15) FOR * ALL * RESCUE DOGS: Honest Self Assessments Prior to Adoption - Part 5 of 9: Managing Expectations & Choosing A Dog.

🐕 VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE NOTE: the following blog articles are dedicated to ALL RESCUE DOGS... whether they be a U.K., Romanian, or overseas rescue dog...

If you have been reading our "ROMANIAN / OVERSEAS RESCUE DOGS" section, then ALL forthcoming blogs, including this one, serve as a continuation... 🐕

🐶 However, if you have been studying our previous blog articles concerning ROMANIAN & OVERSEAS RESCUE DOGS, you may find this article a bit repetitious. In this case, you may wish to use this article as a revision tool or move onto our next blog article, which is forthcoming. 🐶

🐕 Please note: FOR ALL RESCUE DOGS: this blog article, part 5, assumes that you have read parts 1, 2, 3 & 4. 🐕 If you haven’t already done so, we would recommend that you read parts 1 - 4 first. 🐕

In our previous blog articles in this series, we have aimed to help you to honestly assess yourself, your family, & your overall circumstances. We are going to move on to help you assess your home & garden environments, but first it is necessary to revisit expectations, that we briefly touched on in part 1, & look at how best to choose a new rescue dog.

Expectation management is important because you need to ensure that your mind is in the right place to welcome a new rescue dog into your family. It's also important to make sure everyone in the household understands this, too.

So, what exactly do we mean by managing expectations? 

Think about what you are expecting from your new rescue dog. Perhaps you're hoping to find a dog who is already house trained & who has some basic training, lead training for instance. Maybe you're hoping to find a dog who will fit straight into your family & lifestyle schedules. It would be ideal wouldn't it?! But your expectations of the new dog may not end up marrying up with reality. Your new dog might very well have some toileting accidents in the house whether they are house trained or not.

Remember your new dog was surrendered back to rescue, then spent time at a rescue shelter, & then they've been expected to live with strangers in a strange new home environment, which may well cause the new dog some anxiety & stress. Accidents can & most likely will happen.

You might be wondering how you can better manage your own expectations? Well, you should, quite literally, push all of your expectations of them to one side & expect nothing from them at all - at least not for the first 3 months or so (after a period of decompression, acclimatisation, unpacking their baggage & settling in - as determined by the individual dog). This is, however, just a general guideline as all dogs are different. Some dogs might need a longer period to decompress, acclimatise, & settle in. It is all in THEIR time, however long it takes THEM!

Think about if you're happy to just let your new dog be for the first 3, or perhaps more months, a timescale that THEY determine! For example, you should be willing to leave any at-home bathing or grooming for as long as it takes for you to earn the dogs trust, & for them to feel safe & comfortable enough to accept it. The same goes for such things as walking & the expectation of cuddles. You should be prepared to move at the dog's own pace.

Your new dog might initially seem anxious, nervous, scared, fearful, shy &/or timid. Again, the prospective adopter should expect that their new dog could seem this way for up to 3 months or a bit longer; it just depends on the individual dog. They move at THEIR own pace & in THEIR own time. (I repeat that last part a lot because it's important to realise that we shouldn't be expecting the new dog to move at the pace we'd like - it's all in THEIR own time!)

You may or may not know much about their background prior to rescue. We recommend that you extend your new dog some understanding, patience & kindness whilst they settle in.

We all know what it's like to start something new. Remember back to your first day in a new job. It's nerve wracking isn't it?! There's a lot of new things to learn & new people to meet. The environment is unfamiliar & you need to learn your way around & all the departments, as well as learn the new job. Now imagine what your new dog must be feeling. They're in a new house with new people - new sights, smells & noises. We can imagine how overwhelming that must seem to them, can't we?!

So, at this point, let's remind ourselves about the 3, 3, 3 rule (the 3 days, 3 weeks & 3 months rule) again - which is a rough guide to how long your dog will take to settle in - all in stages. Just remember that the 3, 3, 3 rule could indeed become the 4, 4, 4 rule, 5, 5, 5 rule, etc. It depends on the needs of the individual dog & it is determined by them! 

We have already talked about the 3, 3, 3 rule quite extensively but it was important to re-highlight it here. Below 👇 I have added the 3, 3, 3 rule infographic provided by League City Pets Alive & UKUSCA Doggie - just as a reminder.

Just as important as the 3, 3, 3 rule, is the necessity to build mutual trust & respect - which is earnt & not given. This aspect is just as important as allowing your new dog the time to decompress, acclimatise, & settle in.

Your choice in the rescue dog that you choose to adopt should be based on how willing you are to work with a dog, no matter what, over the course of a few to several months, maybe longer. The rescue should be able to help find you the best match as the dogs will have been assessed before being advertised for adoption, particularly via UK based rescues. However, no matter how perfect they may seem, just be aware that you might have to make allowances for your new dog - at least initially. With time, love, patience & understanding, you will be rewarded with so much love & loyalty, so it will be worth all the hard work & effort that you put in.

It's so important to understand all of this before committing to a rescue dog.

Now, with all of this in mind, it's time to talk about what you're looking for in a dog & what is important to you. 

You might, for instance, have a certain size, age, breed type or mix, colour, or personality/character/temperament in mind. You might be looking for a new companion for your current dog, who recently lost their best K9 buddy. Or you may have no expectations at all & just want to help one of these precious souls - happy to put the time, effort & training in, come what may!

It's important to make this decision with a realistic mindset & realistic expectations again, understanding that you might have to start from scratch with them. Adopting an open minded approach will give you the best variety of choices. For example, we always feel that personality, character & temperament are more important than breed or breed mix, for example.

Don't be too put off by a dog's age or estimated age; every dog deserves a chance, regardless. We have ourselves adopted several dogs estimated to be between 6 - 11 years old. The advantage of an older dog is that they are often much calmer & wiser; plus, we've always found that they've picked up their training much quicker than their younger counterparts. 

Always ask the rescue about the dogs who are being overlooked - you might just find the most amazing dog there as we often have ourselves!

We've happily adopted elderly dogs, a tripaw dog (he gives his four legged counterparts a run for their money 😆) a dog with a very poorly healed bone in their back leg (from an old untreated fracture) dogs with substantial PTSD & separation anxiety, dogs with torn & broken ears, dogs with missing teeth, & a heavily epileptic dog. But, as we've already said many times, we think a dog's unique personality, character & temperament are more important than any physical characteristics, breed, disabilities they might have, age or size, etc. Try to look past these elements when you choose your new dog, be open minded & acknowledge the smashing dog underneath it all.

Here at Patchwork Paws H.Q, we encourage prospective adopters to find the perfect in the imperfect! We can indeed "patch up" our new rescue dog over time - with the love, understanding, kindness & support we give them. 🙏 Who is perfect anyway?! Aren't we all a little bit patchwork?! 👍

A slight digression there but some very important points raised nonetheless...

If you already have a dog, you might like to consider their age, personality, character & temperament to find a complimentary companion. The rescue might very well suggest certain dogs to you & suggest that your dog goes to the rescue centre with you to meet a dog first, before committing. This is a very reasonable & very good idea. It would be sensible to establish if your current dog & any proposed dogs like each other first. Or maybe your current dog could prove to be the guiding factor in your choice - where your current dog effectively chooses for you, not forgetting that the rescue should be able to help you find a good match for your family & circumstances.

The same goes for other family members, particularly children. You might like to take your children along to meet a dog or dogs first &, again, this might very well become the deciding factor.

If a new dog proves to be ok with your other dog/s & child/children upon a meet up or, even better, multiple meet ups & test walks, then your choice is likely going to be a good one. This is why you should remain open minded when it comes to choosing a new dog.

Just as a little reminder... remember to bear in mind that your new dog could live for up to 20 years - depending on their current age, breed or breed mix & health, etc. It's a big commitment!

On a final note, as we have probably mentioned many times before 😉😆, we have adopted both overseas & UK rescue dogs ourselves, all with very different backgrounds. We believe that if a prospective adopter understands what to expect, (or indeed what NOT to expect) is fully prepared, committed, & willing to be patient, kind, & understanding - giving the dog as much time & space as THEY need, & at a pace of THEIR own choosing, then the prospective adopter would appear to be ready to adopt a new rescue dog.

All of our dogs have transformed into the most wonderful, intelligent, funny, loving, loyal & quirky little characters (after their initial 3 - 8 months of decompression, acclimatisation & settling in). They are honestly worth every bit of time & effort you put in, & much, much more!

They are Patchwork Paws, Patchwork dogs, they are not perfect but you really CAN teach an old dog new tricks! 🥰

We hope this article will be of much help to you. In our upcoming blogs, we are going to continue to help you delve deeply into your own suitability for one of these special dogs by focussing on your home & garden environments... 🐶

So please, keep checking back...

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🐶 We hope you are finding our website both informative & useful, & we hope you are enjoying reading 📚 our blog articles as much as we enjoy writing  ✍️  them. 

Our website is completely free for anyone to view & access. 🥰 However, it is not free for us to run, unfortunately.

Should you like to send us a little gift to express your gratitude, then we would gratefully receive it towards the costs associated with running our website. 🤩 

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📣 Another way to support us is via our affiliate link to the following online courses & webinars (which you can study anytime, at your own pace)...

Here is our unique link to 'The Dogs Point of View' website:

https://www.thedogspointofview.com/?affiliate=nqTHUx

These reasonably priced courses & webinars start from just £25 (& some are even FREE, no catch 😱🥰) & are specifically tailored towards Romanian & Overseas rescue dogs, however some of these courses might also prove useful & relevant for U.K. rescue dogs too, so well worth a look.

You can even join the training & support group where you will be able to access ALL online courses & webinars for FREE, 100's of step-by-step teaching guides, progressive training plans, optional weekly zoom calls, & get qualified trainer support & advice whenever you need it for as little as £27 per month! 😃

Some topics covered include: 

🐶 fearfulness & social shyness, 

🐶 prey drive, 

🐶 building calmness & confidence, 

🐶 techniques to rebalance & calm,

🐶 reactivity on walks, 

🐶 reactivity with visitors, 

🐶 the quirky nature of Romanian dogs, 

🐶 how to set yourself up for a successful adoption.

The course & webinar content has been carefully constructed by Meesh Masters, who is an Holistic Canine Behaviour Consultant specialising in working with Romanian & Overseas rescue dogs. 'The Dogs Point of View' is committed to following the latest scientifically proven fear free methods.

Thank you so much for being here & for supporting Patchwork Paws U.K. 🐶

We always welcome your feedback, so please feel free to leave us a comment or email us. 🥰

📣 Please remember to always choose no harm, fear free, force free & non-aversive training methods based on mutual respect, trust & positive reinforcement. Please always consider that a behaviour that YOU might find undesirable might be quite normal behaviour to your dog, the behaviour might be motivated by a past trauma/fear, or it might be motivated by your dog's emotional response to something. Always treat your dog with love, patience, empathy, understanding & kindness - even if they do have toileting accidents or if they chew your favourite slippers. 📣🙏

📍 The dog behaviour & training world is largely unregulated here in the U.K. & not all are equal. Please do your homework & always choose a behaviourist or trainer carefully. Look at the methods of training they use & the stance they choose to adopt. Always check their qualifications, accreditations & references/feedback carefully. 📍

🐶 PICTURED ABOVE ☝️ is Rossi with the most delightful photo bomb ever, the late & very great Juni. 🙏💕 Both Rossi & Juni were found stray on the streets of Romania, separately. Rossi had been abandoned & Juni was being fed by some lovely Romanian ladies who desperately wanted her to have a home. 🥰

🧡 PICTURED BELOW  👇 is the 3, 3, 3 rule infographic provided by League City Pets Alive & UKUSCA Doggie - just as a reminder.