After much thought about getting a dog, we rehomed a 9 month old crossbreed (dalmatian x supposedly GSD, but rescue shelter were not sure about the GSD bit) a few weeks ago. He had belonged to a couple who worked and didn't have time for him. He's had no socialisation with dogs and is quite shy of people initially, although he warms up if they are gentle. He was supposedly housetrained and neutered- both of these have proved to NOT be the case!
I had not ideally wanted such a young dog, but he was so good with the DSs (aged 4.5 and 2) and we had come across so few rescue dogs that were, that we decided to take him. He continues to be very gentle and friendly with the boys and visiting children (obviously everyone is supervised at all times!) Visiting adults and particularly men frighten him a bit but once he's had a few treats from them he is happy.
He lacks any kind of basic training (recall non existent, pulls like a train, only knew 'sit') and continually gets on the furniture and is a terrible food thief- we're talking food off your plate if you turn away for a minute, raw beetroot from the counter top in plain view, etc! He will just remove food (always very gently) from the toddler's hand too, even at the table. Although these are tiring and hard work, I feel we can make progress with these issues. He started socialisation/training classes last night and wasn't too bad.
But the toileting is driving me crazy. He is taken out regularly and given tons of praise/treat when he goes in the garden but so far gives no clues as to when he needs to go, and will merrily go in the house, sometimes going off out of sight, sometimes in full view. He is happy enough when left at home alone (2 hours the longest so far, which I worked up to gradually) but if someone in the family goes upstairs he sometimes (not always!) freaks out, whining and crying. If we are all upstairs he gets very upset and wees/poos, even if just having gone outside. I don't really know how to tackle it and in conjunction with all the other stuff, (not to mention normal family life) has left me feeling so stressed and that I have bitten off way more than I can chew
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19 replies
coldcomfortHeart · 21/05/2013 10:45
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