!’ I lost half a stone in a week from the stress!

Having a radio on can help too, if you still have trouble at night.

That is massive progress! Well done sounds like she just needs reassurance.

My current little friend who is greyhound/saluki/border collie has had a lot of changes in her very short life, and is not keen on her crate at all. All the toys get thrown back in there, and she'll go in to get them happily, so today we are on transient door closing with the crate positioned in the closely contended sunny spot (my own two dogs then go and sit in the crate to sunbathe).

Keep going - you will get there, and then this phase will seem so short

Great progress! Well done

Thanks so much for the advice, I want to settle her at her pace do it positivly. Yay for progress!

It's so hard not knowing what to do but I'm encouraged she had a restful night. I'm happy to sleep on the floor for a few weeks if needed. There's no chance DH would not join me! He's utterly besotted with her.

She has a very upset tummy today, is that normal? Is it just nerves and the millions of treats I've given her?

Dog treats can have all sorts of junk in them, so while I'm all about lots of treats to persuade a nervous dog that life is good, you want to get ones with more goodness. I use dried sprats (giant bucket from Pets at Home is £10), and dried liver or chicken treats from Treats2sit4 along with cooked chicken/sausages/chorizo for recall training. I got a tube of liver paste which I'm trialling as microtreats for the puppy, and the big dogs love it too

@CMOTDibbler I have a bucket of dried sprats so I'll switch to them! I didn't realise other treats are so bad for them.

I've just hidden half a dozen sprats around the garden, shes loving hunting them out. :)

Awww - she's a lucky girl to have landed herself such a loving home. Definite progress with the sleeping, by the sound of it. Take it slowly and she'll be sleeping all night in your bed in no time!

Our rescue cocker had a very runny tummy for the first few days, but once he settled and we worked out what food/treats agreed with him it was fine.

Another better night! DH & I slept about a foot away from the baby gate last night, she cried for about 30 seconds before going around the corner and into her crate. She didn't get up at all to check on us, I think she's knackered!

Hopefully in a few weeks we'll have her settled and we can get back in our bed :)

I switched to the treats advised and her tummy was much better by the evening, thanks for this. She was brilliant last evening, settling down for relax time with us. She's learning calm time inside is good too, and outside rather than inside is much better for mad boisterous play 😉

3 days / 3 weeks / 3 months was the mantra I kept repeating to myself when we got our rescue lurcher. You've already nailed the 3 days!

1 issue at a time with training, then it'll feel less overwhelming. I still feel like we play whack a mole with issues, you sort something like pulling on the lead then he start waking at 2am every night, keeps up on our toes!

She sounds lovely, you'll get a fab pet in time

Aww, I love lurchers (I have a sighthound too - a Podenco). Sounds like progress is really being made. I am sure she is adorable.

No pics yet, not even a tiny pointy nose.....?

Sounds like it’s going really well.

I got a super nervous, horribly abused greyhound and the best advice we were given was just to ignore him initially.

Make sure he has a safe space to retreat to and let him come to you in his own time.

He’s still a nervous wreck outside the house but in his own house and garden he’s wonderful.

A tiny pointy nose from my foster for those craving puppy pics!

Awwwwww!

Oh that is an adorable snoot!

She is utterly adorable. Another little soul coming on Saturday too rescue is overflowing at the moment

I need to kiss the whisker bit!!

Oh that happy and sleepy face!

So, we rescued a dog 1.5 years ago.
Not a puppy, aged 3.

The first few nights he howled and cried. We had a stairgate on the stairs, and he just wnated to be where we were upstairs.
He eventually stopped, but I found out in the morning that he had jumped the stairgate and slept outside ds door.

The next night I removed the stairgate, and he slept outside our bedroom door.

From my point of view, we have a cat, who slept in our room, so our room wasn't an option, but I really wanted him to learn to sleep downstairs.

Night 3 he slept on ds bed!
But after a few weeks, I would find him back downstairs on his bed in the morning. When we were due to go away and he was going to stay at my friends, I insisted ds shut his door, and he slept fine downstairs on his bed.

My point is, he need to learn to trust us and feel safe and not be anxious, and also learn where his space was. Once he was settled, it was fine to leave him in his own bed, but until it was his bed to HIM, he just felt abandoned.

I really really would not be locking him in a crate overnight, you need to crate train him first, then the crate is a safe place that he chooses to go to, and being in there feels safe, not scary.