Stray dogs can be easy to train.
Stray dogs often roam around cities in packs and get to interact with various people and animals. It’s not surprising that the way they live makes a lot of them rather well-adjusted and sociable, which wouldn’t make it difficult for them to train with. If they haven’t been traumatized or aren’t fearful, strays sometimes “greet” people and animals, follow you around, or simply make their presence known without showing aggressive behavior.
She doesn’t know you “saved” her
We like to anthropomorphize animals and imagine our pets have human thoughts and feelings. But animals, even your rescue dog, aren’t capable of the broad range of emotions that we often give them credit for. Your new fur baby knows she was somewhere unpleasant and she knows that now she’s not. She doesn’t know you saved her from being euthanized. She likes you, yes, but she’s not able to feel grateful or appreciative. And she doesn’t know you won’t mistreat her if she’s been mistreated before. She may not trust you at first and just because you adopted her doesn’t mean she’s going to be your BFF right away.
She may chase your cat or fight with your other dog
She may hate your other pets. Or your other pets may hate her. She may have never been around a cat and she might be aggressive. Or, if she was a stray, she may have only been around other dogs who were competing for resources and she, therefore, sees them as a threat. It may take time for everyone to settle in. Let them take it at their own pace and don’t just toss your new dog into the same room with your old dog and think it will be fine. Dogs are intelligent (actually, more intelligent than their feline companions)––check out the 16 ways that dogs are smarter than you think.
