Adopted dogs and the "two week honeymoon" period

[shorthorsemom]

I like to share dog training tips from time to time, especially in light of recent experience, thought I could start a topic about Adopted dogs and the "two week honeymoon period".

Many of you are probably aware, but some may not, and to those I begin this thread..

Trainers like me are aware of something we dub the "two week honeymoon period".

Whether you are adopting a dog, bringing a puppy into the house, introducing a new dog to family or children or a new dog to existing pack dog members... there is an initial bit of time (aprox two weeks) where the dog seems "perfect" easy to train, well behaved and gets along with all the dogs in the house.

Then about two weeks into the new experience all of a sudden you say "WHAT THE HECK" and things start to fly apart, dog fights happen, kids get bit, accidents happen in house, chewing, garbage shredding... etc etc.

Leaves the owner asking why? Or in the case of dog fights, takes the owner by surprise because owner has let guard down and bam, new dog attempts to elevate status in pack and a fight happens.

This happened to my niece a few days ago. Was hard watching from sidelines the train wreck coming and having nobody listening. Why don't they listen? Cause dog is in honeymoon period so trainer must be nuts dishing out all that caution for a dog that is super cool and seemingly has no problems whatsoever.

Niece posts frequently on facebook so I watched the whole thing unfolding on computer.

Niece has nice rescue mix dog for a few years now, Pit heeler or Bull terrier heeler mix that was adopted and has turned out to be quite a sweet girl. Excellent temperament, but something I noticed when babysitting her dog was that she does not really care for other dogs, typical of this mix but ok since they were a single dog household. I was very careful when she was visiting my house not to have contact with my dogs because dogs body language was tight when she saw my little dogs.

Fast forward to couple of weeks ago... Niece really wants a bull terrier, has wanted one forever. Niece adopts adult neutered bull terrier male about 70lbs worth and introduces to her other dog and kids. Dog comes in to home, dog is perfect except pulls on leash, sweet and kind of dumb was how he was described. no problems right??

Niece doesn't take acclimation time into account expecially 2 week rule and dogs are mixing in house right away. I observe in photos on facebook that her other dog is looking stressed, lack of eyecontact, head down and looks unhappy with new dog. New perfect dog being hugged by kids, lots of attention lavished on new dog in house. Accident waiting to happen and I say to my husband.... Hmmm shes gonna have a dog fight at the two week mark... geez i hope I am wrong, but looks like it to me.

I check out facebook the other night and sure enough, there is her female dog with a shaved back and a big chomp out of her back and the caption says something like... "almost friends again" with a photo showing both dogs laying on floor.

sheesh. Dog fight predicted, right at the two week mark.

So folks, what is my lesson I want to share... When you add a dog to your pack, take TIME and acclimate slowly, be aware of the two week mark for challenges, do not put dogs together unattended and keep one dog on a leash to start and then switch which one is on a leash, crate separately and be ultra careful if you have kids.

My neice has a new baby expected in October and two little girls in the house. Bad time to introduce a new dog, but I do understand how hard it is to resist the dog of your dreams, so my caution is more about treading carefully and acclimate slowly and back up and start over and above all else, don't think new dog is to be trusted quite so soon just because dog is being quiet.

Skipping acclimation and introduction and letting dogs "sort it out" is not a good thing.

Take your time... be aware, and introduce a new dog ultra slowly.

I did new dog introductions recently myself. Got a puppy and introduced her to my 6 old geezer dogs. Several of my geezer dogs are not easily amused by over happy puppies. I took ultra time, used my leash so geezer dogs could avoid being jumped on, promised my oldsters I would watch the pup at all times. I now have a nicely aclimated puppy that my old dogs think is very cool and fun to play with. Pup is still on leash in presence of other dogs in house most of the time. it has taken about 4 months for proper introduction given the ages of my old guys I went super slow and so far so good.

It takes as long as it takes and you have to watch body language and stress levels.

My neighbors that brought "zeus" an 8 week old lab puppy into their home and just turned him loose with their old geezer grumpy ancient lab intact male and were amazed when a couple of weeks later puppy was knocking down older dog, growling and bullying the other male. they rushed introduction and now have a situation of puppy challenging older dog and are blaming the puppy. It isn't the puppy, he is only doing what is natural, challenging top spot in the house. Should have protected older dog and taken introduction more slowly. Even a puppy has a "two week honeymoon" period where they follow you and look at you at total adoration.. then bam... sweet perfect puppy becomes a challenge.

Take care and hope this message reaches out to you dog lovers considering adding a new dog, or those of you who have added a new dog recently and are having problems.

Will write more later. take care and thanks for reading.

ps, anybody else out there have stories about this phenomenom? May be shorter, or longer in time, "two weeks" is just a guideline.

cheers.

 

[bevann]

Guess I did something right when I got my rescue German Shepherd May 10, 2012.Never left him alone with the 2 female Corgis. Separate play yards and times.Separate feeding areas.They get along fine in the house and can be left alone together for several hours if there is no food anywhere near.He is so big and fast and Corgis are 11 and 13 and small.He runs over them still.We have worked out a system.They go in the fenced yard for playtime when he goes to the barn with me.Younger Corgi is Alpha and she will attack her mom on occasion if left out too long in yard.1 inside 1 out.I still have issues with Shepherd coming when called so he is never outside fenced area and never out with horses.He has his own stall in the barn for horse safety.His prey drive is VERY high-we are working on that.I try very hard to be a very responsible dog owner.I am still amazed that I was turned down by a German Shepherd rescue due to the fact that my fence is only 4 feet high and I do put my dogs in a 6 foot kennel enclosure for their safety at times.I had 42 years experience raising and showing German Shepherds.Told them all that-never had 1 killed on the highway or due to dog fighting.Still rejected from rescue groups.Thank goodness the shelter director knew me and how I love and care for my critters.He called me when Duke came in,.Duke has issues but so do I and Duke didn't reject me.We are now a happy family of i big dog, 2 small dogs and 2 humans, 1 barn cat ,lots of horses.

 

[lucky seven]

Need to do the same thing with cats. My son kept getting kittens that he couldn't take care of after awhile and then sending them to mom and dad. Both older cats didn't take to the kittens so they both ended up at a animal hospital to be adopted out.

 

[Carolyn R]

I agree. While we have two mini Aussies in the house and nmoguls household has a new golden puppy,we are careful to make certain the golden puppy is not over bearing to the Aussies. Only one aussie has warmed to the play stage, the other is the one with all of the stress and food allergy issues. We do not force her to be with the puppy, nor do we make her tolerate the puppy's crazy antics. We are also careful about kenneling the puppy in a different room at night and feeding them seperately, as well as taking the puppy with us if we were to be gone for several hours. We would be more than happy to take our established dogs and take them with us for a ride instead, but they get car sick, so the logicle choice is to leave them relax at home without the puppy.

Our less social Aussie is slowly warming up, or at least getting acclimated to her at her own pace, I could only imagine how poorly it would end if we just tossed them in a room and walked away.

Ugg, the cat thing, I understand that too. Our cat does not mind dogs, but hates, I mean HATES other cats. There is no way we could own another cat while she is alive.