New rescue dog running me ragged

[OutbackQueen]

I rehomed a 3 year old terrier cross 3 weeks ago after having lost my previous rescue dog 2 months before. The new dog is very loving but barks all the time at home, pulls on the lead and is nearly always hyper. I can’t let him off because his recall is only intermittently reliable. He also has a thing about water and plays with it but won’t take a proper drink. He’s healthy and eats well and at night will curl up and go to sleep and I don’t hear a peep out of him.

Do you think training would help? I’m finding him a real handful but don’t want to have to return him to the rescue.

Hire an enclosed field, let him bomb about and then practice your recall.

Yes take him to training

Training field - enclosed so he can be off lead safely. Exercise, stimulation and recall training. You can usually hire them by the hour.

You've only had him three weeks!

It takes months for a rescue dog to settle down. At this point, he barely knows you, so it's no wonder he's not responding to you yet.

Training can help, but you need to work on building a bond with him in the home first before you can expect him to respond outside. So focus on lots of bonding and recall training in the house (with no distractions), then move to the garden, then outside on a long-line, then in a secure field etc.

Again, the lead-pulling is mostly a training issue but you'll need a bond with the dog before it starts responding to you properly. So find what the dog loves (food, toys, games, praise, fuss) and use it every time the dog responds to his name, so he learns that his name = his favourite things.

Thank you - I will persevere. Any advice on excessive barking please? He literally hasn’t stopped all afternoon and a neighbour has complained. He had a very long walk this morning with ball- throwing etc so should be tired out!

Op have a look at the guides on www.facebook.com/groups/dogtrainingadviceandsupport/?ref=share - there's some on barking , rescue dogs etc and they have qualified behaviourists who'll answer your questions once you've read the guides.

@OutbackQueen

Thank you - I will persevere. Any advice on excessive barking please? He literally hasn’t stopped all afternoon and a neighbour has complained. He had a very long walk this morning with ball- throwing etc so should be tired out!

Over-stimulation is probably the answer here.

Ball-throwing might be physically tiring but mentally it can really hype them up (plus it's not great for joints). I would be encouraging lots of calm - so slow, sniffy walks instead of ones with lots of running.

Let him sniff and explore his new home and environment. You can also use this as a chance to bond - when he focuses on you/listens to you, give out lots of praise and a reward :)

Thank you both.

I've had my rescue dog for 15 months. It takes time, a lot of time, and change can be slow. Definitely hire a trainer/behaviourist to show you what you need to do if you can. Then it's all about consistency and patience.

We were a bit down about our dog about 7-8 months ago. We weren't going to give her back but it was a resigned feeling of 'this isn't the family dog we wanted'. But she has been slowly but surely improving and recently she's got so much better. And then it's just so rewarding! We have work ahead of us but she's a far cry from the nervous wreck of a dog we adopted last year.

Have you got a kong or something to give him? Fill it with food (I use sandwich paste) and freeze it to make it last longer. Or scatter some of his food for him to sniff out and eat - he could be stressed out, over stimulated or bored so giving him something calming to do might be a good idea.

3 weeks is really no time at all for a rescue dog. Take a step back and build a bond with him like a pp said. Lots of sniffy walks where you let him wander around instead of hyping him up by chucking a ball. Also highly recommend the dog advice and support group that was shared above they saved my sanity with my newest dog