For those of you dog owners who have rescued a dog from a shelter I want to say to you, thank you. Without you there would literally be millions of dogs either being put to sleep or still looking for homes. There are a few things to watch out for if you're going to adopt a dog from a rescue group or a shelter and I am going to discuss some of these things in this article.
Now don't get me wrong buying a puppy or a dog from a breeder can have just as many problems so don't let what I am about to tell you discourage you from getting that special dog from the local shelter.
Most shelters and rescue groups try to eliminate the dogs that have serious aggression problems and keep them from being offered for adoption. For this article we are not even going to consider aggression as a problem we are not even going to talk about it.
I think one of the largest problems that people run into when adopting a dog is the housebreaking issue. Quite often house training is the reason the dog ended up at a shelter in the first place. It seems that the previous owners simply didn't take the time to house train the puppy or dog and because of that decided to send it to the shelter and let it be somebody else's problem.
House training is simple by using a crate you can do it easily and you can have a house trained dog in just a matter of 2 to 4 weeks.
Another common behavior problem with rescue dogs is the fact that they aren't trained. Yes I mean obedience training where the dog is taught what the rules are and who the alpha is in the pack. Obedience training is very important for any dog it does establish that master dog relationship and make you the pack leader. Establishing rules and boundaries early is important so the dog understands what's required of it to be a good member of the family.
Obedience training is easy and in fact in as little as 15 minutes a day you can have a nicely trained dog. If you don't know how to do it no problem, simply look up a local dog trainer in your area who can guide you along the way and make everything much easier than trying to do it by yourself.
The last rescue dog problem I'm going to mention is the lack of socialization. If the dog you are looking at appears to be fearful, sits at the back of the kennel and doesn't interact with the other dogs, and really doesn't want to come to you, then pass on that dog. This appears to be a dog that is not socialized and fearful. Living with a fearful un-socialized dog can be very challenging and is not something that the average dog owner wants to get involved in.
I hope these few problems I pointed out will give you some idea of what to look for in your next rescue dog. There are thousands of dogs out there that are great dogs and that simply need a new start in life so do them and yourself a favor and go find one.