How do i rehome our border collie?

Eels100

flutterfairy wrote: »

Not everybody is taught about dogs and this should not prevent people owning a dog. There is no owners manual when parents have a baby and its a learn as you go through it scenario. Despite owners thinking they know everything about their dogs they simply cannot predict that a dog will not turn nasty for no reason.

This is my whole point! Parents need to take responsibility for their children and teach them how to stay safe: same as a child is taught how to cross roads safely, how to deal with strangers, what's dangerous in the home, they also need to be taught how to approach dogs. Even children who don't come from pet-owning household must be taught this - most kids just run up to strange dogs in the street and try to touch them, they aren't taught to ask the owner first.

And dogs don't 'turn nasty' for no reason - if you take a number of dog-bites-child or dog-bites-person situations and analyse them fully, the percentage of cases for which there is no explanation is miniscule. In the vast majority the dog has been made to feel threatened or has given appropriate warnings (eg growling/baring teeth) which the human has not recognised or heeded. People who think there's no reason are generally people who have put a dog in a situation the dog finds threatening or uncomfortable and who aren't taking notice of the dog's reaction to this.

You (or anyone with young children) might be interested in THIS. It's a new initiative designed to help reduce the risk of conflict between dogs and children by teaching kids to spot warning signs. The CD can be purchased HERE and a paper reviewing the programme can be read HERE.

seven-day-weekend

Eels100 wrote: »

You're right. The OP posted the original thread months ago, he won't even be reading this.

Ok, I hadn't realised the thread was months old.

I don't want to cause any trouble, I just will never understand this obsession that people have with dogs, and especially those breeds which imo are agressive and unpredictable. I like dogs, I like all animals, but imho they are there to serve me, not me to serve them.

However, none of us are going to change each others views, and bearing in mind the age of the thread and that Martin has asked us to be nice to each other, i apologise for any upset I have caused and will now retire from posting any more.

My apologies.

scrimpandsaver

And dogs don't 'turn nasty' for no reason

Of course they do, thats why silly people take silly risks and say afterwards, we never thought they would do that, babies and young children don't have the potential to savage another person, where as a dog, no matter how tame an owner makes out it be can turn at any point, give it an inch and it can turn just like that.

The naughty step doesn't work with dogs, neither do reward charts, there is simply no excuse and in my opinion, young kids and dogs should never even be allowed within inches of eachother, and even if there is an adult around it does not make a difference.

Penny_Watcher

In our area there are many good dog walks, some of the best and most used being the disused railway lines. Anyway, there is an informal rehoming scheme where people who aren't able to care for their dogs anymore (usually the elderly or people who have become sick) put up a photo and details of their dog on the gate posts asking for someone to give the pooch a new home. The walks are really only used by people who are already looking after dogs, so you've already got a captive audience :rolleyes:

As far as I understand people can visit the homes to check out the prospective owner.

Good Luck with rehoming your dog. Both of ours had homes before they came to us. Rehoming's not ideal, but it can work well.

Becles

scrimpandsaver wrote: »

Of course they do, thats why silly people take silly risks and say afterwards, we never thought they would do that, babies and young children don't have the potential to savage another person, where as a dog, no matter how tame an owner makes out it be can turn at any point, give it an inch and it can turn just like that.

Children do. My youngest son currently has a cut on his forehead after another child attacked him during a tantrum at school.

A couple in our street have two children (now adults) who were both brought up in the same way. One is pleasant enough, but the other is a total scumbag. He has been in prison for armed robbery, been caught drink driving, and a various other minor crimes. They can't fathom why he went bad, but the other one didn't.

squashy

This has brought back painful memories for me. When I was 13 my mum had remarried and decided to have another baby. When she was pregnant my mum and stepdad discussed with me and my brotehr about our dogs and what to do. We had 2 alsatian crosses who we'd had since puppies (mother and son), the older one for about 4 years. The trouble was they were very placid at home but went wild and strained to get at anyone who knocked on hte door- they were extremely bad around other children, not that we ever gave them a cance to get near any! They were ok in the park though.

Anyway, one day towards the end of my mums pregnancy, I came home from school to find that my dogs had gone. I was devastated that I never got chance to say goodbye and I felt a lot of resentment towards my mum, step dad and subsequently I think even my new little brother to a degree. I spent the rest of my teens wondering if I'd spot them with their new owners in the park but as they'd been taken to a dogs home I am sure that in reality they will have been out down eventually due to the fact they were already quite unsociable.

PLEASE think long and hard as to whether this is the right solution. (I'm crying now!)

flutterfairy

Becles wrote: »

Children do. My youngest son currently has a cut on his forehead after another child attacked him during a tantrum at school.

You expect children to have run ins and fights with other children ~its part of growing up. Splitting children up from brawling is completely different than trying to prise a dogs jaw off a childs face. I have to say again to those that are vouching for their dogs being safe~ How would they feel if their dog mauled one of their children. I am seriously doubtful that they would be so patient as to let the dog have a second chance over the welfare of their child.

scrimpandsaver

Becles, any dog that shows any kind of aggression, whehter it be provoed or not should be got rid of, we teach our kids fighting is not acceptable.

Becles

I've deleted my post as due to an abusive PM, I'm too upset to post on here anymore.

Hoping my unborn baby gets mauled by my dog to prove your point is not acceptable. I won't be reading or posting in this thread anymore as it's too distressing getting PM's like that.

flutterfairy

Where has Becles post gone? the one about it being the childs fault the dog attacked him?? Did he/she remove it? In response to that regardless ~your child is very lucky to have got off so lightly and with just a cut and bruise because it could have been a hell of a lot worse. How dare you blame your child when the fault lies with you for not keeping both separate from each other, and still come back to say its ok? I do not get people like that one bit.