Ponderings......

lexiedhb

lexiedhb

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Do you ever think there is probably a better home out there for your dog?

Wonder if you are actually doing right by them?

Get seriously annoyed with your OH for being about as supportive as a bendy straw? Despite the fact that he chose said dog? and was up for a minimum of 2hrs walking per day for the next 15 odd years, now wonders why the dog wont settle after 20mins street walking?

Think if a more experienced owner or one with sackfuls of cash to spend on behaviourists/trainers came along tomorrow then the right thing to do would be to let the dog go, knowing it would have a better life?
 
It depends on the dog, we have rehomed two or three because we were not the right home for them, they have gone on to live long and happy lives in their new homes.

B would be PTS before he went anywhere else. Sorry if that sounds harsh but I put too much time and effort into him to get him happy, healthy and manageable, for someone else to feck it all up.

If I ever part with the pup he will only go to a home where he is worked or competed.
 
Just reading about the walking thread and thinking if someone lived somewhere with loads of fields for Dex to roam in he would probably be happier. Also i think he would probably be happier living with another dog. Yes it is just a wobble that Im sure will pass......... but cant help but wonder.

*hold up- he is Tan and black- sends to Dobiegirl!!*
 
I know where you're coming from Lexie, although not for my current boy - I'm the perfect owner for Dylan!

Had a rescue border collie beforehand, but after months of hard work & spending a fortune on training/new fencing/outdoor run & kennel etc I realised that I was never going to be the right home for him, so I took the hard decision to hand him back. I still hate that this happened, but it was the right decision for both of us (he used to chase sheep & it was only a matter of time before someone shot him as we live in sheep country & I was in tears most days & covered in bruises from being pulled off my feet all the time).

I didn't expect OH to be involved in his exercise or training so I wasn't disappointed. Same goes for Dylan, my now 2 year old lab. I take full responsibility for his welfare & needs, all I ask is that OH doesn't undermine my training, although even that's a bit hit or miss.

However, OH wanted a new puppy of his own - in comes Tecwyn the border terrier. It's early days as he's only 12 weeks old, but OH was supposed to be doing much more of his training - can't see it happening, but I live in hope. Luckily I have managed to get a reasonable recall already, so fingers crossed.
 
we've just got a puppy, most people would say we are far from the ideal family for her! we have no secure garden, we have a 7 month old baby and are in a rented house!. Lola is so happy, she knows when her toilet trips are and to use her pad when shes in the house, she knows to be gentle with the baby. I dont have all the time in the world to teach and train her but I try my best and she is a very intelligent little pup and picks things up very quickly! she has quality cuddle time in the evening before going in her cage so we can have people time and then sleeps in our room! We have probably made a few mistakes with her and i'm sure they wont be the last!! i think as long as your dog is happy and healthy with you, it doesnt matter if anyone else could offer them more!
 
Well there's no way any of mine can roam around any fields except our own little rubbishy one, because they would probably be shot on sight :o

My big lad has to be on a lead anywhere not fenced or anywhere where I cannot see in all directions :p but he has a super life and is currently out with my mother for his second yomp of the day, getting her back on the road to fitness :)
 
lexiedhb said:
Just reading about the walking thread and thinking if someone lived somewhere with loads of fields for Dex to roam in he would probably be happier. Also i think he would probably be happier living with another dog. Yes it is just a wobble that Im sure will pass......... but cant help but wonder.

*hold up- he is Tan and black- sends to Dobiegirl!!*
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Although if someone owns loads of fields (as we do), the probably own livestock, which brings a load more problems. Or they are arable farmers in which case the fields are massive, don't have such good fencing generally & have an abundance of wild critters to chase.

It is great that my dogs can run free all day, but I have to really make time for lead work & socialisation. The grass isn't always greener!
 
I know where your coming from Lexie, my late lamented last dog was a nightmare to start with, aggressive towards me and other dogs. When i say aggressive with other dogs I mean it he wanted to kill them and would get so worked up he would turn on me. I found a trainer who also had Dobes and with my other Dobe who was a super star we turned him around. I just had to be very vigilant and catch him way before going over threshold. He was my dog of a lifetime and sadly I lost him last year, he was only 4, and I will mourn him to my dying day.

Diesel & Darcy would neverhave been my choice of dogs but being brother & sister(a big no no) and they had to go as a pair I knew their chance of a home together was limited. So they are landed with me and have a lovely life and I love them very much. I think Darcy is wasted on me because she is so intelligent and could go far in obedience but she dosnt know that and she is happy so if my dogs are happy so am I.

I know Dex has tried you above and beyond but Im sure if he could choose where to go it would be with you, when you are finished you are going to have a dog of a lifetime like my Fred and on reflection you will say it was worth it.

Lexie my dogs are black & tan, not tan & black and i would notice if you changed Dex :D I do a lot of walking in the rain and would notice if Dexs coat started to run.:D
 
lexiedhb said:
Just reading about the walking thread and thinking if someone lived somewhere with loads of fields for Dex to roam in he would probably be happier. Also i think he would probably be happier living with another dog. Yes it is just a wobble that Im sure will pass......... but cant help but wonder.

*hold up- he is Tan and black- sends to Dobiegirl!!*
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Now don`t YOU start, we had you as an example just the other day of one who tried and succeeded. That lovely farm full of flowers and grass to run about on is actually run by Jesus.:D
 
EK, in very bad taste, I know, to say 'a nice home in the country' in our house is code for PTS :o :o :o
I was about 20 when I realised every time my Nan said that one of our cats had been sent to a 'nice home in the country' meant that the poor sod had been run over....
 
Surely there is a tiny bit of room for variation DG?? :)

I guess I thought Oh would see he has to put some effort in to get something back- but he doesnt, and is happy for me to do pretty much everything except his morning walk, including returning home crying from our last group training session (our last), because he managed to orgsnise himself to work on those evenings.

It just seems too much at times- I get stressed thinking about walking him- which is daft as I know I can manage him in most situations, improvement in his behaviour is at a snails pace, ophhhhhhhhhhhhh SHUT UP lex.

Maybe its a new OH I need!
 
When I gave up free range egg production and arranged for my girls to be picked up I told my daughter they were going to a hen sanctuary. Years later when she found out where they had gone she was furious and said I should have tried to find homes for them individualy. I had 500 hens and that would have been a impossiblility.:(
 
I agonised over this in the early days but, being the kind of dog they are, it's a real lifestyle choice to own them - it restricts your working hours, your free time, the state of your house/clothes/car, everything revolves around them and their needs. There's only a certain number of people in the world prepared to do that. :p I've met a lot of mad sibe people now but even then I'm not convinced they'd be any better off with them.

Dax is so laid back as to be horizontal most of the time now, she doesn't have the drive to have made it in a working home, equally she could have turned out to be a nightmare if another numpty chav type had picked her up and not worked through her adolescent ishoos so I'm happy she's in the right place.

Ricoh is a lot more driven and would perhaps suit a proper working home but he is also very sensitive and a bit of a worrier - he'd be no good for an overbearing male musher, I think. He's sensitive to correction and in new situations that he doesn't like will panic, try to slip his collar and generally get very whingy and upset. Despite all the bluster of the howling and lunging he is a big soft mummy's boy. :o He was matched to us by the rescue and I think they did a good job, he's here to stay too.
 
My OH is not doggy at all, that's the way I like it :p and he thinks that his brother's jack has 'more character' than the pup, aye right!!!!

You will get through it, just the walks alone reduced me to tears. Then I got Cayla'd :p
 
My OH will walk them if I'm pushed for time but his idea of a walk is both dogs on the walkybelt, quick march around the woods (15 minutes) or around the cornfields (45 minutes) and that's it, he wouldn't ever dream of taking them to the off-lead field, attending the training classes, driving anywhere for a special walk or anything. It frustrates me sometimes but, to be fair, he didn't want them in the first place. :p He doesn't 'get' dogs, tells them off at the wrong moment, intervenes when he doesn't need to.

I don't think he's seen my horse in two years, he wouldn't be able to do any of the basic tasks to care for her, a bit odd given how much of my life she takes up but that's my 'me' time.
 
Believe it or not I think you are better off not having your oh overly involved in Dexs training.Unless they are 100% committed to doing it your way they will muck it up and you will end up with a confused dog. So hard as it is doing it on your own when you are finished you can say it is all your own work when people comment on what a well behaved dog he is.:)

I just love my black & tan dogs but my first Dobe was liver coloured but his coat wasnt a patch on the black & tans.
 
I guess its just he's here more- actually spends more time with him- so COULD do more

AND HE BLUMMING WANTED HIM SPECIFICALLY

and breathe- it has got to be nearly wine o'clock!!- and I have an odd story about tonights walk!
 
:o:o:o I feel ****** reading this......WHY! because im the one draggin my feet, being lazy, trying to shorten walks, moaning when I see a hill in sight:o and it's OH that walks for miles upon miles upon miles, so basically he puts up with what you lots do with your OH's:o:D poor fecker.

I also sometimes do think that some of mine would be better off with someone that has more time than me, they are perfect dogs (well now they are) and someone would really appreciate them but the thought never stays long, they have been with me to long and they are SAFE with me and thats what matters to me.:)
They could do worse than living with me im sure.................OH maybe not:o Im sure there is a better home out there for him where he would get treat better and have a nicer life:D
 
CAYLA said:
:o:o:o I feel ****** reading this......WHY! because im the one draggin my feet, being lazy, trying to shorten walks, moaning when I see a hill in sight:o and it's OH that walks for miles upon miles upon miles, so basically he puts up with what you lots do with your OH's:o:D poor fecker.

I also sometimes do think that some of mine would be better off with someone that has more time than me, they are perfect dogs (well now they are) and someone would really appreciate them but the thought never stays long, they have been with me to long and they are SAFE with me and thats what matters to me.:)
They could do worse than living with me im sure.................OH maybe not:o Im sure there is a better home out there for him where he would get treat better and have a nicer life:D
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Yep.... you are 100% right. You have my addy... I'll expect Regan to arrive first thing :p;)
 
CAYLA said:
Lol, well you have no choice there, if OH comes the little ginger scruff has to come, they are attached at the hip well OH's lower leg:rolleyes:
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Super- my Oh has ginger hairiness attached to his legs too so you will hardly notice the difference!!! :D
 
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