Bringing a New Dog Home

Due to some recent events, it's become clear to me that some people don't understand how long it takes a dog to become comfortable in his new home.  So I have posted a couple links on the sidebar which give very good advice on how to work with your new dog to make him as comfortable as possible, as quickly as possible.  Every dog is going to acclimate at a different pace.  Some dogs may meet you and immediately be your best friend.  Other dogs may take a day or two, yet other dogs may take weeks.  And while the dog is getting used to his new surroundings and his new family, he's probably not going to appear to be as trained as his former home may say he is.  A) he's nervous and B) he's testing his boundaries.  Pay extra attention to your dog the first few days after you bring him home.  When I bring home a new foster, I leave their leash on them for at least 24 hours and wherever I go, they go.  This keeps them within eyesight so I know exactly when they might have an accident or I know exactly when they start to chew on something they shouldn't.  This immediately shows them that I am the alpha and I set the boundaries.

Are all the dogs I foster trained by the time they are adopted and leave my house?  Absolutely not.  There are dogs that go through my care so quickly, I don't even think they're fully comfortable with me yet by the time they leave, much less learn commands.  There are some dogs that no matter how much I try, they just don't seem to understand.  Some dogs pick up commands more quickly than others and some of them might have had training prior to entering the foster organization.  This all affects what they learn while they're with me.  I work with all the fosters every single day on crate training, house breaking, sit, and down.  Leash training is less consistent because of the winter weather.  I keep the definitive guides updated with what each dog knows and is working on.  I have no reason or desire to lie about training, and if I think one of them is trained and I realize later is not, I will update the guide to the correct status (if you recall, I recently did this with Rosie's house breaking status).

I am not doing this to get as many dogs as possible adopted.  There is no goal or quota that I am trying to meet.  If that was the case, I'd say all my fosters are perfect and would list every one of them as 100% trained.  That would just result in a lot of unhappy dogs and families.  I do this because I want these dogs to find their perfect family.  And a perfect family for one dog might not be a perfect family for another.  I am 100% honest in my posts about these dogs, and I am happy to answer any questions (before or after adoption) that anyone has.  Just remember, if you adopt a dog that I have claimed is house broken, or knows to sit on command...give him time to acclimate to his new surroundings before you say he isn't trained.

As a related side note - I took some video of Rochester this morning doing sit on command with no treat motivation.  I posted it in his definitive guide.  Check it out!