Rescue dog! Big let down!

jimmyjimsgin

Yes i have a 6 year old castrated male lab and the rescue dog was a 1 year old castrated male. The rescue dog was "excellent with kids and dogs" so we were told and on the 4th day attacked my dog while we were in the lounge for no obvious reason.

cavework wrote: »

I have replied to your other thread but just a couple of questions please?
You have a 6 yr old pet already .. is it a dog or a !!!!!?
How old was the rescue dog?
Am I correct in that you had him for 4 days before the fight?

moomin5

I think its fairly common for the donation not to be refunded on a returned rescue dog, often if the dog turned out not to be a good fit for the home then the rescue wouldn't charge again if you took a different dog and some would probably refund in your case.

Some dogs just don't get on or can have lived together for a while then have issues. Although i don't know how well the dog was assessed prior to homing and it does sound like the rescue were not very supportive and should of not quibbled about taking the dog back. That said some rescues are better run than others so it wouldn't put me off getting a rescue dog i just wouldn't use or support that one in future and would probably make me check how they assess the dogs more throughly.

ariba10 wrote: »

The one thing that stops me getting a rescue dog (As much as we would like to) is that the majority that we have seen with other people are ruined as pups and then abandoned.

There is a lot in the saying. "You can not teach old dogs new tricks"

As we have children in the house on a regular basis, it will have to be a pup that we can train.

What a load of tosh, you certainly can teach old dogs new tricks. I adopted my dogs at 2yrs old, they are ex-racing greyhounds and so they never had any real basic obediance type training, lived in a house, met other breeds of dogs or small children before. They house trained fairly easily, have passed the KC bronze training, are fine with all sizes/breeds of dogs and are very good around my 4 yr old nephew. Many dogs end up in rescue simply due to their owners circumstances changing and a lot of those "ruined" dogs probably just need an owner that gives them some leadership and willing to re-start there training from scratch, they certainly can still be keen to learn.

jimmyjimsgin

I understand that with animals however having a family puts a different view on things, I could not responsibly keep the dog having seen his agressive attack . My vet has asked to see their assessment report but they have declined to respond - not a very positive thing to do in my opinion. I realise animals are unpredictable but 4 days seems a very quick time for the dog to react out of the blue like this. In a kennel environment the dog may never have been living with a dog, he may just have lived caged up next door to a dog and they assessed him like that which isnt a true assessment in my opinion. I agree, suing a charity really is a tricky thing, and doesnt trip off my tongue very easily however i do believe they should have handled this better and their assessments may do with improving. £175 is alot to just throw away for me, I cant understand how the charity can justify it when they resold the do g a week later for £175????

KatP wrote: »

You didn't pay for the dog, it was a voluntary donation, you need to realise that, it will be crucial if you decide to persue this.

Your only chance of suceeding in any case against this charity will be in negligence and while I would question the morals of suing a charity if you believe they have been negligent you are entitled to do so. However bear in mind that the dog was fine for 4 days, therefore the assessment can't have been that bad.

You vet really can't comment unless he knows what assessment process the charity went through.

Sometimes bad things happen, I feel very sorry for your other dog being hurt but it is a risk you take when you take a strange animal into the house. The rescue dog could have been living happily with other dogs for years with no issues and simply for whatever reason had a fight with your dog on this day. Sometimes children fight, it doesn't mean that because they have one fight they are unsafe round other children all the time.

I see this often with horses, they need company and have to live out with others or they get distressed, but some combinations just don't work and sometimes injuries occur before the pecking order is sorted out. Sometimes certain combinations can never be turned out together due to personality clashes. When this happens it doesn't mean that there is something inherently wrong with either animal, even if one ends up causing life threatening injuries to another.

cavework

2 male dogs left together will have to find a pecking order.
It is frightening when these fights occur and I do sympathise but I think it might be best to look for a spayed !!!!! of about the same age.. much kinder on your existing pet.

Mistymaid

Others may well disagree with me (they usually do) but I'm starting to get really uncomfortable about your desire to progress with the suing option.

You started the thread off in consumers and went with that. Others told you you were unlikely to succeed. We gave you advice regarding getting your money back and in contacting the Charities Commission in particular who, as I explained in the other thread, have a lot of pull over charities such as this one.

Now you are still saying you want to pursue the matter in court. May I ask, are you looking for your money returning or are you looking for damages? i.e. related to the potential problems that could have occurred and the costs already incured via your vets bill?

Mistymaid

On the 'old dog, new tricks,' thing. I took an animal behaviour modification course specificially to learn how to teach my 12 year old staffie to ignore sheep - we'd moved house and our garden adjoined a paddock full of them.
It worked, the sheep became 'invisible!'

If you can teach a staffie that you can teach anything!

rachiee

ariba10 wrote: »

The one thing that stops me getting a rescue dog (As much as we would like to) is that the majority that we have seen with other people are ruined as pups and then abandoned.

There is a lot in the saying. "You can not teach old dogs new tricks"

As we have children in the house on a regular basis, it will have to be a pup that we can train.

I agree with you also! People ruin them and then they get rescued and placed in unsuitable homes not of there own fault of course. I explained in another post that anyone wanting a dog who has children should get a puppy therefore the puppy can grow up and learn the do's and the dont's of family life and living with other dogs!

cavework

Sorry I have no idea about the compensation issue. What I will say is if you put 2 male 'castrated' dogs together who are not yet used to each other you must be aware that a fight can occur?
Would the Charity still consider letting you have a spayed !!!!! without having to pay again?

SailorSam

A poster said earlier it may be an idea to give the story to your local newspaper, if this is a local rescue centre the publicity wouldn't be welcomed , the people they depend upon may look to a different charity to support.
We're all very grateful to charities, they do a lot of good but, i'd have no qualms taking legal action against them if they hadn't given a service i felt i'd paid for.
It's similar to the National Health or Education systems, also there to do good but, if a doctor makes a mistake making our illness worse or a teachers negligence results in one of our children being injured, they accept they are going to have to pay.

orlao

While I sympathise with you jimmyjimsgin, and agree that the charity could have dealt with this better - the "problem" with volunteers is that they aren't as easily managed as paid employees when it comes to things like customer service and attitude!

However, what happened between the 2 dogs is absolutely typical of a dog who feels that he's got his feet under the table, so to speak and decides to try and stamp his authority on the resident dog. At a year old, the rescue is probably right in the middle of his teenage, obnoxious stage and was pushing his luck and trying to move up the pecking order. It sounds like he was trying to get closer to you as rescues are often insecure and unfortunately there was a fight.

Again, I'm very suprised that the rescue didn't offer you an older female or at the very least advice before you adopted the dog and proper support when the fight happened. IMHO the fact that they didn't appear too isn't going to be grounds for a refund of your donation, however annoyed you justifiably are.

Sorry if that's not what you want to hear.