Are Dogs From a Shelter Difficult to Train?

 Is it really that much harder training a dog from a shelter?

It really does depend on the dog’s personality and how much it was abused, whether it was a house dog and what its breed is. Remember that each dog is as individual and unique as a person.

Let’s just say that it is a given that if you adopt a stray dog that you are taking a bigger risk then if you bought a pedigreed dog from a breeder.

The reason that a dog from a shelter will be harder to train is that you don’t know its history or background. You don’t know if it has ever been kicked or starved or anything else about its history. If it’s a total mutt you may not even be able to determine the dog’s breed mix by its appearance, which makes how trainable it might be even more unpredictable then ever. A mutt could have all of the aggressive personality traits of a breed that is known to be a little hostile to humans without you knowing it.  

If you adopt a dog from a pet shelter be ready for anything!   First of all dog usually reacts to his new home with some kind of strange behavior.  You could encounter biting, chewing, barking, nipping, submissive urination, whining and fear of other dogs or people. The dog could have a chronic health problem or psychological problem due to abuse that you could not even imagine.  

However the better Rescue Shelters make sure that any dog that is adopted is not sick.  It could also simply be that the dog ended up in a shelter because the original owner simply could not train it. The shelters are full of alpha dogs that pet owners could not control or that they could not afford to send to a professional trainer for behavior management.   The dog then becomes YOUR problem.  

Not every dog adopted from a shelter is an unpredictable or alpha dog but a dog that is obtained from a shelter has a higher risk of being a threat to other pets and children in your household. This is because losing its home and ending up in a shelter can traumatize it.    Sometimes you can find a well-trained dog that was taken to the shelter because its owner passed away in which case you don’t necessarily have to worry about adopting a dog that is too dominant for you to handle.  I

f you are going to adopt a dog from a shelter, the only thing you might have to rely on when it comes to guessing how easy the dog is to train is some guess at his breed. For instance, a big Dalmatian would probably be greatly irritated in a house full of kids and a tiny little shaky Chihuahua with health problems is not a great pet for a busy careerist. Usually a staff member can give you at least a little bit of information about the breed so you have some information about how it is most likely to behave after you adopt it.

Pet Odor Solutions That Don’t Work!

Sometimes we find ourselves trying to mask pet odors instead of getting rid of them once and for all. Here are some tried and true techniques for actually making the problem worse rather than better.  

Dumping baby powder scented baking soda or powdered deodorizers into your cat’s litter boxes. All you are doing is overwhelming your cats with scents that will disgust them.  This may encourage them to go to the bathroom elsewhere in your home.  

Dumping absorbent powder onto a carpet to try and absorb the pet accident. This does not solve any reeking problem at all as 90% of the urine is still under the carpet, carpet padding and dripping into your sub floor.   There will always be the lingering scent of ammonia as the cat or dog pee degrades beneath the carpet.  

Scrubbing vigorously with a wet brush to clean urine stains from carpet. This is a good way to spread the stain and increase its diameters. If you use too much water then you are also soaking the carpet and underpadding with diluted urine. The lingering odor tempts the pet to go in the same place again.  

Using any home made mixture of vinegar, water, baking soda or soap to clean up urine from fabrics, floor and carpets.   The more liquid you apply to the problem, the more you spread the stain and the more you spread the odor. Vinegar does kill some bacteria but it leaves a strong odor that can actually encourage pets to urinate in the same place again.  

Spraying the area with an aerosol or foam disinfectant. Although this might kill some bacteria, disinfectants such as Lysol or often leave a strong odor that combines with the ammonia in the urine to create an even stronger smell that can linger for days. The bleaches and chemicals can make a stain look worse by giving it a brown or white edge.  

Using ammonia based cleaner. Avoid products like Mr. Clean that contain ammonia. When pet urine biodegrades it reverts to ammonia. When your pet smells ammonia it interprets it as a green light to eliminate in the same spot again.  

Using citrus-based cleaners to clean a cat box.   If you use a citrus based cleaner to clean out your cat’s litter box he or she may be so repelled by the smell that they choose to go outside the litter box.   They may clean the stain if it is on a floor and leave a fresher scent on a carpet but unfortunately it does not eliminating ammonia from urine. This can also tempt your pet to go in the same place again.  

Neglecting to clean up messes for a couple of days.   Urination on carpets and floors becomes such a fact of life that some people just give up. This allows odor to really set into fabrics, floors and carpets. This also sends a message to your pet that it is okay to go in the same spot again.