# What do i need to know about rescued dogs?



## Stupid (Dec 11, 2008)

Well, I read through the rescue forum, and strangely, almost everything is positive on doing a rescue. Please note that i am not calling a bash but rather an objective view. 

It seems that many of you here are very experienced dog owners - correct me if i am wrong. As a result, handling difficult dogs is not really an issue. (?)

For someone who has no experience in rescue, what would be the things that I need to know, especially, negative things? What are the issues that you have run into and how you managed to overcome those issues? Again, i am not interested in your experience in any particular rescue service; i am interested in your experience in your rescued dogs.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

I don't think it's possible to talk about experiences with rescue dogs without talking about rescue organizations. A good rescue will try to find you a dog that works best for you - meaning, if you don't have any dog experience and this will be your first dog, they will try and place an "easy" dog in your home, a dog that doesn't have a lot of issues. In most cases, such a match works out quite well.

Shelters usually don't have the luxury of matching dogs with a good home. They don't usually know the dogs well enough to do so, anyway, as they are kept in kennel runs and don't really get much personal time with any of the staff members. Shelters will see some obvious issues, such as dogs that are aggressive or overly mouthy, but they may not know about house breaking or submissive urination in a dog until it goes to a home.

I started working with dogs when I started fostering through the veterinary clinic on base. Even though it's kind of outside the scope of what they usually do, they took dogs that were found stray on base or had been surrendered by their owners, and would try to place them in homes. Fostering helped give them a better chance, plus it made sure that the dogs didn't stay at the vet clinic.

The most common issue I've seen with my foster dogs has been that most were not leash trained or really did not have any actual training. Almost every dog I've had knew "sit", but didn't know "stay", or how to walk on a lead, or plain basic dog manners. So it was very much like having an overly large puppy in the house that needed to learn everything from the basics.

I've had two dogs who were submissive to the point that they would pee submissively when approached. That was new to me at first, but once I learned more about body language and working with submissive urination - and that it wasn't something the dog consciously did - I was able to address it.

I've had two with separation anxiety. One did fine in the crate while the other would act worse in the crate than out. Again, with every dog, I learned more about different ways to address issues and work on them. I tried a load of suggestions - from leaving toys to leaving the radio on. Eventually, something works for the individual dog.

My current dog (which is mine, not a foster) came from Animal Control. I got her at a point where I was pretty confident in being able to evaluate a dog, and I got a good dog.







Mind you, she was under-socialized, dog aggressive, and had separation anxiety, but I still got a good dog. It just took some work and learning new methods I could use with her. (Which is why these boards are so great. It's a super way to ask questions.)

Almost every dog, whether it comes from a breeder as a puppy, or from a rescue, or from a shelter, is going to have its unique "issues". Some are easy - like jumping - some are a little more difficult - like a dog that barks when home alone. All of them can be addressed if you have patience and are willing to ask questions and try various methods until you find something that works.


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## DrDoom (Nov 7, 2007)

Yeah, I probably have less experience with rescuing dogs than most on the boards, but it has been a very positive experience. The main thing I have learned is the amount of pleasant surprises. My rescue dog Bear, he is the best dog I have ever owned as far as effort goes. He's laid back, great around the kids (meaning when they get hyper he does NOT get hyper unless invited in Hyper-land by myself or my wife) and was already house-broken. I have NEVER had to crate him, he has never gone to the bathroom in the house once we told him not to (Silly me, assuming he wouldn't need to be told that) and he walks remarkably well on the leash.
Having said all of that, there are issues. I was not completely prepared for the barrage of medical issues. He has hip problems, and his nuetering caused his scrotum to swell, so an additional surgery was required to correct that. It was a bit overwhelming to someone who'd only ever owned a dog from puppyhood. All of that is behind us now. We are obviously still dealing with hip issues, and his teeth sometimes bug him, but nothing major. Would I go back to a puppy? Well, there may come a day when I decide to put in that kind of commitment to dealing with a baby again, but IF I do, it will ONLY be with Bear still around to show the little guy how it's done. Seriously, it has been that pleasant.


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## alane (May 14, 2008)

I have been fostering since Aug. 07. I am on my 5th dog, who I got on Sat. I feel I can only take certain dogs into my home and that's the dogs I take. If the dog is local I alway go meet them before saying yes. If the dog isn't, my other rescue(I feel) offers me dogs that fits my needs. I have cats, the dogs needs to be ok with(as much as you can tell) I live in a neighborhood with lots of kids so I look for a dog that that won't bother much about the kids. I also have a dog that loves having another dog in the house and except's any dog.


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## pupresq (Dec 2, 2005)

Are you asking what is negative about rescue and foster dogs or what is negative about rescue when you're adopting? Because those are really different questions. 

Where I see a lot (not all, but a lot) of positive comments is about adopting dogs. Fostering is a different kettle of fish because, essentially, fostering is what absorbs the risk so that adopters don't have to. When we pull dogs into our program it's often with very little information. But by the time we place them, we know A LOT. We know their issues, we've worked on training, etc. 

If you're asking what a person without a lot of dog or rescue experience needs to know before adopting, the best thing to know is to pick a good rescue group. We adopt to people with relatively little difficult dog experience all the time. We find that out during our screening process and we help to match them with a dog that will work well with them.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Difficult is relative. What may be an easy dog for one person may be a difficult dog for another. There are a TON of WONDERFUL dogs in rescue that are given up due to selfishness from the owners, and has nothing to do with the dog being difficult. 

I have adopted two dogs from local shelters. My first dog was a retriever/spaniel mix, and his only issue was separation anxiety. He was probably the most perfect dog on this planet, but I may be a little biased. 

My present rescue WAS a difficult dog. Not in the sense that she was bad, or had baggage, but in the sense that I didn't have the knowledge, experience, or understanding to deal with a one0-year old, overgrown, over-exhuberant, immature, over-excited, pretty crazy, untrained, under-socialized, dog-dominant dog that was at first afraid of everything and hadn't even seen stairs before. What she needed was training and excerice and leadership, and a normal life as opposed to being kept tied outside and ignored. She she is an awesome dog! Smart, eager to please, good worker, confident, reliable, an obedience dog. So it wasn't the dog that was difficult, her abilities, behaviours, and potential were just not developed. 

I remember reading through a Rottweiler rescue web site. Each dog up for adoption was classed as difficult, medium, or easy, with a discription of the dog and the issues that they still need to work on. As I'm reading the descriptions, it dawns on me that not even the "difficult" dogs on the site had a fraction of the behavioural challenges that I had to work through with my rescue! In other words, if you go through a rescue, chances are that they won't adopt a truly difficult dog out. And this rescue did mention over and over again that the "difficult" dogs will have to go to experienced Rottweiler homes with people who are willing and have the ability to work on the dogs' issues. 

So if you go through a good rescue, then will not match you up with a dog that is beyond your ability to work with. When I adopted my big girl from the shelter, I was looking for a dog that was friendly with people and good with cats, and that she was. So I got matched up with what I was looking for too! The rest was a steep learning experience!


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