The Two Week Golden Window

If you take a new dog over fourteen weeks old into your home,it may seem to have a couple of weeks of “best behaviour”. They are being careful based on previous experience and it does not really mean they know right from wrong…. But they might have learnt about action-consequence!!

The single most common issue seen in rehomed or ‘Displaced’ dogs are varying degrees of separation anxiety. This is a hideous problem to fix, and some owners give the dog up because they simply cannot afford to repair the damage or are distressed by the neighbours’ complaints. Yet SA can be prevented or minimised with a strategic approach and understanding of dogs’ emotional needs.

I really want to increase your odds of success with a ‘New Dog New Home’ Golden Window chat, the day your new dog comes home.. or even better, doing Before and After Doggy Comes Home chats!

These are some of my Golden Window chat topics.

• Teaching Relaxed Isolation

• Food manners. How not to Insult Your Dog

• Resource Sharing. Understanding Doggy Etiquette

• Grooming/Body Handling/Nails.

• How not to Threaten Your Dog and why Cuddles might.

• Enrichment and Doggy Needs.

• Different Toys have Different Functions

• Signs of Stress (The Four FFFFs)

• Safe Management Skills

• Different Toys have Different Functions

• Where Is The Bathroom Please?

• Recall .. Why Should He Come Back Off Leash, You’re a Stranger!

• Importance of Safe Spaces.

• Don’t Burst His Bubble

• Appropriate Equipment for Your Needs

• Integration With other Pets.

• Walking on Leash Happily

• Wait/Impulse Control

• Enrichment

• ‘To Crate or not to Crate’

• How Dogs Learn When They are NOT Upset

• How Dogs Learn When They ARE Upset

• How and When to Use Food Rewards

Of course, not every topic can be covered in depth in a couple of hours.  

We look at whatever is the most appropriate to your situation… and I can always come back!

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But above is your reality check.

Basically, if you have not attended a three day seminar on these topics, it really is okay to ask for a hand! A huge responsibility  comes with taking responsibility for another sentient being.

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Think about this…Behaviours which get rewarded get repeated. These are a lot of topics to start unpicking mistakes even a week or two later.

Whatever their history, kind or harsh, these dogs are ‘Displaced’ It is alien for a dog to be uprooted. Whether the 14 week pup has just left mum or the rescue has been two years in kennels, that is what they were used to, that was home!

Displaced dogs will go through further tricky periods as they settle in over the next weeks/months/sometimes years, but the first two weeks is really critical to the impression their new humans make on the dogs.. to whether they trust you! To whether they become Upset!

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The FIRST seven days are your biggest opportunity to introduce most ‘new to you’ dogs your ways (There are exceptions with truly traumatised dogs but these don’t often get into public hands) A little bit of early positive reinforcement training goes a long way to teaching the dog great preferred behaviours

Behaviours which get rewarded get repeated. This is Science! Dogs repeat behaviours which get positive outcomes for them.

Conversely; overwhelming a dog who doesn’t really know you and may have come from a bleak place with attention/affection/exercise/toys/treats and freedom initially before things ‘go back to normal’ for the family, often triggers multiple problems.

The  Button below links to some direct advice by Dr. Ian Dunbar ..If this is too much for you... book me :)