In this post we’re going to look at the rehabilitation side of how to rescue a dog. You might not need this information; I hope that when you rescue a dog it goes smoothly and following the advice in Part 1 leads to your dog being easy-going. People who need this advice should be in the minority; these behaviours are the exceptions, not the rule. But if you find that you’re one of the few then this information will help you feel more confident in moving forwards.
Rehabilitation
The kennel environment is a very stressful situation for dogs to be in. A placid dog might act up or a reactive dog might appear placid because of the stresses they are under in the rescue centre. Once your dog is settled in at home you might find a few behaviours becoming apparent as the dog starts to express itself. There’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, it’s a good thing; your dog is becoming settled. But it’s probably a good idea to nip these unwanted behaviours in the bud before they become established.
We don’t know what the dog has been through or why it has these behaviours. It is an inescapable fact that sometimes, not always, a dog needs some level of rehabilitation. It could be rooted in a physical problem, like blindness. It could be a temperament thing, or it could be an association the dog has because of a previous experience. We can overcome all of these by understanding the cause and working through the problem – this is the key to how to rescue a dog.
There are no behaviours which we should regard as unfixable. Some will take longer than others to overcome, we may need to adjust how we approach our lives with the dog until we have figured out a way forward and for some things it might be necessary to get some professional help. But don’t give up on the dog, you’ll get there in the end.
So what behaviours are we talking about?
Dog reactivity
There are four reasons a dog might appear to be reactive or aggressive:
1. Anxiety or fear
If a dog is anxious it may bark or growl to tell other dogs or people to keep their distance.
2. Protection
Sometimes dogs can feel that their owners or other family members need protecting. This is particularly common with livestock guardians.
3. Dominance
Some dogs feel that they should be the pack leader and they try to prove this to everyone and everything that they meet.
4. Frustration
Some dogs get really excited to see another dog or person coming towards them and they want to run over to them. If they are on-lead this can cause frustration, pulling and barking, and in extreme cases even lashing out with a bite. Solving reactivity takes confidence and leadership from the owner but the exact approach very much depends on which of these four reasons lie behind the reactivity. Normally it will come down to a combination of desensitisation, correcting the dog in the right way at the right time, and then rewarding the dog as it begins to have a desirable response to the stimuli. To fully understand what is going on and how to deal with it, it is best to get professional advice.
Separation anxiety
Separation anxiety is a catch-all term. It can be caused by anxiety but more often it doesn’t have a fear element – the barking, whining or other behaviour is really just the dog calling back the rest of the pack or trying to be reunited. If this is the case it is normally quite straightforward to fix. You need to build a strong association with a command such as “stay” and you returning to the dog.
For example, once the dog has been well exercised and is tired take him to water to make sure he isn’t thirsty, then to his bed. Wait until he is lying down and settled, then standing next him use a command that the dog isn’t familiar with, let’s use “stay”, and take a few steps back. Without pausing return to the dog and give some very calm affection. Use the command again, this time turn around and slowly walk away from the dog a few meters, turn around to face the dog again and go back to him, and again give him some calm affection. Try it a third time going slightly further away. The trick here is to not push the dog too far too fast. You are building a strong association to convince the dog that when you use the word “stay” he will know you are coming back.
If you go too far and the dog gets out of his bed to follow you then you need to return him to his bed and repeat the exercise at a shorter distance and duration so that he doesn’t follow. Three to five repetitions is the most you should try. Once the dog knows that you saying “stay” means you will return and give him affection you can use this every time you leave the dog on his own. Build the distance and duration over a few weeks and you’ll find the dog becomes comfortable with being left alone for a few hours.
Another method to solving the non-anxiety form of separation is to not allow the dog to follow you around the house. Get the dog used to being on his own and expect him to spend more time in his bed. If you walk into the kitchen, don’t allow the dog to follow you. If you go up stairs don’t allow the dog to follow you, and so on. When he doesn’t follow you reward with some affection when you go back to him. The dog will become at peace with being alone and allowing you to go about your business without being followed.
If the separation is caused by real anxiety then this a complicated issue and will need a number of different approaches. In short, using the methods above will help but building the dogs confidence will be a longer process. Doing a lot of obedience work will help over time, it will build confidence and develop a stronger relationship with you which will also help. Developing this idea further to “work” with the dog in a more formal way leads us to activities such as agility, scent training, fly-ball and the thousand other ways with which we can give our dogs a job. Over time we’ll see the dog developing confidence and combined with the methods above, you should start to see an improvement.
Resource guarding
This can be an intimidating situation to be in. The dog will suddenly become possessive of something, it could be food, a toy, a space like the sofa, a member of the family – it could be almost anything. Generally, the dog will lie close to the floor or in the space it is guarding and growl while looking at you out of the corner of its eye. Dogs who resource guard can become quite aggressive if you keep pushing forward.
I highly recommend you get professional help from a behaviourist with this problem because of how uncomfortable it can make the dog and the owner feel.
Negative associations
A rescue dog might come to you with a negative association. Dogs generally don’t hold onto their past as much as many people think, but it can happen. Gentle desensitisation is the best way to combat this. Using food and affection to positively reward the dog are good ways to build a positive association. If the association leads to aggression then this is definitely an area where a professional behaviourist should be consulted.
General anxiety and destructive behaviour
Anxiety and destruction can both be solved using the same solution. Giving the dog a job to do. Start with walking. It cannot be underestimated how important structured walking is for a dog. The off-lead time is import as well, the phase of the walk when it can sniff, urinate to mark territory and generally be a dog. The structured park of the walk is crucial because it gives the dog a job to do, and at their core, most breeds of dogs were created to be working animals – they need some sort of job, it’s in their genes.
How much of a job they need depends on their personality but I find that a structured daily walk is the bare minimum. This is the phase of the walk where the dog is engaged with the owner, is walking at heel and is listening for commands, not being distracted by anything else which is going on in the environment. Once a dog has that purpose in life it can often curb their more destructive tendencies. With some dogs, you might need to do a little more than just a structured walk.
With the more “working” end of the working spectrum, like collies or pointers, you’re likely to need to do a lot of obedience to work them mentally and some retrieving to work them physically, as well as the walking, and this combination will start to satiate their need to work. Another great job is to get them sniffing for things, I find that scent training is a great way to exercise a dog mentally. It can take a little time for the benefits of giving a dog a job to become clear but once he has a purpose he’ll no longer be bored, and that will solve most instances of destructive behaviour.
Another feature of good lead walking and obedience is that you are offering the dog some good leadership. I have found leadership to be the best remedy for general anxiety. Dogs need it. If you prove to the dog that you are a worthy leader this will help convince them that there is no need to be fearful. There are some great resources online which show you how to teach obedience, scent training and heel walking.
To rehabilitate a rescue dog start slowly, three sessions of five minutes will be far more digestible than one fifteen minute lesson. After a session lead the dog to its bed and let him settle and rest, he’ll need some downtime before he can go again.
In summary
Rescuing a dog is normally a straightforward enterprise, but just occasionally new owners need to do a little extra work to iron out a behavioural bump in the road. This is nothing to be afraid of, there is nothing that is insurmountable given time, love and leadership. And your bond with the dog will be all the stronger for it.
Enjoy your dog.
Nick
