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.

Please don't give up on this poor dog. You might be his only hope of a happy life. If your garden/neighbours aren't isn't suitable, could you consider moving?

I've only read the OP replies but not the rest.

You and your family love this dog, have homed it for 5 years.

Dogs smell
The barking isn't this dog
Use a lead in the garden.

Tell your neighbours to F... Off.

I'm not clear why you would rent a house with a garden unsuitable for dogs?

But regardless it would be cruel to give him up purely because of your judgey neighbours. You need to grow a backbone and explain he's a rescue.

you need to dog proof your garden, doesn’t matter that’s it’s a rental. A decent fencer will be able to suggest something that is easily removable. Timber stakes and wire stock fencing in front of the hedge.

And stop caring so much what people think of you / your family / dog.

Why did you move to a property that has inadequate fencing to keep your dog safe in the garden? My pointy nose dog can jump a 5ft fence so our garden has 6ft hedges/fences to keep him safely contained. We also take him to an enclosed field so he can run off lead.

If he’s itchy and smelly it’s doubtful that it’s fleas, or lack of bathing. What are you feeding him? Cereal based kibble is notorious for these issues, it’s worth considering a switch to grain free food (or even raw completes) and maybe look into allergies/intolerances; chicken is a common one. We use Billy No Mates in the food to keep fleas and ticks away, and either salmon or flaxseed oil to help reduce itchy dry skin.

He looks out of place? he’s almost certainly beautiful, and everyone knows that rescues, especially sighthounds/lurchers, are the coolest of all dogs, with significantly more streetcred than any designer pedigree dog. Anyone who sneers at him is an absolute knob, and needs to be ignored.

He’s not barking, the other dog is. Don’t blame him for that. Your other dog will almost certainly struggle more with separation anxiety if you rehome the Lurcher. It’s also not fair to not tackle the separation anxiety, not on the neighbours although I appreciate her barking is annoying, but she clearly gets distressed when left, and a behaviourist could help you resolve this anxiety for her.

Crating the Lurcher is not a real solution to wee/pooping in the house. Again, this just needs proper training. Get a behaviourist to help you with this at the same time as they are helping the other dog with separation anxiety.

Resolve these issues and you’ll find it’s much less stressful.

The poor rescue dog does not bark. It is OPs other dog that barks but he seems to be getting the blame.

There is no person in this world that would make me consider getting rid of my untidy looking rescue dog.

This - why did you take the property when the garden security is so insecure for the dog?

For the garden can you try a long line that you hold whilst he goes out? Feel the pain of having a lurcher. I get the neighbours being annoyed as it’s really not safe for him to get out.

he seems lovely though so if you can solve the escaping I don’t see why you can’t keep him. I have a monster of a whippet amongst a load of poodle mixes but I just ignore any ridiculous comments.

This whole post is heartbreaking and I’m not even a dog person.

Imagine being a dog whose been through a shit time in life and lived in four different home and loving your family and your owner wants to rehome you because of the mostly false opinions of snooty neighbours 😳

That poor dog.

I no, that’s what I was pointing out to the poster I quoted. OP clearly just doesn’t want this dog anymore and is trying to find a way to justify it

I wouldn't give him up, it's not fair on him and the children who love him will remember forever. Neighbours are unimportant.

Is there an option to rehome the neighbours instead? 😂

Can you put him on a really long lead in the garden, tied to a tree or a post? So he can run around in the garden, but it won’t stretch any further.

Can you put chicken wire fencing around the edges of the garden to stop him getting out? We had to do this once when we were in a rental, it couldn't be seen and dog proofed the garden.

I've always thought that if I was Prime Minister, I would introduce a licence that people have to earn before they can own a dog. They'd have to take a test about responsible ownership a bit like the online bit of the driving test and they'd have to prove they have a suitable home and can afford them. I could use the OP as the perfect example of why this is necessary. I really, really hope it's another troll.

I'd be willing to bet the main thing they are upset about is the barking and that isn't even him! And might get worse if your other dog reacts badly to him going.

I would ignore judgey twats looking down on your dog. Although I think some of this might just be your interpretation rather than reality. But you know what people will judge you for? Giving up a perfectly healthy dog.

Have you tried washing it

Those are ridiculous reasons to abandon a dog, as you say you and your kids adore him but you're putting more value on what the neighbours think, who cares about their cockapoos? You have a lurcher and you love him.

I worked rescue for many years and lurchers are one of the most abandoned dog and one of the most common to be put to sleep to free up kennel space.
I'm going to be honest, he got very lucky to be rehomed so many times, a lot of lurchers are lucky if they get one chance at a home and the more a dog is returned the less likey it's chances of ever leaving the shelter each time it goes back.

The behaviour you describe is typical of an under exercised dog, well exercised lurchers are actually one of the easiest dogs to live with.
Keep your dog and stuff your neighbours.

please don’t give him up because of neighbours I really would not care what they think stuff them ! He actually sounds a nice dog
He may just have a slight skin allergy that could be connected to his food or just drier skin my lab is like this most dogs have a doggy smell and all dogs scratch it’s normal
Even if they report you anyone that knows anything about pets / dogs will see the dog is very well cared for has food and water you are not neglecting him
plus if your children are attached to the dog it’s very mean thing to do to rehome him after all the time he been with you now.

Actually you don't sound like you can look after this dog like it should be, sorry if you care for your pet you make damn sure it doesn't get out of the garden to potentially get attacked or run over, second fleas over the counter treatments will do nothing and if you absolutely think he has not got fleas why haven't you taken him to a vet to get his skin sorted out poor thing will be so itchy and sore hence the horrid smell..there's more but quite frankly you shouldn't have a dog

I was on a landlord forum yesterday and LLs tend to have a very low opinion of snitching neighbours. One LL on the forum owned a flat and the neighbours were complaining about normal household noises - like children playing, laughing and crying. The others on the thread said "ignore it" and tell the whinging neighbour there is nothing you can do and take it up with the council. Unless it directly affects their bottom line (like damage to the property) or is likely to involve official bodies (police, council) landlords are rarely willing to get involved in petty neighbour disputes. The only involvement might be if the dog damages the floors by peeing on them,

Exactly, if OP rehomes the dog, the one that barks will still be there so nothing achieved on that front.

@LimeslemonsPomegranates

What are you doing about the other dog barking all the time? It isn't beautifully behaved if it barks all the time. Nobody wants to hear that, and they shouldn't have to. We lived next to a barking dog for three years. It was so annoying. They ended up getting a bark collar. As much as I thought I didn't like bark collars and the like, I did when the dog stopped barking.

You sound utterly irresponsible and both your dogs should be rehomed. It's horrendous living next door to a constantly barking dog.

A friend had a rescue with bad skin. Poor thing really suffered until a vet treated with heavy antibiotic type meds. He set about ‘tricking ’ the skin condition into healing It worked.

Food definitely worth trialing to find the right one. Maybe post on Doghouse thread, people there are usually helpful.

These threads just break my heart. Stupid people getting dogs and then not looking after them properly.

Supervise your dog in the garden or have it on a long line so it doesn't escape, fgs! Your dog could be in danger so yes, this is poor dog ownership, and the one area your neighbours have some grounds for complaint. Or ask the landlord if you can reinforce fencing. And do something about your "velcro dog"'s barking. See a behaviourist.

Go to the damn vet about the itching! Don't leave your dog in discomfort. And don't over treat for fleas, that will make the problem worse, as will over brushing/bathing.

Step up and be a decent owner. You took this dog on with the appearance he has. YABVU to consider getting rid of him because your neighbours turn their nose up because he doesn't look like a show dog, but YABU also not to address genuine issues. And if you're pregnant with a toddler and can't manage the dogs you have, don't get any more pets for your kids to get attached to.