Hi all,
Three weeks ago I adopted a Romanian rescue dog. While she immediately took to me, she really didn’t like my 4yo DD and growled and barked at her every time she moved initially. After about a week she seemed to settle in and everything was more or less okay (except for the fact that she couldn’t be walked as she goes mad at the sight of other dogs and visitors are a no go, but I didn’t mind that. I was going to work through that).
She is still young, only six months old. So beautifully loving to me, but this morning she completely flipped on my daughter. It came out of nowhere and was so so so scary that it’s made me realise that I can’t take the risk of anything happening. My DD did nothing to incite, she was nowhere near the pup.
I’ve contacted the rescue who are having her back on Sunday. I’ve been crying all day as I’ve become attached to the dog and I honestly love her to bits, but I feel she needs a quieter home with no kids. I’m devestated though, but really wanted an opinion on how the rescue centre has dealt with the whole thing.
The first thing I asked when I was going through the adoption process was is the dog okay with cats and kids. I was told yes. The dog was rescued from Romania, spent two days at the rescue and then I picked her up. I specifically asked the same woman if that would be okay or was that too soon? Did she need more time! No, it’s fine ‘as long as you’ve paid the adoption fee’.
As soon as I pick her up she’s being aggressive with my daughter but the lady dismissed it and said she would be fine. This is my first rodeo, I assumed it may just be nerves from the dog. When we get her home and the issues continue after a few days, I ask the lady what I can do to help. She suggests allowing my daughter to be in charge of feeding duties to create a positive association.
I then spoke to another lady from the charity, who said not to do that as my daughter is too young. She also said that the dog was so nervous when she arrived to them that they shouldn’t have let her go so soon, ‘but you’ve got her now so we’ll have to deal with it’. This lady suggested I give the dog three natural calming tablets a day for at least a month. Again, the First Lady I spoke to said one a day for two days. There’s no consistency here.
And then today happened. I’ve had to ask my father to look after my daughter for the weekend until we can take the pup back on Sunday. While looking at the faq’s section of their website earlier, I noticed that there is a section saying no dogs will be placed with children under the age of 5, unless they are under 6 months. Mara was two days off 6 months. Bit close for my liking considering not an eyelid was batted when I was home checked.
When I spoke to the First Lady on the phone today, she said that they just don’t know how dogs will be in different environments. I totally appreciate that, but considering I was told that she was fine with cats and kids, wouldn’t it have been better to be honest then?
I was by no means expecting a perfectly behaved dog, I knew there was going to be work to do. However, I can’t help but feel that the rescue have acted a little irresponsibly, plus what with the conflicting advice it just seems like a recipe for disaster.
Now, I’m in a situation where I’m devestated, can’t stop crying and am having to bring a dog who had already been through so much, back to a rescue. I feel really bloody terrible. I can’t help but feel like this could’ve been avoided, and it makes me question things.
Am I being precious over this? What do you guys think?