New member. Hi!

[ronmcq]

Belynda, welcome to you and Bella and wishing you luck with her anxiety issues.

[Doreen Davis]

Welcome and thank you for rescuing. Great advice from others. A rescue dog's entry to a new household and getting comfortable takes awhile. We got Stella at 5 months but she had been used to a crate via fostering. I'm not sure if you have to leave her in the crate during the day right now because of work but if so you'll need to figure something out perhaps in a 'puppy proofed' part of the house i.e. laundry room etc. And then perhaps you can work in parallel on getting her settled in.

Everything is slow and steady with a new rescue in your home. We found that setting up a regular routine worked best. Food at regular intervals, walks, everything on a regular interval in a calm and measured approach.

I totally agree with getting into an obedience class. It serves as a bonding opportunity but also steadies the dog in terms of confidence. If you can find out anything about the first 7 months it would be extremely helpful. Stella was rescued from a hoarding situation and used to go to the bathroom outside up against the house because for the first 5 months of her life she never went out side and probably tried to go as far away from the center of the room as possible. She would go up to the wall of house, turn her back up against the siding and do her business. It took a few weeks for her to move out from the house.

Two weeks is very early in terms of a rescue settling in. Establish a routine, get into some training if you can, and in terms of leaving, start it slow.....you can put her food bowl in the crate with the door open, or throw in a high value treat so that she associates the crate with good things. A few minutes at a time would be the way I would start.

Anthony came to us at 7 months, he didn't know how to go up stairs or climb in the car. We fed him in the car and voila, he figured out how to get in.

Everything at this stage is new and a dog can be very anxious....let us know how you're doing.