Rehoming a rescue dog - thoughts please?

Shelldean

I agree with Darren.

We got Clint from Dogtrust two years ago in Feb. He came neutered and chipped too.
We had to visit him three times in the week before we took him home to ensure we didn't change our minds. We then as a family had a talk on what to possibly expect with a rescue dog. Talked about setting rules from day one etc and how unsettled a rescue may be.
We also had home visit before the talk and before we was allowed to bring him home. This was to ensure our home was suitable.

Clint is funny bu**er with other dogs sometimes, And was quite dog aggressive in the begining. We did think we'd done the wrong thing for a while. But we spoke with dogs trust and did about 3 maybe four visits with their therapist. Which has helped. He's not perfect and can still be dog aggressive, weird thing is he never consistant. He'll be fine with a dog one day and want it dead the next or vice a versa. So he's hard work, but we've learnt to deal with him and his quirks.

We have no idea of Clint's past history, he was a stray in Gallway Ireland when he was rescued. He had a huge growth near his bum that dogs trust treated before we saw him.

He's such a loving dog and our family wouldn't be complete with out him x


On the other hand Battersea dogs home was a bit useless, visited several times. Requested and had the home visit, filled in all the paperwork. Yet when we visited the home after all our paperwork had gone missing. No one seemed to care and no one really seemed to want to help. Completely different to how Dogs trust was.

krlyr

Shelldean wrote: »

Clint is funny bu**er with other dogs sometimes, And was quite dog aggressive in the begining. We did think we'd done the wrong thing for a while. But we spoke with dogs trust and did about 3 maybe four visits with their therapist. Which has helped. He's not perfect and can still be dog aggressive, weird thing is he never consistant. He'll be fine with a dog one day and want it dead the next or vice a versa. So he's hard work, but we've learnt to deal with him and his quirks.

I mentioned it on someone else's thread the other day but have a read on trigger stacking - it can explain why aggression/reactivity seems random to us.
The idea is that a dog's likeliness of reacting to a dog out on a walk isn't just based on *that* particular moment in time. It depends on any stressful situations it may have been in an hour before, 4 hours before, yesterday, the day before that, etc., accumulating and stacking up stress levels. A dog that's had a few calm days may be able to cope with walking past another dog on a walk, but if it's had various things stressing it out - from the vacuum cleaner this morning, the postman knocking to give you a parcel, a builder in a hi viz coat across the road from the house when you left for your walk, and so on, it's likely to be on edge and ripe to react when it spots that very same dog.

http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/how-are-dog-bites-like-tetris

It might help understand Clint's behaviour a bit better and help you spot the signs of small stresses starting to stack up - in some cases, it may actually benefit him more to go without his daily walk for a couple of days to let his stress levels drop, rather than take him out and you all have a bad experience which raises his stress levels even more. My dog Casper is reactive and he's used to skipping walks here and there if he's had a particularly bad reaction to another dog, e.g. we've been cornered and had a dog run up to us, he's happy enough to play in the garden and do some mental stimulation in the form of clicker/trick training, and it helps chill him out ready for our walk in a couple of day's time.

Caroline_a

krlyr wrote: »

But we don't know what the reason is, I think it's commendable that mountainofdebt is at least open to the idea of a rescue dog if they could find a rescue that would rehome to them, so I'm hesistant to assume the worst about someone like that.
I'm glad that the dog with the allergy survived, but how would you feel knowing your dog had an allergy to anaesthetic, you decided to have them neutered and lost them during a routine, and technically non-essential, surgery? Especially in a male where pyometra is not a risk. I have heard of dogs dying during neutering so it's not unimaginable.

Edit: mountainofdebt actually posted late last year asking whether neutering was only for health benefits or not as they were considering a second dog and wouldn't want the female to get pregnant, so interesting that they're now being accused of being a breeder, or not having it done for "pathetic reasons"!

Jumping to conclusions of Olympic proportions. I asked the question 'are you a breeder'. Accusation? I don't think so, I'd have called it a question - 'we don't know why' which was why I asked the question! Additionally my point regarding the 'pathetic reasons' wasn't aimed at that poster either - I don't tend to track back to see what people have posted in previous years. However, if you feel that not neutering dogs is not a good idea as a general rule then carry on...

moomin5

mountainofdebt wrote: »

Well sadly I've sadly I've resigned myself to the fact that if I wanted another dog, no rescue would touch me as our present dog hasn't been neutered.....though if anyone knows of one that would could they let me know.

For some rescues its not a deal breaker so keep trying, my friend has adopted 6 dogs (both genders) from various rescues over the past few years and her terrier is entire. She'd happily have the dog neutered, but for husband its a non negotiable.

krlyr

Caroline_a wrote: »

Jumping to conclusions of Olympic proportions. I asked the question 'are you a breeder'. Accusation? I don't think so, I'd have called it a question - 'we don't know why' which was why I asked the question! Additionally my point regarding the 'pathetic reasons' wasn't aimed at that poster either - I don't tend to track back to see what people have posted in previous years. However, if you feel that not neutering dogs is not a good idea as a general rule then carry on...

The tone was accusatory IMO. It wasn't "Why's that, are you a breeder?", it was "Why not? You're not a breeder are you?" like it would be a very negative thing if she was.

I don't think that dogs shouldn't be neutered as a general rule, I just don't think that the automatic route to take should be to neuter every male dog. There are other things to take into consideration other than whether you intend to breed from the dog or not.

Wellyboots6

I have always had rescue dogs and I haven't got a bad word to say about them!

People mention behaviour problems, but when you take on a rescue you kind of accept any 'quirks' as part of that dog and its history. It makes it a lot easier to accept and work on the behaviour as you are also aware that you are giving that dog a lovely second chance.

If you get a dog from a breeder and they have behavioural problems (the dog, not breeder), you don't have that 'past' to help keep you going when you are forever doing training, cleaning up poop etc!

Jemma130

I think it's a good idea to help any kind of dog in a rescue centre - go to some local, small sanctuaries too, as they often have dogs. The sanctuary near me luckily re-homes a lot of dogs successfully, with many people bringing their rehomed dog to show off at the yearly dog show. Great idea to give an unfortunate animal a new life.

doglover123_2

mountainofdebt wrote: »

Well sadly I've sadly I've resigned myself to the fact that if I wanted another dog, no rescue would touch me as our present dog hasn't been neutered.....though if anyone knows of one that would could they let me know.

Some centre's dont like rehoming entire males with entire females (and vice versa) - just because accidents do sometimes happen!

Many shelters will allow you to adopt another dog even with an entire dog at home so just keep looking. Most good places will neuter animals (if they are old enough) before rehoming so the fact you have an entire dog should'nt be a problem

OP: I definately reccommend a rescue dog!!
My family got our first rescue dog 6 years ago when I was 14 - Now I'm at University studying Animal Biology because of him!!

Some rescue dogs do come with 'problems' but like many posters have said some are there for reasons such as marriage break up, moving house ect.
Most shelters will match you and a dog to meet both of your circumstances.

We now have two rescue dogs at home and I cant see myself with any other type of dog - especially when there are so many dogs out there looking for homes already.

Before looking I would reccommend doing a bit of research on the breeds of dog you are interested in just so you know if you are suitable for that breed of dog.

Hope this helps!!

krlyr

doglover123 wrote: »

Some centre's dont like rehoming entire males with entire females (and vice versa) - just because accidents do sometimes happen!

Many shelters will allow you to adopt another dog even with an entire dog at home so just keep looking. Most good places will neuter animals (if they are old enough) before rehoming so the fact you have an entire dog should'nt be a problem

Unfortunately not every rescue is that flexible/open-minded - I have known of rescues to be so anti-breeding that they rule out anyone with an entire dog immediately, regardless of whether they intend to breed or just haven't neutered/spayed the dog for the health or behavioural benefits, even if the dog up for rehoming is neutered/spayed itself. Like you say, there are rescues out there who will consider it though, it's just a matter of trying several, considering rescues outside of the local area (many will arrange transport) and not taking rejections personally.

mountainofdebt

I must admit I haven't really discussed neutering our present dog with the vet but as well be taking to have his jabs soon I guess its a conversation we can have then.

The one conversation we did have with the vet was about rehoming and, in connection with neutering, he said that whether the two animals got on - whether that be 2 dogs or a dog and a !!!!! - depended basically on the temperment of said animals. However he then went on to say that if they did fight one way of potentially solving the issue was to neuter / spay the less dominant animal - so it seemed a sensible idea to wait to see if there were any problems before even contempating neutering (though having said that I backed out of adopting an entire b!tch recently as the thought of running the risk of an unwanted pregnnacy was totally unacceptable)

As for wanting a rescue dog - yes it would be far easier to go to a breeder, hand over my money and walk away with a pup but that would be the easy option and do nothing to the large number of ex-breeding dogs dumped in rescue centres looking for homes when the breeders no longer have a need for them.