Cottage Farm
New Road
Billingshurst
West Sussex
RH14 9DS
Adopting a dog from a shelter saves animals’ lives. The first few weeks at home with a new dog will lay the foundations for the rest of the dog’s life. Those first few weeks can be tricky. The dog has had many changes in its life, some may have been unpleasant, and the dog may worry about being moved again. Every dog is different and how long they take to settle will vary. Here are some tips to help you settle your adopted dog in.
1) Keep the dog on a lead;
 Some dogs can feel frightened and try to run back to the Rescue;
 Too much freedom can be overwhelming to new dogs.
If your new dog is happy for you to touch her collar and face you can remove the lead in a safe room.
If not, leave them dragging the lead until you can. Take them outside, on the lead, quietly and often to start so they can pee.
You will need to keep them on a lead in your garden and on walks for at least a week. Letting dogs off lead in a public place is not always safe these days and depends where you live and how well your dog is trained. Take great care letting a dog off the lead in a public place as it may not return when you call particularly if there are interesting scents.
2) Dogs need boundaries and structure.
Show the new dog (still on the lead) where its bed is. Encourage them to sit on the bed and stay there with them talking to them and stroking them.
While jumping on the furniture and jumping up at people can seem charming in a new dog, this can lead to pushy and undesirable behaviours ranging from a nuisance when you can’t move without tripping over the dog to possessive tendencies both of people and furniture.
It will take the dog a few days to remember the commands to “go to bed”, “stay”. You will have to patiently take the dog back to its bed, repeating the command and staying there with it. Dogs’ greatest reward is to be with you and to please you. If you show the dog that you will only stroke it and take notice of it when it is doing what you want – it learns to do just that.
So take the dog back to its bed, repeating the commands. Stay with it for a while. When you walk away it will follow, patiently take it back and do this a few times. If it still gets off the bed, ignore it
(as you’ve had enough) and repeat later.
3) Dogs need a safe place where they can’t make a mistake. Your house with all its new sounds and rooms may be overwhelming for them. They need to be in a room where, if the door is left open by mistake, they can’t rush outside.
The dog’s bed should be in this safe room where there aren’t things the dog can interfere with particularly if you have to leave the dog on its own.
The ideal set-up is a centrally located room, like the kitchen or family room, blocked off with a gate, with a nice dog bed. You might want to let your dog come into other living rooms once it’s settled.
They appreciate a rug on the floor and will learn to sit there peacefully by your side while you watch TV or read.
It’s important to be consistent. At first the dog may be subdued or wary and it may be a few weeks before you start to see the dog’s nature and find that he isn’t the quietest dog ever! He is in fact a dog!
Cottage Farm Dog Rescue is a non-profit organisation www.cottagefarmdogrescue.co.uk

4) Regular exercise
Exercise and mental stimulation encourage relaxation, and a relaxed dog is a dog that’s easier to manage indoors. One of the most pleasurable things you can do with your new dog is to allow them to safely explore at the end of a long-line. A 20 foot lunge line used for horse training is useful and you can let this out a bit or a lot taking care not to bowl people over! Praise the dog when she walks toward you. Start bonding by working together. Combine this activity with a 30-minute walk on a lead at heel and you’ll probably be meeting your new dog’s exercise needs. And keep it up, even when the novelty of walking your new dog wears off. This is one of the benefits of having a dog – you have to go out even when you don’t want to and you get regular exercise which might just make you a whole lot healthier. And nothing seems so bad after a dog walk.
5) Training
A well trained dog is a happy dog. A well trained dog means happy humans. A dog that is not trained can turn into a monster. Doesn’t matter what breed it is, what size it is a dog that is not trained and does not understand the boundaries can make life hell for you and your family. And your friends won’t think much of it either.
Training is the single most important factor in keeping a dog in his home for all his life.
6) Possessiveness by allowing invasion of personal space and excessive affection.
It’s easy to feel that the quickest way to a new dog’s heart is through things such as access to highvalue places, like the couch, or your lap, with no rules. The new dog will then proceed to defend her space as another dog, or person, approaches to say hello.
It’s often mistakenly thought that by allowing a dog to follow us everywhere we’re offering them security when they’re really nurturing unbalanced and anxious behaviour. This can lead to separation anxiety and can also lead the dog to guard the human and possibly become aggressive to other dogs and other humans.
Dogs can’t have free access to the couch, nor be given a high-value treat like a bone, until it has been established that they will give it up without defending it. And this takes time: usually weeks. She can’t sit like a queen on a lap and be allowed to tell the other dogs, or people, to “go away”. Our laps and the personal space around our bodies must also be treated as a high-value resource to a dog.
Doesn’t matter how big or small the dog is, they must understand their boundaries. Not until they’ve learnt to stay on their bed on command can they think of sitting on your lap. If they start getting bossy: straight back to their bed.
A new dog often loves being hugged by young children. They will end up in the dog’s bed or on the sofa together. You can’t allow ANY of this for the first few weeks because dogs must become confident standing on their own. They must also become aware of their size and the personal space requirements of the children, adults and other dogs around them.
Teach children, including visiting children, that dogs need space where they can spend time without being fussed. When the dog is on his bed the child must not go near him. When the dog is eating – the child must not go near him. Children must not be left unsupervised with any dog.
Dogs need to be normal dogs with structure and boundaries. By ignoring him on his bed, except to occasionally praise him for lying quietly, the dog has the opportunity to simply observe and to relax and understand he is safe.
Most of the common mistakes well-meaning adopters make when bringing home their new dogs have to do with lack of boundaries and structure. We cannot stress enough the importance of starting your relationship with your new dog with these things in mind. It takes a few months to start getting to know a new dog. Put in the management up front to avoid the pitfalls that lead to so many dogs being returned to the shelter.
Cottage Farm Dog Rescue is a non-profit organisation www.cottagefarmdogrescue.co.uk