The mind of a dog is a mysterious thing.
Inviting a dog into your life necessitates trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to understand this mystery – to some extent, at least.
Last weekend we invited Lupin, a crossbreed rescue dog who was born on the streets of Romania, into our lives, and my week has been mostly taken up with dog psychology.
I had expected my time to be filled by walking, training and cleaning up after our new housemate, but I had not anticipated this constant puzzling out of motive, avid reading up on pack behaviour and necessary modification of my own demeanour to become pack leader.
It is both fascinating and wonderful.
Some things I have learned this week…
… there is something mind-blowingly amazing about sharing your life and your space with a living, thinking, feeling member of another species.
… such an arrangement demands a willingness to adapt – by both sides.
… a distressed dog, cooped up in an unfamiliar car with strangers, can produce a remarkable quantity of drool within the duration of a short journey.
… looking after a young dog is not unlike parenting a small, boisterous child. You have to mean what you say and give exuberant and exaggerated praise for good behaviour. You also must demonstrate the patience of a saint – including whilst sleep-deprived.
… rainwater from a bucket in the garden is the nectar of the gods, whilst clean water in a dog bowl is an entirely unappealing substance.
… just because a dog can learn things, doesn’t mean it will.
… if humans shed as many hairs per day as dogs we would all be bald within a week.
… cheap plastic dog toys are about as durable in use as wet tissue paper.
… a happy dog is a tired dog. And a tired dog makes for a happy owner.
… people who post endless photos of their dogs on social media are not unimaginative, they probably just don’t have time for taking pictures of anything much else.
I am happy to say that despite a lack of sleep due to early mornings and Lupin’s distress at bedtimes, we are all doing well in our process of adjustment. She has already mastered coming to our call, not freaking out in the car and not peeing or pooping in the house. These are considerable achievements.
And last night she took only fifteen minutes to settle at night, without any of her previous escape attempts or destruction.
All of this hasn’t left time for much else, so apologies to those who may have messaged, or whom I have neglected on social media this week. I expect things to settle down soon.
Needless to say, lad, having wanted a dog since he was but a pup himself, is overjoyed.
We are all, pretty much, in a state of new-found love.
Including, I think I can say from my observations, Lupin. ♥
Explaining the water thing is easy. Rainwater is not treated and tastes ‘real’. Tapwater, no matter how clean, tastes and smells of chemicals to a dog (as it does to me, if I’m strictly honest). I’m not suggesting bottled water, but she’ll find it more appetising if you let it stand and ‘out-gas’ before you give it to her. Some of the chloriney smell will dissipate 🙂
I’m so happy your fur child is so endearing and learning her place in the pack…
I know what you mean about the water… it smells of bleach when it comes out of the tap and she is loathe to touch any “indoor water” however long it sits out! The compromise is that we leave a bucket outdoors for her near the outdoor tap, and just top it up a bit if it hasn’t rained.
if you need to get her to drink and she turns her nose up at it a splash of milk make it more appealing 🙂
Thanks for the tips Dawn!
We got a dog trainer / behaviourist to come round for a session a few days after Lupin arrived, which was really good as she showed us practically how to work to all those guidelines. After just 9 days her recall is already pretty good, her toilet habits regular and outdoors, she walks well on the lead and we are working on basic commands like “sit” and “wait”. We’ve had some door destruction at night and had arranged to borrow a crate, but it seems she is sorting that out too before we’ve had chance to collect it – she only cried for 10 minutes last night and no scratching / digging at the door!
Aaah, I can empathise with all your observations. But the love and loyalty you receive in return makes it all worth while xx
She is beautiful. My Barnie is a Spanish rescue. Just a word of warning -a street dog may try to escape even after many weeks. You can’t imagine that your pampered pooch who now has EVERYTHING would prefer to go back and live on the streets yet they often do. Finally it does get better, remain firm!
I do believe it Jooliya! She was only a tiny pup when rescued from the streets, so thankfully she won’t have had time to learn much about the street dog lifestyle, but she has strong instinctual behaviours and we are watching her closely – to learn, and to prevent her from escaping (particularly as we live on a busy road.)
She does seem to have bonded with us though, so I think with careful handling she will be ok. x
well done on adopting a rescue! Ours ( Major Tom ex UK stray) says ‘hi’. Top tips : be calm, quiet and consistant. Check out positive leadership and training links online If problems arise Reactive Dogs UK on facebook are very helpful. Remember your dog is very aware of you and will take it’s lead from you so walk calm, loose and relaxed, pitch voice low and calm ( even if you don’t feel it), own your own space in the home, sounds silly but walk through doorways first, dog should move out of your way, look at Victoria Stillwell’s page ‘ body blocking’ when you need to redirect dog. When doing that remember to allow dog time and space to move and to make those ‘good decisions”. Remember to praise good behaviours , weeing outside, settling down to sleep, jumping into car , but resist babbling away constantly as praise and commands become lost in the noise. In early days don’t over pet and fuss, and ensure there is a quiet place for her to relax in. You will be amazed at how much she will develop as she settles but remember it can take months for that to happen completely. Ours was in all practical senses settled within a month with regard to off lead walks/housetraining/basic commands but it took another 3 months before he was relaxed enough to roll over to offer his tummy for a rub.xxx!