10/15/2026
โค๏ธ Adopting a pet is the beginning of a beautiful new chapter, but like any big life change, it takes time to adjust. A new home, new people, new routines, and unfamiliar surroundings can feel overwhelming for an animal learning to trust and settle in. Patience, consistency, understanding, and a little extra effort can make all the difference. The time we invest in helping our pets feel safe and secure is one of the greatest gifts we can give them.
This is Tazโs adoption story! The wins, the losses and the learning in between!
๐ถ Huge thanks to Tazโs parents for sharing their adoption story.
What challenges did we face?
Initially, we faced many challenges. Taz was basically unwalkable and he wanted nothing to do with a leash. We worked with him and initially trained him not to be afraid of the leash and associated the leash with good things, once we could get a leash on him, he was still very difficult to walk and that took some training to get him to learn how the leash works and respond to leash pressure. He picked it up very quickly, and he now walks beside us with no leash pressure and minimal corrections. Went from a 1/10 to an 8/10 walker.
Another challenge was his over stimulation resulting in jumpiness and light mouthing/nipping. He would jump and throw his weight at you and or try and mouth your hands. Everything was a game to him, he wouldn't out right bite you, but he would chase your hands like they were a toy and lightly mouth them. He is now MUCH better with this. Heโs not 100% but its almost entirely trained out of him at this point. We did that by correcting him and using redirection onto positive outlets like toys or food or "killing the fun" by ending the situation entirely and walking away.
Also, a balance of physical and mental exercise and periods of time to calm down in his crate helped a lot with this. He is now beginning to understand when to be excited, when to be relaxed and how to regulate himself accordingly. He can go 0-100 and back to 0 much quicker now and his 100 is a lot less jumpy and in your face than it used to be. He knows not to jump or go for hands now. (most of the time ๐)
Lastly, a challenge we had/have is him seeking attention by grabbing things like shoes or socks or anything really and running around with them trying to get you to chase him. We progressed this by not engaging in his "game" and redirecting him onto allowed objects like his toys and praising him or giving him treats when he has an opportunity to grab something but chooses not to or if he initially grabs a toy instead.
He is far from where we'd like him to end up but he has progressed immensely in a few months and him being trustworthy around other dogs and children has been a massive relief. Those were probable challenges that we were told we'd have when we adopted Taz but thankfully, we havenโt encountered.
When do we think Taz finally realized he was home to stay?
We aren't sure on a specific moment but we take Taz everywhere we go as much as we can and we think he slowly realized that after everywhere we went to, we always came back to our house and he slowly became more and more at ease and gained confidence with us and opened up and became his true goofy and affectionate self. He is still scared of a lot of things (like thunderstorms) and new people, and he always seeks one or both of us to comfort him when heโs afraid. We think Taz sees us as his safe place and he trusts us.๐ฅฐ
