At OhMyDog, we are being contacted more and more often by people who have recently adopted a dog from abroad, particularly in the last few months.
Is it a good trend? I would say that, overall, it is. So many dogs are waiting for a good home.
What dog professionals do worry about are impulsive adoptions. People who adopt a dog from abroad without thinking it through, without realizing that these dogs may need extra time and attention . People who make the decision solely on the basis of a cute photo or because they take pity on the dog.
Many of these dogs have never lived in a busy city or seen a tram. Sometimes they even have to get used to people.
So they are often, in the beginning, scared and above all extremely over-stimulated .
The “decompression period”. During that period, which can last weeks or even months , your dog may suddenly display difficult behaviour; behaviour that he will never show again (e.g. peeing in the kitchen or barking at you).
So, in the beginning, do not take your dog to all sorts of outings. Do not take him to a group dog training course and do not take him along to get to know all the neighbourhood’s dogs and people. Give your dog the time and space he needs to get used to his new home first.
Actually, we do not see hunting behavior significantly more often among dogs adopted from abroad. This is largely determined by breed influences.
I see plenty of foreign dogs with whom everything goes smoothly , mind you, but when someone asks for help about a foreign dog, it is often for these problems:
See here for the Omroep West article about the sheep.
Let me start by saying how impressed I am with how responsibly the huskies’ owners have responded to the incident.
What more could they have done?
Choose a good adoption agency ; an agency that asks you critical questions before they let you adopt the dog. An organization that takes the matching process seriously.
Important: As unfortunately commonly happens in interviews, the published version of the conversation was abridged to the point that some elements were presented out of context (and, in a couple of places like comparing recently adopted dogs to predators). A retraction request has been submitted.
Tags: adopting dogs, dog behaviour, dog behaviouralist, dog behaviourist, dog from abroad, dog trainer, dog training