I Come with Baggage -A Rescue Realization

In a perfect world we wouldn't need rescue. Everyone would keep their beloved pet, and think of them as beloved. In a perfect world we'd only have good breeders, who would take their dogs back if at any point their owners didn't want them, and it would be mandatory. In a perfect world, we would rely on amazing breeders to screen adopters and place puppies in well-matched homes. In a perfect world, all we would have is great quality breeders. We DON'T have a perfect world, but it's not for the fault of the responsible -those dogs never end up in a pound, or in rescue.

'Now', you say 'But there are lots of purebred dogs in rescue'. I'm not saying they're aren't, but where do you think those purebreds in rescue are from? They are from backyard breeders. Quick buck people. People who don't pre-screen their dog for illnesses, genetic issues, and those who don't temperment test their puppies to see what kind of a lifestyle they are suitable for. Maybe the odd 'good breeder' dog ends up in rescue without the breeder realizing it, but that would be maybe one in a thousand of the purebreds that end up in the pound due to backyard breeding. Suffice to say, don't blame those with good quality purebred dogs for the rescue suitation. They might not take away from the situation (by adopting), but they definitely don't add to the problem. However, if you're interested in getting a purebred dog, make sure you do your homework! And realize, purebred dogs are expensive. If you're going away with a less than $800 purchase (most of the time, under $1000) question the quality. You have to ask loads of questions too.

Which comes to the next realization. Rescue pets have baggage. If you're doing a good job, raising a puppy should yield you the pet you want because they are a completely blank slate, you train everything (good or bad) into that dog. A Rescue dog for good or bad, is not a blank slate. They come to your house with a couple of bags packed already, and some of those bags you'd like unpacked and thrown into the garbage.

Some Less-Severe Examples:
Migo (Young Whippet mix): never knew how to be calm indoors. He was a flying ping-pong ball indoors. NOT desireable. Of course, it wasn't a difficult transition for him to make, but that behaviour was already ingrained him before he arrived. He KNEW in his head, he could have an indoor party and be a complete animal. Not a big deal, but that was one bag of luggage I promptly ejected from the house. It took him about 3 weeks to truly relarn the behaviour to the point that he completely understood indoor time was for relaxing, nice gentle play, and sleep. Could you imagine if he went directly to a home. Those owners would have had some work to do!

Alvin (Purebred Chihuahua): First off, Alvin didn't know he was a dog. He had probably been carried absolutely everywhere. This made him have such a lack of independence. Was he a scared dog, no way, he just didn't know any different. He couldn't even climb a stair at first without pitching a fit. He didn't know how to interact with other dogs, so he was kind of an annoying git. So, I had to reshape the behaviour. I had to let him struggle so he could succeed, become more independent, make some mistakes -you can't learn if you don't make at least one mistake while trying-, become 'a dog'. By the end of his stay here he was running up and down the stairs, figured out how to get on the sofa himself when he was called, became understanding of the space of other dogs and how to interact in a non-annoying way. Alvin turned out to be an AMAZING dog honestly, but he did come with baggage which I had to toss out and give him some need luggage I could work with. It took time, patience (I admit, I wasn't overly patient with him at times), and a 'whole new world' for him to integrate into.

Dickory (Husky Corgi Mix): My sweet, latest foster at only 7 months had already developed some behaviour I wasn't too fond of. The biggest one was her jumping up. Unless invited, this shows a lot of claiming. "You are MY human, I control YOU." Oh no you don't. It was harder to break though than a pup that just came home. This behaviour of hers had been reinforced, and all behaviour that gets reinforced gets repeated. So, for one full day everytime she put her paws on me she got a correction (followed quite quickly by asking her to do something I knew she knew, and rewarding that behaviour instead -in her case, a sit-). So, by day three when she came to me, instead of putting her paws all over me, she would sit politely and wait for me to give her some attention. Perfect, that's what I want. I didn't want to get the snuggly girl out of her, or the fun-loving girl out of her, I wanted her and I to understand each other. Me, foster mum, is on the top, you, foster dog, are on the bottom. By day 4, she had total respect for me, but of course, on the learning curve, there was the odd jump up. We still had a bit to go for her jumping on other people, but very quickly with proper correction and redirection we were meeting new people and Dickory was calmly sitting to say hello. You know how good your foster dog looks when instead of mauling people they are calm and polite! Of course, she wasn't yet completely respecting other people, but there was a lot of progress. Dickory I might add, was only 7 months old, so her habits were easier to break. She had been rewarded for them previously, but not enough that he was super hard to break the overall habit.

This isn't to say whatsoever that you should go get a puppy instead of adopting an older dog, just a realization that a rescue -however good- has some baggage you will probably have to reshape. I've had AMAZING fosters here, but every single one of them needed to relearn something -walk on leash, jumping up, barking, where you stand in the pecking order, etc-. They don't come in perfect. And that's just too much of an expectation. Also, just because they're foster mum might have them under good control and have their respect, doesn't mean you don't have to earn it!! Respect doesn't transfer just like that. It's earned, and it can be earned very quickly for most dogs. Some are a little pushier :P

And then, unfortunately, beside the nice mutts that are kind of reserve type setting or given up cause kids got bored, or ridiculous reasons like "I got a girlfriend instead" etc, etc, your 'easy' rescue dogs there are dogs in rescue for what we call "A Reason".

The dog that is nipping at the child, the dog that is lunging at the mail-man, the dog that is getting into fights with other dogs, the dog that chased and killed wildlife, the dog that is wild -that needs a job and hasn't been given it, so is going neurotic-, the badly bred dog who just has something off in his head that makes him harder to deal with, the dog with extreme seperation anxiety, the extremely fearful dog. The list goes on. There are LOTS of nice dogs in rescue, and lots of AMAZING dogs that just need some tuning up, but realize too, when you're looking at the SPCA, or you're looking through a list of a rescue's dogs, not all of them are NICE. Some of them have ended up in rescue for a good reason.

For example, a friend of a friend just adopted a middle-aged Shitzu-mix, had already been through two families. She got a bad resource biter. "I thought I was adopted a Shitzu! Someone who will just putter around the garden and like backrubs" she said. My response: why would someone give up a dog like you described? (Of course there are silly reasons one might give up a dog too, but if you really think about it, a family who owns their own home, who are settled, who have bought a purebred shitzu, if it was a nice dog, why would they give it up. If it puttered around the garden and didn't have issues? They probably paid a good lot of money for that dog. Obviously there must be a dark underside to that dog).

Now, the situation is a bit different in California, as SO many people are having to move into rentals that don't allow dogs, so there ARE lots of nice little purebred dogs coming out of the shelters there too due to unfortunate circumstances. But just locally, you do have to wonder.

And then, you get the dogs with LOTS of baggage. My big two:
Allie (spaniel mix): Truly fearful. Not just shy, but hide in the corner, petrified. Could have turned into a fear biter if I'd have applied the wrong pressure. She was a puppymill survivor, fearful of hands which makes me lean towards probably beaten at some point. No trust in people. Fear is a much harder behaviour to rehabilitate than jumping for example. It not only deals with a physical behaviour that is taking the owner over, but a complete mindset. It takes a lot of time. There were times when I thought I could never adopt her out, that she would be mine because I would be the only one willing to work on the issues she had, all that baggage clumping in my livingroom. Most dogs come in with a bag or maybe three, Allie came with a room full. She found an amazing home, and underneath the fear was a happy, bouncy spaniel mix that I was so grateful I got to see, but Allie was a rescue dog for a reason.

Jasmine (Formosan Mountain Mix): Truly Aloof. Jasmine was a little fearful, but mostly, she was aloof. She'd spent 7 years not living with people so she had no idea how to form a bond, and to her, she didn't need one. Never living in a home, she was super anxious for months, and we never completely got that anxiety under control. She was flightly, off in space, not connected to the world. And because she was older, so much of that mindset had been formed, I don't think you could bring her all the way back. You had to deal with who she was and work on what you could work on. Jasmine was a real learning curve for me, and a realization that when a dog gets older, all they really have is their baggage. You can teach them a new trick or two, but rewiring their understanding is a whole different scenario. It would be like taking a 50 year old man and changing everything about him. Some things come down to the basic nature. She was never BAD -she never jumped, barked, pulled her leash (she was quite a gem to walk), or tried to claim an alpha position. She was always a follower, probably the most so of any dog I've had. Any human was above her. Any dog too. There was just something a little 'off' with Jasmine and I'm so amazingly glad she went with Zephyr to her new home and to her mum and dad for accepting who she is with all her baggage, even if it's hard to sometimes. There's a special place in the world for people who are willing to deal with so much baggage.

I've had lots of middle-of-the-road dogs too, which need some rehab, but not lots. Chowmein, DimSum, Trunk, Zephyr, Honey, Toast, Truffle. All need a little extra push, or an extra something in their environment to have the awesome dog they are truly shine. These would be the 'somewhat experienced' people looking for a dog, whereas Allie and Jasmine were dogs that needed someone who didn't mind LOTS of baggage.

SO, when then about Baggage...

Should you seriously think about rescuing a dog instead of buying: YES!! But do realize you aren't starting with a completely clean slate, that you will have to train some things out, reshape behaviour to a new environment. It might take a couple of weeks, and it might take a month or two, but a dog doesn't come perfect. I've stopped taking Lemon to many of my homechecks as adopters seem to just want to take her "Is she for adoption?" (Actually, I hear this a lot with Beckett when I go out with the adopt-me vest on another dog).

Beckett came in pretty wild husky kind of dog. He has always been an exceptional house pet, quiet, lazy, and then outside a real go-getter. He was perfect for us, but we did put a lot of work into him (especially on the damn recall). He came 90% of what we wanted, we needed to put in the other 10%. He came with everything we needed in a dog, the 'bones', we just had to shape him to our environment. Beckett, despite the energy level, was always a 'easy' dog, or what I would label 'good for first time dog owners' dog. 

There are AMAZING dogs in rescue, be beware, when you bring home a rescue dog, you also get some baggage. Patience, training, love and expectation play fundamental roads. If you want somebody with no 'issues', get a puppy. Realize too though, if they have baggage down the road, it's all your own fault. ;)

Also, if you have an issue you don't really know how to deal with, get help before it gets worse. Remember, your rescue landed in rescue before, you don't want it to happen again. Puppies are work in the housetraining, sleeping at night, "Baby" kind of way. Rescues are work in the reshaping behaviours department. Regardless, a dog is work, if you don't want to work on anything, get a fish.