Puppy Advice (merged)

Kimberley

butterflylady wrote: »

Thank you for all of the replies.

I would willingly have a rescue dog and take on an older daog. However in the past me OH has had bad experiences with rescue dogs and will not consider one.

Your bad experiences doesn't mean all rescue dogs will have problems, i'm currently fostering two dogs who are very well behaved. We get plenty of pups coming in and quite a few collies and crosses, you have to look around. Look at your local rescue centre and go from there. Good rescue centres will give you advice and help you even after you adopt throughout the dogs life and if a certain dog doesn't work out then they will find one that is suitable for you. Please don't give up on rescue dogs, there are thousands out there, one must be for you.

Recently we had an email for an emergency for loads of Jack Russel dogs who are in danger of being PTS, we are trying to get them all into foster and permanent homes, if these dogs don't get rescued soon they are doomed.

Please, it won't hurt you to look at rescue dogs will it? You may find that if you visit your local one you may find a dog for you.

eira

In total agreement with previous poster.Even if you buy an animal from a breeder there isn't a 100% guarantee that you will get exactly the right personality/behaviour or whatever. There can also still be risks of inherited illnesses etc..Each animal is an individual and good rescue centres see them as such. Good breeders should also match the animal and the owner but this doesn't always happen. Please-if you can- at least give the breed rescues a try. I would however go to the small rescue associations rather than the big animal charities who-in my experience- can be not quite so hot on the analysis of the animal's personality.

I

anna42hmr

butterflylady wrote: »

Hi,

My OH has decided that he wants a puppy fo his 40th, I am looking to for help with where to get one from. I have checked out a couple of sites but all the puppies I want have gone before I get to them.

So if anyone has any knowledge of where a litter of blue merle collies or collie x retrevier I'd love to hear from you

the kennel club website has a register for puppies for sale, from breeders, take a look at http://www.the-kennel-club.org.uk and they then have them listed under breeds

Kimberley

We have a 4 month old Border Collie boy in now Also a 10 month old female collie is up on our website. We are in the south east, if your interested i'll PM you the website details.

MORPH3US

butterflylady wrote: »

I would willingly have a rescue dog and take on an older daog. However in the past me OH has had bad experiences with rescue dogs and will not consider one.

butterflylady, why don't you get your oh to take you to a rescue centre "just to look around" and then if you can get him there, i'm sure he would fall in love with a dog (or 20...).

If he goes there and is really terrified then at least you tried...

I could never go to a rescue centre, I would want to take them all home and so would the girlfriend....

M

village_life

Hi

We've just got a new dog/pup from a rescue centre, he's 9 months old and is a mongrely cross type breed.

We got him on thursday and thus far he's been great, he's settling in and getting the idea of doing his business outside, and has been great around adults, kids and other dogs (needs his parts removing, but thats another issue)

Our only problem so far is at night, we've left him on his own downstairs (not in a cage as we trusted him not to be destructive) however last night was unbearable with howling and barking (he even chewed a lampshade!), the past couple of nights he'd barked, whined and whimpered, but we left him to it and he settled down... so far, on one night ive gone and slept on the sofa and my wife did the same the other night as he wouldnt settle on his own.

He's a great dog with this one little failing at the moment, from what ive read online we have a number of potential tactics

1. let him sleep in our bedroom - we're anxious about doing this as we dont want to give him ideas above his station; we previously had a very dominant dog who thought he was "pack leader" so we're trying to enforce an "us" and "him" mentality on him

2. leave him downstairs and let him howl - great in principle, but how long will the whining last for? Days/Weeks? - we both have demanding jobs whcih mean we have to get up early etc, so dont wanna be kept up all night by a dog.

3. gradually get him used to being on his own. At the moment I'm in on my own and he's downstairs having some "him" time... he's done the odd howl since the wife left 30 minutes ago, but we're hoping that gettin him used to his own company will improve things. However, so far he's been great when we've left him downstairs on his own, but at night the situation is very different.


As I say we've been burned in the past with a bad dog experience so hve put a lot of time into walk and toilet training with him, and want to make sure we do the right thing so that he doesnt "dominate" the relationship

any ideas how to progress this?

Thanks

sammy_kaye18

Is he in his bed when you leave him? maybe it is a spereation thign and it is simply that because he is so young he is not used to being in his own company?

do you have an old shirt/etc that still has your smell on it that you could leave with him? as a sort of comforter?

kfer_kaz

HIya, we have a 1 year old dog, we have had her for 4 months, she sleeps with us in our bedroom in her dog bed on the floor. This has had no detrimental effect on her pecking order of the household. I think if you make sure he knows his place is in the dog bed and not on your bed you should have no problems. HTH

village_life

when we (the adults) decide its bedtime we just get up and go - and doggy comes too (as far as the door) thinking he follows the adults....

so he's invariably left sat near the door, and then potters round a bit.... not sure what/where he is when he howls....

we have a cage for him in the corner of the living room, but we dont wanna lock him up in there..

red-boxer

The old tshirt/jumper idea worked for us too, our 8 month old pup still sleeps with it now(even when i manage to wash it he still loves it). Also when we first got him he whined and cried for about an hour, and before we tried the tshirt, we put a loud ticking clock under his bed (supposed to mimic a parents heartbeat) although this wasn't as effective as the tshirt.

Good luck