Successful rescue

I rescued Koko from the local SPCA after seeing her picture in the paper. She is a three year-old Chocolate, and I can't believe someone actually surendered her.

She took some work and needed a good bath, but she trained fairly easily; housebroken, crate trained, sits, lays down and working on leash walking.

We still have some issues with her coat and weight (read about it in the General Health questions) but she turned out to be a wonderful find.

Nothing makes me happier then coming home from work and finding her waiting for me with her whole body wagging.

I recommend that everyone looks to their local shelters before breeders.

[Tuck & Ty]

I just rescued a Yellow Lab. 4.5 years old. Can you tell me how long you've had your rescue and what I can expect with mine? He's very, very loving. I call him velcro boy, he's very attached to me. Responds well to commands, sit down, etc. However when we leave him he likes to eat anything on the counter. Except all the doggie treats that were sitting right next to the lollie pops he took down and ate. I think he's depressed too. I know he's been through a lot of changes and not sure what's going on. We give him lots of extra love and rubs. Any suggestions? Thank You
Tami
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[diver03]

I have had my latest rescue just over 5 months (Sept 21). It took him about a month to realize he wasn't going to be handed off again, and about 3-4 months to really decide he was going to run the house (as opposed to me ).
If you have no knowledge of his background, it will be more difficult to say what he might be like in the future. you best bet with the food is to just put it all away. He may be mentally fixated on food if he had not been given much, or if he had to compete for it with other dogs, or if he's a Lab!
If you doggy-proof the house you can prevent a lot of problems and avoid a lot of misbehavior.
In my experience, the first month is not a time to try to teach him to be okay with you leaving the house, etc. If he wants to be velcro dog, let him. Give him too many hugs and kisses. Talk to him all the time. My Wellie didn't seem to understand anyone talking to him, he's catching on pretty well now. He was panicked at being left alone, now he just kind of gives me a glancing "see ya" when I go. I am pretty lucky in my situation right now, though. He stays at my parent's during the day and plays with their two Goldens, so he's rarely alone. When he is, he's fine now.
There are some rules you will need to enforce from the beginning, however. If they get in the habit, for example, of sleeping on the sofa when you don't really want him to in the long run, don't start! Sit with him on the floor. Give him his own snuggly bed and teach him "place" or "bed".
Obedience Classes after he settles in a bit are FANTASTIC for bonding and confidence boosting, even if you think he knows his commands. Take him places - park, friend's house, camping. But don't let him off leash, even if you think he's trained, he may still miss his old home yet and take off, or get confused or scared. Wait a year or more (or never) until you're sure he's perfectly trained.
If you have another dog, spend time with both of them on their own - the old one won't think it's such a bad situation after all, the new one will think he's special.
Be a good friend so he can always trust you and in a few months you will have a buddy for life. Rescued dogs seem to know they have been.

[CDuncan]

Well said, Pru!

We adopted our Java girl in early November. It did take her a while to realize that every time we got in the car she was NOT going somewhere else. She is loving and sweet and smart. Her first birthday is next week.

Definitely remove any objects within reach. It is as bad (or worse) than baby-proofing because they can get things down low and things up higher, too. You're mind will be at ease if you know there's nothing he can get into that will hurt him, much less things you care about.

Sounds like you have the exact same problems we are dealing with. She can see easily onto the kitchen counter so she constantly scans it for anything.
My wife and I have learned the hard way that no matter where and what you put on the counter, it will be had by Koko. Including a box of candy canes at christmas, an extra large Dunkin Donuts coffee, and she has pulled de-frosting steaks out of the sink as a treat for herself.
We solved the problem by simply NEVER leaving any food items on the counter-top. If we do leave food on the counter and remain in the kitchen we find ourselves constantly telling her 'no' to remind her, much better on our nerves and hers if we just put it away.
My wife and I work opposite shifts, this doesn't work out well for anything except the dog. There was always someone home for the first few weeks we had her.
We initially crate trained her. At first it took just about everything but a chair and a whip to get her in the crate, after about two weeks she would go in the crate when she saw us getting ready to go out. Unfortunately we trusted her to be contained in the kitchen and slowly phased out the crate.
In retrospect this was a mistake as I am sure it will be back to the whip and chair if we ever need to use it again.
Occcasionaly both Koko and I make mistakes. If I am gone away too long she will punish me with a pair of destroyed shoes. Again we solved this problem by keeping everything and anything she can destroy out of sight and constantly reminding her with a stern and constant series of 'no's when we are home.

I can remember the night we brought her home from the pound as I was going to buy her first bag of dogfood I was almost in tears and saying to myself 'What was I thinking?" after she ran through my house knocking over chairs and breaching any barriers we erected to confine her. Now three months later I couldn't give her up for the world. After a few days she was a member of the family, after a few weeks she was the center of the family.

Give it time it will take you both a few weeks to adapt to each others routines. It will take time before he will trust you and you can trust him.

[diver03]

Congratulations Java! Woohoo!!
Next month will be Wellie's six-month anniversary and second birthday? (I don't know how old he is - they said a year to year-and-a-half, so second birthday sounds good).

Yeah, just putting everything away is so much easier. But still, I forgot to mention EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCISE for a well-behaved dog. We had a basset who would counter surf so we put everything away thinking it would fix the problem. So he actually got his front end up on the edge of the counter anyway and chewed away the LIGHTSWITCH PLATE! I think he was bored - I still don't understand that one. I try to exercise Wellie as much as possible to keep him mellow (but he's not a chewer).

[LindaAcup]

My rescued lab got every dirty dish out of the sink. (I should have had them in the dishwasher, but I left on an emergency) and made a direct path to the front door. All the dishes, pots and pans were spaced about 1 foot apart. He even got a skillet of vegetable oil, and managed not to spill all of it, but did get some on him and the kitchen floor. But he put that skillet in his "path". I have had him for over a year, but if he doesn't want me to leave, when I do leave, he will tear up an empty Pepsi bottle if we put it on the counter (just for him). So now, he may chew on an empty Pepsi bottle (the plastic kind), and leaves everthing alone, finally.

Counter-surfing is the perfect description.
I wonder if that term was ever coined before.
I don't know who is training who, but we all are living much happier.

[Tuck & Ty]

Thank You All,

I found all your posts very encouraging and helpful! Apache is coming along.... He is very sweet. He still doesn't like it when we leave, which we try not to do to often, but some times it can't be helped..... The last 2 times I have left him I gave him a stuffed Kong which he seemed to like pretty well, however he still ate a bag of Valentine Cards with candy on them. and a bag of small rocks... Go figure,,,,, Wonder what vitamin he's missing {ha ha}...... I hope to post a picture real soon.
Thank You again!
Tami
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[ElvisnNoseysMom]

As a new person here, I'm sure this advise has been offered before so bear with me as I put in my 2 cents.

Never make a big deal out of leaving NOR when you come back home.

Make your leaving a good thing. When you come home, the general notion is to not really pay them a lot of attention at first.

Elvis & Nosey always get a small milkbone when we leave--so they actually like it when we go.

But unfortunately my husband doesn't always reinforce this behavior when we come home cause they are definitely WILD CHILD (s) when we arrive. they are extremely excited to see us but I try to just say hello then take a minute to look through the mail or whatever-- I tell him if they get separation anxiety it's all his fault; he says that's OK cause he'll be retiring soon and he'll be home with them all day anyway!