First timer

Hi Think Tank,

I’ve found you online and need some advice. My wife and I are thinking of getting a medium sized dog and we’re not bothered about what type it is, as long as he’s friendly and likes walks. We’ve never had a dog before and are thinking of getting a rescue dog but will we be allowed because this would be our first dog?

Do you know of any animal sanctuaries that we could contact in our situation?

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Thomas, by email

Second opinion

Hi,

Recently we were approved by a well known Golden Retriever rescue society to adopt a dog from them, and a few weeks later I went and viewed a castrated Golden Retriever, which was a four hour round trip away. This dog was described as 'good with other dogs', and although in his write up it was stated that he had been put into rescue because he had reportedly bared his teeth at somebody, the rescue and foster carer didn't think that this was an issue.

When I went to see the dog, I took our four-year-old chocolate Lab bitch with use, who has been spayed. The two dogs were walked together and seemed to get on ok, and in actual fact, didn't take an awful lot of notice of each other once the initial sniffing had finished. After the walk we returned to the foster carer's home where the two dogs were allowed to play in the garden. The foster carer doesn't have another dog, but the assessment on this Golden's temperament was presumably carried out during his meetings with other dogs while on lead. I thought he was a beautiful dog, though didn't think he was pure Golden, but possibly had some collie in him as well, but if the dog was the right one for us then this wouldn't matter. His play was a little rough, but I know that this sometimes happens and that dogs will settle down after a while. Ruby, my Lab, went indoors though to 'escape' his attentions and he was put on a lead for a while, then later he was let off-lead again, and things seemed to become settled.

I decided to adopt this dog, and take him home. He travelled well in the back of the estate car with Ruby, and two hours later at 10.30 pm we arrived home. The dogs went into the garden first for a toilet break, then we went indoors. This is when the new dog turned into an animal that I hadn't expected. Within minutes, he had gone for Ruby when she took a toy from her toy box. He flew across the room to get to her to do this. I didn't think any damage had been done to her, but took the toy box up anyway. Then the dog turned his attention to his bed, which he 'bonked' so much that I took this up as well! His attentions then turned again to Ruby, who was by now on her bed. His play was lively to say the least. Anyway we eventually went to bed, and the new dog decided to join me on the bed, which I don't generally allow, but it was late and we were tired. Ruby has her own bed in my bedroom, and I hoped that I would be able to do the same with the new dog. We slept until 4.30am, when the new dog woke up and decided that he was going to 'play' with Ruby. She didn't want to do this, so I ended up putting new dog on lead and keeping him on until 7am when I fed the dogs their breakfast.

What followed was a total nightmare. New dog made continued dives onto Ruby with what at first looked like he was playing, then losing control of himself and going for her. He was put on the lead again. They later went into the garden and because new dog seemed calmer I let him off again, where he made several unprovoked aggressive attacks on Ruby. I couldn't see any immediate damage, but my main concern after checking Ruby out was to get in touch with the rescue and tell them I wanted to return the dog. I told them all that had happened, this dog was literally hanging off the side of Ruby's face, neck and head. We had to wait until the evening before the foster carer could be there to take him back, so at 6pm we left to do the two hour trip to return the dog. Ruby was on the back seat, looking more than a little traumatised after her day. The other dog screamed the place down and scratched to be let in when he was shut in the kitchen for a short while! Ruby just wanted to be near me all the time.

A week after all this happened Ruby starting scratching at the top of her head, neck and side of her face, and during the next two days wet eczema developed and we took her to the vet. During the trip to the vet, she tore her face open with her scratching, and it was so bad that when we reached the vet she was kept in overnight, while she was sedated, clipped over the large affected areas and given antibiotics and steroid cream. During the next week it was awful for her, and difficult trying to keep her from scratching, and we returned to the vet as arranged a week later where she was given another week's worth of antibiotics and a steroid injection. Thankfully today she was discharged, but this has left us £170 out of pocket, and last week my husband decided to try and claim off the rescue's insurance for the vet bills incurred. However the vet says he can't confirm one way or another whether a dog bite would have taken this long (a week) to cause the problems that it had, so won't support our claim. We are absolutely certain that as the trauma has occurred in the areas that Ruby was bitten, that damage even if it was to soft tissue was the cause of the problem.

Can anybody with veterinary experience give their opinion on this please? Coincidentally this afternoon we bumped into a walker also with a chocolate Lab bitch, who was similarly attacked a while ago, and developed wet eczema on the bite area a week after the attack.

This has really put us off getting another rescue dog, although our beautiful Ruby is a rescue herself, and came with issues, as most rescues do. However rescue societies need to do a proper assessment of dogs going up for rehoming, and owners handing their dogs over to rescue should be honest with the problems which they are handing over with their dog. I am an experienced dog owner and trainer, but have never witnessed the behaviour shown by this dog, during nearly 30 years of being around dogs.

Many thanks.

Name supplied, by email

Flat in or out?

Me and my partner have been thinking about getting a dog for a while and would like to rehome a rescue. I’m worried though that we won’t be able to get a dog from a rescue because we live in a flat.

We don’t have a garden of our own but there are communal garden areas and we do live close to a large park. We enjoy long walks in the countryside, too, so our dog wouldn’t just be walked in a park. We own our flat so don’t have to worry about getting permission from landlords.

If anyone who lives in a flat has successfully rehomed a rescue dog I’d be really keen to hear how easy it is.

Thank you.

Kayleigh Ash, by email

Catherine Gillie, Dogs Trust Assistant Field Director, advises...

At Dogs Trust we do not have blanket policies for rehoming and we would treat each case on an individual basis. Things that we may consider are : The flat its size and location, the surrounding area for exercise, family members, their other commitments, the type of dog considered age size and temperament exercise needs etc.

For example whilst it may be perfectly feasible for someone living in a ground floor flat, with nearby parks and garden to care adequately for a large breed dog throughout its life when they are perhaps working from home or at home with family all day, it would be very problematic for someone in the same circumstances in a second floor flat as a large breed pup would be problematic to house train without quick and easy access to a toilet area and an older dog may find stairs problematic but be too large to help up and down.

Living in a flat would certainly not prevent Dogs Trust from re homing a dog to a loving home, and we are happy to advise on potential problems and the suitability of specific dogs for flat dwellers.

Spinning around

Nine months ago I rescued a five-year-old Labrador bitch who had spent her life in a cage, in a barn, being used for breeding.

After quite a few problems and being spayed, she is now a friendly, happy bitch.

Sometimes in my house, in my garden, or in the local park she is suddenly like a “whirling dervish”, makes about four to six circles, and is then exhausted.

My vet has checked that there is no medical problem but as my bitch has the beginnings of arthritis in her hind legs, I worry that this excessive moving in circles will affect her legs.

Have any of your readers ever experienced this problem with rescued dogs who have spent their time in cages?

Yours sincerely,

Mrs M. J. Lucas, Deal, Kent

Behavioural change

Hi all,

Advice will be greatly appreciated here as I am feeling quite desperate.

We are fostering a little dog, a female Lab/terrier mix. Although it’s hard to know, we estimate she is about two years old.

She was spayed recently by our local SPCA branch who is now offering her for adoption. We have had her since September 5 and she has been a really well behaved little dog to date. Only in the last few days have some problems presented. On Saturday evening, we discovered she had soiled on our bed. She managed to get back into the bedroom unnoticed the following evening and soiled again, with poo this time. Aside from the major clean up situation, this has never happened before and she has been very clean in the house. No accidents or anything. Nor has she shown the slightest sign of anxiety to date. She was a bit nervous at first but she soon settled in.

Also, when potential adopters came to see her on Sunday evening last, she growled and snapped and refused to walk with them on the lead. Again, this caught us completely by surprise as she has always been very placid around visitors who have called to the house. Another fosterer took care of her for a weekend a few weeks ago when we were away and this fosterer has young children and found that she was very good with the children. However, now she is also reacting to any dog she meets outside on walks. She gets on very well with our schnauzer Isaac and our boxer Barney but when walking her, it is as if she is going frantic to get at the other dog.

This is escalating is the space of a few days. By this morning, she was hysterical, pulling on the lead when she was approaching areas where she knew there were dogs in the yard or behind the fence, literally spinning and jumping on the end of the lead as if charged with electricity. If not on the lead, she would have ran straight out under traffic. I was almost in tears by the time I arrived home. Nothing distracted her, not even pieces of sausage meat I was carrying as treats.

The puzzling thing is that these bad behaviours have only presented themselves in the matter of a few days. The vet checked her out on Friday and she is in perfect health. My local SPCA branch have been very supportive but there are no behaviourists in our area.

No-one will adopt her if this is not sorted. A potential adopter is coming to see her this week, an elderly lady who is looking for a companion and best friend. Sounds like the home of dreams for this little dog but not if she keeps this up.

Thanks in advance,

Fiona Robbins, Ireland




Karen Wild, behaviourist, advises...

The fact that you describe a sudden onset of problems leads me to think that this needs urgent professional involvement rather than speculation and you did the right thing getting a vet check straightaway. It might be that there has been a traumatic event to set this off or something else underlying that could need further medical investigation, and more indepth behaviour screening. As we know dogs have especially clear memories especially if it is of something unpleasant happening in the past. Equally they often have not had a great deal of 'real-life' experience which can cause them to be fearful (they may toilet inappropriately) or defensive through aggressive display. It might even be that the recent trauma of moving between foster homes (no matter how nice the homes are as they sound very caring), could be causing the dog distress?

Can the vet or rescue centre suggest someone professionally qualified to help? Most vets have a behaviour referral service that they rely on locally and most good rescue centres provide behavioural support for the dogs they rehome in one way or another. A dog's best chance of success when rehoming goes along with a professional behaviour assessment that is thorough - Wood Green sends out excellent, accurate and thorough reports with every dog they rehome, for example. The SPCA or vet should be able to suggest someone with a kind approach who can really work through this to give this little girl the very best chance of success.

Play mate

Hello Dogs Today

Can you help me? My family and I have just adopted a Staffie. The rescue thinks she's about three or four years old and has had a few pups in her time - probably a breeding bitch.

She is wonderful with the kids and we love her very much, but the poor girl doesn't know how to play. I assume she's been kept inside for much of her life - the rescue did a lot of training with her before rehoming her with us, including walking on a lead, recall etc. We're taking her to training classes, too.

How can I teach her to play games such as fetch or other interactive, fun games? We've had puppies in the past and they've taken to playing from day one, but poor Gem just looks at the ball. We don't want to stress her out at all, but would love to see her having some fun.

Thanks very much.

The Morris Family, by email

Janet Garrett DipCAPBT (COAPE) MAPDT, advises...

Oh poor Gem - she has had no time to be young in her life so far. As you are making such wonderful progress with all her other training this bit should be fun, it might be very slow but your enthusiasm when she starts to ‘get it’ will be all she needs to carry on. I like to begin with dogs who don't know how to play by sitting on the floor with them very close. I usually try two different methods at any time so that you can keep swopping and keep things interesting for you both if progress is slow. Make sure the toys you are going to use for this are not on general availability in your house but are truly ‘special’. The first I try is ‘Be a Kongaholic’. With a large enough Kong in my hand and something really lickable on my fingers like a butter type spread melted in the microwave, I get my dog interested in my fingers and then rub them round the Kong so that as she licks my fingers she moves easily to the Kong and back to my fingers. I support the Kong so that she can lick away. The real trick is not to go too fast - don't be tempted to throw it or jiggle it around too soon, just let her lick the remnants of the butter, dip your fingers back in if necessary, keeping the Kong still. Try this whenever you have a moment and then watch as she starts to notice when you get the Kong out of the cupboard and continues to watch as you get it ready. Keep the sessions short but soon she will be nuzzling the Kong which may occasionally escape from your hand or being wedged under your shoe and she will have to pursue it in order to carry on her lovely game.

The second game I play is in a similar vein. Using a plastic ball that is bigger than the dog’s mouth I sit on the floor with my dog between outstretched legs. I squeeze a little of the Arden Grange Liver Treat spread on the ball and when she starts to lick I let go of the ball so that she has to go with it to continue licking. It’s important to go too so that you can trap the ball again and she is rewarded with another good lick and then allow it to go free. She’s playing - she’s learning to have fun! Top up the spread every so often and again stop the game and play more later rather than let her get fed up and wander off.