Doggie Says She Needs a Dog of Her Own

Today I was asked to talk with a two and a half year old dog who was rescued a week ago. (This came in as a text message from someone who knew the people who rescued the dog. I don't know her name, just got a text request for help from a friend who knows the people who have her right now). What I heard about the situation was third or fourth hand. I will share with you what came through on the text and then what is more important is what the dog had to say about everything and what she wanted. Sounds like the dog was being kept outside no matter what the weather was like and she may have been mistreated in other ways as well. The rescuers have reported they cannot contain the dog in anything. For instance they say the dog tears apart crates and climbs fences. They are having a hard time keeping her contained. They say she had no confinement before but was locked outside the home.

Having heard all of that information now I will say hello to this doggie and see what she has to say about her experience, what she needs, wants etc.

First, I must say she is a joyous being. I am experiencing a tremendous smile and wagging tail. She reminds me of a big pup who is out of control with tons of energy but joyous and very sweet. She says she has not had much, if any, training. She says her people adopted her, and brought her home. She proceeded to destroy everything in the house and they tried to stop her but did not know how so they finally put her outside. She could have run away but she just stayed there for the most part. Her people loved her but did not know how to handle their situation. They did not know how to handle her. Unfortunately they did not contact the organization where they acquired her to ask for help. (I don't know why it is but I continually hear of situations where people have trouble with an adopted animal but they don't go back to ask for help when they have trouble. They even sometimes abandon an animal or take them to another shelter. (I'll have to ask this dog why his people didn't ask for help.) OK, I just asked her. She said they were embarrassed and felt like a failure. They were also committed to keep her regardless of the challenges they faced.

Some human thought of my own!

It is interesting we don't have any structured or official training on how to care for and be with or parent our human children, nor is there standard training or the automatic idea of taking training for being great parents to our animal family members (Fur and Feathered children) either. We tend to seek out training or assistance when there is a problem. Also it occurs to me we have an assumption we should automatically be great parents. Interesting.

Back to the dog I want to know what she wants, what would be helpful for the new people to know, and to do, in order to have everyone comfortable and happy. And, we want to have her ready for a new permanent home where she and her new people can be happy.

She says it did not occur to her people they could ask for help from the shelter. They worried the shelter would ask for the dog back. They were not ready to give up the dog. The thought of confiding about the problems they were experiencing had them feeling like a failure. It did not occur to them they could simply get some help for managing the dog, or give the dog back if they wished and there was nothing wrong with it. In hindsight it would have been much better than having everyone suffering. And, the dog went on to say her people would have continued to keep her just as it was if it wasn't for these people (who just rescued her) requesting to take her. She said she was grateful to be taken away as her people just thought of themselves as being failures around her and she was not enjoying them as much because it was all about them feeling bad about her.

Now the dog is with the rescuers and they are having trouble as the dog is more difficult to manage than they imagined.

Back to the dog I want to know what she wants. In addition what would she like for the rescuers to know. What can they do to have her feeling loved, understood safe and happy. How may they most efficiently work with her to have her ready for a new forever home she and her new people can be happy.