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Rescue Advice


Rachael_Astro

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We had our first home check yesterday, the guy said he thinks we will pass but we are waiting for confirmation.

The girl he brought round is nearly 2 and she's quite boisterous! Astro didn't seem too sure and was hiding behind the Christmas tree. She was barking at him and I think she just wanted to play, but he just didn't know what to do! She has got food aggression as well which concerns me a little bit, although I know having a rescue there are probably going to be issues of some sort especially if they've been mistreated.

I just wondered if anyone has had a rescue before and was your current dog unsure at first? I don't know whether to hold out for a calmer dog, or whether to take her in and show her what it's like to have a nice home. It's difficult to gauge how they would be together after only an hour!

Also if anyone has had any experience with food aggression (with other dogs not humans) any advice would be appreciated! She is quite skinny but apparently she's doubled in weight so I think the food aggression stems from her not being fed enough previously :( there's so many needing homes and I just want to take them all in!

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Ice had terrible dog based food aggression when we got him and If I'm being honest it wasn't a quick fix scenario, probably took about 1-2 years of working on him to be consistently well behaved. Heavy emphasis on the word consistently as that was the biggest problem. We'd take two steps forwards and then two steps back, over and over [emoji85]
First of all we fed them separately (stating the obvious there lol). And practiced nilif training with food, treats etc independently. Then when he had a little self control we had all three sitting side by side and went along the line asking for a simple command and then treating. One by one, several times over we did this and it did work. Over time he also learnt that regular meals are always coming his way so he chilled out there too. Started playing with his food rather than inhaling it, lol.
Bear wasn't afraid of Ice so there weren't any issues there but Brooke drew the short straw with him a few times and he did bite her. She never did accept him but she did learn to tolerate him. He on the other hand grew to be quite affectionate to her at times. The few days before her death he would lick her and check on her which was sweet (she would have preferred him to sod off in all honesty but that was sweet of him anyway.)

Some other people will likely have differing experiences of integrating into a multi dog household so I'll back off for now and see how things went with their pack. [emoji3]


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Thanks Emma that's a great help [emoji4] she has bitten her fosterer as well when he grabbed her collar so I think there's collar based issues too. There would be a lot of hard work involved with her which I don't mind, I just hope Astro would be OK with the situation


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Would it be possible to arrange another meet up preferably on neutral grounds before making a decision? I know that rescue dogs in foster can be scattered all over the country but I'm guessing that seeing as she was brought round already she must be fairly close by.
Ice was a growler due to lack of confidence so I can't really comment too much on that other than grabbing collars or around head area in general is a very confrontational move and can be perceived as an aggressive move on your part which may be a factor in it. It depends on how the situation arose and the circumstances really. Ice would growl if my youngest son walked past him at first. Literally just walked past him without paying him attention, he was really very insecure. He's much more confident and happy now but he will still growl, it's just fir different reasons....usually if I'm bothering him and pulling out his tufts when he doesn't want me to, lol. Or if a stranger strokes his back end, he still worries a little about that and growls whilst backing away.


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I've had many foster dogs and my own rehomes that had food aggression and turned them around it's not a quick thing to sort it takes time. Look at nothing in life is free method training that what I used I used to make them work for all there food, toys, walks etc. Feed separate to start with never leave food, toys etc down to start with. I would look at doing more meet and greets with them both if possible. Also be prepared for a few tiffs no dog comes into a home and is perfect 

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Thanks guys :) yes she's in a foster home in Birkenhead at the moment with 15 other dogs! He brought her on the train, I might see if they can meet again at the weekend! I'm off over Christmas now so that would be a good opportunity to help her settle in


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We've had a couple of rescues come in with food aggression - as said above, time and patience. We fed separately, initially, and fed by hand so that (s)he got used to someone there and that there was a positive link between getting food and a person. The only real thing to avoid is reacting against the agression and being overly negative as that just reinforces the issues. Personally, I'd recommend taking for an overnighter but under close supervision - downside to having had just one dog is that they tend to be used to all the attention, used to taking time over eating (with no external and potential competition) - I call it 'single dog syndrome' and see it all the time. You need to be firm with your dog as well as the foster - firm but fair, I always say. And treat them equally as it'll be a totally new concept for your dog: sharing the attention - and sharing generally (applies to toys - best removed in the early stges to prevent conflict). Good luck! :)  

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Thank you everyone the advice has been really useful [emoji4] Astro definitely has single dog syndrome I think! I'm going to see her again on Sunday, the rescue are doing a fundraiser at a dog food shop on the Wirral so I'll take Astro and they can meet again :)


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Rescue update - we have decided against getting her unfortunately, Astro was just too scared of her and I was worried about that fear turning into aggression :( it took a lot of thinking about but I think it's for the best

I have however reserved a 7 month old boy from another rescue, he is very sweet natured and apart from Astro grumbling at him a couple of times they got on really well! So fingers crossed we pass their home check, if so we will be picking him up on Boxing Day :)


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with the food issues you could try that old way of breaking it

Today's training is Postative vased training praise the dog always end with a happy result. but that does not work well with some issues

I would use Negative training with him to break the food aggression if done right it can break it in 3 to 7 days and to some it will sound cruel but isnt really.

 

get dogs food ready walk towards dog telling  them to sit stay, and at the first sign of the dog getting agressive  take the food away, put bowl away and ignore the dog, wait a few hours go to put bowl down again keeping hold of it, any growling teeth showing  ay aggressive behaviour at all take food away. keep doing that even if it means dog does not eat for 2 or 3 days. if you do it every few hours over the first day you can normaly get them to sit and stay and they will work out f they act up food goes away. next couple days they will end up staying still shutting up and after 3 days most dogs sit stay and just look at you.

yu tyen let the dog eat the small meal and move t phase two

whlst they are eating a small meal get them to back up sit and stay and pick the bowl up wait a few mins and put it back down, again any signs of them being possesive you hide the food and ignore the dog, do not say bad dog or anything just be quiet. wait a couple hours repeat

over a period of a week you can break a dog of being agressive and get them to back up sit and stay and wait

sounds bad  not letting them eat but to be honest unless dogs a rescue off the street missing food for a couple days will do no harm at all and just focuses the on the person feeding tem

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