Wonderful article on adopting out fearful dogs. As an organization that frequently works with dogs with debilitating fear and other severe behavioral issues, I love how this speaks to the responsibility of the rescue group to take extra steps to set dog and adopter up for success, however that may look for each individual. I am proud of the fact that Handsome Dans Rescue embraces full disclosure to applicants, behavioral modification while in our programs and is in the soft launch of our new program to send in some of the most skilled trainers in our area to help with transition into adoptive homes for some of our most behaviorally-challenged and emotionally needy dogs. Dogs have demonstrated the ability to learn despite how we train them not because of how we train them. But our fearful dogs are more dependent on the how being as clear as possible. Being re-homed is among one of the most stressful events in the life of a social animal. Being stressed and uncertain is a miserable combination and is not likely to contribute to an improvement in the dog’s behavior. We can prepare the adopters of these dogs by showing them how to cue a trained behavior and reinforce it. By training dogs using positive reinforcement every cued behavior is an opportunity to feel good and to minimize the uncertainty a dog experiences in a new setting. Will this add to the responsibilities of rescue groups? It sure will. Some are already taking it on, and my guess is that it will increase the odds the dog will remain in the home and have a head start on becoming a happy pet. If we take on the responsibility of selecting dogs to place in homes as pets, we should embrace all that that entails, it’s how professionals operate.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 14:40:29 +0000
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