Antw23uk
Well-Known Member
Hi all
Sorry for title thread and this may be a long one and trust me I already feel like a total **** about this situation so dont hate on me too much as feeling retched right now
Bit of background. We have a 3 year old collie who is the light of my husband and I's life. I was in between jobs when we got her (planned decision) so my 'job' was bringing her up. She is balanced, well rounded and perfect in every way. Over the last year we have been umming and ahhing about getting a 2nd dog to keep her company and to generally have a second happy dog. She loves playing with other dogs out and about and when they visit ect
So the search was on, we wanted something 1+ years old that could pretty much hit the ground running and 'fit in' to our busy lifestyle. We wanted to rescue, I have heaps of dog owning experience and keen on dog behaviour and dog psychology.
So we got the opposite of what we wanted!!! A month ago we brought home a 4 month old shepherd X who was born in a shelter, had only known shelter life and was fear aggressive and very nervous. He had been in foster a week before we picked him up and house training was pretty much done and there were glimpses of what could be a lovely dog showing through. He wasnt what we were after, we new the work involved in taking him on.
Fast forward a month he is a typical, if not nervous, five month old shepherd puppy. The two dogs play well together (Im pretty confident she wouldnt miss him though!), she has taught him so much and we have been trying our best to fill in the blanks. Honestly the changes in him have been brilliant and we are very proud. He is far from perfect, he is still nervous of us, people and dogs. We 'stage' everything so there is no room for failure (meeting people, dogs, situations, places ect so he always has a positive experience) but he still hasnt fully let go of his old life and embraced the pet life he now has .. and yes, its very early days, I know that and we see the potential in him.
There are issues with his behaviour and he is a terrible scavenger ... I've never known anything like it in my life! His behaviour you would expect from his 'previous life' but seriously .. twenty eggs off the side yesterday! (Im sure our collie enjoyed some of it!) Today the smell, the poo's ... horrendous! And yes, we move EVERYTHING out of reach, its second nature but I miss judged his reaching power now he has shot up another couple of inches!!
Im at a really low point right now (Its not just the eggs but thats whats prompted this post) and im struggling to see his future with us. We hold our hands up, he wasnt what we were looking for, we got bowled over by his puppy good looks and for me certainly the challenge of having a dog so damaged. I really feel like I'm letting him down with the amount of time we spend with him, there just arent enough hours in the day and I cant do two horses one handed whilst holding his lead because although he has a lovely and great recall now he cannot be trusted around the horse poo (black diarrhoea the other day from eating the neighbours ponies poo .. pony is on medication!!!)
Not sure why I'm posting really, just feeling really low. I think he would be better off in another home who could spend more time with him but im probably saying it for selfish reasons really as he has settled in now and although I've no doubt with the work we have already put in, he would settle into a new home Im really saying it to make myself feel better. I want my old life back, our home with our collie. All orgainised, neat and tidy .. clean, smelling nice. Everything seemed so lovely and nice and now Im just fed up of him, the smell, the constant thinking, being one step ahead .. ALL the things you do and think with a puppy, I know this ... still not making it any easier though
I dont know if im after advice, sympathy, a kick up the butt? Someone to tell me its ok to rehome him? Dont know!
Thanks to anyone who has got this far.
Sorry for title thread and this may be a long one and trust me I already feel like a total **** about this situation so dont hate on me too much as feeling retched right now
Bit of background. We have a 3 year old collie who is the light of my husband and I's life. I was in between jobs when we got her (planned decision) so my 'job' was bringing her up. She is balanced, well rounded and perfect in every way. Over the last year we have been umming and ahhing about getting a 2nd dog to keep her company and to generally have a second happy dog. She loves playing with other dogs out and about and when they visit ect
So the search was on, we wanted something 1+ years old that could pretty much hit the ground running and 'fit in' to our busy lifestyle. We wanted to rescue, I have heaps of dog owning experience and keen on dog behaviour and dog psychology.
So we got the opposite of what we wanted!!! A month ago we brought home a 4 month old shepherd X who was born in a shelter, had only known shelter life and was fear aggressive and very nervous. He had been in foster a week before we picked him up and house training was pretty much done and there were glimpses of what could be a lovely dog showing through. He wasnt what we were after, we new the work involved in taking him on.
Fast forward a month he is a typical, if not nervous, five month old shepherd puppy. The two dogs play well together (Im pretty confident she wouldnt miss him though!), she has taught him so much and we have been trying our best to fill in the blanks. Honestly the changes in him have been brilliant and we are very proud. He is far from perfect, he is still nervous of us, people and dogs. We 'stage' everything so there is no room for failure (meeting people, dogs, situations, places ect so he always has a positive experience) but he still hasnt fully let go of his old life and embraced the pet life he now has .. and yes, its very early days, I know that and we see the potential in him.
There are issues with his behaviour and he is a terrible scavenger ... I've never known anything like it in my life! His behaviour you would expect from his 'previous life' but seriously .. twenty eggs off the side yesterday! (Im sure our collie enjoyed some of it!) Today the smell, the poo's ... horrendous! And yes, we move EVERYTHING out of reach, its second nature but I miss judged his reaching power now he has shot up another couple of inches!!
Im at a really low point right now (Its not just the eggs but thats whats prompted this post) and im struggling to see his future with us. We hold our hands up, he wasnt what we were looking for, we got bowled over by his puppy good looks and for me certainly the challenge of having a dog so damaged. I really feel like I'm letting him down with the amount of time we spend with him, there just arent enough hours in the day and I cant do two horses one handed whilst holding his lead because although he has a lovely and great recall now he cannot be trusted around the horse poo (black diarrhoea the other day from eating the neighbours ponies poo .. pony is on medication!!!)
Not sure why I'm posting really, just feeling really low. I think he would be better off in another home who could spend more time with him but im probably saying it for selfish reasons really as he has settled in now and although I've no doubt with the work we have already put in, he would settle into a new home Im really saying it to make myself feel better. I want my old life back, our home with our collie. All orgainised, neat and tidy .. clean, smelling nice. Everything seemed so lovely and nice and now Im just fed up of him, the smell, the constant thinking, being one step ahead .. ALL the things you do and think with a puppy, I know this ... still not making it any easier though
I dont know if im after advice, sympathy, a kick up the butt? Someone to tell me its ok to rehome him? Dont know!
Thanks to anyone who has got this far.