Paddington the Staffie pup is the latest pup to come into the North Clwyd Animal Rescue center. He came into the rescue at quite a crucial stage in his behavioural development. The first several months of a puppy's life creates the behavioural blue print for the dog the pup will grow up into. This is why growing up in a rescue center environment presents big challenges and requires special considerations.
My advice to people taking on a puppy is to let it meet 100 people and 100 dogs calmly and politely before the pup is 8 months old, with the bulk of this before they are 6 months old. In the rescue center environment this can be difficult as it requires a lot of time and arranged meetings with other well mannered polite dogs who can help teach them correct doggie behaviour.
Paddington got to meet many dogs and people during his stay at NCAR so his education was positive and will hopefully set him up for his progression into a family and continued education.Fern the American Bulldog was a big help to Paddy, she was calm and considered providing Paddington with a good example to follow in all the situations they were in together.
Using older calmer dogs to help teach pups is something we try to do as often as possible at NCAR and we have had great success in this area. Very few of the well socialised and educated pups go on to develop behavioural problems, as opposed to under-educated dogs and/or socially unskilled pups who often develop behavioural issues.
some examples of such sessions...
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| Here Rhianna the lurcher taught these two collie pups both how to play chase games and also how to calmly explore their surroundings. |
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| In this session the Welsh Corgi kept these 3 pups in order by not letting their play get too boisterous. |
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| Big Jake got the excitable pup Dizzy to calm down and begin to consider things instead of just charging about. |
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| Big Heidi also helped Dizzy by letting him know (in no uncertain terms) that jumping up at other dogs is not what you do! |
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| Brittany the Staffie taught this staffie pup how to play without getting itself into trouble by being too rough. |
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| This Beagle got this nervous pup playing by enticing it into some easy going chase games. |
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| Chester the big easy going Akita gave Jasmine the chance to be around a big dog in a nice calm atmosphere without any worry of trouble. |
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| Percy the tubby pup spent a lot of time with Kya the Staffie and Rhianna the Lurcher as these two grown ups played well and relaxed well together, Percy slotted right in with them. |
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| Percy also went for walk with the less sociable Strider who taught him that not every dog wants to meet, greet and play! Sometimes just calmly walking together is enough. |
Dumping puppys before they have had a chance of developing into well balanced, social and relaxed dog can cause huge behavioural problems in the not to distant future. At NCAR we'll continue to try and keep these abandoned pups on the right path so they don't end up with issues later and dumped back on our doorstep! Of course people often take on puppies with the best intentions but don't provide the youngster the education and social skills required to become a socially acceptable dog, issues unacceptable to humans develop and the dog ends up at rescues like NCAR.
Taking on a puppy means you are taking on all the responsibility for guiding that pup into a well balanced, well mannered dog. This means you have to show your pup how to behave in every situation it will ever be involved in. Also, how to behave in all possible scenarios they might be involved in.
How should they behave in all of these situations and scenarios? With a calm adaptability that gives them the confidence not to react negatively when something unexpected happens.
If all puppies received the training, education and quality life style they deserve from an active positive family, they would grow up into fantastic companions making rescue centers such as NCAR almost empty!
Remember; a dog isn't a domestic pet until you (the owner) domesticate it!
