Two Weeks With Robin: The Real Adjustment Story 🖤🐾
Robin has officially been home with us for about two weeks now. And if you’re expecting a story about instant cuddles, couch naps, and seamless integration into family life… this is not that story.
This is the real one. The important one. The one more dogs need us to talk about.
Robin’s Safe Space
Right now, Robin is still living primarily in his own safe space — his bedroom.
And it’s a pretty great bedroom:
- A dog bed
- A crate
- A human bed
- A cozy chair for lounging
- Windows to watch the world
- Music playing
- Toys, puzzles, chews, enrichment
- Calm, predictable routines
We keep him busy. We keep him comfortable. We keep him feeling safe.
Robin comes out on a regular schedule to go potty and to explore the house. At the moment, he’s comfortable being out for about 30 minutes before he chooses to return to his room.
So we follow his schedule — not ours. Because this is about helping Robin feel safe, not helping us feel like he’s “adjusted.”
“But He Did So Well at the Training Center…”
He did. And this is where so many people get confused.
Robin made incredible progress while living at the training center. One of his biggest focuses was resource guarding, and we had a beautiful routine and set-up there that helped him feel secure and successful.
But here’s the part people don’t always understand: a structured kennel environment is very different than a home.
Even a loving home. Even a calm home. Even a “perfect” home.
Robin has spent the majority of his life essentially living in a box. A very nice box — ADOPT took wonderful care of him. We did our best for him at the center. But it was still a contained, predictable, highly controlled environment.
A house is big. A house is open. A house has movement, smells, noises, unpredictability, and choices.
That’s a lot for a dog whose nervous system has never had to process that before.
The Regression We Expected
With all of the change and upheaval in Robin’s life, we have seen some regression — especially with his guarding behavior.
And we anticipated that. We planned for that. We set ourselves up for that.
This is not a failure. This is information.
Robin isn’t being “bad.”
Robin is telling us, “I’m not sure yet. I don’t feel totally safe yet.”