Adding to your home with any new addition there is a need of an adjustment period. Many people think its love at first sight and it all falls into place. Whether this is a new relationship, baby, or a new dog (or cat). But it’s not gonna be easy. Maybe at first it all feels perfect or maybe from the beginning there’s a learning curve. You are learning the language of the other person/animal.
I’m gonna go with the new baby analogy since we’ll my daughter just 9 days old 😜 I’ve loved this girl for 10 months. But now I get to meet her! I’m learning what her hunger cues are, sleepy cues, Mom change my diaper cues and so much more. Every noise has a meaning. I may not know what it is right away so we work together to discover it.
Much like many adopters they fall in love with the picture now they get to know the dog. We are upfront about personalities to the extent of what we know. But This dog doesn’t know your house rules or your language. My one dog thought down meant “get off” took us forever to discover to teach him lay “down” we had to say “flat”. It’s changing my language but working WITH the dog on good skills.
Just as I’m learning my babies cues you get to learn to learn the cues of the new dog. There can be frustrating times in any new addition, but it’s about working through them. Believe me 3am this morning I wanted to throw in the towel…ok I just cried a little with her when I wasn’t sure what her need was. But instead we worked together to figure it out.
As for adopting an animal with CVRR we believe that animal is ALWAYS a CVRR animal. That means when you feel like giving up reach out. Reach out for help before that point. Those moments that your frustrated ask for help or better yet read the adoption packet (14 pages) of wonderful knowledge written by Laura. It covers potty training, acclimating to a house, leash training, crate training, counter surfing etc!
We want both people and animal to be happy we want this to be a lasting relationship. Learn from each other and know even if the first few days and weeks are perfect both human and dog can mess up and there may be times of frustration. Heck my dog a week or two before I had my daughter decided to counter surf and eat 13 cupcakes!! She’s 8 and hasn’t done that in years, but she decided she needed some funfetti cupcakes to 🤷🏻♀️
So learn the language of your new addition. When frustrated seek help. Don’t give up.
If you are adopting from CVRR reach out. We’re here to help!!
-Kalea (if you want an adorable baby pic see below 😍)
Oh this is Bear. He is great with kids and other dogs and gets along with the resident kitty. To see him and more adoptable animals, click here.