German shepherd pup

krlyr

con1888 wrote: »

Yeah I see what you mean. Been looking at the Scotland GSD rescue page again, can't seem to stay away from it, my heart is literally being tore in two.

I don't plan on starting my childminding til later on this year or next year so I will have plenty time to train the dog I get but is there a chance I would get a rescue dog that was 'untrainable' so to speak? There are a few between 1-2 years old. In saying that, probably wouldn't pass the home check as our garden fence is not high.

Still not found a breeder yet, searching and searching nearly every minute that I am not working.

Very few dogs will be untrainable, but some stuff is more impractical in some circumstances than others. For example, a dog that cannot tolerate other dogs is going to be a struggle (but not impossible) in a multidog household. One that can be unpredictable around children may be very tough in your situation, unless you can manage 110% to keep them seperated (multiple points of safety to allow for human error or mechanical failure - i.e. not just one babygate seperating dog and children, but multiple doors, a crate, babygates inside those doorways behind the closed doors, etc.). A dog with seperation anxiety is going to be tougher to deal with for a fulltime worker than someone who works from home, for another example.
Health issues can add to behavioural problems, e.g. in my case, my GSD's hip dysplasia eventually made her unpredictable around children because if a child was to pat her back or stroke her near her legs, she may have snapped them from pain. You can't train a dog not to react to pain, well, not in an entirely predictable way anyway. Or a brain tumour could be the cause of behavioural issues rather than it being a symptom as such, with even the dog unable to control its behaviour.
But these are extreme examples. Many rescues have perfectly wellbehaved dogs looking for a home for no reason other than the owner didn't have the time, money or inclination to continue owning a dog. A recent rescue will assess their dogs so you will get a good idea of how well trained it is and whether there are any behaviours that could be an issue. Not entirely foolproof but neither is raising a puppy - even a wellbred, wellsocialised puppy could become fear-aggressive of dogs, men in hi viz jackets, etc. or develop a bad habit of mouthing at people, jumping up excitably at children, and so on. A good rescue or breeder should offer you support to tackle these issues for the dog's whole life, so that's another reason why it's important to research either the breeder or the rescue you buy/adopt from - you're not just relying on them to provide you with a dog now, but to provide support for the next decade or more.

con1888

I think I will wait and hear back from the rescue, visit the dogs trust and the nearby cat and dog home and then if they don't accept me or can't help me then I will continue to search for a good breeder.

krlyr

In regards to the 4' fencing, perhaps get some quotes to extend this to 6' so the rescue can see you're serious about adapting it to suit if that's one of their criteria. It can be for good reason, my GSD can actually jump/climb over 6' fencing if he wants to! We had to put an extra 1' of wire on top of the 6' fence, angled into the garden, so that he couldn't get a grip/push himself over with his back legs. 4' would be easy for both of mine to jump over if they wanted.

Wellyboots6

MY GSD can clear a 6 foot fence too, or failing that he will just dig his way under it!

If you were getting a pup I would say give them until nearly 2 years old to settle down. Bear this in mind when thinking about your childminding. They tend to go through the bouncy puppy phase, then become amazingly well trained, and then become a naughty teenager and unlearn everything they were taught before finally settling down. Or maybe that is just the ones I have had!

krlyr

katy721 wrote: »

MY GSD can clear a 6 foot fence too, or failing that he will just dig his way under it!

If you were getting a pup I would say give them until nearly 2 years old to settle down. Bear this in mind when thinking about your childminding. They tend to go through the bouncy puppy phase, then become amazingly well trained, and then become a naughty teenager and unlearn everything they were taught before finally settling down. Or maybe that is just the ones I have had!

Definately, 9-12 months is when a dog will go through a "Kevin" phase (think Kevin & Perry!) and conveniently "forget" lots of their training! The once velcro-dogs become "bog off" dogs that need recall training yet again, they may even forget their housetraining and start chewing things up again. A second puppyhood, as such (which is why I'm glad I adopted my GSD boy at 2.5, missed all that out!)

Thankfully mine don't dig at the fence line but on that subject, if you love your garden - well, learn not to! The dogs have only been at the new house since Christmas but our lawn is now wrecked and I'm fast looking into paving the lot!

con1888

My boyfriend will put up the fence, he is good with things like that so can say to them if they accept me on all other things but say that I need a 6ft fence I could say well come back in a week/fortnight and I will have one.

Verging more now towards the rescue side, I think its tugged at my heartstrings. I'm forgetting about contacting breeders until I hear from second chances.

Wellyboots6

Mine was a rescue. He is adorable and totally perfect for my lifestyle. He did come with a lot of issues though that I was not told about and they maybe didn't know about, so with a rescue you never really know what you are getting.

The rescue I got mine from used foster homes, and so you got a lot of information from the foster parents which was nice and you got to see the dog in a home environment.

It is lovely to think you can give a doggy a new lease of life

gettingready

http://www.germanshepherdrescue.co.uk/ use forster homes for a lot of their dogs too - so they are pretty well assessed with kids/cats etc etc

con1888

The one I have contacted use foster homes, its called second chances and it is Scotland based. They don't have any kennels or that, all foster homes.

con1888

Can anyone help me with the home visit. Not been contacted yet but I know that I will need one.

What should I expect and what are they looking for? My home is clean and tidy inside, not spotless though it is lived in. Garden is medium sized I guess, 6ft fence half way round and a 4ft the rest. Garden shed, part grass part slabs. Portable BBQ out back. Not much else and I am not into gardening so it isn't exactly tidy. Obviously its not got rubbish or that lying around but it certainly wouldn't win any prizes !!!