Has everyone heard of the 3-3-3 rule for adopting a dog? In short, it’s a guideline for the stages of adjustment the dog may go through in a new home. The first three days are about introducing the new dog to the home and giving the dog a decompression time without rushing him. The next stage is three weeks when you can start to gradually introduce your dog to new areas of the home and new activities. The final stage is three months which is an estimate of how long it may take the dog’s true personality to emerge. We like to call it the “honeymoon period” where the dog may have started out on its best behavior but as she gets more comfortable, certain behaviors may come to light.
This guideline is not set in stone, however, because as we all know, every dog is different. With the seniors that FLFO brings into our program, some need more time because of their history. Boomer is one of those dogs. We know for a fact that he was verbally and physically abused. We can see his fear at times. But in so many ways, Boomer has shown great improvement in his behavior and we tend to forget that he’s only been here for two months. Just two months?? It seems longer than that.
Boomer started out as a very cautious and anxious dog. He would run and hide due to fear of getting punished. If we tried to get him to come out, he would snarl and threaten to bite. He was clearly protecting himself. He also would try to hump us which can be a sexual behavior but can also be a sign of anxiety. He no longer does any of these things.
We are so proud of Boomer’s progress. But he still has room for improvement. He shows signs of resource guarding with toys. He was certainly punished in his previous home for doing this. We will not punish him and he’s starting to realize that. We’ve taught him kiss on command. So when he has a toy he appears to want to guard, we ask him for a kiss. You can almost see the relief on his face that he’s not going to be scolded.
We are using other positive actions with Boomer. Lots of laughter and happy talk. He is slowly learning that love and caring is possible.
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