Hi everyone,
I have recently adopted a rescue dog and am eager to start training. I am wondering when is the best time to begin training with a rehomed rescue dog. Should I wait until they are more settled into their new home, or is it okay to start training right away? Any advice on how to approach training for a dog that is adjusting to a new environment would be really helpful.
I’d say start training pretty soon, but keep it chill. Think of it as a fun way to help them settle in rather than a strict schedule. When I brought my rescue home, we started with basic stuff like “sit” and “stay” right away. It gave us bonding time and helped my dog feel more secure. Just keep the sessions short and positive. Let them adjust at their own pace, and training can be a part of that…
Our Mexican street dog is about the same age as yours. We got him 4 months ago.
For us, house training was the first thing that came up. We brought her home four hours ago, and she peed three times and pooped once.
But just one week after getting her, I was able to keep her in one room while I took food to our other dog in another room. She will sit there and wait for me to return and set down her dish. After that, she would shake her paw to get her food. She was very focused on food, so things went pretty smoothly. During one coffee break, I even taught her how to use a push-button feeder.
We didn’t sign up for a dog agility class for about three weeks. We wanted to use up some of her energy because she was being too rough with our older dog. She was just having fun, but it was too rough. Looking back, it would have been better if we had taken a more basic training class, but it wasn’t a problem that we couldn’t. We had to go over some simple things with her again because she had already learned the agility part. She still didn’t like the other dogs in the class very much.
The class met once a week for six weeks. By the end, she was nearly on par with or ahead of the other dogs in the class. Her general response got a lot better in class, and I was able to make it even better by practicing what we had learned while we were walking. When another dog came along, I had to take her across the street. Now I just step off the path and let her stay there when another dog came along.
Still, I’m sure each dog will be unique. The dog, who was like a little girl to us, fit right in. She changed as she got used to our lives, but that didn’t really affect how well she trained. My opinion is that the training made our bond stronger, not that it had to be fully formed first.
This is my first dog as an adult. They brought two dogs with them, but they were only 8 and 10 years old when they met. She was also the first person who helped either of us. We feel lucky to have found such a great dog. Before she began her 10,000 km journey to us, we only had pictures and a 30-minute zoom “meeting” with her, so we didn’t know what kinds of personality quirks we might get. Our friends told us about the rescue group we used because they had a dog just like ours about 18 months before we did. They still don’t know what drives him, though, which has made training him a HUGE pain. Even in our agility class, you could tell that each dog had a different set of things that drove them. Some want to play as a treat, while others want food.
I adopted a rescue from greece as well. :)I started with small things like name training right away and setting up little rituals and routines but took it really slow with a close eye on her stress level. She actaully needed a few weeks to decrompress before we were ready for formal training like a group class.
What my trainer told me was: Ignore her in the beginning. Let her approach you on her own terms and timing. Dont push it. Best advice I ever got. She came around pretty fast on her own.