Advice for You & Your (New) Dog

While many a new dog owner is fairly patient with that 8 week old puppy they bought that has toileting mistakes in the house, whines in the crate, chews on the furniture, and won't sleep through the night, often the same cannot be said for dog owners acquiring a new dog who isn't a puppy.  A lot of dogs coming out of shelters are adolescents, and same goes for a lot of the rescue groups.  Why? Because adolescence is fraught with challenges and pitfalls and many a dog owner gives up during this developmental time period.  Even if you adopt a senior dog, however, you need to expect some challenges when you bring them into your home and as they make that transition.

Just because a dog is labeled as "housetrained" doesn't mean that they won't have accidents.  He or she, regardless of their age, is new to your home.  They need to learn your schedule, as well as the schedule you are imposing on them.  Maybe they used to free feed, but you feed them twice a day. That will change when they need to relieve themselves.  Or maybe they previously lived completely outdoors, toileting whenever and wherever they wanted, and you live in an apartment where all bathroom trips are planned as they have to get into an elevator and go down four floors to get to the bathroom area. Expect accidents and don't get mad.  If you want to decrease the number of accidents overall, crate train your new dog, or use an exercise pen to confine them when you can't watch them.  At a minimum you will be limiting where the mistakes will happen.  Plus, most dogs don't want to toilet where they are resting/sleeping and will go to great lengths not to toilet in their crate or x-pen, which helps you as well. Tether your new dog to you when you are home.  They most certainly are not going to toilet on your feet, so if they start pulling away from you, take that as a sign that they need to relieve themselves.  Tethering has the added benefit of helping you build a bond with your new dog.  That's a win-win.

While most newly adopted dogs go through a "honeymoon phase," where they are pretty well-mannered overall as they learn the ropes and get the lay of the land in your home, that isn't true for all new adoptees.  Some have some serious growing pains, reverting to behaviors that are more often seen in puppies and may have been why you chose NOT to get a puppy in the first place. Be patient.  They will definitely move out of this phase faster than a developing puppy would. In the meantime, go ahead and treat them as if they were indeed a puppy: Crate train them, enforce naps, walk them on a schedule, do multiple short training sessions each day, and judiciously use redirection and time outs as needed. 

It's likely that the name assigned to them at the shelter or in rescue isn't the last name that they were called, but even if it is, don't expect them to come to you every time reliably just because you used that name.  Or maybe you want to change their name. Either way, you will need to work on recall and making coming to you a positive thing. I meet so many newly adopted dogs who don't want to come when they are called. From their body language, it's clear to me that they've either been punished for coming slowly, or they assume coming to you will be the end of all the fun.  It's your job to teach them how valuable and fun it is to come every time that they are asked!  Keep treats on you at all times and reinforce every come indoors, even if it's slow.  Outside, keep your new dog on a leash or long line so that you don't lose them, don't have to chase them, and can work on recall with the added distractions that the outdoors inherently brings to training.

Just because you adopted an adult dog doesn't mean that they don't need mental stimulation.  Yes, puppies need a lot of mental stimulation, but honestly, so do adult and senior dogs.  Figure out what works for your new dog and add that into their daily routine. Start with something simple like a Kong and work your way up to snuffle mats and interactive brain games and toys.  If you have a really destructive young dog on your hands, consider some of those more indestructible brain toys from Starmark and Busy Buddy.  Talk to your vet as well about whether real bones, either from the butcher shop or the precut, stuffed, sterile ones available online and in pet stores from "Red Barn," could work to curb the voracious chewing demands of your new dog.

I think it goes without saying that most newly adopted dogs need some work on their leash skills. Some of them have clearly never been walked before, while others have been walked, but by someone who never let them sniff or explore, so they resort to dragging you everywhere to try to get in as many sniffs as they can before they are yanked away. Again, pretend that they are puppies. Walk them on a leash inside your house first.  Use treats to lure them into calmer, more controlled leash manners. Continue to work indoors or in your own yard until you can get a modicum of control and focus on you, thus making those walks outdoors in busy public spaces less challenging. 

Finally, do set a schedule and stick to it.  Dogs love schedules and predictability.  It's the not knowing that makes them anxious.  Having a predictable schedule means your new dog will learn when they are being fed, when they will be walked and trained, and when they will be given the opportunity to relieve themselves.  Take them out often until you figure out what their body clock naturally does, but still know that there will be mistakes.  Just be patient, as every new puppy owner will tell you, it does get better.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

I know I've shared this old photo before, but I can't resist sharing it again. This is Shadow, the dog I rescued when I was in college.  It took her 3 months to come out from under an end table except to relieve herself, but she eventually blossomed and became my devoted companion, as you can see here.  She would run alongside my bike all the way to campus and lay under my chair in class, never making a peep.  We went an entire quarter once before the professor even knew there was a dog attending his advanced genetics class!