Defective Dogs

I've heard people talk about the concern of getting a "defective dog" when adopting from a shelter as a reason many people don't consider rescue adoption.

The term "defective" seems terminal to me.  Once you are defective, you can't become EFFECTIVE, can you?  If you buy a defective product, can it become effective?  Not without some effort on your part!

Rogue was a "defective dog".  She was likely a puppy mill dog because she is clearly Lab and Jack Russell, two popular breeds...and therefor popular with puppy mills as well.  She was found with puppies in a Clark County ditch, the puppy mill capitol of Wisconsin, soon after new state laws went into effect that are finally shutting down puppy mills.  It seems reasonable that she either escaped, or was simply released.

She contracted Lyme's disease and had some funky ears from hundreds of horse fly bites.

The sad thing is, she was adopted by someone and then returned less than 48 hours later.  Their feelings were that she was an outside dog and not right for them.  Their loss is our gain.

Shelters routinely have dogs and cats (I'm not a cat person, but cats need rescuing too) that are brought in with a range of problems.  Some have medical issues such as Rogue did.  Some have temperament issues (think about what they may have been through) and still others have other hindrances to adoption...too old, too big, too small, etc..

Certainly you have to find a dog that is right for you.  If you live in an apartment, a St. Bernard is probably a bad choice and will not work out...that doesn't make the dog defective though.

When you look to adopt a dog (or cat), you need to think about breeds and what characteristics will work with your lifestyle.  Do you have several hours a day to groom  and exercise your dog (not walking, but hard exercise)?  If so, a working breed might be a good fit.  Border Collies are my favorite!  Talk to your shelter, they are a great resource to helping select the right dog for you.

What I can tell you is that when you adopt a dog, you need to be ready to train it.  You are making a commitment.  No dog, purebred from a reputable breeder, or stray adopted from a shelter, will be the dog you dream of the day you bring them home.

As far as medical issues go, most shelters are fantastic about treating animals and rely on volunteers to assist with finances and caring.  Rogue was being treated with antibiotics when we adopted her and we simply had to finish the medication which was given to us at adoption.

What most people fear, and understandably so, is that they will get a dog that has temperament issues.  Many dogs are abused (I suspect Rogue was because of her reactions to certain things).  Dogs, like people, need time to learn to trust their new owners and environments.  They will need someone who understands that there is a history with them that they can't share with us, but that shapes their behaviors.

Rogue has a reaction to touching of her rear legs.  We learned this when she nipped at one of the kids when they were playing.  It was a reaction, that was clear.  She immediately knew what she did was wrong and was simply reacting because of an instinct.

What caused this instinct?  We have no idea.  She lived in a ditch with puppies.  Did raccoons bite her at night in the ditch?  Was she routinely pulled by her hind legs by her previous owner?  Anything is possible.  We just needed to know that was an issue for her.

Now, I' not going to tell you to learn to live with that "defect", you can make great strides at correcting it, with just a little effort and patience.

Rogue sometimes lays in the chair with me at night.  When she does, I pet her and gradually make my way back to her hind legs.  She always looks back at me...apprehensive like...when I do this, but over a few weeks, she has gotten better.  I can do this now without much of a response from her.  Now we need to get that level of trust with everyone else in the house.  In time, that instinctive reaction will simply disappear as more trust develops.

I'll be honest here, this might not be the best path to pet ownership for everyone.  Adopting a dog is not like buying fish...they need a lot of attention and training.  Shelter rescues sometimes come with some psychological baggage that will take some effort to correct, but once you do, you will be well rewarded with an incredible dog.  This can also be true for purebreds from breeders.  If you can't commit time and effort to a new dog (rescue of not) fish might be a safer bet!

In just one month of very low level training (15 or 20 minutes a few days a week), Rogue has learned to sit on command reliably, laydown (still working on it), head down (new), come (mastered with me), Hurry Up (almost there...this is command to go to bathroom behind garage) and kennel, which is the command to go in her kennel, which she does pretty well as long as we are by the kennel.

That's in just 4 weeks.  She's also almost housebroke.  In my opinion, that is remarkable.

Now, if we had gotten a puppy, it would be about 12 weeks old right now.  How many 12 week old puppies could do all of this? 

On top of all of this, Rogue is a huge ball of love.  If you could sit in our living room at night and watch her, you would see that she lays as close to us as possible (on top of us usually), she can't get close enough to us...and she is calm around us.  She's a fantastic dog with a long life ahead of her and the efforts we put into training now will yield a decade or more of benefits as she lives her life with us.

This is a longer post, but if you take anything away from this, I hope that it is that all dogs have the ability to adjust, and do so relatively quickly.  There are no "defective dogs", just defective behaviors that can be corrected.  There is a wealth of information available online to assit you with any behaviors you need to correct.  Most dogs naturally want to please their owners, which makes training a lot easier then most people thing; but remember, it takes time.  Dog's don't speak English...they don't know what "sit means", but with repetition, they learn the action that they need to do when they hear that word.

Most importantly, take your time.  Everyone would love to have the dog that can walk off leash through the middle of a crowd the day they bring it home...not going to happen.  When you get frustrated, stop.  I've stopped lots of times.  I never want Rogue to sense I am frustrated while training...training needs to be fun.  Learn what works to motivate your dog.  Is play time a reqard that motivates them?  Is it treats?  Once you learn their "currency" you know how to reward them and make training even more effective.

And never forget.  Dogs want to please you.  I believe this to be universal.  You just need to learn to communicate in a way that is effective for your dog.