Understanding Your Best Friend

Congratulations! You’ve just adopted your new best friend and are eagerly waiting to bring her home. Making the transition from shelter life to home life can be overwhelming for everyone involved, but there are some things you can do to ensure that you start off on the right paw. First, imagine how your dog must be feeling. If she came to HSCC as a stray, then she was most likely held for at least a week by animal control before coming to us. Perhaps during her stay here she had a Paw-Jama Party for a weekend. Even though you know you are at the beginning of a life-long relationship, your dog may think that your house is just another exciting chapter of her colorful story.

Frequently, dogs are fairly subdued the first few days they are in a new home. You will see more and more of her true personality emerge in the first two weeks. However, it usually takes about 6 weeks for a dog to realize that she is actually going to be staying in your home. Furthermore, expect to spend at least one year training and socializing a new dog, and then a lifetime of maintaining behaviors.

The dogs at HSCC rarely have the opportunity to do something "wrong". There are no kitchen counters with loaves of bread left out to jump on, no furniture they shouldn’t sleep on, no UPS drivers to bark at. You must be aware of this as you are introducing a dog to your home and your rules. Keep in mind, scavenging food, sleeping in comfortable places, and alerting to strangers are very normal things for a dog to want to do. To best succeed with your new dog, you must follow the Golden Rule: always keep her in your sight or in a safe place, such as a crate. This means that if you are going to take a shower, pup either comes with you into the bathroom or goes into the crate. If you are going to walk to the mailbox, pup either walks with you or goes to her safe place. If you want to be around your dog, but not actively engaged with her, give your dog some busy-work. Occupiers, such as Kong toys or marrow bones are activities that keep your dog’s attention so you don’t have to. My dogs will spend nearly an hour chewing a new marrow bone. I always have them in the freezer. I give them to my dogs in our fenced-in yard on Sunday mornings when I want to read the paper or when I have guests stop by.

If you don’t want your dog to grab the loaf of bread, don’t leave it on the counter. If you don’t want your dog to eat out of the garbage can, secure it in a cabinet. If you don’t want your dog on the sofa, put a baby gate across it. Puppy proofing can really prevent a lot of problems from happening. Furthermore, most new dog owners utterly confuse their dogs when they "catch them in the act" of doing something we humans think is wrong. One of the many things that make dogs so wonderful is that they live in the here-and-now. So if you left your dog alone in the dining room while you fetched a drink and returned to find your meal finished, call yourself a bad owner and remember that next time pup comes with you when you refill your glass. The time to give a dog information about your rules is when they are about to do something. Therefore, it is too late to correct the dog that is shredding the garbage, but you can redirect the dog that is sniffing the garbage to an appropriate behavior.

You should also be prepared to reward the behaviors you do like. Dogs learn by consequence. When something they do results in something that feels good to them, they will do that thing more and more. If you give a dog a yummy treat and lots of praise every time it sits down, it will eventually start offering sits in the hopes of your rewards. It really is a simple concept: prevent the things you don’t like from happening, and reward the things you do like. If your dog is doing something you don’t like, redirect to an appropriate behavior and then reward that behavior.

Okay, now that I’ve prepared you with some of the theory, let’s get into actually bringing your dog home. You should plan on keeping the activity levels at home pretty quiet for the first two weeks. Many people want to bring their new dog everywhere with them and introduce her to all their friends, but this really isn’t in the dog’s best interest. Plan on spending a couple of weeks just letting your dog bond with you and get accustomed to her new home. You have a lifetime together, and there is no need to rush into things.

Something you’ll want to be sure to immediately introduce your new dog to is where her new bathroom is. In fact, I recommend doing this as soon as you let her out of your car, before even entering the house. Plan on letting pup spend about 10 to 15 minutes outside your home first. Be prepared to profusely reward any elimination. You want to be certain that she knows from the start that her new bathroom is outside. All new members of her family should greet her outside, including the other dogs. If you have more than one dog, introduce them one at a time, starting with the least dominant. Once all introductions have been made, escort your dog inside.

Upon entering the house, loosely hold onto the leash while your dog investigates her new home. Plan on taking her back outside to the bathroom after being inside for about 15 minutes - even if she went before you came inside. Remember that the secret to success is preventing problems from happening, so you’ll want to plan on taking your dog outside VERY frequently in the first few days. For younger pups, expect during waking hours to take them out once every hour, immediately and ½ hour after eating, upon awakening, and after anything exciting happens. Your new dog may not ask to go outside in a manner that is obvious to you (such as going to the door), but most likely gives you signs such as sniffing the floor or pacing in circles. Also, if you feed your dog’s meals on a set schedule, you can expect to see her coming out on a set schedule, too.

Another secret to success is exercise. Most dog owners know that a tired dog is a good dog. You probably won’t be able to take your dog off-leash for a while. If you don’t have a fenced in area, you can still get your dog exercise by putting them on a long leash and playing games of fetch and keep away. Every dog needs a minimum of two 20-minute exercise sessions each day.

Your new dog would enjoy sleeping in the same room with you at night. Dogs are pack animals and you are her new pack. Sleeping together is an important part of bonding with the pack. Furthermore, dogs are hard-wired to understand that there is a leader of the pack. If we humans don’t assume the leadership role, our dogs will, which can result in a variety of conflicts down the line. A human can show a dog that they are dominant without ever touching them. Also, you don’t always have to show leadership. Once dogs accept their humans as their leaders, they will often not challenge that. If you adopted your dog from HSCC, you were given a handout of leadership exercises. Remember, these are not privileges (such as sleeping on the bed) that you must withhold from your dog their entire life, but it is important to establish the pack order in the beginning.

If your new dog will have children in her life, please NEVER leave dog and children unattended. It is best if your dog and children have ways of interacting with each other that make sense to both species - such as playing fetch. Children must be taught to respect dogs - they should never be allowed to approach a dog who is eating or sleeping. Dogs need to be shown what to do with children. Playing fetch is a great way for dogs and kids to interact.

As for leaving your dog alone, it is best to take it slow. Use your crate and your occupiers to prevent your dog from getting into trouble during your absence. You can leave a radio or TV on for company. Don’t make a big fuss over your dog when you are getting ready to leave or upon returning home. Try and provide your dog with plenty of exercise before leaving her for extended periods.

If you have any questions or are having any problems, please contact us here at HSCC. You already know that HSCC is where you come to meet your best friend, but we are also available to help your relationship succeed. You can contact Shara Tarule, our behavior counselor by phone at 862-0135, Ext. 117, or by email at helpbehave@chittendenhumane.org.

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