ponyparty
Well-Known Member
You may have seen my thread a while back about the 11 yo JRT, George, that we found running about in the road, and ended up rehoming with us.
Well, unfortunately it's not going as well as I had hoped. Sorry for the essay, wanted to get all details in, probably still loads I've missed though.
- He and my original dog, Frank, have not gelled. They tolerate one another, but they're by no means "friends". George won't play with Frank (which is all Frank wants to do, all day long, all the time!) and won't let Frank have his toys, or play fetch. I worry about leaving them alone together in case I inadvertently leave something desirable (one of the baby's toys or something) by accident and they scrap over it.
- He is also VERY reactive towards other dogs when out on walks, which is rubbing off on my original dog - this is something I have worked so hard to avoid with Frank, and now all my hard work is being undone (well it's not, because I don't walk them together anywhere that there might be other dogs - this is quite limiting though as you can imagine! Not to mention difficult to fit around caring for my baby).
- He has absolutely no recall - cops a deaf'un to commands out and about, so has to stay on a long-line (when we're in safe, dog-free, enclosed space). Pulls like a train on lead, I can't manage him and the pushchair.
- He barks at EVERYTHING - people passing the house, other dogs, barks in the car every time we stop at lights or junctions. Barks if you pick up your keys and thinks he's coming with you, and carries on barking. So far I've "only" let him bark for 10 minutes - hoping he will stop eventually (this is how I trained my other dog - sit back down as soon as barking starts, wait for it to stop, then continue with the rest of getting things ready to go for walk, repeat as many times as necessary). But 10 minutes of solid barking later he was still going full pelt, I had to go out, I do not have time to spend on training him out of this issue. I have just got to admit it - I have not got time to retrain this dog. My life is too busy, fitting everything around baby.
This is causing me great stress, it's causing my original dog great stress (which I hadn't really realised until now), and it's therefore causing the rest of the family great stress
My friend offered to have him - she also has another dog, a male chihauha X. He is on trial with her now, but she's going to have to bring him back tomorrow; he has been food aggressive with the other dog (funnily enough hasn't tried this with my dog!). I really believe he NEEDS to be an only dog, I think he always has been. While he's been away on trial, my original dog has been much more relaxed, he's been playing with his toys loads, he is back to his usual self - I hadn't realised, until we were George-free, how much it had affected him. I feel terrible.
I admit: it was stupid of me to have this rescue dog. I thought I was doing the right thing, I just wanted to help the poor little unwanted soul.
So, I'm trying to work out what to do next, please help with any suggestions! So far I have thought of the following:
- Put him on trial with another friend of mine - she has no dogs, has had a dog previously. Has a 2 year old child - he has been amazing with my baby, no reason to believe he would be otherwise with the two year old. But if it doesn't work out he's back with us again - more upheaval for him, is it the right thing to do? She also isn't that experienced with difficult dogs, doubt she would invest in training etc to help with general manners and dog reactivity.
- send him back to the dogs home - REALLY don't want to do this, he's 11 years old, finds other dogs in close proximity very stressful, he had lost his voice from barking so much when I got him out of there, they were feeding him kibble that gave him terrible upset stomach, I don't want to put him through that again. Not to mention that they have a policy I don't particularly like: if it doesn't work out with a dog you've had from them, you can take it back and get a credit note and get a different dog out - I really hope they have a limit on how many times you can do this, sounds like a free ticket for joyriders to me!
- see if a smaller local rescue can take him - would feel awful about this too, they're all so overstretched, overflowing with unwanted animals, plus it's more upheaval for him again...
- take him to training/behaviourist to try and get him to a point where I can cope with him - not going to happen, I can't afford it and don't have time - already don't have time, going back to work in October and we're moving house at some point soon too! Stress central!
- have him PTS - seems a bit drastic! I know there are worse fates for an old dog and I'm quite hard about stuff like this but geez, seems a bit unfair!
Any other suggestions? Or does anyone know anyone who might be able to take him on? I feel absolutely awful but he really cannot stay with us. I want to do the right thing by him and see him placed in a quiet home with no other pets (he's fine with horses! Chases cats etc though). He is a sweet little thing and just wants to cuddle up with you on the sofa (won't let my original dog do so, of course...).
What should I do?
Well, unfortunately it's not going as well as I had hoped. Sorry for the essay, wanted to get all details in, probably still loads I've missed though.
- He and my original dog, Frank, have not gelled. They tolerate one another, but they're by no means "friends". George won't play with Frank (which is all Frank wants to do, all day long, all the time!) and won't let Frank have his toys, or play fetch. I worry about leaving them alone together in case I inadvertently leave something desirable (one of the baby's toys or something) by accident and they scrap over it.
- He is also VERY reactive towards other dogs when out on walks, which is rubbing off on my original dog - this is something I have worked so hard to avoid with Frank, and now all my hard work is being undone (well it's not, because I don't walk them together anywhere that there might be other dogs - this is quite limiting though as you can imagine! Not to mention difficult to fit around caring for my baby).
- He has absolutely no recall - cops a deaf'un to commands out and about, so has to stay on a long-line (when we're in safe, dog-free, enclosed space). Pulls like a train on lead, I can't manage him and the pushchair.
- He barks at EVERYTHING - people passing the house, other dogs, barks in the car every time we stop at lights or junctions. Barks if you pick up your keys and thinks he's coming with you, and carries on barking. So far I've "only" let him bark for 10 minutes - hoping he will stop eventually (this is how I trained my other dog - sit back down as soon as barking starts, wait for it to stop, then continue with the rest of getting things ready to go for walk, repeat as many times as necessary). But 10 minutes of solid barking later he was still going full pelt, I had to go out, I do not have time to spend on training him out of this issue. I have just got to admit it - I have not got time to retrain this dog. My life is too busy, fitting everything around baby.
This is causing me great stress, it's causing my original dog great stress (which I hadn't really realised until now), and it's therefore causing the rest of the family great stress
My friend offered to have him - she also has another dog, a male chihauha X. He is on trial with her now, but she's going to have to bring him back tomorrow; he has been food aggressive with the other dog (funnily enough hasn't tried this with my dog!). I really believe he NEEDS to be an only dog, I think he always has been. While he's been away on trial, my original dog has been much more relaxed, he's been playing with his toys loads, he is back to his usual self - I hadn't realised, until we were George-free, how much it had affected him. I feel terrible.
I admit: it was stupid of me to have this rescue dog. I thought I was doing the right thing, I just wanted to help the poor little unwanted soul.
So, I'm trying to work out what to do next, please help with any suggestions! So far I have thought of the following:
- Put him on trial with another friend of mine - she has no dogs, has had a dog previously. Has a 2 year old child - he has been amazing with my baby, no reason to believe he would be otherwise with the two year old. But if it doesn't work out he's back with us again - more upheaval for him, is it the right thing to do? She also isn't that experienced with difficult dogs, doubt she would invest in training etc to help with general manners and dog reactivity.
- send him back to the dogs home - REALLY don't want to do this, he's 11 years old, finds other dogs in close proximity very stressful, he had lost his voice from barking so much when I got him out of there, they were feeding him kibble that gave him terrible upset stomach, I don't want to put him through that again. Not to mention that they have a policy I don't particularly like: if it doesn't work out with a dog you've had from them, you can take it back and get a credit note and get a different dog out - I really hope they have a limit on how many times you can do this, sounds like a free ticket for joyriders to me!
- see if a smaller local rescue can take him - would feel awful about this too, they're all so overstretched, overflowing with unwanted animals, plus it's more upheaval for him again...
- take him to training/behaviourist to try and get him to a point where I can cope with him - not going to happen, I can't afford it and don't have time - already don't have time, going back to work in October and we're moving house at some point soon too! Stress central!
- have him PTS - seems a bit drastic! I know there are worse fates for an old dog and I'm quite hard about stuff like this but geez, seems a bit unfair!
Any other suggestions? Or does anyone know anyone who might be able to take him on? I feel absolutely awful but he really cannot stay with us. I want to do the right thing by him and see him placed in a quiet home with no other pets (he's fine with horses! Chases cats etc though). He is a sweet little thing and just wants to cuddle up with you on the sofa (won't let my original dog do so, of course...).
What should I do?