How to Help a Shelter Dog Adapt to a New Home: 5 Tips to Earn Your Dog's Love
No matter how hard shelter workers try, they don’t always have enough time to play with a dog – first of all, they have to feed the animal, walk it, examine it... Sometimes even 24 hours a day is not enough.
For this reason, over time, the tails get used to a certain regime and adopt certain behavior patterns.
Therefore, a new owner who took a dog from a shelter will have to really try to socialize the pet and reawaken its trust in people.
There are 5 tips that you can read below that will help you with this.
1. First of all, owners of dogs taken from a shelter are advised to use all their observation skills, noting the habits, reactions, inclinations of their pet, its character traits, preferences, etc. - this way you can learn as much as possible about the dog's condition.
2. The next step is to overcome pack instincts - those habits that the dog has developed because of bad life - for example, when the dog immediately eats all the food from the bowl because it is afraid that it might remain hungry. We warn you: you will need a lot of patience.
3. Be prepared for howling, whining, aggression and other "trouble" - this is a normal reaction to stress caused by a sudden change in environment. Rudeness and physical punishment are taboo.
4. Don't rush with grooming procedures, as well as with active games - everything has its time. It is unlikely that the dog's credit of trust will grow if immediately upon arrival in a new home it is dragged into the bathroom.
5. Remember: your main weapon is not persistence, but patience. Try to refrain from impulsive hugs and other rather unceremonious expressions of affection - now your pet only needs attention and care.
