Rescue dogs have always been given up for a reason which makes them a greater challenge to work with as they already have pre conceived ideas of how to interact with people. As an example of the challenges, I have been training dogs for over eighteen years and in that time I have worked with thousands of dogs with behavioural issues and have been bitten myself five times during the course of my career to date. All of these bites have come from rescue dogs.

I have worked with dogs that are aggressive towards other dogs and dogs that are aggressive towards humans and have successfully retrained them to be relaxed and content family members. The majority of dogs with this type of behaviour a rescue dogs. I have focussed here on one example I have worked with to show the type of issues that are very common in rescue dogs:

I would describe Sid the Jack Russell when I first met him as a stressed dog that reacted to the presence of other dogs with barking and pulling on his lead. At no point during my time with Sid has Sid ever bitten another dog yet Sid has always demonstrated wariness around people and he has backed away from them when they have approached him in my classes. What impressed me though was at no point this changed to fear or barking.

Sid does not demonstrate any behaviour that is any different from any of the dogs in my classes. Many of these dogs are also rescue dogs and many do have greater issues than Sid. It must also be pointed out for your consideration that all dogs given up for rescue are given up for behaviours created by their owners. When a new home takes these dogs on, they have to work hard to retrain their new dog's behaviour. The dog will have pre conceived ideas of how to behave from their previous home and will expect their new home to be the same. When the new owners change their behaviour, the dogs are starting from scratch and having to learn all over again. This is always a stressful time for the dog and needs careful handling.

Because rescue dogs are usually highly stressed and reactive, often faster than their new owners are expecting, it is my opinion that anyone who approaches a dog they do not know without consent of the dog's owner is foolish and naive. It is also my opinion that anyone who knowingly gets too close to a barking or stressed dog runs a very high risk of the dog reacting in a way they will not like and that could result in a bite. I have experienced this very event several times in my career to date where I have entered a client's house and the dog has nipped me because the dog is so stressed. Now that is part of my job and at my risk and I calculate the risk on the dog's behaviour and on years of experience. These nips or bites are rarely hard and always very brief. I have avoided any real injuries because I have trained myself not to pull away from the dog as this is usually the cause of torn flesh and injury. It still hurts but not as much if you try and pull away because this just makes the dog instinctively bite harder so it hurts more.

To put this into a human context, if you approach a person you don't know you usually follows an introduction from a respectful distance. If a person invades your personal space, you are likely to feel uncomfortable and take measures to retain your comfort zone.

When you apply the same thought process to dog behaviour, you get the same results. When two dogs meet and are allowed to invade each other's personal space, you will get a three second pause whilst they weigh each other up and whilst they wait for either intervention or instruction from their owners. If neither intervention nor instruction is forthcoming, the dogs will invariably try and make the other back off and respect their personal space. If, however, a dog is surprised by a sudden invasion, the reaction can be very different to their training and this is more common in rescue dogs. It is more common in rescue dogs as they already associate living with humans as stressful, from their previous homes. This association is one of the challenges facing the new owners so any sudden intrusion will be very stressful for the dog as they settle in to their new home.

Rescue dogs need time to get to know you and to trust you. Please don't put them into situations that add to their already high stress levels. Take your time to get to know your new dog.