Would you get a dog from a dog rescue centre?

Indie_Kid

gettingready wrote: »

Responsible rescue will match a dog to a family/family to dog.

I do not think you would be able to just walk in and pick a dog and take one away with you for a walk or to adopt.

It may be an idea to be "approved" by a rescue before visiting them to look at dogs to be honest.

We had this. We wanted another dog for our older dog and ended up with a 6 month old Spaniel cross Lab. The older dog then passed away and we adopted a 17 month old JRT.

We wanted a third dog and were told no, because the JRT is supposedly too aggressive. We now have a 9 month old JRT too.

But they were good with matching us up with dogs. We originally wanted a Staffie and the Spaniel was scared of her and the rescrue centre said no and recommended the JRT.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

gettingready wrote: »

ermmm sprayed? with what

I am sure you mean spayed - neutering a female dog

Be very careful with rescues too - same as with breeders, there will good and bad ones.

Perhaps take someone "neutral" with you, someone who knows a bit about dogs?

Apologies if I use the wrong terminology it's all new to me:)

Good idea about taking someoen neutral with you who knows about dogs. I had not thought of that. Bit like taking a car mechanic to view a car.

gettingready

sprayed is not as bad as "spaded" - and I have seen this too - not to worry

Person_one

phill99 wrote: »

What absolute rubbish. Absolute rubbish.

Really?

I don't agree that the dogs are 'ruined', most are quite easily sorted with a bit of time and effort, however I do believe that a huge number of the dogs in rescue end up there because lazy and irresponsible humans just lost interest or couldn't be bothered to keep their commitment at the first sign of any difficulty.

That's how mine ended up in a rescue.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Probably another naive question:eek: (I'm an expert on a few subjects just not dogs........yet;))

Would you recommend / is it ok to rename a dog you get from the dog centre or would that confuse it / not be the right thing to do?:o

trolleyrun

My dog is a rescue and she's one of the ones without any history or background as she was brought in from the pound. She did have some basic training, although we did have a few messes in the first week or so. I did change her name and it didn't take long for her to learn it.

I'd never had a dog before, but I've had great help from a friend who has owned dogs for over 40 years. The fostering idea sounds great, as you could see it as a practice run. You would have to find a way to explain it to your child though, how it works.

My dog (known on here as Pipsqueak) did have some issues, but they're mainly to do with OCD. She's loving and very funny. She loves long walkies but is quite happy with a shorter walk on some days. As long as we go out around the same time every day, she's happy. She doesn't make a mess, steal stuff or beg. I can leave food on the coffee table and she won't touch it. Did I mention she's very very cute?

If I get another dog, I will get another rescue. Reading about toilet training puppies is enough to put me off a young pup, not to mention it can be difficult to really know what you're getting. Oh, and Pipsqueak is a crossbreed, she's got terrier in her and possibly something else. She's small and will always look like a puppy

Kinski

hunnie wrote: »

On dog walking, a Shetland sheepdog or Cavalier sized breed doesn't need a great long walk, its more for a change of scene and a bit of refreshment.
In fact the '2 hour walk' is a bit of a fallacy. If you teach your dog to expect that amount of walking then he will

I know your only picking shelties as an example of size and not breed but my shelties (two of them anyway) would out walk me any day of the week and one of them was 8 when we got her. Please don't take on a dog and think that you can just take them for short walks, do that to the wrong dog and you could end up with a dog that has problems and he/she could become destructive in the house. There are dogs out there that won't want long walks but you won't find out about that until after you get him/her home, the sheltie I have now is a lazy swine and really should have been born an indoor cat, as soon as he's done his toilet he wants to go home which is tough as he's kept out for at least an hour on two of our daily walks :rotfl:.

phill99

Person_one wrote: »

Really?

I don't agree that the dogs are 'ruined', most are quite easily sorted with a bit of time and effort, however I do believe that a huge number of the dogs in rescue end up there because lazy and irresponsible humans just lost interest or couldn't be bothered to keep their commitment at the first sign of any difficulty.

That's how mine ended up in a rescue.

Of course it's rubbish. To say "majority of dogs in rescue centers have been bought and ruined by owners that have not taken the trouble to look after them and train them" is as far from the truth as you can get.

There are numerous reasons for a dog having to be rehomed: family break ups, death of owners, change in financial circumstances, house moves. Many dogs cone in as strays where they have escaped and haven't been reunited with there owners. Most dogs in rescue centres come in to them as healthy and well rounded animals. There are some that have behavioural issue or have been neglected and abused, but they are in the minority.

The term 'rescue' is the wrong term. People always think that a rescue dog has been rescued from a terrible life. The term rehoming centre actually tells a better story.

catkins

Puppies are hard work, very hard work. My dog is now 19 months old and when he was younger there were days when I just cried with frustration. This was despite him actually being a pretty well behaved pup (house trained in 3 days) and me and OH having had a couple of puppies before (many years ago). Just about everyone I know that has had a puppy has said how difficult it was and plenty of them shed tears over it (men as well!). I know of a fair amount of people who gave their puppy to rescue because they couldn't cope.


I also agree that almost ALL breeds of dog need a fair amount of walking. Why do so many dogs cause problems - crying, barking, chewing? Because they are bored. They don't get enough exercise so have lots of excess energy to deal with. A dog that has sufficient exercise will spend a lot of the time indoors sleeping.


Have you thought about a greyhound? There are loads of greyhounds looking for homes and quite a lot of them are young. They actually don't necessarily need as much exercise as some breeds, they are gentle friendly dogs and they make brilliant pets.

krlyr

Bestthingsinlifearefree wrote: »

Probably another naive question:eek: (I'm an expert on a few subjects just not dogs........yet;))

Would you recommend / is it ok to rename a dog you get from the dog centre or would that confuse it / not be the right thing to do?:o

To a dog, a name is a command, like 'sit' and 'down'. A poor command, because we tend to overuse it and use it to mean so many things (it can mean come here, look at me, move out the way, stop barking, etc. as well as just being said for no reason)
If you want to rename a dog you simply train the name to a command. For example, reward the dog when it makes eye contact (using a clicker is great as you can click&treat the second the dog makes eye contact). Once it is reliably making eye contact, say the dog's new name to prompt the behaviour, click&treat to reward it. Proof the behaviour by repetition, and voila, you have a dog that looks at you when you call it by its new name.

Kikopup does some fab videos on training, all available on her YouTube channel for free - http://www.youtube.com/kikopup