To consider rehoming rescue dog due to negativity from neighbours?

[LimeslemonsPomegranates]

Am I being unreasonable to think about rehoming my rescue dog? Other solutions? He was 4 years old when he came to us. He is a mixed breed lurcher and has had 4 different homes before us, he has been with us longer than anyone else. He was adopted from a rescue centre by a relative who then found the dog too much to manage, the children became attached so we took him on. We have had him about 5 years now but we've moved to a new area recently, but now he is causing us problems with our new neighbours and I think is being percieved as a pretty poor reflection on our family. It is a very tidy, affluent sort of area, and people here seem to be assuming the dog is neglected. We have another dog who is beautifully behaved that we bought and trained from a puppy who looks beautiful and never draws negative comments.

1. He escapes the garden occasionally, once every 6 months maybe, he would escape CONSTANTLY if not for the fact that I stand by the door and watch him or put him on a long lead. It is a rental, there is a very thin hedge and an unusual design feature of the landlords, with no fencing and no way to seal any of it up. I took my eye off the ball due to the toddler yesterday for 2 minutes, and he disappeared. Heavily pregnant, with a toddler, walking up and down scrubland and peering in gardens calling for the missing dog in the pouring rain ensued. A neighbour later knocked on the door, apparantly he had somehow got through into the street and been recognised. Neighbour gives me a polite telling off about being irresponsible for letting the dog escape as poor dog ownership and acted as if I had sat in the house oblivious. Obviously him escaping even occassionally is terrible, but expecting him to 100% never escape is completley unrealistic bar rehoming given his urge to wander is so strong, hence wondering if I am being unreasonable to consider it to avoid being labeled a bad dog owner. My other dog never leaves the garden, she is a velcro dog.
2. He smells really doggy, he has wiry terrier fur, washing causes him eczema, and when he is outside he has very strong wet dog smell. Everyone around here has a cockpoo or similar pretty/pedigree sort of dog that always look very well groomed, the lurhcer looks extremely out of place and 'mangy' just by virtue of appearance I suspect, I feel he is being discirminated against on some level for his looks. Our other dog is a very elegant pedigree and never gets any negative comments or assumptions of neglect. Should I wash him anyway? He is regularly trimmed and brushed, but still smells.
3. He has fleas apparantly. He has been flea treated, I am forever treating him for fleas. My other dog is treated on the same schedule and doesn't scratch or have signs of fleas, but he just seems to constantly be itching. I'm not sure this is truly fleas or just eczema/sensitive skin but the neighbours want to assume it is fleas it appears.
4. He barks all the time. Actually my other dog is the one that barks all the time while he is silent, I will give him that he is not a barker. My other dog has severe seperation anxiety and the neighbours are probably fed up of the barking every time we go out without her. I appreciate this must be very annoying for them, and I'm really not sure what to do about that. So rehoming him will not solve the problem of the barking for the neighbours.
5. He has to sleep in a crate, or be in the crate when not under supervision or he will without fail poo/wee on the wooden floors the moment eyes are off of him. I have tried everything and he still does it (and of course letting him out 8 times a day increases the risk of him running off!). Fortunately he will not soil his crate. This is just about manageable but is still a potential reason to rehome.

The children adore him, we are all attached to his quirky character, he is a lovely, friendly, playful dog, but very difficult to own. As a parent, the dog is causing me unnecessary stress I don't need and must be reflecting poorly on our family. Maybe we aren't the right family for him? Maybe he needs more than we can give him? Our other dog (apart from being the real barker) doesn't attract negativity on sight, and I feel we are being blamed for the rescue dog's bad behaviour and feral appearance as nobody knows he went through 4 homes before us. I assume this was due to these very reasons, but we thought we were doing a good thing by taking him on.

So he's 9/10 years old? Rescue centres are full to bursting, the chances of him being adopted into a perfect home are slim, so just bear that in mind when your thinking of giving him up, he could spend a heck of a lot of time in kennels.
I imagine your neighbours think its this one that barks, which will almost certainly be what's annoying them. Its very antisocial to have a dog barking all day. A smelly dog escaping very occasionally isn't really a problem for most.
Get some professional advice on skin/smell. This can almost certainly be improved with correct diet and treatment

Not sure where you buy his flea treatment but over the counter/online ones do not work. You need to get it from the vet. It may be thst his itching is purely flea allergy, as you say he always seems to have fleas. Please do not rehome him, he will break his heart to lose his home again and he may not be able to weather it psychologically this time.

When did he last see the vet?

The biggest issue is the dog escaping from the garden. It isn't unreasonable for the neighbours to have commented about that. The problem is the escaping, not the neighbours.

It is also not unreasonable for the neighbours to complain about the excessive barking. As I understand it, the neighbours have wrongly assumed the lurcher, rather than your other dog, is to blame, but why does that matter?. If it bothers, you, just tell them which dog it is. And, more importantly, do something about the excessive barking.

As for the comments about smell and itchiness, provided you are following your vet's advice for dealing with these issues, why can't you just say that you are doing what you can about it? Plainly, the neighbours are worried about the dog's welfare and just being too intrusive with their concerns. I'm not sure why that would have anything to do with the dog's breed, or why their questions would be a reason for rehoming.
Do you really feel that people dislike the idea of having a lurcher around, out of a kind of snobbery about breeds? That would be extremely weird.

Get a long line for him in the garden. He still has complete freedom but wouldn't be able to get far beyond the garden boundaries.
This is a weird take on life to think rhe easiest option is to get rid of a pet you have had for many years because you are worried about what people think

Your neighbours sound quite mad as you describe them. Given the inherent unlikelihood of this type of group insanity, I do wonder whether what you are describing accurately reflects their comments/feelings or if you are just projecting - maybe out of a sense of inadequacy?

If you do not love or like this poor dog and don’t want to care for him then that’s one thing. But to re-home because of these strange neighbour issues would be cruel and silly- lots of alternative suggestions above.

I have to say- what will happen when the day comes (as it almost certainly will) when your neighbours for some reason indicate a degree of irritation with your children?

Sort the barking dog out. As someone whose neighbour has a dog with separation anxiety that fucking barks and cries constantly throughout the day then I would be making that a priority to sort first. It’s fucking selfish to your neighbours and cruel to the dog.

Your rescue dog actually doesn’t sound a problem tbh.

For the skin/itching/eczema/smell I suspect an allergy. It's really worth exploring. It sounds like my dog, who struggled with the above for ages, poor thing, until we finally found the right medication for him. Life changer! Not only his skin is better, no more scratching and smell, but he is also muuuuuch happier, less nervous and barky, less worried/nervous around other dogs and people. I really wish we'd found his meds earlier tbh. Worth exploring.

Just to add, if the dog smells so strongly that people notice it when he is outside in the open air, this really sounds like something you should ask the vet about. I've never come across a dog that has a strong smell that is noticeable outside. Perhaps he has a skin problem and perhaps this is also why he is itchy.

Yes, it is very annoying for neighbours to comment on it, but if the issues were bad enough, I think I might drop a comment, just to get reassurance that the owner realised it was something that needed vet attention. The important thing is for you to make sure the problem is investigated, then you can easily reassure well-meaning over-anxious people like me .

You can easily put up temporary structures to secure the garden or part of the garden. As for the rest, who cares what the neighbour thinks? Tell her he has eczema not fleas

The only issue here is the escaping, which you can handle with a long line.

Smell, scratching and skin- go to the vet.
Barking- it’s the other dog
Weeing on the floor- nothing to do with the neighbours.

You are being a bit wet tbh.

So you've decided he's not posh enough for you ? He's been with you for 5 years, did you just realise this ?

Your neighbours are probably just pissed off that a dog keeps escaping into their garden. If he didn't escape they wouldn't have had the opportunity to notice he's smelly

You yourself say your dog is smelly and always itching, so that is what they are noticing? Your neighbours are not judging your dog, they are judging you as an owner for allowing your dog to escape, and implying he's smelly and has fleas ties into that. Rehoming your dog won't make them think you are a better owner

Secure your garden and don't let him run free in it without being secure as obviously he will escape, if you can't secure it then long lead and regular trips to a dog park. Then take your dog to the vet to sort out his smelly, itchy skin. Ignore the neighbours

I wouldn’t care about any of that apart from the barking. People that lets their dogs bark when they go out are really selfish.

I suspect youre feeling a bit overwhelmed and thats what caused you to post this, it can really make you doubt yourself when people around you are being a bit crap like your neighbours. Id not rehome my dog because of some snobby neighbours opinions. Next time they are comented on just roll your eyes and say he has exema. My dog is on the steetchy lead to go into the garden because our front garden isnt fenced and we only have the one door and currently our gate is broken. It doesnt brother her at all but shes also quite velcroish and we can even play fetch like that so its ok.
The peeing indoors would drive me mad though. He sounds a bit like a rescue dog my aunt had when i was a child who was really smelly and had no hair due to skin issues and allergies. He had a lot of behavioural issues and had had 5 homes before she took him but he was the sweetest dog! He stayed there for the rest of his days and was much loved by everyone.

Anxious dogs breed anxious dogs. Im not a massive dog person and the decline in training of dogs or "untrainable dogs" is ridiculous. Rehoming doesnt fix any of these issues just pushes the burden to another person to handle. My opinion on the matter isnt popular though. PTS hes a 9 year old lurcher whos going to rehome him?

Put him to sleep on what basis? The dog hasn’t done anything wrong

I’m still trying to get my head round how you’re well trained non rescue dog barks all the time. If it’s well trained. 🤔

Get a tether or overhead line for the back yard so that he can go outside and sniff around and you don't need to sit there. It might help with the soiling, too.

A good dog groomer migjt be able to recommend non - soap washes that won't exacerbate his skin / allergies. Which needs treating if he's scratching.

Dog doesn't care about judgy neighbours.

I personally think that a scruffy lurcher is far more interesting than yet another boring bouncy poorly socialised oodle.

Hes pissing and shitting on floors when not in a crate and escaping the house so could get hit by a car he also has medical issues by the sounds of it by itchy and smelly skin ?

Is he allergic to the actual flea treatment? If you’re treating him a lot because he keeps scratching that will make it worse. There are really good treatments you can get to treat dogs with smelly skin conditions and your vet can recommend different flea treatment,
I agree with pp that he needs to see a vet. You don’t sound like you like him very much and are comparing him negatively to your other dog. Do you like him? Do you want to keep him?
Take him to the vets, train the dog that barks and grow a backbone with the neighbours!

#1 is the only valid point relevant to your subject line. I agree that your dog should not be escaping your garden.

#2 WTF? Just keep it far enough away from your neighbours that they can’t smell it. If it smells so bad from a distance outside then how are you coping at home? It goes without saying that neighbours not liking the look of it is not a factor to consider in whether you get rid of your beloved pet. 🤦🏻‍♀️

#3 Surely you can tell if your dog has fleas. If in doubt, take it to the vet and ask them to check. It’s not difficult to treat so really not a huge deal if swiftly dealt with.

#4 Completely irrelevant if the dog we’re discussing is silent.

#5 Nothing to do with the neighbours.

Are you sure you’re not just saying you’ve had enough of your dog? 🤔

Fuck the neighbours!

It's the other dog that barks.