Chile and the Rule of Three

Patricia McConnell did a great webinar called "Increasing the Odds of a Successful Adoption" and in it she talked about the "rule of 3". The idea was that when working with a rescue dog it is going to take time before you are seeing the real personality shine. So at the 3 day, 3 week and 3 month points (or thereabouts) after a dog comes out of the shelter into a home setting one will likely see some changes. If you are interested in learning more I believe you can still listen to the Webinar through the ASPCA Website.

This concept has been true for Chile. At the three day mark he really started interacting more with the dogs but by the 3 week mark I am actually seeing that his underconfidence in the way he interacts with other dogs really sets him up to get picked on. It's minor things but the poor guy always ends up being the odd man out unless I step in and manage interactions and redirect the other dogs at times.

Of course we are working on helping him gain confidence and doing the extra work of carefully monitoring all interactions between the dogs. If one of us can't be with them then they are separated. The reality is it takes very little to trample down the spirit of a shy dog so that makes it doubly important to make sure all of his interactions are positive.

Don't get me wrong, he's friendly and sweet and loves his people, but he also would love to play with other dogs and sometimes sets himself up for being picked on. That's why we are working with him.

With his placement we'll be looking carefully at how he and any other dogs in the house interact together. Some people think this is overkill, but my end goal with the dogs that come through my house is to help them overcome the fears and anxieties they've been living with and give them a start where they can be happy and  successful and that means making sure all members of the family, furry or non-furry, are a good fit.