To get rid of puppy?

[chubbychipmonk]

Posting this on behalf on friend who doesn't know what to do.

She has a 4 yr old DD & 8 year old DS, is also in a relationship with DP who has 8 year old DD who stays at the house regularly.

She bought a Dalmatian puppy at Xmas who up until now has been playful & boisterous. She has been taking him to puppy classes & he seems to be training well. Last night however she was in the kitchen, heard a scream & found the dog had jumped up on DD & bitten her behind the ear whilst trying to retrieve a toy. Resulted in a hospital visit, tetanus jag & stitches.

Her DP (as well as his ex) now understandably don't want the dog round their daughter. My opinion is also that she should get rid of the dog as its too big a risk. However she has spoken to otherswho advise that the dog is merely being playful & she should persevere. Basically she just wants to see what the common consensus is, it's already causing arguments between her & DP. My opinion is she's being unreasonable to keep the puppy but what do others think?

[batteryhen]

More brown and white, moth eaten looking!

[Ullena]

Hen, google african wild dogs to see if they are what you saw Completely different to the domestic dog.

[batteryhen]

Had a google, they are the ones. It says in the write up that the wild dogs resemble wolves in their social structure and are usually dominated by a breeding pair? I just remember the guide saying that the dogs will have a dominant member who rules the roost so to speak!

[SpicyPear]

Battery I'm not sure what your point is. I've only seen African Wild Dogs at a zoo, but it was pretty obvious they wouldn't have much in common with my domestic dogs.

[batteryhen]

Just saying that peoplesay the dominance theory doesn't exist in dogs, which is the exact opposite to what we were told. That wild dogs do have a pack leader and they dominate the pack.

[Rachael1880]

Hey,

We unfortunately passed our puppy to family for a couple of weeks until we got settled, but she ended up staying up there as our Aunt really enjoyed having her, for us it worked out okay.

[Susan2kids]

Yes it is massively unreasonable to get a puppy and then get rid of it because you cant be bothered to supervise your children around it. It actually makes me angry that people like that are even allowed to keep pets again.

[Ullena]

African wild dogs are an entirely different species of canidae. They are not related to domestic dogs. Thinks african wild dogs look very adorable and also terrifying

[Ullena]

I actually really hope this puppy goes to a breed rescue, as if all the info is correct, it was sold at 5 1/2 weeks old...

[Floralnomad]

Off the point but I'd like to apologise to theodorakissess , as I said at the time I may have been mistaken , which I was , but I'm quite happy to admit when I'm wrong ! Thank you for being such a reasonable person in your responses!

[batteryhen]

Thanks Ullena. They were cute looking but I still didn't want to get too close!

[theodorakisses]

Sorry too, peace please. Carrot the foster pup said he wouldn't mind getting rid of the big black cat, it has scratched him and he wants something done now!

[D0oinMeCleanin]

That would explain a lot of things, puppies need to stay with their mothers until 8 weeks old. This is where they start learning many important skills including bite inhibition. Removing them too early, especially to an inexperienced home almost always leads to behavior issues. This is why rescues prefer to put abandoned puppies in with other litters rather than hand rearing.

[BinarySolo]

I agree this thread seems to be full of drip fed contradictions. My advice is to the puppy. Leave the bastards!

[Ullena]

Hopefully it will, once able

[StuntGirl]

Binary

[OwlLady]

D0oinMeCleanin, it was Wildwood, Herne Common, Kent

[Booyhoo]

"My advice is to the puppy. Leave the bastards! "

best post of the thread!

[Booyhoo]

and @ 5 1/2 week puppy being taken from it's mum and siblings! fucking idiots! both buyers and sellers.

[chubbychipmonk]

Ok. . . Apologies to those who feel this information is being drip friend. Like I said, I posted this for a friend (who is a work colleague. . So it's kinda being drip fed to me too!).

Just to confirm:

The DP bought her the puppy, he paid for it, they travelled to Arran together & bought it.

I'm unsure how much research was done into the breeder/ litter

It was bought on 10th Dec, the puppy was about 6 weeks old when she bought him, he's now 14 weeks (if these dates don't add up don't shoot the messenger. . This is only what I've been told!)

She wasn't in work this afternoon but will get an update & let you all know the outcome.

FWIW I agree with the majority, very sad situation for the puppy & despite her best attempts at walking/ puppy classes etc the choice of dog was probably not thought through as well as should have been.

[ElsieMc]

My Springer Spaniel jumped up and caught my DD1 just under her eye when she was very young. He had got out into the garden and I had not noticed. It marked her and I felt so full of guilt for so long afterwards. It was my fault not the dogs -yet I was an experienced owner. We let him go to a breeder who would assess then rehome him for us. She rang me that evening and told me he was so hyper, despite our best efforts with exercise, that we had done the right thing.

Dalmations are big, powerful dogs and hard to train. It sounds to me as though this dog is incompatible with the family and it is kinder all round to rehome him. It would be so unfair for him to be the cause of such dispute and inevitable scapegoating.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

6 weeks old? She bought home a 6 week old puppy?

There's no more words.

[countrykitten]

Yes - depressing and shocking but all too commonplace. I have a rescued puppy farm breeding bitch whose pups would be taken from her at 4/5 weeks old and sold on to stupid, uncaring and ill educated people. And then she would be mated again. And again. The conditions she endured were beyond belief.

I wonder if this is a similar situation.

[chubbychipmonk]

How old are puppies meant to be when taken from their mother/ litter? (Never had a puppy, my dog is rescue dog so have no clue)