Bringing home a new dog should be exciting, but those first thirty days can feel like an emotional roller coaster. Your dog hides under furniture, refuses food, suddenly starts pulling everything out of the trash, or seems like a completely different animal than the one you met at the shelter. This episode walks you through exactly what's happening in your dog's brain during that critical first month, why their behavior will change week by week, and how to tell the difference between normal adjustment stress and a real problem that needs professional help.

• Your dog's behavior in the first week is almost never their real personality. They're usually too overwhelmed and stressed to act like themselves, so that "perfect" quiet dog might actually be shutting down emotionally, not being well-behaved. It's like being so nervous on your fi ...