And so it begins (lockdown puppies)

[Sailawaysailaway]

I’ve seen two posts this week on local Facebook/Nextdoor groups of

“Does anyone fancy walking my dog. Back to work for us etc etc”.

Quite obviously asking for someone to walk for them for free, not asking for a dog walker

I have been quite a defender on posts about lockdown dogs etc, hoping that the majority of people wouldn’t be so stupid as to get a dog with no forward planning at all - but I’m now seeing my hope was misplaced.

Not quite sure what my Aibu is - but seen yet another post today (by a teacher no less - so they were always going back to the “office”) and it’s pissed me off.

So I suppose Aibu to say - don’t get a dog if you have no plan on how to look after it when you go back to work.

[quote RandomMess]@ladygindiva mine is a JRT I swear they are supposed to be hardy ratters rather than precious lap dogs that need a ridiculous amount if sleep and tropical temperatures???[/quote]
My jrt is happiest basking on a baking patio in the heat or getting as close to the fire as he's allowed. Though he does chase small furry things given the chance( never) and has destroyed the odd toy that looks too "animal " like....

@chaosmaker

I never understood why they stopped dog licences.

Because they cost 7/6 (37p) and were completely pointless.

Sorry just come back to this thread, not good at doing links
I have a feeling this dog might have gone now
Hopefully someone can find it
I feel so sorry for it,at 8 years old

I had a look at gumtree and preloved. It's heartbreaking to see some of the dogs for sale including youngish puppies, but obviously not young enough to command high prices.

I should stop looking. Someone is selling their "much loved" yeah right 8 month old Labrador Buddy because they don't have time to look after him. Anyone in Kent with a spare £800, he looks absolutely gorgeous?

And someone selling a 7 year old Llasa alfo (sp) as they are going back to work and dog will be alone . Presumably most of these dogs are stolen though rather than previously owned by incompetents.

Just had a look and there's a few around but mostly dogs that would have been bought well before lockdown looking at the ages. All the breeds are very high energy or mixes of dogs I'd consider hard work. I feel so sorry for unwanted pets.

I think it’s disgraceful. I doubt we’ll get a dog until
DH retires and that’s not for about 20-25 years 😬 We just want it to be loved and have the enjoyment of going for walks with it rather than paying for doggy day care. Also, I work out of the home and DH’s work are being a bit cagey about whether his job is going to be permanent WFH so best to play it safe.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

Queenoflabradors, have you got an influx of young partially trained dogs? Mine is 6 months and recall is quite good but not 100%, but she’s started to suddenly decide someone walking towards her is a best friend and jumps up at them and won’t come away until I catch up and grab her collar. I’m not currently looking for a dogwalker but I don’t think she’s well-trained enough yet to go out in a group - and particularly not if there were a lot of similarly young and unpredictable dogs in the group! I wondered whether that might be a problem for dogwalkers atm, skewing the balance of their groups towards young excitable dogs and making them harder to handle en masse.

(DH was 60% home working pre-lockdown and has already been told that the meetings he used to attend far flung across the country will now all be held over Teams to save money, so it’ll be more like 80% at home, and I worked 1 day at home anyway and it’s likely to be 2/3 at home after the summer, so we’re sorted for dog care!)

I wouldn't call it an influx, but a couple of the younger ones are undoubtedly going through a teenage moment! We're all working together (owners, trainer if they have one, and me and my team) and definitely getting somewhere. We've found the Thing That They Love More Than Anything Else for all of them, mostly it's a food reward, sometimes it's a ball, and for one in particular all he wants is for someone to rub his head and ears. The important thing is that all of them respond to ' What's this!?' because they know they'll get The Thing they want. Also I have a good core of bombproof long term regulars who are teaching the younger newer ones by example.

@BigPaperBag good job you’re not getting a dog as you seem to think that daycare means no need for walks and also that you don’t spend time with the dog if it’s in daycare.

Our dog gets 2 walks a day in general and 1 if he’s been to daycare. He has cuddles on our bed in the morning before he goes to daycare and on the couch in the evening when he gets home along with training and playing ball.

He is very loved and happy. He also adores daycare and starting scrapping to get out of the car when we pull into their driveway!