Guidance on great beginnings for a newly-adopted adult dog

[TinaS]

After an absolutely devastating loss of my 15yr old pup, I am now in process of looking for another rescue to bring into my home. Whether or not this is a good idea while I am still in grieving mode is another story for a separate thread. For this thread, I would love to know what advice others may have on what to have in place, at a minimum, for getting a new (adult) dog established in a new home.

I am considering a 6-year old collie/spaniel mix from a Moscow shelter (they coordinate rescues to my area) who is a real sweetheart and I would love to give her a new adventurous life after spending her entire life so far in the shelter. She appears to have a lovely personality (very chill, quite interested in belly rubs) and does well with other dogs. So if I am able to bring her over here, and this would apply to any dog I brought home, I'd like to determine what I might want to consider for getting her set up. For instance:
- diet will be whole-food and raw-based but I want to ease her into this given she will be coming off 'shelter" food and an entirely different environment so her microbiome is going to experience a major reset
- nutrient add-ons to give her a real boost, such as the Moringa powder, Quinton minerals (isotonic) and ION for her water
- maybe a probiotic, like something from Dr Peter Dobias?
- Rescue remedy to help ease the stress and anxiety she will likely be feeling in a new environment
- Set up with an integrative veterinarian for a baseline exam and establishing the relationship
- training needs TBD until she has settled in a bit. I'm also aware of the 3d/3w/3m guide for rescues in terms of what to expect of their behavior for the first 3 months.
- she will have been vaccinated already because of shelter requirements beyond my control. I do not expect to continue that practice beyond what is legally necessary for travel/getting into national parks.

But beyond this, does anyone have other recommendations that I might want to consider? I will also set up a coaching call with Dr Jeff to see what homeopathic remedies might be warranted at this point, if any. It feels like a e-book could be written by this community (and I'd be happy to coordinate that).

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hey Tina-

I'm so sorry for your loss of Annie.?

I am glad that you are considering rescuing another canine companion! What an incredibly fortunate pup she would be to live with you and finally experience the beauties of life.

Yes, this would be a great topic for a HA! community ebook! I bet @aruna can point you to some new pet resources in the meantime.

1. Dr. Dobias' GutSense probiotic would be a great choice to start. Because variety is important for balancing the microbiome, you may also want to rotate through others like Rx Biotic (Rx Vitamins), Mitomax, Probio Defense, etc.

Also, consider adding fermented foods like Answer's raw goat's milk, sauerkraut, etc. to help her adjust to her new, and improved, diet.

2. My main recommendation would be to use her symptoms as a guide to the next steps For example, if she is really scared when she gets to her new forever home with you, consider Aconite if frequent (as needed) doses of Rescue Remedy are not doing the trick.

You can also consider diffusing a soothing oil like lavender or animalEO's Calm-a-Mile to help her transition.

Most important is lots of love petting and belly rubs!

I'll look forward to discussing other details on the phone and seeing a picture (or 5!) of her in this thread
if you adopt her.

 

[ShanaS]

After an absolutely devastating loss of my 15yr old pup, I am now in process of looking for another rescue to bring into my home. Whether or not this is a good idea while I am still in grieving mode is another story for a separate thread. For this thread, I would love to know what advice others may have on what to have in place, at a minimum, for getting a new (adult) dog established in a new home.

I am considering a 6-year old collie/spaniel mix from a Moscow shelter (they coordinate rescues to my area) who is a real sweetheart and I would love to give her a new adventurous life after spending her entire life so far in the shelter. She appears to have a lovely personality (very chill, quite interested in belly rubs) and does well with other dogs. So if I am able to bring her over here, and this would apply to any dog I brought home, I'd like to determine what I might want to consider for getting her set up. For instance:
- diet will be whole-food and raw-based but I want to ease her into this given she will be coming off 'shelter" food and an entirely different environment so her microbiome is going to experience a major reset
- nutrient add-ons to give her a real boost, such as the Moringa powder, Quinton minerals (isotonic) and ION for her water
- maybe a probiotic, like something from Dr Peter Dobias?
- Rescue remedy to help ease the stress and anxiety she will likely be feeling in a new environment
- Set up with an integrative veterinarian for a baseline exam and establishing the relationship
- training needs TBD until she has settled in a bit. I'm also aware of the 3d/3w/3m guide for rescues in terms of what to expect of their behavior for the first 3 months.
- she will have been vaccinated already because of shelter requirements beyond my control. I do not expect to continue that practice beyond what is legally necessary for travel/getting into national parks.

But beyond this, does anyone have other recommendations that I might want to consider? I will also set up a coaching call with Dr Jeff to see what homeopathic remedies might be warranted at this point, if any. It feels like a e-book could be written by this community (and I'd be happy to coordinate that).

I also lost my 14 year old "princess" in recent months and a) I am so sorry to hear of your loss and b) what a wonderful thing you are doing!! Several years ago, I also brought in a 10 year old rescue into our home after losing another one of my furry friends and it was a wonderful thing for both of us!! This time, I am feeling a little different, and just do not think I am ready yet and am just focusing on my other buddy that was very young when we rescued him 4.5 years ago. We just had our first session with Dr Jeff to set the baseline and he recommended looking into the Embark DNA full panel to see if we might see anything that might help us have some foresight into issues that may come up in the future. I looked into it and they are having a special right now and @drjeff has a discount code for even more off their special!