# First Time Rescuer With Questions



## melissann00 (2 mo ago)

Hi there,
My husband and I just rescued a 6 year old coonhound and its our first dog! A little background is that he lived in a 10x10 pen most of his life. After being rescued he was in a foster home but lived outside in a horse barn. This is his first time living in a home where he is the only animal. He's been here 1 week.

Some questions I have are:
1) He is really clingy to us - is this normal behavior? He's okay when we put him in a crate to leave but we have to constantly be in the same area as him and petting him. Will he outgrow this as he becomes more secure? Should we be giving in or ignoring him sometimes?
2) He doesn't know how to play with toys and he's not very food motivated (doesn't like peanut butter... can you believe that??). How would you suggest keeping him busy throughout the day? I'm sensing that he's bored but doesn't want to go in the yard unless we're out there. I want to try one of those puzzles but haven't tried yet.
3) When can we begin meeting with a trainer? I don't want to introduce too soon and overwhelm him (if that's a possibility) but I'd also love for him to learn basic commands, and gain confidence/overcome his skittish fear of certain things like the heater and POSSIBLY be in the same room with us as we're eating.


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## Toedtoes (Sep 25, 2021)

Congratulations!

1. Yes, this is normal. You'll get advice to use tough love and "make" him spend time alone, but that can do more damage than good. First, he is unsure of the world around him. At this point, YOU are the most familiar thing to him. Separate you from him and he has no security. Be at his side and he will be able to explore the world safely. Second, dogs have been purposely bred from the beginning to NEED to be with us. It has become instinctual in them. Denying them your companionship is just - well, mean. As he becomes familiar with his surroundings, learns that you are trustworthy, and gains in confidence, his clinginess will ease up. It will take time. It will take unconditional love and understanding - not tough love.

2. At this point, I would just let him explore the world. Go with him. That means go outside and introduce him to flowers (they smell good), natural water (creeks, streams, etc), and nature sights, sounds and smells. Let him sniff to his heart's content. When walking him, let him direct things. Let him safely follow his nose. Let him stop when he sees, hears, smells something of interest and let him take in his fill. Be at his side and encourage him. If hegets scared, comfort him - comforting a scared dog will NOT reinforce the behavior. Being afraid is an emotion not a behavior.

Remember EVERYTHING is new to him. He doesn't know what common things are - all he knows is what he could experience in that cage for all those years. You need to help him understand everything. To learn that the curtains flowing in a breeze aren't a monster, etc.

He may never understand toys. You can keep trying various things, but for some rescue dogs they just never understand "play with a toy". Toys that you use to interact with him are your best bets. Rolling a ball to him, etc.

Keep trying foods. Right now he is in "I don't know what to expect so I'll be very polite" mode. As he gains trust in you, he will start to show a personality. It may be a lot different from what you are seeing today. As that personality comes out, and the trust grows, he will have the confidence to tell you he really DOES like french fries... This could happen with toys also.

3. I would wait at least a month before focusing on training. He needs to feel secure in his home before you start expecting him to do formal training. But, that doesn't mean youcan't incorporate training into his day. Talk to him. Use his name constantly. Tell him what you are doing, where you are going, etc. Ask him questions - "what should I fix for dinner?", " what's on tv?" and so on. This will teach him your tones of voice and what certain phrases mean (eg, he'll learn that "let's fix dinner" means it's time to go in the kitchen). It will also help him understand that you're getting up isn't something to fear or be concerned about - and after time, he'll ignore some of your movements because he's tired and comfie and doesn't want to get up and get you a drink just to come and lay back down (ie, clinginess).

You can find a trainer now. Look for a positive trainer who doesn't use aversive tools (prong or e-collars, etc), force (leash jerking, etc), pain (all those mentioned so far plus others), or setting the dog up for failure (letting the dog stick his head in the garbage so you can jerk him off his feet to "teach him to stay out of the garbage", etc). Find a trainer who uses redirection and praise in positive ways. Who allows him to be a dog and have emotions. Who won't punish him or tell you to punish him.

Once you find a positive trainer, you can set up interactions with them. Most of what they will do is point out his body language to you, explain how your actions affect him (good and bad), and reinforce positive communication.

A great resource is dogdecoder.com. The app explains dog body language with illustrations. The developer of the app, Jill Breitner, has a lot of great information on the website and facebook about positive training and how to let a dog be a dog while still behaving in a manner we humans find acceptable. She does trainings too - in person and remotely via zoom, etc.

I'll end this by telling you about my rescue akita, Bear-dog. He was bought as a puppy (8-10 weeks) with his mama dog. The owners got rid of mama not long after. He was kept in an outdoor kennel in the backyard for 3 years. On cement with a crate inside the kennel. He was never taken out of that kennel. He was never played with. He was just a yard ornament.

A breeder found out about him and rescued him. My Dad brought him home. Because my dad had a male akita already, Bear-dog was crated unless my dad was out with his dog or was out with Bear-dog. I visited a few days after Bear-dog came. It broke my heart. My dad and I took him out for a walk around the neighborhood. At one corner, he stopped and literally smelled the flowers - he didn't know what they were, but he liked their smell. He came home with me and my shepherd/lab female, Dog.

I took the dogs to the river. The running water was scary, but he learned he could go in just far enough to cool his feet. He loved that. One day, I took them to a local park. It had a built-in swimming pool converted into a duck pond. He saw the pond. His feet were hot. He didn't notice the 12 inch drop between the ground and the water. He thought it was like the river. He walked in. He went under. I pulled him up by his leash (120lbs) and when he came up, his eyes were saucers. I got him out. We stayed away from swimming pools after that. But he still loved rivers and lakes where he could cool his feet.

He liked squeaky toys. Soft plush squeaky toys. That first year, I took the dogs to the pet store to have their photo taken with Santa Claus. Bear-dog loved that giant squeaky toy. We got the dogs seated at either side of Santa and just before the photographer took the photo, Santa said something...

Bear-dog suddenly realized that Santa was not a squeaky toy but a MAN! He decided he was leaving. Santa started tipping while trying to hang on to Bear-dog, Dog was pulled along his Santa. Fortunately, the photographer got one shot that "worked" right before Bear-dog left:









Bear-dog loved food. More so after his vet told him he needed to lose a few pounds. He wasn't picky - food was food. One day, I got a package with a small repair part. I opened it, took out the part (fit in my hand) and set the box filled with styrofoam squiggles on the floor. I then had to fight the box away from Bear-dog. He said styrofoam squiggles were good. I gave him rice cakes after that as treats. He loved them. Dog thought he was crazy.

Every experience was new to him. I never punished him. I never corrected him. He learned to trust me. He would go try new things because Dog and I were with him. After the first night at my house in his crate, I removed the door. He walked right in at bedtime. So I removed the top half. He layed there for a few moments, then looked around. He then got up, walked into the bedroom and went to sleep beside my bed. He never slept in a crate again.

Last story. Men scared him a bit. Not freak out fear, but he was unsure around them. Except my Dad. He loved and trusted my Dad. One day my Dad stopped at my place to drop off some stuff. He came in, used the bathroom, and then left. Bear-dog sat at the door for four hours waiting for my Dad to come back and say hello. I finally had to call my Dad and have him say hello to Bear-dog on the phone. Once he heard my Dad's voice, he settled down and stopped waiting.

So, give your guy lots of love and comfort and understanding. Let him gain his confidence. Don't punish or hard handle him. Give him experiences - let him decide whether to go further or retreat. Talk to him. Don't let others tell you to use corrections or punishment or pain to train him. Only use redirection and praise. Let him be a dog - don't set arbitrary rules just to be in control (eg, if you are fine having a dog on the couch, then don't keep him off the couch because someone told you to be alpha or the leader). You will have a great dog. And he will have stories like this that you will tell 20 years after he's gone. And they will bring smiles to your faces because YOU gave him the best life ever and he loved you for it!


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## Uncle Foster (Mar 27, 2012)

What toedtoes wrote.

Also, some dogs are natural velcro animals.
Some dogs are just happy knowing you are around and available when they need you.
Dogs, for sure are often very resilient and can bounce back from past hardship and poor treatment.
You need to be patient.

As hard as it may be to believe, some dogs are not food motivated. That too may change with time.

When our dog #4 arrived here after his first mom passed away there were many things that were standard operating in our house. Sunday is waffle day, sometimes pancake day and the dogs always get either a dog sized pancake or a small bite of waffle and on pork days they get a small bite of either bacon or sausage. Dino was a little slow to figure all this out.

Training and trainers. Trainers are great, but I sugest you need to learn enough on the subject to become effective trainers yourselves. much is writtten on the subject and

as this is your first dog, learning how to communicate with the dog, so that the dog understnands what you want is a very important concept to understand and skill to have.

If you ever only read one book about dogs, please make it this one. You can grab it right now on thriftbooks.com for cheap.

*Dog Tales: How to Solve the Most Troublesome Behavior Problems of Man's Best Friend*

Uncle Foster


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