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Post by lpyrbby on Oct 16, 2008 18:26:20 GMT -5
I don't know how widely this is promoted or how well it will be considered, but we were turned on to this method of integration from a member on another forum we are on. It's called the Two Week Shutdown and we implement this when bringing dogs in from the shelter into our homes. For a "brief" overview, it entails giving the dog time to think about the new situation, to learn about its new surroundings and the people/animals in it. Two weeks is a general guideline. Some dogs move through it faster, some need a little bit longer. We choose to use this method with our dogs because we have seen GREAT results from slowing things down tremendously and giving the dog time to adjust. You can read about the method on our website here: www.nhpbr.org/two_weeks.htmlI didn't see this posted here and I thought it might be useful to some. We are still getting feedback from some every now and again where they take things literally, etc. I'd like this to be open for discussion so maybe better descriptive terms can be used to get our point across on why it's good to take things slow. Thoughts? Input?
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Post by RealPitBull on Oct 17, 2008 8:50:07 GMT -5
I found this article intriguing, and I pretty much agree with it. Recommendations I make for transitioning a dog into a new home are crating, leashing, etc. But I like that this goes the extra mile (hold off on visiting all the new places, etc), and makes comparisons that I think will ring true for a lot of people who don't realize how stressful it is for a dog transitioning into a new home.
The idea of making the foster home not as cushy as a 'real' home will eventually be is definitely something to consider - I like it, and it makes sense to me.
When I talk to people who've just brought a new adopted dog into their home, and they are having problems XY&Z, 9 times out of 10, it's because the dog is stressed and has no clue what's going on - once you tweak a couple management things, the problems basically go away on their own. In general, I tell people allow 1 to 3 MONTHS for a dog to really settle in and for dog/humans to get a full handle on each other.
Things that I personally recommend:
1) Low-key, close to home walks in non-stressful environments (since a lot of people don't have the luxury of any sort of real yard)
2) ABSOLULTEY very careful supervision around other pets - NO loose time with other pets in the first few weeks. Parallel walking with other dogs, off home turf. (Crating next to each other, or maybe in the same room, opposite sides is a good idea....have you found that crating a new dog next to an established dog causes tension at all?)
3) Some very casual, positive reinforcement training (not necessary)
4) Leashing inside the home
I will be sending people over to this article, for sure ;D
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Post by lpyrbby on Feb 2, 2009 19:45:50 GMT -5
Bumping to include pictures Tino: Before: After: Mia Before: After: Java Before: After: Juno Before: After:
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Post by bamapitbullmom on Feb 2, 2009 21:49:05 GMT -5
Wow...this is something I have always done. Any foster that comes to my house is basically under very humane "house arrest". Privileges are earned and modeling resident dogs is the most beneficial.
I always think of it as you can't go anywhere but forward. So many bring dogs in and give them free reign, allow them to go anywhere and do anything but the new guys simply don't know what is expected and it sets them up to fail.
This shouldn't be limited to fosters but also to new adopters, the people who are so thrilled and excited to show off their new pets that it overwhelms the dog and creates many issues.
I am a firm believer in waiting several days or a couple of weeks or however it takes before introducing resident dogs. Allowing them to observe, smell, hear and absorb the fact that other dogs exist within the home make it oh so much easier.
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Post by lpyrbby on Feb 2, 2009 22:18:55 GMT -5
There's a lot of people that honestly don't think to do any sort of separation at all. I'll be the first to admit that I was guilty of just introducing the dogs and going from there. I didn't learn about this method until after I brought Cyrus home. The house was a little tense in general in trying to get the feel for having two dogs instead of one. Within the first week, Cyrus snapped at Deja over a toy. She was SO offended and upset that she steered clear of him for the rest of the night. All toys got picked up and I went on a search for a solution. ME was actually one of the people that jumped in on the pitbullforum and "scolded" me for moving too fast. NONE of it made sense to me at the time because Cy was an adult and it just didn't click in my head why he needed time. Stacie came in to that thread and lead me to the two week shutdown and what I needed to do to regain some peace and structure. What did I really have to lose. It was hard putting my head in the position to understand the purpose, but once I started following the guidelines and making them work in my household, it became VERY clear why I was doing what I was doing. From that point forward, the dogs didn't interact with one another. I was crating and rotating Deja and Cyrus for at least the first week to get Cy accustomed to the routine of the house. He also had crate/separation issues so we had to spend time working on that. After about the first week, he and Deja started having 10-15 minute play sessions between rotations. As I got more comfortable, I'd increase the time out together. It was still a LONG time before I reintroduced toys but I can safely say that after about a month of integration and persistence, it made an ENORMOUS difference in the amicability between the two dogs and the mood in the house. I SINCERELY believe that doing the shutdown was the one thing that enabled my two to learn to get along as fabulously as they do. They are my two heart dogs and I couldn't ask for a more awesome pair. So far, we've yet to have any issues with foster homes and other dogs (okay with the exception of one and that's because she thought she could leave two of them alone with one another) and we make sure to point this out to everyone bringing a new dog into their home. We make sure to tell all of our adopters about it too and so far so good We find that the fosters who try this for the first time are hesitant at first but totally see the validity in it's message after they've gone through the motions. I think putting the "two week" thing there helps (as much as it hinders) to give them something to look forward to. The biggest thing for us is pushing that bully smile. Not pushing it out of the dog, but telling the foster homes, "Hey, that grin right there is what you are looking to accomplish out of this." We find that it's oftentimes harder to get the adopters to follow through with some form of shutdown than it is the foster homes. I guess maybe it's the whole "It's 'my' dog now so I'll do as I see fit" mentality. Not saying they think that or are like that but I hope you get what I mean. With the foster homes, they sincerely want to help the dogs find a new home and genuinely care about the well-being of their other pets. Getting turned on to the two week shutdown is what really pushed me to start paying MORE attention to dog body language. Having two dogs pushed me to learn even more. Doing rescue and working with strange dogs continued to push me. I will never say that I know everything nor that I know as much and I "should" but this method was a huge starting point for me. I knew things before this, but didn't know NEAR what I know now. And each dog I come into contact with teaches me something new. We also had one other positive experience with this as well. I remember last year someone had posted about having troubles with their dog on Craigslist. They had just adopted the dog from the SPCA and the meeting at the shelter with their other dog went well but now, things were getting pretty crappy and what should she do? I sent her an email and posted back on the CL section about the two week shutdown. I hadn't heard back from the woman that day or even the next acknowledging my reply and I was scared for her newly adopted dog that she was going to throw my advice out the window because it came from a pit bull rescue. Would you believe that the woman CALLED me three days later? I was standing in line at the dmv the day before my B-day getting my license renewed and she called. She called to thank me for sending her the link because after three days, she'd already seen a big improvement in behavior and that she didn't think an email reply was enough. It totally made my day! I don't care WHAT breed of dog you have, if I can offer up something to keep the dog in its home, you better believe we will! Anywho, sorry about getting so long winded about this but I see it's merits and want to make sure that what we've got up is thorough enough to get the point across. Most people who've "complained" about it think a couple of things. One, they think the dog has to be crated for 2 weeks straight. Big no to that. The other thing is that people think that it will disrupt the dog even more to set it on that sort of routine just to "change" things up later. Something I try to point out to everyone is that this is gradual and that the time involved is going to have a lot to do with the individual dog. As much as I say that it's a guideline, sometimes people just don't get it lol!
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snipe
I Love RPBF!
Posts: 421
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Post by snipe on Feb 2, 2009 23:13:05 GMT -5
thank you for this, very much. we may be adopting soon so...any advice is awesome.
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Post by bamapitbullmom on Feb 3, 2009 7:53:16 GMT -5
As an example, when I brought MacGuyver home on Dec 18th he was confined to a crate, brought out on leash into the yard with no interaction from my children and little from myself. The only words I used were cues I teach all dogs here at my house, "crate" "in ya go" "out" "wait" "sit" "uhuh" and "ready to eat" (sure there are more, but point is, same words, same actions).
He was given no house privileges at all. Close to two weeks, I allowed him to begin interacting with the kids outside and outside only, still on a long line. Inside were the same rules. He was allowed out of the crate for short periods of time and only when I was busy and up and moving around, not idle.
A little after two weeks was when I introduced him to my female, outside, both on leash. By that point, Mac had learned that he cannot bolt through doors, that a sit will get him what he wants and to enter his crate without encouragement.
Fast forward to a bit over a month here and he is about par with my dogs in regards to manners. He used to shove his whole head into your plate, now he sits quietly about 4 feet away if you are eating. He no longer jumps unless he's REALLY excited and even then, he polices himself and you can see him remember, "Oh yeah! I gotta sit!"
He flies into his crate now when I ask if he's "ready to eat." He has been ringing the bell on the door consistently since week 2 after a couple of short targeting sessions.
He has earned house privileges and is commonly curled up or stretched out on his back on the sofa with Jasmine. He spends time with the kids in their rooms or on leash walks with my 8 year old. He gets car rides and several hours a day loose in the house and doggie day playdates at a friend's.
In the beginning, to the layman, he did not appear stressed. But he very much was. He was reactive in his crate towards the other dogs, even with Jazz throwing tons of party hard play bows, he was uncomfortable and not ready. Had I thrown them together then, I'd have no doubt we would have had a fight and no relationship like they have now.
We MUST allow them time to adjust. I don't even see a huge difference in shelter dogs or owner surrenders, they both are in a new place with strange people and dogs and smells and sounds.
As difficult as it is for us to not coddle and spoil them right off the bat, it is crucial that we don't. They are lost without clear routines and associations to rely on, even more so in a new place.
Owners so wanna over-do it with a new dog but if we could really make it clear to them that a hom-hum first couple of weeks will create a fabulous foundation to build upon and a LESS stressed dog, they'd likely wanna give it a go.
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