How to Help Your Rescue Dog Settle In

The day that you pick up a rescue dog from the pound is a day that they say goodbye to a life in a shelter and finally start embracing what it’s like to feel loved. They’ll say hello to people who love them and they want to share a comfortable home with. But many rescue dogs are nervous or scared. They may have been abandoned before, so they may not trust you at first. You might be changing a rescue dog’s life forever, but it’s a stressful experience to be adopted and move to a foreign house with foreign people.

You’re excited to meet your new dog, but your dog needs time to adjust and it’s called the decompression stage. A part of that will be going back to basics with training, so companies such as All Dogs Unleashed can help. You can slowly help your dog learn how to trust you and your family, allowing them to settle in properly. With the tips below, you can make the transition an easy one.

1. Try to be a calming presence. Dogs often take their emotional cues from the humans around them. They’re more perceptive and they will be more perceptive of their environment than you give them credit for. If you are calm and relaxed and happy, then they will feel the same. The main emotion when you first bring your dog home is going to be excitement, but you have to try and tamper that down so that they can feel calm and stress free.
2. Go slowly with socialization. From the moment that your dog walks through the door, they’re going to be bombarded with new smells, new sights, and new people. Everybody will want to pat the dog and everybody will want to play with them, but you need to ensure that they get ample quiet time. Your dog’s going to have to acclimate to the new surroundings, so make sure that you’re observant to their responses and always go at their pace. It’s tempting to have everybody cuddling and hugging the dog, but it’s not a good idea for their comfort.
3. Make sure that you are predictable. Your dog has to trust you, and the only way to do that is as if you are predictable to them. That means making sure that you earn their trust. Life is going to be a very confusing fluster of establishing reliability and a routine, and that’s the good way to set them safely on their feet.
4. Work with a training company. Establishing positive reinforcement and positive associations will help your doctor settle in much faster. If you work with a dog trainer, you’ll be able to use the same positive reinforcement patterns to ensure that your dog settles in happily.
5. Don’t expect too much. Rescue dogs are not like puppies. Puppies are eager to please and eager to learn, and they’re eager to smell their way around. A rescue dog may just want some peace and quiet while they settle in, which is not easy to do when you have young kids at home. Go slowly, and your new dog will be happy and healthy in no time.