Originally posted by sirrahved


We brought home (or rather I brought home without permission!) a foster dog from our animal shelter on Wednesday. I'll give you a little background info and then ask my questions...
Congrats. I've brought home a few fosters without permission too!



Now for my questions:
1) She doesn't often wag her tail. Is this normal behavior from her situation?
2) Angel will not let Muffin play with us. It's alright if she snuggles, but will not let her get her toys or wrestle us. Is this something that is likely to never go away, or will it just take lots of work with Angel on our part? I guess this is my main question. Muffin LOVES to play and wrestle, and I couldn't in good conscience bring another animal into our home permanently that would take this away from her.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Both of those behaviors sound like a stressed, unsure dog to me. She will likely start to wag her tail once she has some time to adjust to you and your home. Once she realizes that no one is going to hit her, lock her inside or otherwise be creul to her, that tail will start wagging. I have a border collie cross who wags her whole body. We call it the Pingo Wiggle! She never wags just her tail! I bet Angel will be wagging like crazy soon too.

Given her history, she's probably never seen a human play wrestle with a dog. She may think that you are going to hurt Muffin when you wrestle and play with her. You may want to try crating her while Muffin gets her play time, somewhere where she can see what is going on. That way she will be safe and she can see that you aren't hurting Muffin.

Dogs with histories like Angel's often don't know how to play. They were never given the opportunity by their first owners. It's likely that any positive interaction with humans was limited. Watching Muffin play is the quickest way for Angel to learn how to play herself. Dogs learn quickest from other dogs!(at least in my experience).

Time, patience, gentleness and consistency will work wonders. Enjoy!