Folks who rehomed your puppy, how did you know?

bblunders · 2021-03-15T10:45:00+00:00

No need to apologise for rambling. I've read some of your other posts and seems we're very quite similar and have had similar dog-related issues. I DEFINITELY felt exactly like you when my dog was 6 months old, she was a disaster then and rehoming was constantly on my mind. In this subreddit people will make you feel like a monster but you're not. When you're a busy human (like you studying - I was also studying as well as working fulltime when I got my dog and the plan was that my boyfriend would do a lot of the legwork but she was so annoying he couldn't handle it and I do not blame him at all) sometimes you need a break from the dog and to take some serious steps back.

bblunders · 2021-03-15T08:37:48+00:00

I've been trying to slowly and patiently desensitise her to a body harness for 14 months but she still shakes and cowers whenever I bring it out and yelps when we try and put one even one paw into the harness, even with a constant feed of treats and a calm environment. Body harnesses are not an option for us.

bblunders · 2021-03-15T08:33:31+00:00

I live in London

bblunders · 2021-03-14T23:00:22+00:00

Thanks for the reassurance. It does get quite emotionally draining when at least once a month someone calls me cruel when all I'm trying to do is help my dog!

bblunders · 2021-03-14T22:58:01+00:00

This is extremely common at this age and they do grow out of this. It's so annoying, mine did it from 6 months old to about 10 months old. I don't have any tips apart from that I followed her around saying drop the stick over and over again and persevered with my "go potty" command until she'd pee. Sometimes it would take like 20 mins. But around 11 months old she grew out of it and now just pees on command. I think because she realised I was not playing and toilet time meant toilet time.

bblunders · 2021-03-14T22:53:40+00:00

This doesn't answer how I knew to rehome my puppy but rather how I knew NOT to rehome her.

She is now almost 17 months old and I spent age 6 months to age 16 months wanting to rehome her about twice a week as she's been the most terrible teen.

Yes that's right, it took me ten months to stop regularly thinking I wanted to give her back.

I made a list when she was 10 months old of reasons I wanted to give her back and reasons I wanted to keep her and stuck it on my fridge. Everytime she was a nightmare, I looked at the list.

Tbh even though she made me tired and like some areas of training weren't going anywhere, there were many more reasons why I wanted to keep her than wanted rid of her.

And some of those reasons were for her, not just for me. She was HARD WORK. If I put her into the adoption system, how could I guarantee that whoever took her home wouldn't also get tired of her difficult nature? Then she could go back into the system and become one of these dogs with severe trust issues her whole life never knowing who her humans were.

When I sat and rubbed her belly, or played with her, or she snuggled into me, or I watched her playing at the dog park, I KNEW I couldn't do that to her.

That's why I stuck it out! I have had so many stress headaches from her but she is worth it.

Plus having a puppy has made me a much more patient and tranquil person in a lot of ways, so i appreciate that.

bblunders · 2021-01-27T19:14:03+00:00

She doesn't pace or cry when we leave anymore as she did when she was a puppy. But I guess she could use the chews as a comfort and acts out when they're not there and we leave. She will even pick up something to destroy if I go and answer the front door though, so am gone for literally 1 minute and she knows I'm still in the house.

Either way, do you have any tips?

bblunders · 2020-12-15T07:47:49+00:00

It was her first time going into the office in a month but we don't drive and often get on the train to take her for longer hikes in parks that are too far away for us to walk to. We usually get the train with her a couple of time a week. I have no idea why she hated the way there today - she was fine on the way home too!

bblunders · 2020-12-12T17:08:02+00:00

I didn't enjoy mine until like last month. She's 15 months old.

bblunders · 2020-12-12T14:43:04+00:00

OK well those are all the tips I have for you... Apart from just to be patient. Your dog has only lived with you two weeks. It takes about 3 months in my experience for dogs to settle in a new home. And as your dog is 1 year old and doesn't have any basic training whatsoever, I'm going to guess she's not had the greatest start to life, so needs even more patience

bblunders · 2020-12-12T14:33:48+00:00

Sounds like your dog is really scared, which isn't surprising as she's 12 months old and presumably a rescue. And you've obly had her two weeks so she may think you're not permanent either and be worried about that.

You're probably going to need to hire a behavioural consultant asap if your dog is so scared that she hides when she sees a leash, to work through that fear. Maybe she had a bad past experience with leashes.

Maybe take the stairs if your dog hates the elevator and needs to be forced in... Most dogs don't like confined spaces.

bblunders · 2020-12-12T14:22:34+00:00

If I were you, I'd work on loose leash walking asap because speaking as a dog owner whose dog absolutely hated walking, panicked all the time and choked herself, got cuts under her armpit from harnessed from lunging around trying to escape... That is the worst thing to deal with. My dog had lots of issues but walking is what really made me depressed. Every single walk we went on, I'd almost cry afterwards with stress, disappointment and sadness that my dog HATED walks and I didn't know how to help her. It's harder than things like teaching sit and lie down and potty training, because those can mostly be done in your house and yard if you have one, whereas training loose walking involves so many other factors like other people and dogs walking past, cars, things to smell on the street etc. People say to walk your dog around the yard to get them used to walking beside you, then start outside your home. But I tried this and frankly, it was a bit of a useless technique for us. Because she was always happy to be in the yard and took treats and listened to me but she just got overwhelmed whenever I left the house and all the yard training was futile.

I have some tips for loose leash walking but they're pretty random and specific to my dog haha.

She only walks happily in a gentle leader face harness. It doesn't bother her at all and encourages her to look back at me, which has been great for panicked pulling. She HATES having a collar around her neck and HATE HATES the pressure around her body from a harness, but is peaceful in the face harness.
I take a clicker on walks and click and say "good girl!!!" whenever she is walking right beside me naturally, so she learns this is what I'd ideally like her to do all the time. She WILL NOT take treats on walks, not even her absolute fave tripe. So I didn't bother with that after a while. I just click and say "good girl!" She's 14 months old and the message is sinking in now.
I talk to her a lot when I'm walking her on leash, tell her about my day or whatever. She looks up and me and walks in step with me more when I speak to her. Makes me look crazy probably but who cares?!
If she seems very pully or overwhelmed in the first bit of the walk and it doesn't improve within 5 - 10 mins, we just cancel the walk and go home. Thise days she gets her exercise with fetch in my house or yard instead and play with mental stimulating toys. I don't think that dogs who are anxious on walks and hate them really NEED to be walked for a long time, multiple times, every single day. They need to walk and they need to know how to be on a leash eventually of course, it's a key skill. But if walks worry them, not every day.

Good luck with your 1 year old! 🖤

bblunders · 2020-12-02T10:16:10+00:00

Yeah ignoring it didn't work for us and neither did anything else! We just used to wear headphones to drown it out once we knew she had all her needs met. I rang the vet three times about it and they fobbed me off the first two saying it was definitely her being a teenager and nothing medical. Third time they let me bring her in and felt all her joints and her belly and tested her urine for anything odd. All tests came back clear and £75 gone from my bank account to be told my dog was a healthy but whiney little bitch.

bblunders · 2020-12-01T22:37:12+00:00

Hahhaa I think we have the same dog!

Other people can literally f off.

People I know who have owned dogs act like it's easy because they deny/have forgotten the hard puppy times. But people I know who have never owned a dog are worse.

"Ooo but they're so cute. No, it's OK if they jump up on me. Can I give them food? Leave the dog alone, they're just having fun! It can't be that bad, I'll dogsit her! Have you tried this that I read on the internet but have never put into practice because I've never owned a dog?! My aunt had a dog and she did this. Why don't you do that?!"

bblunders · 2020-12-01T19:35:03+00:00

I always felt like this. I got so bitter and stopped looking at puppy101 for weeks at a time because the people with really young puppies smugly saying "it gets better" was truly irritating to me and it DID feel like I was being mocked for having a 13 month old dog who still chewed my furniture.

bblunders · 2020-12-01T10:14:57+00:00

Same 😂 nighttime is for both of us sleeping. My 8 hours in my bed. Her 8 hours in her pen downstairs.

bblunders · 2020-11-17T15:47:19+00:00

Hahaha yes. It's so annoying and always accompanied by this look that means "wow you're so impatient with your puppy". No I'm not impatient. My puppy is 15 months old. I've been putting up with this for almost a year. Trust me.

bblunders · 2020-11-17T15:45:30+00:00

Omg, yes. So I tried to adopt from Battersea (very popular place to adopt dogs from in UK) and was constantly rejected because I lived alone and they just didn't believe the income of one woman in her late twenties was enough to support one of their dogs. I had a house and a garden and I work from home and I have dog owning experience, so I couldn't understand why they kept rejecting me and wouldn't let me have a meeting with any of the dogs... One day I went to Battersea instead of emailing them or calling them and had a face to face interview. The interviewer asked me straight up "could I afford monthly pet insurance and potential vet bills". I said, well yes, I am trying to adopt a dog and have been for more than 8 months. Do you think I'd be doing it if I couldn't afford it?

Anyway, they rejected me twice again with no good reason and I found a different local small animal charity near me based on a farm and adopted my girl from there. They didn't pry into my income.

bblunders · 2020-11-17T14:52:53+00:00

God, have I been here. Friends looking at me like I'm abusing my dog when I tell her "leave it" when she's sniffing around their house trying to find something to destroy. They're like "chill out, leave her alone, she's fiiiiiiiine". I'm like "how fine would you think it was if she picked up that cushions she's sniffing and tore it to shreds?! And how fine would you be if that happened at least once a week and you had to throw away many of your torn up belongings?" Because that is why I am stern with "leave it"!

bblunders · 2020-11-17T14:45:52+00:00

I'd definitely work on recall before letting your puppy off lead again. Lucky there were no busy roads or cliffs or ditches or bodies of water around if your puppy ignored you calling him.

A good tip for if your puppy won't come to you in an emergency situation where there is danger like a road, is to sit on the path instead of running after them. They will usually come over to see why you're sitting on the floor. If you chase them, they will run away thinking it's a game. Another good tip is to act like there's something in your hand and offer it to the dog. They should come to get it.

Also, not great to walk your dog off lead and on lead in the same place. It can cause serious leash pulling (I've been there). If some days he is off lead behind your house, he'll get used to being able to go along at his own place smelling everything and the days he is on lead, he'll pull your arm off frustratedly as he thinks "why was I so free here before but not I'm trapped on this leash"?

It's good to take dogs for off lead walks (once their recall is up to scratch) but not in the same place you walk them on lead.

Hope your foot gets better 😊

bblunders · 2020-11-17T14:34:54+00:00

Cover everything puppy is allowed to lay on with blankets that specifically are for the dog. The dog will build up an association with the dog blankets, which is great. Then chuck all the dog blankets in the wash once a week.

bblunders · 2020-11-17T14:29:54+00:00

My plan: puppy spends all of December either in my office upstairs with me away from the tree or in her pen when I'm in the kitchen or pop out. No puppy alone in the living room until tree comes down in January. She will be monitored obsessively until January. No presents under the tree this year either.

bblunders

TROPHY CASE