Romanian Rescue Pro Trainer
I have a special interest in rescues who have been adopted from abroad: including dogs taken in from the streets of Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and more. To reflect this I have done a specific course on Romanian Rescues run by industry expert Meesh Masters and passed the assessment to become a Romanian Rescue Pro Trainer.
It is not necessarily the case that your dog from abroad was living on the streets or has necessarily been "ill-treated"; but we underestimate the trauma of being completely relocated at all and taken away from everything you know to everything you DON'T know with no control over your surroundings at all. This is still life-affecting trauma! |
If we have chosen to bring a dog from abroad into our home we absolutely must take responsibility for helping them settle in and learn about the new world around them at a speed they can handle. It is not up to the dog to just slot into the family as it is. It is up to us to mould ourselves around their comfortability levels from day one.
This may mean we don't touch our new rescue, or walk them, or groom them, or play with them for weeks, if not months! The easiest way to create a difficulty in the precious life we have invited into our homes is by overwhelming them with too much too soon. They are not a puppy who is generally optimistic and highly resilient. Even if they are puppy-ish in age they will be wise beyond their years. Genetics, epigenetics, and the aforementioned trauma makes dogs from abroad age extremely fast. For these dogs safety is absolutely paramount and so often they have spent their whole lives so far feeling fundamentally unsafe. Or at least, finding safety in solidarity. We can't expect a dog who has survived through independence, hiding and keeping distance to suddenly feel like joining a family.
This may mean we don't touch our new rescue, or walk them, or groom them, or play with them for weeks, if not months! The easiest way to create a difficulty in the precious life we have invited into our homes is by overwhelming them with too much too soon. They are not a puppy who is generally optimistic and highly resilient. Even if they are puppy-ish in age they will be wise beyond their years. Genetics, epigenetics, and the aforementioned trauma makes dogs from abroad age extremely fast. For these dogs safety is absolutely paramount and so often they have spent their whole lives so far feeling fundamentally unsafe. Or at least, finding safety in solidarity. We can't expect a dog who has survived through independence, hiding and keeping distance to suddenly feel like joining a family.
How you settle your dog into your home matters enormously to the likely course of the rest of your lives
Please take advantage of my FREE mini-webinar on settling in your foreign rescue.
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Please reach out to me BEFORE you even get your new family member home.
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Please, please!
If you're already having difficulties, it is never too late to try and unwind what's happened to cause the upset you are seeing. As with any dog though, we cannot completely erase ANY of what a dog has been through; their brains will never forget. What we can do though is look at their cognitive world, their emotional world and their resultant behavioural world and see what we can do to improve things for everyone involved.
This will take time, patience, dedication, consistency and more patience. |
But the journey with your rescue from abroad can be absolutely transformative, for you both as a team. Your dog from abroad WILL end up teaching you more than you teach them! It is not just the dog who will enter a journey of development, and going through this journey with the canine by your side is one of the most beautiful stories you will ever be in.
You just need to be open to taking that first step. Together. |
Just some of the dogs from abroad Jen has helped
This is Abu
Abu was found at the side of the road just weeks old on his own. By the time he was adopted by a family in the UK he had been in a foster home for a few months so had learnt to love and trust people - but dogs were another matter! Abu was simply terrified of dogs - but not anymore! Abu had socialisation sessions with me and can now greet, interact with and play with any other dog who wants to! These sessions were at his pace - starting with just ONE buddy dog at a time. Months down the line and he attends a dog walk with us once a week with up to 7 other dogs! His confidence has completely sky rocketed. He is playful, resilient, expressive, fun and fearless. He's just living his best life! |
This is Eddie
Eddie was born in Romania and was adopted into the UK at about 6 months of age. Eddie's family sought help from me before he even came home. They knew exactly what to expect and what to do from the first day they got him. Eddie came out with me for special socialisation sessions to help him get used to the UK dogs, as well as the busy world they live in. Having been set up to succeed, Eddie absolutely flew through these socialisation sessions and soon became a dog who could meet, greet, interact with and play with any other dog who wanted to! Eddie's social skills are impeccable and he is confident, cheeky, gentle and extremely loveable. Eddie is now one of my most reliable buddy dogs; helping other dogs who are anxious around other dogs and/or the world around them. |
This is Dutch
Dutch was captured on the streets of Romania. Dutch’s family contacted me to help with his anxieties, mainly about people. Dutch’s people were given advice to sit in a park and give Dutch food when he sees a person; however, Dutch is extremely fearful of new people and will bolt fields away at the sight of a person he doesn’t know (Dutch has been lost a number of times due to this). Simply offering food severely undermines the trauma and resultant cognitive beliefs he’s formed. It took Dutch MONTHS to trust me enough to take him out for a walk. It took Dutch WEEKS to trust Adam to walk him instead. It took Dutch WEEKS to be able to trust Amy wasn’t going to capture him on our walks together. With every new person he’s learning to trust, the speed at which he’s able to build trust quickens. But Dutch will NEVER want to sit in a park and mingle amongst the people. But he can now cope better with family visitors and other professionals involved in his care. |
"Jen is passionate about the welfare of dogs and has an amazing understanding of dog behaviour and brings out the very best in them. She is with you every step of the way, offering backup between sessions and nothing is too much trouble"
Jane with Martha