Adopting an Older Dog
- Kathleen
- Jan 8, 2016
- 3 min read
I've noticed many campaigns for adopting senior dogs over the last few months, likely with a purpose of encouraging people to avoid buying or adopting puppies who can sometimes become overwhelming for an ill-prepared family and thus put back up for adoption. Adopting an older dog means they have had at least some training already and usually have less energy than a puppy, so it can sometimes be easier integrating them into the family (or so it's often thought). There's also the general altruistic purpose of giving an older dog, who is least likely to be adopted, a home. These are very good reasons to think about adopting an older dog, but there is a reality to this choice that potential owners need to be ready for as well.
As someone who has adopted a more senior dog (it's hard to really call him "senior " since he somehow still has so much energy at age 10), I am speaking from experience when I say, you don't just adopt the dog, you adopt all of his/her years of ingrained behaviors, many of which have likely gone unchecked, untrained, and utlimately uncared for.
My dog came with baggage I didn't expect. He wasn't an official "rescue" in the sense of having been through severe physical abuse, so I thought that maybe he wouldn't have any trauma, or at least would have very little. Also, I wasn't prepared at all for him in any way, really. I grew up with dogs, but that doesn't actually mean that I know dogs. That's shifting now, but unfortunately for the first part of my relationship with my dog Nanuk, I had no idea what I was doing and was mostly winging it, getting very frustrated and at times feeling like I couldn't take anymore. I still have moments like this, but the training is changing that, little by little and I am realizing as we go that I really do have the power to help rehabilitate him. I'm also learning an awful lot about myself in the process (probably the greatest gift of caring for an animal of any species, actually).
There are reactions my dog has, that he then acts from. For instance, like many dogs, he has huge, often panicky reactions to loud noises like fireworks, the rockets that this culture seems to love during the holidays, gunshot sounds, etc. This was a huge surprise when I first witnessed this in him and it was an intense thing to hold and to witness. Now he is starting to react less and I am learning how to hold him through it, but there are a couple of extremely important things I have realized through the training we are in. The first, is that if I react with him or to him, with anything other than a calm, assertive energy, his reaction will likely intensify and he will try to take over the situation somehow, even in his anxious state, since there is no concrete leader-energy present. The second thing, is that I should avoid touching him or trying to comfort him. This felt strange at first, but when I thought of the fact that touch = reward to them, I realized that all those times I tried to comfort him by petting him may have only served to reward his panic and anxiety instead of help him to relax and feel safe. These two lessons may be the most critical for any dog owner with a dog of any age, but perhaps especially when you are trying to rehabilitate a dog that is more advanced in age and has many more years of built up habits, trauma, and poor behavior.
Guillermo reminds me often that not all dogs are a fit for everyone and that we all need to be careful when selecting a dog. I can give this some more context though, by adding that whatever dog you have, no matter how much they challenge you, there is something in it for you, and my feeling is that odds are, the more challenging the pet or situation, the more intense the reflection may be of who you are or have been in life in general.
Would I adopt an older dog again? Maybe. But next time I will spend more time with the dog first, to see how we respond to each other and to carefully feel into what I can offer as help and rehabilitation to this dog before comitting to be his/her owner. It is a process of making a new friend in a way, and thus shouldn't be rushed into, for at the end of the day, there are two lives that need to be considered, not just one.
コメント