New Rescue Dog

Occasionally I will post some details about people who have already been using webDogTrainer.com because I think their questions and my answers can help others. I will leave out personal details such as names, etc. out of respect of their anonymity. Here is one such post.

Hi Julie: I was so happy to find your site and quickly joined.. We adopted a rescue dog.. A beautiful 2 year old Shepard-Lab mix.. She is doing great so far adjusting to our large family... She is sweet and has found herself a corner in our family room, and is slowly venturing off around the house.. I read several articles about what to expect when you bring your rescue dog home, and we are following the advice.. My question is.. Am I going about this the correct way, and should I begin her training.. leash walking etc. This is our first Rescue Dog, and I want to make sure that she can start to feel safe and secure... Thanks, So Happy to have Found YOU

My response:
Welcome to webDogTrainer! I am so happy to see you! Congratulations on adopting a rescue dog! It would be very important for you to begin your training program with your dog instantly. What that will do is establish yourself as leader and your new dog will actually feel more secure and confident about its role in life, if you tell them what to do and how to behave(through training). Dogs instantly look to who is leading them and if they don't see a clear leader they may become confused, agitated, scared, etc. leading to behavioral problems. Being leader means having very clear rules as to what your expectations are of your dog and being very consistent with those rules. Read all of my step one and you'll get a really good idea on how to do that. If your dog doesn't see a leader she may think she has to be the leader and that is very stressful for dogs. So, I highly recommend you begin your training right now. Follow my step one and create your goals, learn how to be consistent and what you need to do to be pack leader. Make sure she is getting a lot of exercise too, that is extremely important as you'll see in my "exercise your dog" article. Also, make sure that you do not feel sorry for your dog no matter what background they may be coming from being a rescue dog. If your dog senses you are sad, depressed, feeling sorry for them or angry then they see you as a weak leader and will not trust you. You need to be calm and confident and very sure about what you expect from your dog. Your dog will love you more then and be happier. I look forward to having you read all of step one because I think you will be really helped by the information in it. Why don't you email me again after you've had a chance to read it and let me know where you are in the process, what you've learned and if you have any questions. Then, when you are ready you can move onto step two.
All the best,
Julie