11/23/2024
We often hear from so many owners who are struggling “my dog is a rescue and exhibits (insert bad behavior here.)”
what WE actually hear is “my dog is displaying bad behavior.” The rescue part actually does not matter to us, and that’s not a downplay to those who have rescued dogs from some pretty horrific situations. What we mean is that your dogs history is in the past, and we can only move forward from here.
Whether the dog did come from bad circumstances or not, it still needs training, leadership, and structure just as any other dog would. Could their behavior be worse or more severe due to their past experiences? Sure. But that’s why we just address them as we see them, and we don’t spend too much time dwelling on the “why”.
We have worked with thousands of dogs with all different upbringings. We train them, we build their confidence, and we show them what leadership actually is. If you put them all in a room together, we would most likely not be able to tell the difference between the rescued dogs or the ones brought home at 8 weeks from a breeder.
All we find is that holding onto your dogs’ rescue story holds a lot of folks back. It stops them from doing what needs to be done because they are too emotionally invested in the dogs history. We don’t have the power to change the past. We can just make today the best we can—And the same goes for our dogs.