Bringing home a rescue dog

Bringing home a rescue dog is an exciting time. Finding the dog that you think is going to be perfect in your home can be a long journey but then you find the one. You have a lot of exciting plans for you new life with your new dog.

Although many dogs settle well with their new home, it is prudent to remember that many dogs have been surrendered to rescues because they don’t fit in a home well or that they have never lived in a home before. 

The best thing you can do when you bring your new dog home is to give them time and space. Don’t make exciting plans for them; don’t expect to introduce them to everyone you know; don’t expect to be going for long tiring walks; Instead allowing them quiet time to decompress to all them to adjust to their new home, to learn the new rules of this home and to process everything that they are encountering.

When your new dog enters your home, they are bombarded with so many new sights, smells, sounds. I often liken it to when I go down to London, although I’m from a busy town, nothing quite compares to all of the sights and sounds of the centre of London, although I might not have done much that day I’m so tired by the end of the day. And this is similar to your dog. 

When you bring your dog home you just need to attend to their basic needs: food, water and shelter. They need to feel safe in this environment and not be pressed too much outside of this comfort zone. I normally suggest to new rescue dog owners that they stay in this bubble for 3 days, maybe just going out to the garden and not even out on walks. This allows the dog to “decompress” which is vital to help them settle in.

Once they have had three days to get used to their new home, depending on how they are coping with this, we might then start to expand this bubble that they are living in to short walks around allowing them to investigate the wider world that they are going to be living in. Taking this slowly, introducing a few new key people into their life should take about 3 weeks. 

Finally, we should allow 3 months for the dog to get the dog completely settle in their home. It’s a long process but worth it in the long run.