Carly - Shelter Rescue Training

Carly was rescued from a place where there were too many animals in deplorable conditions. As is typical in these types of hoarding cases, the dogs don’t receive the care they need - either from there just being too many pets for the people or because they never intended to properly care for them.

Carly’s transformation since being adopted is incredible! Many people are surprised by just how much happier she looks now. This is in part due to how well the animal rescue cared for her medically and through a great foster family. In addition, though, it is due to my family using positive reinforcement training methods. These methods work by rewarding dogs for good, desirable behaviors, and creating positive associations with scary things to help dogs learn they are safe.

I actually have done minimal training of new behaviors (foundation/obedience) so far: Carly has learned to sit, to shake paws, and I just started working on recalls (coming when called) and heeling (walking on-leash calmly, without pulling). But the main focus of her training since March, when she was adopted, has been to help her build confidence with new things and anything that startles or scares her (which is most things unfortunately, because she was not properly socialized and didn’t have opportunities to explore new environments and experiences). This is the right path to follow for dogs with fearful behavior and puppies, who need socialization more than learning new behaviors as a priority.

Sometimes I’ll see people refer to Carly’s new, comfortable, happy-state and recovery from her horrible past as coming from love. And that’s true, but training with reward-based/positive reinforcement techniques is loving dogs. The disadvantage of using forceful, punishment-based techniques is they rely on startling, hurting, or scaring dogs. A dog’s fear of something cannot be modified by causing more fear. And even if it’s just some punishment (balanced training), it still leads to the same problems, and upsets dogs or prevents them from being capable of relaxing.

Carly is special. Her will to survive her original neglectful situation, to fight to progress and to learn new things - that she is now safe and can have fun playing - is inspirational. There are many other dogs in similar conditions, who just need us to help them and to provide loving reward-based training to help them feel confident and free to try new behaviors and enjoy life. Shelter and rescue volunteers and employees (including veterinarians and vet technicians) deserve a huge compliment for the hard work they do to help dogs in need, and to provide a future for dogs who at one time lived in conditions that looked hopeless.