The rescue was really busy but everyone was looking at the puppies, no-one in the older dog section so I'm hoping no-one else will apply for him.
We fell in love with a 2-3 year old lab cross. He's only been there a week so still needs to be neutered and temp tested. I went and said hello to him first then took the dc in one at a time. Dog (he doesn't have a name yet) was lovely, very friendly, a bit boisterous, clearly very food orientated going by how many treats were coming out of the handlers pocket, he was great with the kids from the little interaction we had with him. He seemed to take a liking to 4 1/2 ds2, sitting next to him (practically on his feet), kept looking up at him and nuzzling into his hand.
I'm pretty sure we can give him a lovely home. We have a fully fenced secure garden, I'm a SAHM, the boys are 6 & 4 and home schooled and we spend a lot of time on the beach or in parks/reserves, on bush walks. We don't really go anywhere often that a dog couldn't come with.
I've been watching kikopup videos on YouTube and looking at crate training.
Is there anything else you could advise? I'm very much hoping we'll be accepted for him so I want to be prepared but even if we turned down we'll keep looking for the right dog so want to be prepared anyway.
Keepin my fingers crossed now.
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
Put in an application for rescue dog today
MidnightDinosaur · 31/05/2015 08:12
Fantastic. I wish more people would move past the puppies and consider some of the mature doggies. I have adopted 3 rescues over the past 11 years and all were over 6 years old.
Wishing you loads of luck and love with your new best friend. Can't wait to hear how it all goes.
Good luck 
Hi, thank you everyone. It's our local council owned rescue centre. I don't know how much the rules vary to the UK but we're in NZ where they don't seem to automatically ban rehoming to families with young children.
They do temperament testing on each dog as it comes in and decide on what kind of home it will be best suited too. They haven't had the lab long so hasn't been temp tested yet but his handler mentioned how well dog behaved around the dc, he's in pretty good shape so obviously someone has taken care of him at some point but he knows very few commands.
We probably won't hear anything for a little while, I'm going to start buying a few small bits and pieces to put away anyway and will update if I get any news.
We have a lab cross from the dogs trust. We put our name down for her and were provisionally accepted based on a questionnaire and only then was the home check booked. Once that was done (and we proved the daft changes they insisted on) we could pick her up.
Sorry you missed out on him, must mean the perfect dog is still waiting for you somewhere though
We have a lab cross from the dogs trust. We put our name down for her and were provisionally accepted based on a questionnaire and only then was the home check booked. Once that was done (and we proved the daft changes they insisted on) we could pick her up.
Sorry you missed out on him, must mean the perfect dog is still waiting for you somewhere though
We have a lab cross from the dogs trust. We put our name down for her and were provisionally accepted based on a questionnaire and only then was the home check booked. Once that was done (and we proved the daft changes they insisted on) we could pick her up.
Sorry you missed out on him, must mean the perfect dog is still waiting for you somewhere though
What a shame MD - hard for your children I would imagine 
. Hopefully the right dog will come along.
Good that the rescue is so thorough I suppose.
Well, bit of an update
Ds1 and I went back up to the rescue today to have a look at other dogs, noticed the black lab (now called Scout) still there. Just assumed he hadn't been picked up yet and we carried on looking.
One of the handlers came after us to tell us that the other family weren't taking Scout now and did we still want him?
Of course I said yes, they said they were still a bit unsure about Scout around younger children but they want us all to go back in on Saturday so they can observe him and the kids and if all goes well, they'll do our house check early next week.
Can't stop smiling. :)
We pick up Scout tomorrow afternoon. 
I can't stop grinning.
Will start a new thread with photos once he's home.
Thank you everyone.
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