It might come as a surprise but often it’s not the abused rescue dogs who are the most difficult to work with, but the purebred ones. The worst combination: a dog from a backyard breeder (often working line) or from a puppy mill + owners who were told by their vet not to take their dog anywhere before the first vaccine.
These dogs have completely missed out on their socialization period, which can result in several problems:
- everything around them is either incredibly exciting or super scary for them,
- they overstimulate easily,
- and they haven’t learned how to calm down on their won.
Many behaviour problems such as reactivity, barking indoors or pulling on the leash start here and it can be hard to treat them, because we need to teach them emotional self-regulation and behavioural flexibility first.