Rehoming our dogs

globetraveller

From what you said it appears that the lurcher does not always get a daily walk?

marmitepotato

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I know what bloat is


I did not suggest the OP feed only once a day ..... dogs (incl those breeds that can be more prone to bloat) can be fed 2 x / day without issue if it's done correctly


Your 'sweeping statement' is wrong ....


One of the big factors in bloat is the amount of time left before feeding either side of exercise


Recent research suggests raised feeding bowls can actually be a factor in causing bloat and many now recommend to feed at floor level

Hey, I've had boxers for thirty years. I know what bloat is too. I regularly check with my vet that I'm doing things right. I've even queried the bowl on the floor option. My vet tells me that having a raised bowl is still the right thing to do. I certainly didn't want to upset anyone, but I felt that giving a deep chested dog one meal a day could possibly be putting it in danger of bloat. As you rightly said, exercise and even taking on huge amounts of water can also contribute to bloat. Giving a deep chested dog one meal a day is still a sweeping statement.

rising_from_the_ashes

marmitepotato wrote: »

Hey, I've had boxers for thirty years. I know what bloat is too.I regularly check with my vet that I'm doing things right. I've even queried the bowl on the floor option. My vet tells me that having a raised bowl is still the right thing to do. I certainly didn't want to upset anyone, but I felt that giving a deep chested dog one meal a day could possibly be putting it in danger of bloat. As you rightly said, exercise and even taking on huge amounts of water can also contribute to bloat. Giving a deep chested dog one meal a day is still a sweeping statement.

Have you done any research yourself?

Vets rarely can keep on top of every bit of research released on altopics so if there's something that you're particularly interested in / concerned about, you do have to do your own research too

Once again you are issuing a sweeping statement and not reading what anyone has said

Where exactly has anyone suggested feeding once / day?

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I did not suggest the OP feed only once a day ..... dogs (incl those breeds that can be more prone to bloat) can be fed 2 x / day without issue if it's done correctly

krlyr wrote: »

I own a Rottie x and a GSD, both deep chested breeds prone to bloat. I feed twice a day and will continue to do so unless I see concrete evidence that more times is necessary.

lostinrates wrote: »

Fed twice a day as adults, off the floor mainly, some on stands.

yorkshire_terrier_owner

I am no dog behaviour expert. However, I am an expert in dog owning, breeding and training. I have no qualifications, but I have had and bred dogs all my life and my younger dogs are agility dogs. I also volunteer at a local dog rescue centre, working with dogs with behaviour problems. I work with my own dogs and dogs at the rescue centre every day of the week.

There are lots of issues floating about here. What I will say in this post is my opinion only and based on my extensive experience. I may come across as harsh, but when it comes to dogs, I really don't care. If some disagree with what I say, then so be it. I have refused to sell puppies to potential owners who I have not considered appropriate and don't care if I upset them.

Without a doubt you are not the right owners for these dogs. Nevertheless, they are your responsibility. They will be difficult to rehome, as previously stated, due to age and history. In all likelihood if put up for re homing they will be euthanised. I say this from experience of working with difficult dogs in re homing centres. And believe me, from what you describe, I have seen and worked with dogs with far worse behaviour problems than yours have and have seen dogs euthanised with far simpler behaviour problems than yours.

You need to make a decision, and fast. Commit to working with these dogs, and it will be hard work, or pass them on to a GOOD re homing centre who will work with them if possible or may keep them indefinitely, although this will be difficult to find. Do not put them into short term foster. Do one or the other, sooner rather than later.

If you decide to commit to it, you may need to make financial commitment. You say you couldn't afford £100 for the behaviourist. I know you have insurance, but at their age, the excess will be a % of the bill rather than a fixed amount. What if one or both of them were seriously ill and you faced a large vet bill? Can you afford 30% of a £1000 bill? I've just spent £1200 at the vets on one of dogs (and I have six) and thought nothing of it - and I am by no means made of money. I don't have my dogs insured as they are/have been used for breeding. I make allowances for this financially and always make sure I have money put to one side for this exact eventuality.

One of my dogs is food aggressive. She is fed separately, I don't make a big deal out of it, no problem. Are your dogs aggressive at any other time (you may have already mentioned this but I haven't read all of your threads). I would suspect from what you have described that you may be nervous around them at feeding time and make no mistake, they will pick up on that and the result is how it manifests itself in their behaviour.

You say one of them is a fussy eater. I don't allow this with my dogs. If they don't eat it, I pick it up. They can't take hours over eating their meal. I have 2 who would be fussy eaters if I allowed it, but they have learnt that they eat their meal or don't. Full stop.

What state of mind are your dogs in when you feed? Excited? Fearful? Aggressive? Stressed? If so, by feeding them when they are in this state rewards the behaviour. Feed them when they are calm. This will likely take a long time to integrate into your routine, but if you're going to do it, commit to it! Only reward the behaviour you want. Bad behaviour comes from rewarding bad behaviour, and sometimes we don't realise we're doing it.

To stop a behaviour you don't want, you need to distract them. I find an empty plastic drinks bottle filled with a bit of gravel is good for this - one sharp shake produces a noise that snaps them out of it. Repeat as necessary.

Feed them twice a day - prone to bloat, or not prone to bloat - twice a day is adequate.

If you can't walk them, employ a dog walker.

There is much debate around the whole pack mentality training methods with dogs. I don't agree with pack leading where the methods are harsh, but I absolutely believe in firm, fair and consistent pack leading. Aggressive behaviour often results from owners who are not pack leading - the dog tries to take on the role.

At the moment, you are not in control of the situation.

There is much much more I could say. I have always said that when a dog comes to live with me it comes for life. I have had dogs who have been more difficult and have ALWAYS worked with them to sort it. I rehomed a 12 year old dog who came with all manner of behaviour problems. It took me 12 months, but we sorted it. Instead of a miserable stressed, aggressive dog, she is now happy, relaxed and well behaved. It took time, hard work, patience and money. But I made the decision to rehome her and committed to the task at hand.

Now make your decision and commit to it.

wannabe_credit_free

Excellent post Yorkie. My sentiments exactly...

Crisp_£_note

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Oh come on... your excuse for not going to a behaviourist is money yet you have Sky and have recently been on holiday. Why don't YOU have a choice?

I feel sorry for those dogs as they are clearly - from all you've described in your various threads over the years - living in a less than suitable environment.

You owe it to them to treat them properly... they are living things not just accessories that you get to change when they don't match your lifestyle.

How many excuses are you going to come up with?

Thank you Tiddlywinks!
FYI we didn't go on holiday which cost all in £15 which my husband paid. My husbands money pays the bills as he is the income earner. He chooses what we have. I dont get a say. I have barely enough PIP benefit to feed the dogs my husband and then myself.

Who says I am going to change them? I have changed myself to accommodate them because I don't believe in pointless euthanasia for animals as much as I do for humans.

Please unless you can post some helpful advice don't post at all. I feel bad enough as it is without being slagged off and made a mockery of by 'perfect' pet owners. For all I care the dogs can kill or maim me but their not being rehomed or PTS. My original post perhaps was entitled a little ott. Sorry.

Please unless you have some helpful advice thats original dont slag me off any more. My life is stressfull enough right now!. Thank you.

Person_one

Crisp_£_note wrote: »

Thank you Tiddlywinks!
FYI we didn't go on holiday which cost all in £15 which my husband paid. My husbands money pays the bills as he is the income earner. He chooses what we have. I dont get a say. I have barely enough PIP benefit to feed the dogs my husband and then myself.

Right, so you're in an abusive relationship too.

Is your husband refusing to pay for a behaviourist or a dog walker? Could he if he wanted to?

Please don't have a go at people for thinking you wanted to rehome your dogs, the thread is called 'rehoming our dogs' and you clearly state that intention in the first post!

Crisp_£_note

suse* wrote: »

My dog is a rescue and had lots of problems so I had to go through lots of training and behaviourist etc etc. One thing you might be able to do is check the food you're feeding them. If you feed dogs food with lots of enumbers / colouring etc it can make them change behaviour a bit.

I noticed a real difference in my dog once I changed her to a hypoalerginic food without the nasties in. She now has skinners salmon and rice at the moment and is a lot calmer in herself.

It might just be worth checking the ingredients of what you're feeding your two, as something like just changing food might help calm them both, and make your other training work better too.

Also are you claming all the benifits you can for your disability as you might be able to get PIP or something to help cover the cost of a dog walker.

Thank you! We recently changed the dogs food - were feeding a supermarket value brand but we have upgraded it slightly to the normal supermarket own brand, and it has made a big difference already!

I am already claiming as much as I think I am entitled to. My ESA recently came to an end as the 2 year period was exhausted. That was a cut in my income of £440 a month - which was used to feed the 2 dogs, my husband and myself. It also paid vet bills, pet insurance and pet healthclub at the vets. However I have recently been rewarded PIP at £50. a week (so although the loss in income I have enough to care for the dogs in as much as food, pet insurance, vet care and pet healthclub. My husband now feeds himself and I manage with whatever is left over. All the household bills are paid by my husband from his Working Tax Credits allowance which gets paid into my other bank account which I pay the DD from on his behalf as he would get into financial debt again if this wasnt the way. All other income he earns I dont see as he doesnt share - basically whats his is his whats mine is mine. Not ideal for a married couple but its the way it is.

Thank you Suse for your helpful advice.

Crisp_£_note

Person_one wrote: »

Right, so you're in an abusive relationship too.

Is your husband refusing to pay for a behaviourist or a dog walker? Could he if he wanted to?

Please don't have a go at people for thinking you wanted to rehome your dogs, the thread is called 'rehoming our dogs' and you clearly state that intention in the first post!

I wasnt having a go at people for thinking I wanted to rehome my dogs. I appologised in the above post for the original title perhaps being OTT and I appologise now for the first thread. Yes at the time of writing it was my intention to seek advice about rehoming but with the helpful advice that followed I realised once I had calmed down my over reactions.

I feel it would be wrong of me to start a new thread in fear of being accused or attacked for not listening again and to change the title of this one not only do I not know how I feel it would upset others again too.
Sorry I am the first to admit I am not a perfect pet owner. I do appreciate the advice though.

Thanks

Crisp_£_note

yorkshire_terrier_owner wrote: »

I am no dog behaviour expert. However, I am an expert in dog owning, breeding and training. I have no qualifications, but I have had and bred dogs all my life and my younger dogs are agility dogs. I also volunteer at a local dog rescue centre, working with dogs with behaviour problems. I work with my own dogs and dogs at the rescue centre every day of the week.

There are lots of issues floating about here. What I will say in this post is my opinion only and based on my extensive experience. I may come across as harsh, but when it comes to dogs, I really don't care. If some disagree with what I say, then so be it. I have refused to sell puppies to potential owners who I have not considered appropriate and don't care if I upset them.

Without a doubt you are not the right owners for these dogs. Nevertheless, they are your responsibility. They will be difficult to rehome, as previously stated, due to age and history. In all likelihood if put up for re homing they will be euthanised. I say this from experience of working with difficult dogs in re homing centres. And believe me, from what you describe, I have seen and worked with dogs with far worse behaviour problems than yours have and have seen dogs euthanised with far simpler behaviour problems than yours.

You need to make a decision, and fast. Commit to working with these dogs, and it will be hard work, or pass them on to a GOOD re homing centre who will work with them if possible or may keep them indefinitely, although this will be difficult to find. Do not put them into short term foster. Do one or the other, sooner rather than later.

If you decide to commit to it, you may need to make financial commitment. You say you couldn't afford £100 for the behaviourist. I know you have insurance, but at their age, the excess will be a % of the bill rather than a fixed amount. What if one or both of them were seriously ill and you faced a large vet bill? Can you afford 30% of a £1000 bill? I've just spent £1200 at the vets on one of dogs (and I have six) and thought nothing of it - and I am by no means made of money. I don't have my dogs insured as they are/have been used for breeding. I make allowances for this financially and always make sure I have money put to one side for this exact eventuality.

One of my dogs is food aggressive. She is fed separately, I don't make a big deal out of it, no problem. Are your dogs aggressive at any other time (you may have already mentioned this but I haven't read all of your threads). I would suspect from what you have described that you may be nervous around them at feeding time and make no mistake, they will pick up on that and the result is how it manifests itself in their behaviour.

You say one of them is a fussy eater. I don't allow this with my dogs. If they don't eat it, I pick it up. They can't take hours over eating their meal. I have 2 who would be fussy eaters if I allowed it, but they have learnt that they eat their meal or don't. Full stop.

What state of mind are your dogs in when you feed? Excited? Fearful? Aggressive? Stressed? If so, by feeding them when they are in this state rewards the behaviour. Feed them when they are calm. This will likely take a long time to integrate into your routine, but if you're going to do it, commit to it! Only reward the behaviour you want. Bad behaviour comes from rewarding bad behaviour, and sometimes we don't realise we're doing it.

To stop a behaviour you don't want, you need to distract them. I find an empty plastic drinks bottle filled with a bit of gravel is good for this - one sharp shake produces a noise that snaps them out of it. Repeat as necessary.

Feed them twice a day - prone to bloat, or not prone to bloat - twice a day is adequate.

If you can't walk them, employ a dog walker.

There is much debate around the whole pack mentality training methods with dogs. I don't agree with pack leading where the methods are harsh, but I absolutely believe in firm, fair and consistent pack leading. Aggressive behaviour often results from owners who are not pack leading - the dog tries to take on the role.

At the moment, you are not in control of the situation.

There is much much more I could say. I have always said that when a dog comes to live with me it comes for life. I have had dogs who have been more difficult and have ALWAYS worked with them to sort it. I rehomed a 12 year old dog who came with all manner of behaviour problems. It took me 12 months, but we sorted it. Instead of a miserable stressed, aggressive dog, she is now happy, relaxed and well behaved. It took time, hard work, patience and money. But I made the decision to rehome her and committed to the task at hand.

Now make your decision and commit to it.

yorkshire_terrier_owner Thank you for your very helpful advice! I have already started to put to work some of it before you posted but it is a good reminder. Thanks