by Nancy Gallimore
I caught myself saying it as my foster puppy shied away from a well-meaning person trying to say hello. “Sorry! He’s a rescue,”
I said in a quick reflex to excuse his behavior. And in that head-smacking instant, I realized I had just committed one of my biggest pet peeves. Trainer, heal thyself!
The first question I ask when I get a dog training call? “Tell me a little bit about your dog.” The answer I often receive? “Well, he’s a rescue.” As if that one sentence sums it all up. That statement is then generally followed by a long list of what the dog is doing wrong and what the dog’s human believes the dog thinks or feels about it all based on his past. And it all ties back to that label: rescue.
“When I try to put him in the car, he falls to the ground and won’t jump in. He is scared I’m going to take him out somewhere to abandon him.”
“When I reach for his collar or try to pet his head, he will duck or run away, so I know somebody in his past has beaten him.”
“If I try to put him in a dog crate, he fights and then just cries and panics. He’s a rescue, so someone obviously abused him.”
After a moment or two of listening to speculation, I ask again, “Tell me about your dog.” And what I hope to find out is fact, not projection.
Just the Facts, Please
By fact, I mean I want to know what breed your dog is or what best-guess breeds came together. I want to know how big your dog is. I want to know where you got your dog. Tell me what specific behaviors you are witnessing that you want help resolving. I don’t want to know why you think things are happening, I just want to know what’s happening.
I want to know facts about your dog’s age and health. I want to know why you chose this dog, what drew you to him. I want to know about your home, family, and daily routine. I want to know what is happening right now, just the facts.
And if you do have information about how the dog lived prior to your adoption, that’s incredibly helpful too. For example, did the dog previously belong to a single person with no kids, and now he’s hiding in the corner eyeing your five-year-old? This is good to know. Is his fearful behavior because his previous owner was cruel to him? Probably not. Is it because a small, energetic child might as well be a velociraptor in the dog’s eyes? Quite possibly.
And how about the six-month-old puppy just adopted from the shelter who is flopping around like a fish out of water when you put the leash on and try to go for a walk? Rather than assume former abuse with a leash, I tend to think we have a puppy that was never taught how to accept and enjoy a leashed walk. That has nothing to do with being a rescue and everything
to do with a puppy who has a few things to learn.
This is not to suggest that there aren’t rescued dogs with loads of baggage from previous neglect and abuse. Sadly, there are dogs who have suffered horribly in the wrong hands. I have worked with dogs liberated from puppy mills where they spent years having litter after litter — caged, unsocialized, and unloved.
I’ve worked with dogs rescued from life outside on a chain, battling the elements and the frustration of constant restraint. And I’ve worked with feral dogs who have simply had nothing. No home, no care, no positive socialization, and no proper introduction to life as a companion animal.
These dogs are special cases, and undoing what has been done requires patience, dedication, skill, and the gift of time. But the one thing even these dogs don’t deserve is the lifelong label, “He’s a rescue.”
Discover the Unknowns
Adopting from a rescue group or animal shelter is a wonderful thing. You are giving a deserving dog the chance to live in a happy home. You might not have the benefit of knowing his past, but you are ensuring his future.
Admittedly, when your newly adopted friends first come home, there are a lot of unknowns. You don’t know what training they have had or, in most cases, haven’t had. You don’t know how well socialized they are to new places, sounds, people, and other pets. You don’t know if they are housetrained or not. You don’t know if your favorite shoes are in jeopardy of becoming a chew toy or not.
No dog is a blank slate. Even an eightweek-old puppy from a safe, happy, known background will come with its own little ideas, instincts, habits, and challenges. That’s why knowing the facts about a new dog is so important.
You have a hound mix, and he’s howling.
It’s not necessarily because he might have been abandoned or abused in a former life, it’s because he’s a hound, and they bay. You have a German shepherd mix who barks like crazy when someone comes to your door. I tend to blame DNA that is instinctively driving him to guard rather than using the “He’s a rescue” label to explain away the behavior.
Drop the Label
The point I really want to drive home is that your dog shouldn’t be burdened with a label. A dog taken in as a stray or adopted from a shelter shouldn’t have to carry that stigma for life. The moment that dog crosses the threshold of your house, he’s no longer a rescue. He’s your dog.
So let’s revisit that scene with my foster puppy. When a well-meaning stranger tried to reach out to pet him and he shied away, my smiling response should have been, “My puppy is a bit timid, so we’re out for a fun, easy adventure walk to help him start getting acquainted with the world. Would you mind just standing near and chatting with me while he figures out everything is fine?”
I don’t need to make excuses, I just need to make progress.
Most people are so willing to take a moment to help. And I’m right there managing the interaction to ensure a good experience for everyone, human and puppy alike. Most important, my puppy is not a “rescue,” he’s a cute mixed-breed dog. No one feels sorry for him. No one sees him as a hopeless case. No excuses. He’s simply a darling puppy on a learning mission.
Wonderful owners of adopted dogs, unite! Let’s all make a pact right now to drop the label — no excuses, no speculation. Let’s all agree that “rescued” is not a breed or type of dog, it’s something great that happened to make your dog’s life better. And now your dog is adopted — a far better label if one is needed.
Let’s take the facts we know about our dogs and move forward. I’ll go first. “Meet Gordie, he’s a German shepherd and husky mix puppy, I’m currently training with him, he’s very smart. And he’s a very good boy.”
