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he is never more than ten feet away. Everything new has taken time, entering the breezeway, (I had to take down my wind chimes), entering the house, stairs...everything. He does love his crate and he will relax with me outside and even run and play a little. I don't talk to him much and when I do I keep my voice soft. He has his own room in the house where his crate is so he can eat where it's quiet. He is slowly warming to my husband and kids, but they must ignore

basically grew up in a boarding kennel type environment. I've had him since Saturday.

About how old is he?

I'd just give him some more time adjusting to the everyday noises/happenings of the house, something he's not used to if he has been in a kennel type environment.

He's approximately 18 months.

He was adopted out twice, once for 48 hours when he was only about 5 months. The people left him out in the house the first day when they went to work and were surprised that he chewed everything up. The second home was just a few months ago. They left him loose outside and he chewed up some kind of lattice in their garden and was returned. Just FYI, the rescue I work with is not who placed him in these homes.

Something else interesting, the vet/boarding facility that has kept him all this time said he had snapped at an employee a couple of times. That is when they called us. I have not seen any obbsessive chewing for any hint of growling or snapping.

Hey Janet, so glad to hear this pup is out and with you!! I can’t say enough about people who foster, you have my deepest respect.

I’ve got a bit of different approach but you’ve received excellent information so far. There are as many different approaches as there are different dogs, but I found some basic things worked really well for me.

When a new dog came to me, somewhat stable or not, I judged very little in the first few days.

If they’re willing to eat, I (me only) am a treat dispenser. I free shape all wanted behavior. Nice calm sits, eye contact, downs where I want them to lay. Immediately show them what pleases me in their new environment.

They’ve generally been through a fair deal before they get to me so my welcoming gift is calm, relaxation. No one, not even great neighbors, get to see them. I want no reactions except relaxed, calm behavior and I set them up to be as successful as possible.

With him by your side, even a well intentioned stare from an interested friend, not to mention our having to explain the new arrival, rehashing potential trauma he’s been through, body language he may be picking up on, etc, etc. may be enough to cause an adverse reaction that we’re not immediately aware of.

Depending on the temperament, (good, bad or otherwise) they’re always put away when company comes over, for at least the first two weeks. And because I’m all about the relaxed, calm behavior (which translates nicely to the new home), I’m the most boring human in their life – as I see it, may not necessarily be the term a dog would use.

When I start to see stable behavior or a specific temperament coming out, the plan starts to develop from there. If the dog is fairly stable, I remain the calm influence. When it’s time to start introducing him to people, this is when the fun toys and great treats come out, but again, only once I’m confident he’s stable. One really good dog, a lab mix, I still gave two weeks (of what I consider rehab) before I felt he was ready for introduction to outsiders.

This is where the great neighbors can really come in handy. We’ll be hanging in the yard and I can gauge his response at they enter. Fearful/reactive gets puts back in the crate, curious/suspicion remains by my side. If alls well, the slow introductions start with the curious dog initiating it. If it’s calm or some wiggle butt action, out with the toys and I let the new humans initiate the fun. If not… well you get the picture.

When they are ready to be re-homed, sure there is a bond with me but it’s not the wiggle butt and kisses kind. As they head out with their new owner, they’re happy and willing to go, trusting of the humans and trusting my judgment in who I’m allowing them to go with.

The owner is equipped with a long list of observations and work I’ve done – crate behavior, feeding times, washroom habits, possible tricks they know or funny things they do, breed specific traits I’ve noticed, toys/treats they like, etc. Possible behavior issues and how they’ve been addressed to this point.

And although the fostering I did was successful on all four occasions, I found it to be difficult work, on so many different levels but also extremely rewarding. I haven’t done it for a few years and don’t see doing it in the foreseeable future based on the labor intensive crew I have now, but definitely something I would do again if the circumstances were right or an overwhelming need arose.

God bless you, keep up the great work!!

CJ,

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

What you say about body language and eye contact with strangers makes sense. I like your approach with this. I spend most evenings with the dogs outside now, and honestly don't look forward to holiday plans messing up our schedule...LOL. I'll hold off on introductions to people for a couple of weeks.

Thanks for sharing your experience with me. I've found fostering to be much more fulfilling than my job or other hobbies.

FYI on the marker training, loading the mark is...well...awkward because he takes so long to take the food...even tossed on the ground. I'll keep trying. Could a dog that likes a scratch behind the ear be marker trained that way? Sorry if it's a stupid quetion.

Janet, not a stupid question at all. Quite frankly, not taking treats and/or food for the first little while has been my experience, more often than not.

The specific reason I mentioned “if they are willing to eat”. If not, just let them settle in. Too many people want to feed, feed, feed right away because it comes along with our whole nurturing concept.

Give him a minimal amount of food for a few minutes and if he’s not eating, take it away. And don’t think about the marker work as training. You’re rewarding basic human/dog interactions and home life behavior. No real training at this time but in turn, you are also loading the mark – slowly. Most things with fearful dogs takes much longer.

When you’re outside in the evening, just let him hang out. If you’re relaxed and he comes to you, have a great treat ready. A very calm, almost whisper – “Yes”, give it to him and let him wander away. As he approaches again, ignore and when he gets to you, the quiet “Yes”, out with the great treat and let him go. He’ll get the picture pretty quick, start initiating it and take the food a little quicker.

Once you get to the active training stage, the engagement may get fairly intense but that’s a whole other topic. For now, I’d just be working on settling him, absolutely no pressure. Keep it super simple, no confusion (head twisting), as basic as possible.

If you find he's really enjoying (not just tolerating) the scratch behind the ears, yes, I would probably use that as a reward. But then again, only as a reward, not just for the heck of it. Something to be earned. I hope that makes sense.

Once you open up the lines of communication and you get to know him a bit better, he’ll let you know when he’s ready to advance.

Thanks so much.

I'll try this starting this evening. I'm off tomorrow, so I'm hoping for a dry, sunny day outside!

Have a great weekend, everybody.

My M.O. is about the same as CJ's. (And like CJ, I totally recognize that other protocols work just as well for other folks.)

For me, iutsiders aren't brought in this soon, and all I care about is for the dog to trust me.

I don't care how long it takes the dog to come near the fabulous reward (before dinner! hungriest time!) like smelly bits of real bacon, warm and odorous. When he comes over with obvious interest, I'm ready with the open-palm reward. (All that's happening at this point is charging the marker, so it's not important if he thinks about the risks of coming over to it first.)

I would stick with food for now. Intangibles don't have the clarity and speed of bits of food when the marker isn't charged yet (and for some time after, too, for me; the dog needs to learn how markers work, and bits of food are so clear, so easy to present, portable, and uninterrupting-of-the-session).

I too tend to put the dog up at this stage when people come (only about five days now, right?), but this was why I asked about his reaction to visitors so far. You mentioned having a room just for him. If he is in that room and can see the people but no one approaches or looks at or speaks to him, that might work for him. But it's individual. I want him to have zero anxiety at this stage.

There's no hurry.

 Quote: Janet Dudley

Here's the picture they initially sent to me. (If I did it right.) His tail curls over his back when he's running. It's white underneath and he looks like a deer!

http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy211/janetdunut/DudleySitting.jpg

Janet---take a look at the pup on the far right in this photo. I think she looks like Dudley. Her adopters were told she was a husky/sheltie mix, but who knows. I'm impressed as heck by your slow, methodical approach to rehabbing this dog.

 Quote: Meredith Hamilton

I'm impressed as heck by your slow, methodical approach to rehabbing this dog.

So am I. It's what works best for me, too.

Do you ever notice how in a shelter most dogs are jumping onto the bars of their kennels, wanting to go with you.

At adoption fairs most dogs seem to be content sitting in their crates, not so eager to go out meet new people.

A lot of these fosters are very reluctant to take a walk with a potential adopter.

Why is that? Could it be beneficial to introduce fosters to carefully selected "strangers" at some point and get them used to be handled by different people?