The first three weeks matter more than the first three months
Most new owners do too much too soon: visitors, long walks, the pub, meeting the family dogs. A dog that has just left kennels needs quiet, a routine it can predict, and very little asked of it.
Expect the dog you meet in week one to change. The polite, quiet dog often becomes a normal, opinionated dog once it relaxes, and owners read that as a step backwards when it is actually progress.
Trust is built by predictability, not by treats
Feeding at the same times, walking the same route, and using the same handful of words does more for a nervous rescue than any amount of food. Once the dog can predict the day, it starts offering behaviour you can work with.
- ●Same routine, same route, same rules from everyone in the house.
- ●Let the dog approach you, do not reach over its head.
- ●One safe space it is never disturbed in.
- ●Short sessions, twice a day, ending while the dog is still keen.
Where we are honest with you
Some rescue dogs have genuine bite histories or fear aggression that will need lifelong management rather than a cure. We will tell you that at the assessment rather than after you have paid for a programme. Most do not, and most improve far more than owners expect.
