Congratulations on your new rescue or rehome
The majority of dogs that need rehoming are dogs that were bought with the best intentions, but then life changed in a way that meant their owners could no longer keep them. Life happens. People get ill, jobs change, and circumstances shift. Your dog may have come from a very stable background, but moving home is still a big upheaval. It is hard enough for a person, let alone a dog who cannot ask questions or understand why. So I’ve created this page with some ideas to help you both settle and enjoy the start of becoming the best of friends.
Even if you’ve known your new dog for much of its life, perhaps you've rehomed from a friend or family member, it will still take time for them to come to terms with their new situation. The hardest thing for most people is simply to take it slowly. There will almost certainly be things your new dog has always been a bit worried by. Think of how many people you know who are afraid of spiders or get nervous at interviews.Dogs cannot explain these things with words. Their only way of telling us how they feel is through body language and facial expression. See below for some great resources to help you learn more. Understanding your dog’s body language is a great start to communicate clearly and fluidly with them and avoid situations that might cause them to stress, or even panic and react.
One important thing to keep in mind is that research from the Family Dog Project at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, led by Ádám Miklósi, has shown that humans are generally poor at recognising dog body language, while dogs are remarkably good at reading ours. We rely heavily on spoken words to communicate with each other, and this spills over into how we try to communicate with dogs. But dogs do not use verbal communication the way we do. They rely on subtle gestures, shifts in posture, and small movements to get their message across, and while we are talking, they are watching our facial expressions, body movement, and muscle tension. They read every tiny shift we make, yet most people still think a wagging tail simply means they're happy!*
Your Free Guides
You are welcome to download these guides (more to follow) to help you with your training. They cover the first steps of marker‑based training to help you and your new rehome dog get off to a confident start.
First steps
Download guide to help you with the very first steps in your dogs learning journey: Introducing the marker
Walking together
Much of this is for dogs that have already learned to pull on lead but there is lots of advice on how to avoid problems creeping in from the beginning.
Solid foundations
This guide follows on from first steps helping you understand how our first steps work into our everyday training programme
A word about labels...
Most so‑called problem behaviours in dogs are not problems with the dog at all. They are normal dog behaviours that simply don’t fit with human conventions. Humans also tend to label behaviours as if they are fixed, specific conditions, almost like a package deal that needs correcting. This can create an aura around the behaviour, leaving new owners thinking they’ve stepped into something serious, when in reality it is rarely anything more than a dog being a dog.
However, as natural as it is for a dog to want to say “this is mine, you can’t have it”, there are times when we do need to take something from a dog for their safety or ours. To do that fairly, we have to understand the situation from the dog’s point of view.
Labels can oversimplify things, but they do help us understand that certain behaviours are likely to show up because dogs are dogs. When you expect them, you can prepare and have simple ways to handle them. It’s far easier to expect a reaction and not get one than to be surprised by a strong reaction you didn’t see coming.
If you would like a bespoke guide to how to do this, I am happy to work through this with you. E. info@paws4me.co.uk to arrange a virtual consultation and bespoke training drill.
Each drill package will include a 30 min virtual meeting to discuss your circumstances. This will be followed up with a clear step by step plan on how you can build your training drill on top of our foundation training.
It is completely natural for all animals, including humans, to want to protect and hold on to things they value. We lock our houses and cars to stop others taking them. If we were eating a piece of cake and someone tried to take it out of our hands, we’d feel annoyed. If they explained that the cake was out of date and might make us ill, we might accept it, but dogs don’t have the power of words.
Who tries to take it matters too. If it’s someone we like and trust, we’re more relaxed than if it’s a stranger or someone we don’t have much confidence in. Dog’s really aren’t so different to us. Our aim is to build that trust, and trust has to be earned. The first step is recognising that the dog is a sentient being and that the dog is not comfortable about sharing possessions.
Because a dog can’t talk, it’s first demonstration that it does not intend to give up it’s find is usually very subtle to humans. It’s usually a slight freezing of movement and a facial expression. If this is ignored you would expect to see a more defined freeze of movement and a lowered head. Following on the dog might turn away or growl.
A growl is not something to be punished, ever. It is simply communication. I will even thank my dog for telling me off, partly to diffuse my own dismay at missing the earlier signs, before moving into a safe retrieval drill. If the growl is ignored or punished, the next step in a dog’s natural defence sequence is an air snap, and if the dog feels pushed further, it may bite.
That’s not the dog being bad, it’s a human failure to:
- Understand the dog’s cognitive process and recognise early signals
- Train mutually exclusive behaviours that give the dog a clear alternative
- Practise and rehearse safe retrieval drills, which every member of the household should also know how to carry out
Of course every situation is different, so creating a safe retrieval drill to suit your household may need to factor things such as the layout of your home (i.e. if your home is open plan you cannot send away to another room).
If you would like a bespoke guide to how to do this, I am happy to work through this with you. E. info@paws4me.co.uk to arrange a virtual consultation and bespoke training drill.
My first 'own' dog was from a rescue organisation, she was an adult German Shepherd we called Stone who we collected in July 1996. Since then I have taken in and rehomed as well as fostered many dogs, and of course helped many when I held classes and one-2-one training sessions. Each of them bringing new experiences and insights. Fundamentally, the biggest take-home I can offer is that really, they are not so different to us. The seek security, friendship and trust. Moving home is scary for them and it takes time for them to feel relaxed and settle in, just as it would us. Using this time to play games that they can lead and involve cooperative teamwork is a great way of helping them find their feet.
*Tail positions and movement are part of a dog's communication that a dog will use in conjunction with other expressions, and should not be read as a stand alone statement.