Home Sweet (New) Home

Sometimes household change can to trigger odd behavior in a dog, like renovation work, installing a new floor, or moving to a new home. The truth is I haven’t seen a case yet where the problem was created by that one single change. In nature, one traumatic experience does not create a phobia. Often, it’s layers of previous experiences that build up and are then triggered by one particularly traumatic experience. But most of the time, it’s a person’s reaction to the experience that influences the dog’s fear or neuroses.

When your dog is about to undergo a new experience that could be frightening for him, it’s important to condition him in advance. If you are moving to a new home, there are several things you can do. The biggest mistake would be to just let your dog jump out of the car and expect him to acclimate to the house on his own while you unpack.

Take the dog for walks to the new house before you move in. The day of the move, give him a one-hour walk around the new neighborhood to experience the feeling of “migration.” Once in the house, don’t let him wander around while you are getting settled. Put him on his leash and introduce him one room at a time, letting him sniff around to familiarize himself with his new home.

If you use your calm-assertive energy to communicate to him that this is a positive experience, that’s the experience he will have. It’s up to us to create and maintain the leadership that keeps a dog balanced through every new situation.

How Many Rescue Dogs are Too Many?

To me, there’s no limit to how many dogs you should adopt, or how many dogs you want to share your life with, though it is a little different for me because this is my job and something I’ve devoted my entire life to. Fortunately, I have the resources, time, and experience that these rescue animals need to develop into a cohesive, balanced pack.

People really need to research how to care for multiple rescues and understand what it takes to keep them balanced. You also need to be able to provide the kind of life that will fulfill them mentally and physically. Knowing that dogs’ most important activity is walking, we should be aware that if we don’t have sufficient time, energy, or resources to exercise them, we shouldn’t rescue them.

Respecting Boundaries

Some people become concerned when they see a number of dogs together in one place. The reality is that you don’t have to be so concerned if their boundaries are respected. For example, if a person were to swim into a pack of sharks, most likely they’re going to be bitten, not because the sharks were waiting for them, but because they were in their territory.