Lake House Series Video 3: Introducing Your Dog to New People

Lake House Series Video 3: Your Dog, New People, New Surroundings… What to Expect

Good morning! Happy easter. This is video number three on my challenge of getting my dogs used to a new place. I’m Dr. Carolyn Lincoln with Play to Behave and you can find out more about me at playtobehave.com.

So, as you know, I’m trying to get my dogs used to a new place, new people, new neighbors, etc. They are very protective as well as highly driven and energetic. It’s a challenge, this is a a big challenge for us. So, that being said, I wanted you to go through this journey with me.

I have people visiting from out of town, my sister Mary Jane and her wife Rhonda are here. Actually, here she comes to say hi.

“Hi, it’s me. As you can see, we’re pretty scary.”

I didn’t set things up the best way yesterday. That’s kind of what we do sometimes, we all do stuff without thinking. Yesterday morning, David and I did a lot of cooking, then we went to the art museum, which was fun. Then we went out to dinner, which was fantastic, we went to Dante’s, if any of you are from Cleveland. It was nice, wasn’t it, Mary Jane?

“Fantastic. The last course included a lot of wine.”

A lot of wine, right. In the meantime, poor Pepper and Rae were basically locked up in the house. They didn’t get any exercise or interaction, and then David drove home, picked them up, brought them out here to this beach house. The next thing they knew as they came in around 11 p.m. or midnight…

“It was dark here, and windy and wavy. There also wasn’t a lot of light way out here. The dogs got scared. Well, actually, just Rae.”

… Yeah, Pepper was okay. I brought them in separately, and that was a good plan. Normally, I like to have the dogs already here in another room, that way they can hear and smell everything that’s going on. That’s usually how I handle my counseling appointments. It’s okay that we were here first and then the dogs, that’s sometimes another good way to handle it. We do that in exam rooms, that way it’s not like it’s their territory and we’re encroaching on it, in this case it’s our territory and they come in.

But, in this case, Rae was already a little nervous about the house, it was late at night, she was tired…

“… and she hadn’t gotten a lot of exercise. However, she calmed down after about half of an hour. She was just a little nervous. Plus, we had never met Rae… we just knew Carolyn pretty well. *laughs*”

Can you tell them what Rae did, like how she behaved and how you felt?

“She just kind of ran back and forth, she barked. Carolyn had given us treats, so we both gave her treats, and she took those from our hands really well. She soft-mouthed them, right? When we said ‘touch,’ she would touch. We felt frightened of her, but she was just nervous, and barking, so we didn’t want to do anything to scare her more. Within a half-hour though, we were both on the floor and able to pet her. It probably just took longer than other times, like if she had exercised a lot or we had been outside with her.”

Yeah, that would’ve helped. I think if we had been outside first, and they had gotten to know each other a little bit, then went in the house, everything would’ve been fine. Typically, at my other house if someone new comes, she might bark a lot at first but as soon as she realizes they’re a friend, she’s fine. That’s exactly what I want, I her to be protective in case Mary Jane was someone I didn’t know, like a felon out on the loose. Then I would want her to get eaten! But I don’t want her to get my sister, or anyone else that I love.

That’s what happened, so hopefully next time will go better. She’s not here now because David took her home this morning. We’re going to go to the house so they’ll get to know her a little bit better. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

“She’s a good trainer, I’m totally biased, but happy sister… happy passover…”

Oh, thank you.

Alright, this has been Carolyn Lincoln with Play to Behave and you can go to playtobehave.com to find out more. Keep coming back because I will keep discussing how to get your dog used to new surroundings, new neighbors, being on a leash, so on and so forth… If you have any suggestions or comments, please put them below. Thank you so much, bye!