Help with newly adopted adult Staffy

Hello everyone,
I am new to this forum, so a quick intro- My husband and adopted a 7yo male purebred red English Staffy last Friday- we named him Murray.

Murray has a lovely temperement, very rarely barks, and loves cuddles.

My worry is that he is sad- He hasn't been eating regularly, and has no motivation for treats (so cannot use to positvely reinforce behaviours etc). He doesn't like to play much - such as fetching and rarely engages in tug of war with the rope. We take him for two walks every day and he seems to love those.
The latest concern is, when we take him in the car, he is happy to go for a ride, but when we get home, he doesn't want to get out of the car. Does he hate his new home?

We both work, so he has a few days a week where he is alone from 9am til 5:30pm, but when we are home, we have been spending most of our time with him, until he takes himself to bed (which is usually pretty early).

He seems happy to sleep a lot, and the neighbours have said he doesn't bark or cry at all during the day when we are out. I know it can take a while for a new dog to settle in, just wondering if anyone else has similar experiences?
Thanks in advance

Hi, welcome & congrats on giving Murray a new home. It sounds like you are doing all the right things, walks, treats, spending time, playing etc. Maybe he is adjusting to his new home, its early days. What environment did he come from? Hang in there & keep investing the time, building his trust & being his companion. Use us as much as you need, there's ALOT of experience here

Hey! Murray sounds lovely do you know anything about his background/the type of home he was in before coming to you? Did he come from kennels or straight from another home? Has the weather heated up where you are, and could be making him lethargic?

Rescue dogs can take 3 months to properly settle. I would try and keep a good routine so he knows if he's coming or going and go at his pace. He is also a little older, so may just be content chilling. My girl is around the same age and in the last few months has started settling in bed rather than snugged with us, I think it's just so that she can sleep undistrurbed. Murray will likely be very tired, taking in everything in his new home!

There's a lovely book called "love has no age limit" written by an American animal behaviourist named Patricia McConnell. It's all about adopting an adult dog and explains what they're going through, what to expect and also some tips/things to avoid. It's available on Amazon - I highly recommend you sound like lovely people, try not to worry!

Rachel33 wrote:Hey! Murray sounds lovely do you know anything about his background/the type of home he was in before coming to you? Did he come from kennels or straight from another home? Has the weather heated up where you are, and could be making him lethargic?

Rescue dogs can take 3 months to properly settle. I would try and keep a good routine so he knows if he's coming or going and go at his pace. He is also a little older, so may just be content chilling. My girl is around the same age and in the last few months has started settling in bed rather than snugged with us, I think it's just so that she can sleep undistrurbed. Murray will likely be very tired, taking in everything in his new home!

There's a lovely book called "love has no age limit" written by an American animal behaviourist named Patricia McConnell. It's all about adopting an adult dog and explains what they're going through, what to expect and also some tips/things to avoid. It's available on Amazon - I highly recommend you sound like lovely people, try not to worry!

Hi and welcome from us and Suki. I concur with Rachel and think he will settle in due time. We've had Suki since she was a pup and she has never liked to get out of the car when she gets home. We think she is either just tired or hoping that if she doesn't get out she will get to go exercise again.

Spot on advice from Rachel. One other thing to add is to not put any pressure on him to do things like playing. He may well not have been played with before and may not understand what it is, and may find our way of playing worrying. Give him time and see how he settles. If he's ok with other dogs, you might find the way to play is through another later on.

Does he like human contact, scratches and cuddles? If so, you can use those as your reinforcers. A reinforcer is whatever has importance for the dog. The most common ones are treats and praise, but toys for those that like them, a bum scratch, an ear rub... whatever the dog will start to think 'I liked that, what do I have to do to get it again'.

The other thing is to try different treats. Try things like fish, cheese and dried trip, all of which are nice and smelly. Again, though, don't force it. If he doesn't want to take it, don't worry. Maybe try putting things on the floor and see if he'll take them then, it might be that he has a negative association with hand feeding.

Well done for adopting Murray and for providing a loving home for him. No, he does not hate it!!! He might just feel secure in the car after spending time in a limited environment. Just one thing to keep in the back of your mind, is there any reason getting out of the car might be uncomfortable?

It is really early days. Some dogs settle quickly and other take time. Murray's clearly in the latter camp. But he'll get there when he's ready.

Well done on rescuing murray i can only echo above advice and also brush the dog each day this helps with the bonding process if you dont know murrays background id go slowly at first with the grooming . Be positive with everything and try and keep your voice calm

Fantastic to hear about a rescue
I'm sure like everyone has said Murray will need time to settle. It must be so different living in a kennel to living in a home with people who love him. Must be so overwhelming, maybe he just can't believe his luck!

Thanks everyone for all your positive comments! As far as we know, his previous family had children who grew up and they didn't have time for him anymore. He is quite fat, so definately not underfed, and he isn't skiddish, so I don't have any reason to believe he was mistreated. I think he only spent 3-4 weeks at the shelter after being surrendered before we got him.
We live in Queensland, Australia so it is winter now, but our weather is very mild. He has his own kennel and i think he loves it and will go in to sleep even if we are still around.
Once when he got out of the car, his foot did get caught in the belt a little, but he was happy enough to jump out on his own at the beach! We lift him if he hesitates too much though.
Once again, thanks for the warm welcome to the forum! I'm looking forward to learning more about Murray each day.

Hi ya, welcome to the forum

Well done on the rescue. Murray probably just needs time to find his feet and settle in, it must be disorientating being passed through kennels but I'm sure he'll settle just fine

By the way, I think we need some photos...

I'll need to suss out how to add photos from my ipad, but I managed to get one as my profile pic

lovely avatar here is a link on how to post photos if you get stuck someone will help you https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t12017-how-to-post-a-photos-onto-the-forum

Awww he's gorgeous !!!!

Gorgeous boy