A few days ago I bought a 2 year old beagle called Buddy. While I've owned dogs before I've always had them from a puppy so this is a bit of a step into the unknown for me buying an adult dog. He's such a lovely boy, everything is so new and confusing for him so I've been trying to give him his space to check out his new home and let him come to me in his own time. He's taken to curling up next to me on the sofa and today he brought me one of his toys to play with so I think he's starting to feel a little more at ease!
I've not had any problems with him at all. He's not had any accidents in the house, he's not had any behavioural issues or destroyed anything, he's an absolute dream to walk on the lead and although he is a bit thin, he seems to be in good health, but he will be going to the vet for a check over soon just to be sure. One issue I do have, is that I don't think he understands me. He doesn't really respond to his name or anything and I'm not sure if this is because he's in a new environment and he's unsure or if it's because of a language barrier. His previous owner was an older polish lady, she'd had a fall and hurt her hip so she's unable to give him what he needs. He came with his papers and a passport and had only been brought to the UK at the beginning of May. We've tried learning and speaking phrases in polish to see if that helped him but it hasn't triggered any responses from him. I'm unable to contact the previous owner to find out more about him so I don't know if he actually has been trained to respond to certain phrases previously but he's very well behaved so I imagine he must have done. I just want him to feel comfortable and not overwhelmed and he's had a lot to take in already so I wouldn't looking to do any sort of training just yet but would this just be a case of starting at square one and training him in the same way you would usually train a puppy? Rewarding him when he responds to his name and teaching him the new commands? When would be the best time to start bringing in some training?
The other issue I have is his previous owner appears to have let him sleep in her bed. The night I brought him home, I left him downstairs when I went to bed and 5 minutes later he'd come up and curled up at the bottom of my bed. I thought this was a good sign because I felt it meant he felt safe with me and it was his first night so I left him. I did get him his own dog bed but he's not even touched it, he had his own sofa previously so I don't think he's ever used one. I don't mind him being on my sofa but I can suffer quite badly from allergies during the spring/summer so I'm not sure it's the best idea for him to be in bed with me. I tried putting his bed in my room and encouraging him to sit on it but he just stares blankly and jumps on my bed, he appears to have chosen this as his safe space as he'll try to go to my bed if he's feeling scared or wants some space but I've been shutting the door during the day to try discourage that. I'm not sure how best to deal with this because he's only been with me for 5 days so I don't want to change too much too soon for him and risk it causing some problems when I'm trying to develop a relationship with him but I can't help but feel like it might be harder to deal with it in the future when he's more settled and it might be best to set the boundaries early on. As I'm not sure he understands english, he just stares blankly if you do tell him to get down or if you try encourage him to lay on the dog bed. What's the best way of dealing with this? Should I wait til I have more of a bond with him or will that just make it harder in the future?
Thanks in advance for any help.
I've not had any problems with him at all. He's not had any accidents in the house, he's not had any behavioural issues or destroyed anything, he's an absolute dream to walk on the lead and although he is a bit thin, he seems to be in good health, but he will be going to the vet for a check over soon just to be sure. One issue I do have, is that I don't think he understands me. He doesn't really respond to his name or anything and I'm not sure if this is because he's in a new environment and he's unsure or if it's because of a language barrier. His previous owner was an older polish lady, she'd had a fall and hurt her hip so she's unable to give him what he needs. He came with his papers and a passport and had only been brought to the UK at the beginning of May. We've tried learning and speaking phrases in polish to see if that helped him but it hasn't triggered any responses from him. I'm unable to contact the previous owner to find out more about him so I don't know if he actually has been trained to respond to certain phrases previously but he's very well behaved so I imagine he must have done. I just want him to feel comfortable and not overwhelmed and he's had a lot to take in already so I wouldn't looking to do any sort of training just yet but would this just be a case of starting at square one and training him in the same way you would usually train a puppy? Rewarding him when he responds to his name and teaching him the new commands? When would be the best time to start bringing in some training?
The other issue I have is his previous owner appears to have let him sleep in her bed. The night I brought him home, I left him downstairs when I went to bed and 5 minutes later he'd come up and curled up at the bottom of my bed. I thought this was a good sign because I felt it meant he felt safe with me and it was his first night so I left him. I did get him his own dog bed but he's not even touched it, he had his own sofa previously so I don't think he's ever used one. I don't mind him being on my sofa but I can suffer quite badly from allergies during the spring/summer so I'm not sure it's the best idea for him to be in bed with me. I tried putting his bed in my room and encouraging him to sit on it but he just stares blankly and jumps on my bed, he appears to have chosen this as his safe space as he'll try to go to my bed if he's feeling scared or wants some space but I've been shutting the door during the day to try discourage that. I'm not sure how best to deal with this because he's only been with me for 5 days so I don't want to change too much too soon for him and risk it causing some problems when I'm trying to develop a relationship with him but I can't help but feel like it might be harder to deal with it in the future when he's more settled and it might be best to set the boundaries early on. As I'm not sure he understands english, he just stares blankly if you do tell him to get down or if you try encourage him to lay on the dog bed. What's the best way of dealing with this? Should I wait til I have more of a bond with him or will that just make it harder in the future?
Thanks in advance for any help.