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Originally Posted by BabyGirl Rosie  I need for the YT members to be honest with me about something. I have been thinking about Rosie a sister for a few months now. I have been watching the rescues and have had my heart broke a few times because it did not work out for me. With that said, I think I have found a possible little girl that needs a home. I need you to tell me 1) if you adopted the rescue, 2) your experiences with the rescue (not the group but the dog itself), 3) any advice for bringing a rescue home, 4) how to transition with my Rosie, 5) anything else you think would help me. She is from a breeder, not house broken, shy, nervous in new situations, and can not be returned (has already had this happen!  ) So, be honest and tell me what I need to know. |
1.) Lane is adopted from a rescue. There was a huge puppymill bust, and the rescue we adopted her from took in some of the dogs from this bust.
2.) She was extremely timid, nervous and anxious (rightly so). Her entire world changed almost immediately. The day after we adopted her we actually drove down to celebrate Christmas with my parents. I think it helped her tremendously to have Rory and my parents' 2 other dogs and sister's dog there to hang around with her. Dogs were all she knew from before. She is still not 100% housebroken and may never be. She loves to mark the tiny, tiny spots. We've always lived in high rises, so they use pads the majority of the time.
3.) Give them lots of time and patience to come out of their shell. Dogs adjust at all different rates. Lane wouldn't eat out of bowl (probably didn't know what one was) for awhile and actually ran around pacing frantically the first night. It was hard to watch, but at the same time it was good she was willing to leave her crate. She had no idea what toys were, chews were, etc. She had a crate available to her, and the first night we kept her in the crate on our bed. The next night we left it open on our bed and she came out to sleep on our bed with Rory and us. Of course, pm rescues have their own set of issues to overcome, making it extra amazing when they do. Point being, you may not have to deal with some of these.
4.) Rosie absolutely should meet this other pup before you bring her home. I can't imagine a rescue not insisting on this. Rory and Lane met before we adopted Lane. They didn't immediately start playing with each other or anything, but they sniffed each other and were accepting enough.
5.) Rory was my spoiled princess before Lane entered the picture. I cannot explain how sweet she was to Lane. Rory was already very well socialized when we adopted Lane too, since she was attending doggie daycare everyday (M-F), attended lots of dog meetups, played with friends dogs, lots of walks in the park, etc. Once we got home from the holidays and had to head back to work, Lane started the daily daycare with Rory - I also think this helped her tremendously to learn what it was to be a dog. The rescue actually told me that Lane may never want to play. Ironically, it was the first thing she really did to come out of shell...about a week after we had her she instigated play with Rory - talk about a tearful moment.
