Rescue dog owners often get stuck focusing on their dog's trauma instead of building confidence. Constantly protecting them keeps reactive dogs fearful. The fix: manage short-term, then gradually expose them to the world so they learn they can handle it.
Chapters
"Um, my rescue dog has clearly been through something bad before I got her. How do I know if her activity is from that or just bad habits?" Okay, not to say that it doesn't matter, but I do think a lot of people with rescue dogs really do get stuck in a trap where we focus so heavily on their past and their trauma and these things that have happened to them, which, yes, obviously if your dog has had a traumatic past or bad things have happened to them, it's gonna play a role in why they behave the way that they do now. But I think that we focus so heavily on it, keeps react— keeps reactive rescue dogs stuck in this place because we want to help them but we don't know how. We just try and tell them, oh, it's okay and don't worry. And we try and keep them sheltered and we try and keep them away from the things that trigger them. And for a while, yeah, that management is key while you're doing things like building your communication system, while you're working to help get that dog off lead. But the dog is never going to know that they can, that they are capable, that there is— the world could be bigger and you're capable of moving through it if we don't show them that they can. And I think we bubble wrap these dogs because we think, oh, they've had this horrible, horrible past, and now I have to try my best to love them so much and give them this great life. And that, that great life sometimes comes out with 7 different beds in every room and 20 different toys and all this other stuff, which is lovely and amazing, and it comes with the best intentions, but really the best thing that we can do for them is help to show them that they are capable and help them to move through the tough stuff and get, get past it and show them that they can and that the world is actually not so scary. So yeah, they might have their bad habits, might stem from past experience, but try not to get stuck in that. Try and focus on now. Like, they're not living in that horrible life anymore because they have this lovely life with you and you care for them.
