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day. You want your dog to think positively of humans, not run away from them because of fear and resentment.

When it comes time to feed your dog, this may be tricky. In some scenarios, dogs have to compete for their food extensively at shelters because of a lack of adequate individual attention. Your dog may have a hard time believing that you aren't out to steal its food, so it might either run away from its food if you are standing too close to it, believing the you will fight him or her for it, or may eat too quickly and run away, making itself sick in the process. Try to convince your dog that no one is going to take its meal by slowly setting down the plate and using words such as: "dinner" and "eat." Consequently, your dog may become aggressive if you have another dog, even if their food is in two different bowls, so you may want to space out where your dogs are being fed to avoid any competition.

Give your dog a safe home with safe people, and it may slowly become less timid and nervous in the company of others. Really, the best way to sum all of this up is to just be kind and generous to your timid rescue dog. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. You cannot expect to break-in your dog to its new life by making sudden adjustments. In fact, that would be counter-productive because change scares dogs. If you make your changes gradually enough, your dog will have nothing to fear.

Learn more about this author, David Aaron White.
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