Adopting a Romanian Rescue Dog — Week 1 Diary — Mistakes Were Made!

We adopted Cassi (originally Maggie) from Rocky Road Rescue in April. Her arrival date was 15 May 2021, and we had a group chat for updates. The drivers of the happy bus let us know the dogs’ expected times of arrival, and everyone was getting excited waiting for their dog to arrive. There was a lot of window-watching!

I felt really nervous as the handover is dangerous; this is the point where dogs will run away out of fear, and I was worried Cassi would leg it. I have anxiety and struggle with overthinking, so this knowledge naturally added to it! I also felt emotional knowing that we were going to give her a home, and she’d add so much to our little family.

Without further ado, here’s my diary for week one with Cassi.

Day 1, Saturday 15 May

I spent the whole morning watching the Messenger chat with all the exciting updates. When the ETA came in for Cassi, I was in disbelief it was actually happening! As the van travels from Romania through Calais to the UK, your drop-off time can be any time in the day, depending on your location. We’re in the South East, so our drop-off was 1430ish, whereas some near Newcastle and further north were 0300ish the next day! I was glad we had a daytime arrival.

Cassi’s best friend in the shelter, Mitch (now Patch), was being rehomed on the same day, so I was really excited for them and it was a great feeling knowing he had a home, even if it wasn’t with Cassi.

I got a phone call from the lovely Romanian rescuers, and they told me they were 10 minutes away. Eek! We got the bag of food and drinks ready for them, as these poor men drive nonstop for days, with little time to take care of themselves. We’d initially put a bag of things together to donate to the shelter, but there was concern from the rescue about VAT treatment at the time, so we abandoned that idea.

I couldn’t stop staring out of the window waiting, full of nervous energy.

The happy bus arrived, covered in images of dogs and other animals. Just the sight of the van made me tear up! Knowing Cassi was in there with the other dogs who had found safe, loving homes was a bit much for my little heart! We gave the men the slip lead to put on her, and they handed her over to me with her documents and medication straight away. She was all floppy and scared, which made me sad!

We had to coax her to walk along the driveway to the house. She kept close to the fence and needed lots of treats to get to the back garden. Thankfully, she’s very food driven! After she had a munch on some wet grass, she eventually came inside the house.

I brought her a bowl of water, which she enthusiastically lapped up. She gave me lots of kisses on my face, arms, and hands to say thank you, and snuggled up next to me. Such a lovely surprise.

She was stinky, as expected. We gave her a gentle brush with some no-rinse shampoo, and she was shedding a lot! We also gave her some Pro-Kolin and put Chappie on a lickimat, which is the recommended food after travel as it’s gentle on the stomach.

I also gave her medication as they had diagnosed her with anaplasmosis before travel. It’s totally treatable, and she had no symptoms, which shows how light her case was! I put the doxycycline and omeprazole in some food; her meds turned out to be a nightmare to give to her twice a day for a month, she’s too clever! We left her alone in her room for a few hours to relax in her crate.

Cassi emerged from her room later in the evening and snuggled up to Ben, which was lovely! She loves cuddling him, so it was a sign of things to come. She also let us put her collar on, which was good as it had her tag on if she somehow found a way to run off!

She stayed in her room all night with no problems at all! Separation anxiety is a concern, as Rommies have always had company in the shelter.

Day 2, Sunday 16 May

Cassi woke us up about 6 am so she could go outside. She’d slept through the night in her room, and we were excited to see what day two would bring!

The fact she knew she needed to go outside to the toilet gave us a bit of an insight into her previous life. Rommies are rarely housetrained as they’ve usually come from the street, so this implied she’d previously lived in a home and her owner had abandoned her.

I loaded her snuffle mat up with treats and beef to help keep her calm, and she loved the beef (and still does) but was very fussy with treats, which was quite surprising! Rommies are known for eating anything they can get their paws on, so the fact we had a picky dog was quite funny.

Later on in the day, we went outside to explore the garden. She was on a long lead and had great fun wrapping it around every tree and bush. She was having a great time chasing the blackbirds and generally terrorising any wildlife she could find! At one point, I raised my hand to move my hair out of my face and she flinched, which was really sad. She was very jumpy with any sudden movements, so we had to carefully consider any movements for the first week.

The hardest thing was trying to resist giving her cuddles as she’s a gorgeous, loving pup. You’re supposed to give them plenty of space for the first 48 hours at least, but she kept climbing on us both when we were sitting down, so we seemingly had no choice but to cuddle her ;)

You’re supposed to keep rescues off soft furnishings to start with as they can develop resource guarding behaviours. It’s understandable; if you’ve been in a concrete pen for months, imagine how good a soft pillow feels! We got lucky with her because we’d let her sit on the sofa with us from day two, and she was very good at getting down when we told her, without her being snappy and trying to keep it to herself! I wouldn't recommend letting them on the sofa for a while though, cuddles on the floor would be better. It definitely caused us problems with crate training and her being in her own space.

I love this photo of her from the second day. You can see all her winter coat shedding on her butt before we could properly brush her. We needed a good comb for it, as the brushes I’d bought did not do the trick; we were expecting a shorthair dog with one coat! You can also see her tail slowly raising up into its perfect curl, which is a sign she was feeling safer. Yay!

Day 3, Monday 17 May

Cassi slept through the night in her room again, waking us up at 6 am. Hopefully, the early wake-ups are not a pattern!

She had great fun playing in the garden, getting her long line wrapped around everything! At one point I had to unclip her as she got completely stuck. Silly pup! That’s when I got the photo below of me carrying her. The fact her ear is up is great, and there’s a little smirk there! So nice to see her trust building.

We were seeing how well she was responding to her name, and she’d come running back to us when we called her name about 25% of the time, not bad for day three! We renamed her from Maggie, her shelter name, so we’re not sure if she knew that name or not, but she picked Cassi up pretty quickly! Mainly because we’d bribe her with treats ;)

She met a neighbour and their dog through the gate. While she initially reacted well, she started barking after a couple of minutes. We hadn’t heard her bark until that point! We took her inside to decompress. She was really antsy and anxious after that, so we loaded up her snuffle mat with lots of tiny bits of beef and cheese to take her mind off it, and that seemed to calm her down thankfully! She had no interest or understanding of Kongs at this point, so we couldn’t use those as an additional distraction tool as planned.

Today, Ben went back to work after having a rare weekend off. I was worried Cassi was going to miss him and get separation anxiety, but she seemed nonplussed and was happy spending time with me in the garden.

I put her to work with some molehills, as she loves digging! It was great fun to watch her dig; she starting zooming around afterwards, which was amazing to see. She’s such a goof! We did a little sit training too, which she is learning quickly, clever girl!

Throughout the day, I tried to put her behind the baby gate in her room with the snuffle mat and other enrichment to see if I could leave her alone for a minute or so. She started whining and barking after about 40 seconds; obviously, I needed to rewind a bit and try 20 seconds the next day.

She had a funny moment late on when Ben came back from work around midnight. It was almost like she didn’t recognise him as she started angrily barking when he came into the room, even when he sat with her and let her smell him. She took a few minutes to come back round to him; it was a bit worrying! It’s possible she was having a nightmare or maybe he smelt different and that’s what triggered it. After that, she fell asleep on the chair, instead of in her crate. Another mistake!

Day 4, Tuesday 18 May

Cassi had a great time attacking the molehills in the garden! She loves zooming around afterwards, and it’s a brilliant way to burn off excess energy, as we don’t feel like she’s ready to go for a walk yet. I’m also training her daily to keep her occupied, she’s picked up sit!

We worked on separation anxiety today. I froze a chew toy with her food in it, gave it to her, and closed the baby gate. I stayed in earshot, and she managed to stay there for two or three minutes before whining. She loves whining all the time wherever she is and whatever I’m doing, so it can get really frustrating when I’m trying to do basic things and she’s whining every two seconds… even if she is very, very cute! I’m hoping once she’s settled into her new environment that the whining will lessen.

It was a very wet afternoon, and she tried braving the rain but decided inside was better! She hadn’t played with any toys until today, so when she picked up a rope toy and started throwing it around and chewing on it, I definitely celebrated! It was great to see her relaxed enough to be silly and have fun.

I had my first therapy session since having Cassi and I spent most of it crying! I was feeling overwhelmed by my emotions and love for her, and she had been pushing boundaries by barking and generally being really cheeky! I knew I couldn’t let her get away with things as it would encourage behaviours going forward, but she’s a stubborn dog, so it was frustrating! I was worrying that I was going to let her down and not train her properly.

After that, she spent the whole evening lying all over me, napping, which was super sweet. She’s fantastic company when she’s not whining for no reason!

Day 5, Wednesday 19 May

Cassi spent more time zooming around the garden after digging up molehills today! She made me properly laugh for the first time since having her. She was mid zoomie and decided she needed to poop! Truly cracked me up and I named them “poomies”.

After that, it was another wet day, so we worked on some training for sit and her name. She spent a lot of the day cuddled up to me in a blanket. She wasn’t a fan of becoming a burrito after being out in the rain, though!

I’m finally getting used to trying to eat around her after she spent the first few days barking for my food when I was eating! I’ve actually shut myself in the bedroom to eat my lunch, it was that bad! She’s learning that I won’t give her any food off my plate, and that’s definitely doing the trick.

We also worked on separation anxiety with the baby gate, but that seems to be slow progress. I’m hoping the more time she spends with us, the easier it will be for her to realise we’re her forever family and we’re not leaving her forever!

We’ve been having some problems late at night with her when we go to bed. She’ll sit outside the bedroom door and whine. She goes to bed eventually, but we both feel bad for not letting her come in with us! We’ve decided not to let her on the bed for quite a while to give her some time away from us and to avoid any resource guarding. Not to mention the fact that she would nick my side or give me a backache!

Day 6, Thursday 20 May

Cassi had a load of toys delivered today! After seeing her play with the rope toy, I figured it was a good time to buy a bundle of toys for her to play with. Included in the toys was an adorable little duck plush, which I didn’t realise when ordering! I’ve shied away from buying any plush toys because it makes me sad when they get destroyed, and she’s always given me “I will tear up any soft toys” vibes. Unfortunately, those vibes were accurate. As expected, I was sad.

Here’s an adorable photo of her pre-toy destruction. I cried.

She also played with a ball for the first time today too! It’s been really nice to see her relaxing and showing her playful side. She also got into the dog bed we “inherited”, and it was so nice to see her settled in it. For five minutes.

She spent yet more time digging up the garden: I swear it looks like we have the opposite of a mole problem! It’s a great release of energy for her though, and the holes are easy enough to fill back in, so we’re happy to let her enjoy it.

Lots of cuddles again today, which was really lovely. However, at bedtime, she would not settle! I’m guessing it was because of the exciting new toys. While it’s really cute to watch your dog throw a rope carrot over their head to try and catch it, it’s not really my favourite pastime at 2 am. Sorry, Cass.

Day 7, Friday 21 May

Yet another rainy day, welcome to springtime in the UK! Entertainment for the day was her snuffle mat (with beef mince, lucky girl), training and playing with her toys.

She was back on the barkathon when I was eating today and in general, which was really frustrating. I spoke to the rescue to see what I could do about it and her ever-growing cheeky behaviour. It’s known they’ll push boundaries this early on, so I wanted to tackle it properly. She’s been so well-behaved up until this point, so I wasn’t really expecting things to escalate, but she just seems to be barking for fun!

The rescue told me no sofas etc, I need to crate train her and enforce boundaries. We’ll see how that goes! I don’t think I’d go from a comfy sofa to a crate, but you never know. Again, this is a mistake we made, and I’d definitely recommend to other rescuers that you don’t let them have all the home comforts from the off as it seems they take it as an excuse to act out!

Other than that, she learned sit! She’s also learning a hand gesture to go with it, so she’s a clever little bean. She also came back from the middle of the hedges earlier when I called her name, so I’m proud of her in that respect! I also managed to go into the bedroom for a few minutes with the door closed, and she sat on the sofa instead of following me. That’s a win!

She’s still being very clingy for cuddles, which I’m not going to complain about, as long as it doesn’t impact upon any separation anxiety!

So, that was our first week with Cassi! A serious emotional rollercoaster; I haven’t cried this much since I was a depressed teen! It’s just very overwhelming. The struggle is her stubbornness, the whining over anything and everything, the barking, the severe food begging, and concerns about separation anxiety. I had the week booked off from work and Ben didn’t, so I was dealing with it all on my own, which didn’t help. I’m hoping we can resolve these issues quickly!

On the positive side, she’s a really clever girl! She learned sit, she knows her name now (she just needs to come back to it consistently) and she’s a very loving pup! It’s been amazing to see her slowly feel at ease in her environment to the point where she’s comfortable playing and goofing around. Really wholesome to watch! It’s been lovely to have lots of cuddle time too.

I’m excited about what next week will bring; better weather would be a nice start. We’re planning on walking her for the first time, so hopefully she’ll respond well to that and enjoy it. Hopefully, no other issues will crop up when we’re walking her!

You can keep up with Cassi’s adventures here! Maybe she’ll dig to China.

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