General don'ts
The rescue adoption advice on this page is to make sure your dogs will be safe when you collect them. Please listen to the advice our rescuer, Elena Popa, gives you as she has had many years and experience of dealing with these dogs and does understand them. Please don’t think you know better - a new dog in your home, such an important member, has many needs but the most important one is safety.
Don't fuss
Don’t keep fussing over them, they will most likely not be used to it and although you may feel you are comforting them, they can actually find it more stressful on top of the stress of finding themselves in a whole new strange environment.
Free reign
Don’t allow them to follow you everywhere and have access to all areas of the house for the first few days/weeks. Often these dogs will not be used to all the home comforts we offer them and if you allow them free reign over everything, you could find them developing resource guarding behaviours over all the new & wonderful ‘stuff’ they find at their pawtips. Plus it can help prevent the development of separation anxiety.
Beds & sofas
Don’t let them on beds or sofas for the first few weeks. Again this can instigate resource guarding, which once it starts to happen, is more difficult to stop than if you can prevent it from starting and being practised in the first place.
Attention
Don’t allow them to keep demanding attention from you. This is usually insecurity behaviour and you could enhance the possibility of separation anxiety and owner possessiveness (resource aggression) developing by always giving in to their demands for attention.
Grooming
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="body">Don’t mess about with your rescue dog’s feet – this is a very sensitive area (instinctively) for dogs, leave grooming, bathing and rubbing with a towel until they are a bit more familiar with you and a relationship of trust has been established. Your new rescue will most likely smell quite unpleasant, and whilst some will tolerate being bathed, it could be another stressor for them on top of an already stressful week! If you can leave it a couple of days, they might feel more comfortable about you doing it.
Walking
Don’t Take your rescue dog for walks for a few days (unless it is blatantly obvious they enjoy walking on a lead and being out and about). We, as owners, feel they need walks every day to be happy, but many of these dogs will not be used to our busy environments and find them scary and stressful, on top of the already stressful experiences they have been through leading up to their arrival with you. They will be tired enough with processing all that has and is happening to them, they need time to settle to get ready to take on the environment outside.
Collars & leads
Don’t expect your rescue dog to be used to wearing a collar and walking on a lead. If they have had any experience of being on the end of a dog catchers pole, they will most likely be terrified if you start trying to pull them along on a lead. Do plenty of lead practise in the garden in the first few days, without all the distractions they will face when the actually go out for walks, to get them used to it and to realise it’s nothing to worry about.
Letting them off the lead
Don’t let your rescue dog off the lead for at least several weeks (probably much longer and with some never) unless you are 100% certain you have a reliable recall, that WILL NOT FAIL in the presence of unexpected distractions.
Final note
Thank you for offering a rescue dog a home and a forever family. The RACE team wish you many happy years together!
A rescuer has succeeding in saving a dog's life, treating and kept him/her safe until adoption. Transporters succeeded in bringing him/her safely to the U.K. We trust that you'll keep him/her safe and offer him/her a wonderful life in your home!