Dog comes into rescue
Whenever possible, the dog comes into our home. If this isn’t possible, the dog is boarded in local kennels and collected daily for exercise and assessment.
Vet check
Each dog is given a health check by a veterinary professional within a couple of days of arriving. This may involve vaccinations, worming and checking for a microchip. Any concerns are addressed and, if appropriate, the dog is booked in for neutering.
Assessment
All of our dogs are assessed, which covers areas such as:
- Behaviour around people, including meeting strangers
- Behaviour around dogs, on and off lead
- Behaviour around children (when we have a child available!)
- Cat test (we have a resident cat)
- Behaviour on lead/walks
- Travelling
- Whether they enter and exit vehicles with good manners (no barging or pushing!)
- How the dog behaves once travelling in a car
- Basic obedience, such as sit, wait, down, stay, heel
- Treats and food
- How does the dog behave around food?
- Are there any guarding issues?
- Does it snatch food/treats?
- House
- Is the dog house-trained?
- Can the dog be left alone?
- Any destructive tendencies?
- How does the dog manage overnight?
- Toys
- Does the dog show any interest in toys?
- Is the dog inclined to resource-guard?
- Does the dog play nicely with people who have toys, and dogs who have toys?
- Handling
- I handle all the dogs that come into rescue, check them all over (ears, eyes, feet, etc.) to see how they react
- Observations
- I do general observations to see how they react to different situations. For example, sudden noises, an umbrella being opened in front of them, tractors and farm machinery moving around, horses and livestock being nearby.
We never expect a perfect dog!
Each dog is in rescue for a reason, and needs time to decompress. We work on any issues we find, and this work may need to be continued once the dog is re-homed.