‘When she first gave me her paw, my heart melted’: here’s what I’ve learned about taking on a rescue dog | Dogs

WA dog trembling was placed in my arms in the early hours of December on Saturday, I was not very worried about her terrifying condition. After all, I knew about the rescue dogs. Cabbage, the beautiful Cole Cross, who died at the beginning of the year, came from a Dogs The confidence rescue center 15 years ago, was very tense at first. I was confident that Sophie, one year -old of an unlimited breed (but with a lot of German shepherd), brought us to a car from Romania, like cabbage, quickly in her new home. How wrong you were.

Our new dog looked afraid of my wife and I and our home, and I looked desperate for the smallest area you could find, and settled behind a sofa in the end. The next morning, I was keen to restart the early walking of the dog, which was a major advantage in the exercise system since I was diagnosed with Parkinson in 2019. But Sophie did not go anywhere.

When we took it to the garden just because she used to walk the idea of ​​walking, she crawled under a seat, then dug the heels in it when we looked up to her collar. During the first six months, she spent 90 % of her time in safe place, and she was always hiding there when visitors came to the house. Things began to improve only when the veterinarian prescribed it as a drug called Fleucstin, known as Prozac, but it still takes more than a year until we reach it beyond the garden for a picnic. Even today, more than two years after its arrival, Sophie remains a nervous creature, afraid of crowds and terror from young children.

What you learned is that you cannot expect a rescue dog, especially from the outside, fits the family of the family of the family you imagined. For example, going on a picnic may be something you enjoy but it may be a completely strange concept of a dog.

We only knew about the pets that we chose from the website of a Romanian couple based in the United Kingdom, who were very useful, and even an offer to restore Sufi, but it may be somewhat optimistic about describing her as a dog “loves everyone and searches for her home forever.”

We knew that it was among the premiums of the puppies that was found by a veterinarian who was abandoned from the side of the road and then handed over to the father of the veterinarian who kept them in his fold. It seems that they were not subject to ill -treatment, but they only knew the barn and old man. Not socially.

But this is exacerbated – two Sufi brothers came later to the United Kingdom and settled more easily, and they did not show the same level of anxiety, despite spending more time in the Roman barn of their sister. It is very difficult to predict how the dog appears, but you can prepare yourself by spending a much more time than we were to know the animal. For most people, this will mean meeting the dog in advance. This will be difficult if you are looking to bring a pet from the outside, although some dogs are strengthened upon arrival to the United Kingdom, giving them time to adapt to experienced people’s homes before offering them for sale.

Sophie – and my wonderful dog mystical, taught us, our behavioral behavior – another major lesson. I was not particularly patient, but despite my first horror when people told me that it might take months, and even years, to settle Sufi, I learned, as Si said, to move at the dog’s pace.

This means giving some things. I realized on Christmas that I was not outside once in 2024, in the first year for decades, my passport remained in a drawer. Sophie made us temporarily hostile to society. Since she left behind the sofa, she guarded our front door, and she is very looking for anyone who dares to come home. But in March, we had a first dinner in more than two years. In the welcoming of the usual panic a little, “Get out of my house”, Sophie came, inhaled and settled, while the excavation of The Odd Drisp.

It was a reminder of the extent of our access. You may never be my Sufi what I thought as a “ordinary” dog before her arrival, but after all the conflicts and setbacks, it makes progress and it seems that every day he trusts us a little more. When she gave me her claw for the first time, my heart melted. In the end, there is a simple fact about our rescue dog – it’s beautiful and we love it. This is all that matters.