seven year old Rottie

We are considering adopting an older dog, Alexis and I was wondering
how she might fair being given away by her owner and coming to live
with a new family? She has been well cared for and is well behaved but
her owner now finds himself overloaded with job responsibility and
cannot spend much time with her. We have her for the weekend and she
is a lovely dog but I am afraid that she will badly miss her owner and
may be sad. She keeps waiting for us to take her home. How long does
it usually take a rescue dog to get comfortable in a new home and is
there anything we can do to help her?

pfoley...

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If you have the time to spend with her during the days and evenings and are
not planning on leaving her alone for long periods of time, you might be
better suited to take care of her than her own present owner. It sounds
like he does not have time to spend with the dog and Rotties do not like to
be left alone; they want to be with you most of the time. This breed is
best suited for retired people or people who work out of their home or
people who are home most of the time for one reason or another, in other
words, people who have the time to spend with them.
Since it sounds like he took good care of the dog and did not mistreat the
dog, the dog should make a good pet with a lot of your kind attention.
Walking the dog daily and possibly taking the dog to training will help you
bond with the dog. It will take awhile but if you give the dog lots of
attention it eventually will work. It is hard to believe someone would give
a dog away after having it for seven years; it is sad.
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Shelly...

Dogs are usually pretty adaptable. I wouldn't hesitate to adopt an
older dog, especially if I already knew her pretty well. You've got a
very good idea what the Rottie's disposition is like. There will
probably be a honeymoon period before she gets completely adjusted to
your home, but it sounds to me like she will be just fine with you. Just
do what you can at the beginning to develop a routine, and stick to it
as much as possible. Dogs take comfort from routine.

One thing to keep in mind--when she acts anxious, like she's waiting to
go "home," try not to baby or reassure her. Distract her with a game or
a walk, but babying or reassuring her when she's anxious will just
reinforce for her that there *is* something to be anxious about.

Also, even though she's well behaved and an older dog, taking an
obedience class with her would be a good way to help her bond to you. It
will also give her mind a workout, which is good for her.

Dale Atkin...

We were adopted by a 10 year old lab from the local shelter, after about a
month of fostering him (his former owner surrendered him when she had to go
live with her son, she was 84). About 6 months after that, we were down in
the dog park and ran in to someone who knew him in his former life, and used
to walk him quite a bit (his former owner's niece), anyways, it made me very
happy to see that he decided to go with us instead of her.
The initial 'settling' period was very quick (about a week), but I think it
took him about 9 months to feel fully at home here.

Only thing I'd suggest is to try to spend a lot of time with her right off
the bat. Go to the park frequently, nice long walks, etc. I'm sure she will
miss her former owner, but that doesn't mean she'll mope around all the
time. If you think she's asking to go home, don't make a fuss over her,
distract her with something else (maybe take her outside to pee instead,
then come inside and play a game with her).

Anyways I think you can make it work.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.