Puppy Advice (merged)

3onitsway

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

I thought that too. My friend has 2 Westies named Whiskey and Brandy adn he says they are constantly nipping and yapping. I always wanted one but was put off by how quick they can be to temper (well nto temper but annoy so they nip)

My OH parents have got a Westie, and although he looks cute, he's an evil maniac!

He's getting on a bit now, but over the years he's attached himself to OH's nose, scaring him for life. Both brothers are scarred from his outbursts and the most recent was OH mother coming home from work, bending down to stroke him and he nipped her hand, breaking her thumb!

3onitsway

Hi, just thought i'd let you know.
I've got a four year old Springer, we got him at 18 months as a rescue dog and he was so timid and nervous to start with. He seemed ok with me, but followed me everywhere, and hid behind my legs when he saw men, even my OH! He didn't even bark til last year!
Two and a half years of living in our noisy household, and lots of love and long walks in the woods, have turned him into a normal, bouncy happy springer - who is recently getting too big for his boots!! (like he's somehow figured out how to open the bedroom doors, and spends his mornings lounging on my bed, but skulks out of the room looking guilty as soon as I come through the front door).

I think its a lovely breed of dog - and she's be fine when she's a bit bigger and braver!!

Paparika

shelley_crow wrote: »

That sounds like a plan, my son is more willing to wee on the floor then the dog was, lol

no it's a male thing, OH still does that

orlao

rev229 wrote: »

Well we have done it, went off to the rehoming centre today they had lots of nice doggies needing new homes. We only went to look as the plan was to get the dog after our holidays. well they had 2 lovely boarder collies a 1 year old male and a 4 year old female. we were allowed to take them both out for a walk in the ajoining field seperately to see whether or not either would be suited to our needs. The one year old was mad to say the least no response to any commands or even it name it just wanted to run and run with my son attached to his lead!!! The centre had very little history on him as he was a stray. we then took the 4 year old female for a walk and although very excited responded to commands and her name. She was more than happy to lay down next to my little girl and to be stroked she rolled over to have her tummy rubbed. She was a really lovely dog and my son just loved running in the field with her as she was very affectionate, even when she jumped up on me a firm no and she just sat down. Unfortunately the rehoming centre would not keep her until August as they only reserve dogs for 7 days. She had not been with them long and had been brought into them by her owners as they were working longer hours and she was home alone. She had been spayed and had a full history so would have been perfect but for the fact we are renting a holiday cottage were no pets are allowed. So we decided to wait because of our holiday. When we got home I got my husband to call a boarding kennel just down the road from the holiday cottage to she if they could have our doggy that week and they did. We can pick her up each day so she can be with us while we are out and about adn the spend the night in the kennel. I did not want to leave her here in kennels as I felt she would miss us. We then contacted the rehomong centre and subject to a home visit on wednesday she will be collected by us on Saturday. We are all really looking forward to having her. We are prepared for a few unsettled days as she gets use to us but the rehoming centre provide good rehoming support so hopefully all will be well. Thanks for all the advice will let you know how it all goes.:j

She sounds lovely:j

What a great idea about booking her into kennels local to your holiday....
:beer:

Lorne

Hi all,

I was just after some opinions please.

OH and I are thinking about getting a labrador and to be honest the positives would be excellent, he works from home and would be around during the day, would be company for him and getting the extra exercise would be wonderful. There are a couple of things holding us back (we have our sensible heads on!) 1. we live in a large ground floor flat with a shared garden, so access to the garden would be limited, no problem during the day but would be more restricted in the evening 2. if the dog was a barker it would upset the neighbours. We have the space and resources to take excellent care of a dog, just worried about the barking and garden issues.

Are we being too sensible? will the positives outweigh the negatives?

Any advice would be appreciated?

Thanks, Lorna

Soubrette

Lorne wrote: »

Hi all,

I was just after some opinions please.

OH and I are thinking about getting a labrador and to be honest the positives would be excellent, he works from home and would be around during the day, would be company for him and getting the extra exercise would be wonderful. There are a couple of things holding us back (we have our sensible heads on!) 1. we live in a large ground floor flat with a shared garden, so access to the garden would be limited, no problem during the day but would be more restricted in the evening 2. if the dog was a barker it would upset the neighbours. We have the space and resources to take excellent care of a dog, just worried about the barking and garden issues.

Are we being too sensible? will the positives outweigh the negatives?

Any advice would be appreciated?

Thanks, Lorna

Hi Lorna

One of my friends has a lab and he is an exercise machine :eek: He has at least 3 good long walks both on and off lead every day - I would estimate about 3 hours daily and he's still ready for extras if anyone is offering!!

He is not a great barker though - they live in a semi and only have a small garden (we live in a semi rural area so lots of fields).

From my small sample of about 4 it seems that if you can keep a lab physically and mentally stimulated then I think they make great pets - if you can't then they could become attention seeking, noisy or destructive (and fat!!)

If you should get a barker then you can always teach him a 'speak' and a 'no speak' command. Most dogs should be able to go overnight before having to toilet, so those aren't necessarily as big a problem as you might think.

My friend's lab is gorgeous, very smart and being a real help in socialising my poor unsocialised greyhound

As to positives of owning a dog - of course the companionship, I'm also quite enjoying 'working' my dog at the local dog training class, the exercise - although mine is lazy even for a greyhound but we have an amble every day (except when it's raining!!) . To me, they ask for so little and give so much in return. If you are prepared to put in the work and have the time for a dog then I'd say go for it

Sou

Lorne

Thanks Sou, I do believe that the benefits would be fantastic and OH definitely would be able to do the walks in the morning and at lunchtime and we could all do the evening ones together.

I suppose training would be the key to the no bark thing, I don't think that labs are too chatty are they? We are just a bit scared of upsetting the neighbours.

Soubrette

Lorne wrote: »

Thanks Sou, I do believe that the benefits would be fantastic and OH definitely would be able to do the walks in the morning and at lunchtime and we could all do the evening ones together.

I suppose training would be the key to the no bark thing, I don't think that labs are too chatty are they? We are just a bit scared of upsetting the neighbours.

As far as I know barking is not a problem with labs - but the trouble with breed types is that they are just that, type or tendencies that a breed has - there are always exceptions. For example my greyhound will both bark (if he gets overexcited by cats :rolleyes: or if someone is entering 'his' territory :rolleyes: :rolleyes: , we chose a grey because we live in a semi and didn't want a barker and in the kennels he was quiet as a mouse. So we are working on this and while I'm at work we keep the curtains at the back of the house drawn to minimise barking. Greyhounds find it hard to sit - not mine, he does it all the time :j

Here's a link about the good and bad of labs but really you need to look into the breed yourself and phone around breeders if you are after a puppy. If you are adamant that he must not be a barker then another option is contacting a rescue centre where adult dogs are fostered rather than kennelled and give a details list of requirements for your dog.

When choosing our dog I thought about the following:

1. Am I prepared to have it my dog ie if no one else wants to walk, feed, look after it then would I do it.
2. What is my lifestyle - does it fit in with a dog? Frankly, we're all on the lazy side so we looked for a dog that needed little exercise.
3. What kind of breed would suit our environment, small garden (and I mean small), semi detached house with neighbour working weird shifts but lots of fields and walking near us.
4. Do we have an dislike of breeds - OH dislikes small dogs - he'd rather have a cat :rolleyes:
5. Puppy or adult - too lazy for a puppy and also work part time so went with adult.
6. Dog or !!!!!? No preference.

So after going through all that I decided I would like a whippet but then came to my next requirement - it had to be a rescue dog so after trying whippet rescues and finding so many greyhounds needing homes (also my sister had one so at least had an idea of what they were like), we went grey.:D

I think it took about 3 months of decided I wanted a dog to actually getting one (although I have grown up with and owned one dog in the past).

Oh yes - here's that link what's good and bad about labrador retrievers

Sou

mirrorimage0

dogs are great for company and exercise, we absolutley loved our maxy boy but he was a large dog, (rottie) sadly he has passed away and we miss him terribly but we have decided to wait a while before getting a new dog as we have a lot going on at the moment in the mean time we have aquired two cats one form the rescue and one a stray and i must admit i do love not havin to do the walks at the minute and they can sleep in our room too as they dont take up so much space, but if you feel you have the time and lifestyle for a dog go for it but please consider a rescue dog, you can get puppy ones too theres so many needing a home try here www.dogpages.co.uk

or if your near kent https://www.futuresfordogs.co.uk

Lorne

Thank you so much for posting the links mirror, I'm going to have a wee look at them now. Certainly gives us lots of things to have a think about.