Helping our Rescue Dog Jeff Settle In

In October we adopted a new dog. His name is Jeff.

We know that it takes time for dogs to settle in when they’re newly adopted and we want to do everything we can to make this transition smooth for him.

This is what we’ve done to help him. He is a work in progress and we are going to need to continue to work with him.

LEARN ABOUT HIS BACKGROUND
Because he’s a rescue, we don’t know much about his background. I always try to learn as much as I can. Here’s what we know:

He was picked up in a rural part of North Carolina and taken to a high kill shelter. He was pulled by the Charlotte SPCA, a local rescue group.

They adopted him out but he was returned because he was “a lot.” He then lived with one of the Charlotte SPCA’s volunteers and then he was taken to a local doggie daycare. He’d been at the daycare for several weeks when we met him.

We were told that he does best in small groups of dogs or one on one. He gets overwhelmed in bigger groups of dogs.

WE DID A DNA TEST
Understanding his breed make up can help us understand his personality and his behavior. Here are the results:

37.4% Australian Cattle Dog
28.4% Boxer
18% Golden Retriever
16.2% Australian Shepherd

HIRE A TRAINER
Because I don’t know much about the breeds he is made up of, we talked to a local trainer. Australian Cattle Dogs can be very protective and he has shown some of those behaviors.

REGULAR IN HOME TRAINING
I am working with Jeff on various commands. He is a smart dog. He has learned to walk nicely on a leash. He is still very easily distracted by certain people, dogs and cars. Constant, repetitive training is needed to help him learn and understand what behaviors are good and which ones aren’t.

HOW HE IS SETTLING IN
As you can see, he settles in the house nicely. When it is just us, he’s great. He’s a fun combination of sweet and funny. He entertains himself and is playful which can be pretty funny.

A FEW FINAL NOTES
1. I have a 50mm f/1.2 lens on loan from Nikon. I was testing it out with these photos of Jeff. I was hoping I wouldn’t like the lens. That it’d be too heavy or something. Unfortunately I like this $1900 lens but I can’t justify the cost. Yet….

2. Here’s a tip that some of you may find helpful: We keep twin fitted sheets over all of our dog beds. We have 2 sets of them for each bed. On Friday mornings we take them off and wash them. They are much easier to get off than the dog bed covers. However they don’t photograph well. Since I was just testing a new lens in these photos, I didn’t bother to take off the fitted sheets.

It takes rescue dogs about 3 months to settle in. We just passed the 3 month mark with Jeff. We hope that he feels safe and cozy in our home. He looks pretty comfortable to me.