How long did it take to bond closely with your dog?

[vanillasugar]

I realise that a close bond takes time to form, (especially with a rescue dog like Sierra who may have been betrayed a few times).

But for curiosity's sake, how long did it take before you felt you'd bonded with your dog? Did you do anything special to help form that bond?

I think we're doing alright, the only thing I'm considering changing is the location of her crate. Right now it's in the livingroom where we spend most of our time, but I'm thinking of moving it into the bedroom. Good idea or no?

 

[Spirit2010]

At the breeders house. But seriously, with Whisper, it didn't take very long, after a week, she wouldn't want me to go anywhere! And to this day, she is an attachment! And Hershey, not long after he was moved into the house. He was a harder case, to bond with. But he is a loveable big lug now! That loves everyone! Especially HIS kids. My niece and nephew. He has the strongest bond with my brother.

 

[Sadie'smama]

I felt like I bonded with Sadie pretty quick. Her crate used to sit right beside my bed. It helped to have it close, so I was sure to hear her if she whined to go out in the middle of the night. Course now she's crate free and sleeps plastered up beside me in the bed.

 

[darkchild16]

The minute we saw eachother at the Animal Sheltar booth. Heres the story about how I got him.
We went to tallahassee to visit my family and my mom went to a art craft festival and the pound had a table there and she called me at my grandpas to see if i cared if she brought a dog home then i made my grandpa race across town before they left so i could see him i walked right up to him and he licked me to death (trying to impress me my little con artist) and ripped my shirt when I had to give him back to the volunteer to take back to the sheltar so that we could adopt him. then we then went to lunch to fill out the forms to go pick him up. I coulnt eat any of my lunch adn it was my favorite fast food in the world (Whataburger) I just kept rushing everyone to hurry up and my mom to speed the entire way to the shelter. Without ever seeing him at the shelter before I walked straight to his kennel without asking or anything I was just drawn to it. The minute I set him down in teh "get to know you" room he pooped 3-4 inches in front of me and I knew he was my dog and he knew i was his. We spent the night at my granpas that night and we didnt have a crate or anything I mean we werent even planning on getting a dog there. I was on the list for a Canaan dog puppy in to be born in the spring. So he was suppossed to sleep in a cardboard box right next to my bed but he wouldnt stay in it he had to be on top of me. Then teh entire trip back from Clearwater he sat in my lap even when he was suppossed to be in the box because we didnt want him peeing in the car. He ended up peeing on me thought right after i took him on a little potty break. Ever since the only time we have been seperated is when we have to be. The four months apart almost killed us both this summer.


Thats my long rambling post.

 

[Dizzy]

Not long to form an initial bond really... As in - you look after me, I like you.

And it has grown from day one, so I can't really say when the exact point was that it was a CLOSE bond.

 

[bubbatd]

I think I loved Ollie from the minute I saw him on Petfinder and bonded with him when I saw him in person 2 days later .

 

[smkie]

I was that way too with Victor Grammy. Mary loved her daddy, she had eyes for one only and she was lucky enough to have a doggydaddy in her life. SHe was 12 weeks old and the one i had chosen for my own wouldn't even look at me so one day i said okdokey if that end won't look at me, i will talk to this end and i picked up her wee little tail and said HEllo Mary's little tail....it's nice to meet you..you like me dont' you? and the other end rolled her baby eyes and thought oh good grief maybe she isn't that bad after all. THen Mary became my baby too.

 

[milos_mommy]

Milo was MY puppy right away, i mean, the moment i saw him i fell in love with him, but it was kind of chaotic. I took him home three days before a suicide attempt, so i wasn't really myself. I actually wanted him to get attached to my Mom because i didn't want him to miss me. But once i was in the hospital, i was so upset because i thought he'd forget me and forget i was his Momma. It was...about 14 days before i got to see him, and my dad took him out of the truck in a little shirt that said "Pawsitive" and he started squirming to get to me, and i knew he knew who i was.

Right away when i came home i think he was 100% comfortable, "this is my mom". Two days after we got him from the petstore, he slept SOUNDLY in my arms while the vet gave him a shot and trimmed his nails.

 

[Toller_08]

It took me about 3 weeks with Dance to bond closely to her, and then when I lost Tango I lost that bond quite a bit for whatever reason. It took about a month to regain what I had with her and then some. Now we're very close though - so close that I actually do get a little bit jealous/annoyed when she gets overly excited to see another family member, lol. She's a great little girl.

It took about the same amount of time (3 weeks) to bond with Winston. I'm not close to him like I am/was my girls but I still love him. And, I never bonded with Morgan at all. I like her most days, but she's not my type of dog at all and it seems impossible that I'll ever bond with her. I've tried, but it just doesn't work with her.

You could try moving her crate to your bedroom. That may help you, you never know.

 

[elegy]

with luce and also with harv is was very fast. with mushroom, it took awhile. after luce, he was kind of a let down, because he's very very *not* like her at all, and i had, i guess, wanted another luce in a boydog suit.

 

[Gempress]

Zeus bonded to me from the moment we met. Hubby took about a week. Voodoo loved Hubby on sight, and bonded to me very quickly. But Voodoo loves everybody, and is *so* open with his affections that it's hard to tell. He'll happily crawl in a complete stranger's lap as well as my own.

 

[yoko]

with lady she was abused before i got her it was a couple days. but everyday i would spend hours with her just petting her and talking to her.

with yoshi it was almost instant. the couple who would have been yoshi's last chance said she was an ugly white dog but i took her after she had spent two of my visits to the shelter jumping around trying to get my attention. later that afternoon when i picked her up fromgetting spayed an she just wanted to sit in my lap or touch me. i totally fell for her. i think when we got home and i was eating a hamburger and tore off a piece she gave me this 'omg you are my HERO' look it didn't take long for us at all

 

[Babyblue5290]

Well, I knew Lucas was the one for me when I saw him, and he loves everyone, but it took a long while to form a true bond with me. He bonded with my mother pretty fast though!

 

[RD]

To me, a bond is more than a dog liking you and you liking the dog. I don't know how to define it, but it's a comfort that I get with a dog, when I feel I know them inside and out and can predict their reactions to just about anything.

I don't think I could've truthfully told you Dakota and I had a "bond" (outside of me being the Food Lady) until he was about a year old. We had a relationship, but he didn't perk up when I entered the room, I wasn't anyone special to him until he got a little older. The same goes for Ripley.

Eve and I were closely bonded within a couple months. Buddy took a little bit longer. Dash and I still don't have much of a bond. She's infatuated with me, but we don't have that mutual understanding yet.

Eve is actually less affectionate with me than she is with new people. It's almost like she knows I'll love her even if she doesn't fall all over me constantly.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Cider and I took agility to click and click well. We've had a bond. It's nothing like the bond we have now after playing together all summer in trials. I like Smudge, he's cute, he's attached to me. He comes over to paw my lap and kiss me on a regular basis. Cries if I'm too far away, but we aren't bonded like that I am with Cider yet. Speak of the devil I'm getting pawed and licked as I type..

 

[noludoru]

Well, I knew him for a long time before I got him, and despite the fact that I didn't see him every day--or even every week--he was still the most attached to me. He went wild when he saw me, and his barking and crying when I left made me cry sometimes, too. I had to shut my emotions down just to walk home so I wouldn't cry.. it was terrible. The times I went over and unchained him and took him on long, long runs through the forests just cemented our mutual trust of eachother.. I was the first person he sat still around, and crawled into the lap of. So we had a deep trust long before I brought him home.

It took about a week of having him for us to get.. close, I guess? I don't know how to explain. But it's like a connection of sorts being opened, that just gets stronger. Love? That was instant, and it's just gotten stronger every day, and I don't doubt that it will continue to do so. We know eachother well, and he can usually anticipate what I'm going to do just as I do with him. Being able to cuddle together and have him sleep with me instead of in his crate is the best thing ever.. it's my favorite way to spend time with him, lol.

The funny thing is that I didn't really want him in the beginning. I loved him a lot and wanted him out of the horrible situation he was in. It took me a few months to figure out that I wanted him. (I'd been trying to get him a different home since April/March. Eek.) He's everything I've ever wanted in a dog, minus physical attributes, and he's helped me heal from some things I was having trouble facing in my own head, much less out loud. I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner.

 

[Angel Chicken]

The moment we met... I held her, and she nuzzled her little head into my neck.

She still nuzzles me like that every day. Makes my heart melt

 

[AgilityPup]

With Zoey it took a while... A year maybe... And even now, I find if I go a day in the house (sick, hurt, REALLY busy) and don't play (agility) with her, she seems farther away from me than she usualy is... Maybe we're still bonding, I don't know.

As for Sasha, our bond has really just started these past few years... Not sure why...

And for Bella... .... Well, as cheesy as it sounds, I think we have a small bond already... and have since I first started playing with her at my friends house... But I have a feeling our bond will grow... as it will with Zoey and Sasah.

 

[vanillasugar]

To me, a bond is more than a dog liking you and you liking the dog. I don't know how to define it, but it's a comfort that I get with a dog, when I feel I know them inside and out and can predict their reactions to just about anything.

This is definatley what I was talking about RD, that true closeness that connects you and your dog. It's more than just liking each other, even loving each other, it's that connection.

 

[darkchild16]

With Walker and I, I think ours was immediate because I think he could sense that I needed him. I was at a really bad place in my life as most of ya'll know. I was very depressed and at times suicidal. Walker needed someone to love him too. Within a day of having him I was having one of my suicidal episodes he wouldnt leave me alone for a second. He sat there with me as long as I felt like. He would ignore everyone and everything until I was out of my funk. The first night for some reason he was still asleep I woke up out of nowhere "knowing" he had to go to the bathroom so I woke him up and took him outside and the second he touched the ground he peed and pooped. I still get that feeling now and usually it is right on target.