Has anyonr had to rehome a dog? Desperately in need of advice

[pandabob]

To cut a long story short, we are having to think about whether to rehome our dog, a cavalier KC spaniel. He has snapped at members of the family a number of times, seemingly from know where, one time breaking the skin on my dd's hand. It is a very sudden and aggressive snap.

We initially took him to the vet who checked him physically etc. We have then taken him to a behaviourist (also a vet)our vert recommended who was very helpful. Had a really long session, at the end of which he basically said that it did not seem to be an issue which could be trained out of the dog. He said he is generally a lovely well behaved dog, but he has an 'irritable' streak and it is for us to decide whether he is a dog we can live with. This is partly he said as there has not been any warning of him snapping, not really linked to anything, just if he's being 'grumpy'.

So we decided to be more careful in not disturbing him when asleep, being strict etc, however, yesterday he snapped again at a friends teenage daughter and scratched her skin. As people think he is a very friendly placid dog (which is is 99% of the time) it was such a shock for her and we obviously felt dreadful.

We have now come to the point where we feel no real option but to rehome him. Although we love him we, particularly dh, can't see how we can have a dog in the house that we can't trust to be stroked by people coming to our house (different if small children but this was a sensible, dog owning 17 yr old). The behaviourist has said he would be happy to recommend him for rehoming to someone without children.

I just feel absolutley awful at giving up on him and losing a part of our family and can't imagine not having him, but feel we're kidding ourselves by keep giving him another chance - which in a way has been easier as he is a small dog, but no less serious.

Has anyone else been through similar?

Thanks

Oh jeez I've just re-read that and it sounds like gobbledegook! I hope you get the gist of it and will forgive my "typing as I think" response!

When an inicident has occurred we have said firmly said no. It hasn't happened to me, only to my daughter , once to my dh and once to our babysitter. She has probably jumped in reaction though not really shrieky as she alomst doesn't want him to get in trouble/or is quite stunned. What would you reommend we do?

I walk him the most, dd usually feeds him. He's rarely stroppy with me, probably a slight stubborness at most.

We have still got the crate, and as you say can make space. I agree it is worth a try to reinforce him having his own space. I am to be honest struggling with all of us balancing respecting his space/not taking things off him and reinforcing the 'I'm the boss' mentality. Hav eyou any advice of where the line is?

spoke to a vet recently as i was thinking of buying a king charles and she advised me not to. Apparently the breed is developing brain problems...the brain is becoming too large for the skull as a result of interbreeding and she is seeing more and more cases of king charles with behavioral problems,epilepsy and brain swelling,very protruding eyes. How old is your dog.

He's three in July Alypaly

I'd say that the info you've given on who he gets assy with reinforces Bella's point (and mine) that this isn't a dog with inherent problems (not saying they don't exist, AlyPaly), but one who is pushing the boundaries. He's CHOOSING who he thinks he can treat this way and isn't picking on his provider.

My advice? That I'm not an expert but I know a few who are, who've been there and got results! If yoy want advice the far better people to give would be those such as a breed rescue or my own local lot. They have a forum, very friendly, with a huge input from the very knowledgable and experienced owner of the rescue. He has dealt with Sheps and Rotties like this so should know his stuff!

If you'd like to have a chat and get far better advice than I can give, please go and take a look at Poplar Farm Rescue Kennels here

You'll have to email the owner to post instead of registering directly onto the forum because of stupid spammers but I promise you that you'll get a warm welcome. We have members who are both local and active volunteers and those who are from further afield.

HTH.

Valhalla, do you think they would mind if I e-mailed.

I have a bit of a problem with my lab becoming dominant with my DS. I do have a "tame trainer" friend who usually helps me out and I see her once a week when she gives advice on my training but she's on hols for 3 weeks.

I dont think he would actually bite but he has started growling when ds tries to retrieve things from him and jumping up on him when he wants to play (which he knows he shouldnt and has only started doing this again recently and only with ds).

Would rather get it sorted quickly before it becomes difficult to sort out.

Panda, sorry for the quick hijack.

Val, Bella, et al do know their stuff (they have given me fab advice since I got my pup - thanks guys).

Bella can be very forward in her posting style but I genuinely dont think its her intention to offend ,rather get her point across as it often happens on the pets board that dogs are "labelled" as aggressive when alot of the time there is a straight-forward solution to the problem.

In their jobs I imagine they must encounter owners wanting to pts/rehome dogs for the most trivial reasons so I suppose its natural that they feel pretty strongly in these situations.

I'm sorry you're going through this - it must be totally heartbreaking

I'm sure that they'd have no problem at all if you emailed - just tell 'em "Harvey" suggested it. There's no promising that they'll reply tonight as they will still be exercising dogs/giving last feeds or meds, but they're normally up until 2am or later so you may get a response pretty much immediately.

Direct email is poplarfarm DOT kennels AT tiscali DOT co DOT uk - the owners are Dave and Rachel.

Thanks Vall - will e-mail in the morning.

Everyone is sound asleep here (for a change )

Have you found a house yet?

I have found somewhere that is happy to have Zac there and its lovely - due to move 8th April and counting down the days.

I would seriously love to help you out with this- but already have a dog and DP says no

Good luck with your move sb... am still looking for a house, it's a ruddy nightmare! Lovely of you to have remembered, thank you.

I hope Dave and Rachel can help you.

Have just looked at the link - some of those who were looking for urgent homes to avoid being pts are just gorgeous

Do they have some sort of criteria you need to fill to be able to foster these dogs.

Its not something I could do atm (dc's still young and alot of work, waiting on our boy's op, moving house) but maybe in a couple of years its something I could help with.

Despite evidence to the contrary , I am a pretty experienced owner. We've always had dogs and probably at some point or another have attended training classes for every method going!

Sure something will come up with the house situ. I got mine through chatting with a mum at the school who I just pass the time of day with. I mentioned I wanted out of this shit tip and she told me hers was for rent. She didnt mind the dog as "knows" us (even though she had told the agent otherwise) and actually gave us it cheaper because she would rather we were in it than a stranger!

Some info -- yes it's from Wikipedia, about hearing loss in KC spaniels. Sometimes if a dog is experiencing hearing loss it can be very startled by a hand touching it unless it has seen the hand before contact is made, and depending on the dog, a nip or bite can follow.

Panda a lot of what Bella's saying is straight from this book by Clothier. Why don't you buy it and read it, it might help?

Romanarama - um, no it isn't. What I am saying is based on 40 years of living, owning and working with dogs. The Clothier book is good but I wouldn't just churn out pages from a book in response to a query.

OP - my intention was never to offend you. Please understand that my only motivation in this scenario is to avoid your dog being put to sleep unnecessarily. As sb says, I'm quite direct but I don't ever name call and I never said you were a crap owner. You may find this hard to believe, but when we get really heated threads about rehoming dogs, I'm actually one of the more restrained !
I just don't believe in beating around the bush, particularly when a dog's life may be at stake.
Another interpretation of what the behaviourist told you is that your dog has a lower tolerance than your previous one and that you need to decide if you can adapt to that. Before anyone pounces on me, by adapting I do not mean allowing the dog its own way, but working on training etc.
If it were me I'd make sure his hearing was fine and that he isn't in pain (e.g. ear infection). If that was all clear I would look for a behaviourist via the APBC who would work with you on positive, reward based training. Run like the clappers from anyone who mentions dominance.
Very best of luck & sorry if I upset you.

APBC website

SB - get yer hard hat on What do you mean by the dog not allowing ds to retrieve items from his mouth? You do know, don't you, oh sweet lovely person (note the intense attempt on Bella's part to put things more gently ) that the dog cannot be expected to just give up something valuable, especially if it has not been trained to do so, dontcha?

Disclaimer: Bella doesn't bite, she only growls

Said dog has been trained to sit and drop which the little bugger will do for everyone else just not DS!

How old is ds?
Has fog been castrated - lol, that's my iPhone deciding fog is a better word there
and please reassure me that you know Cesar Millan is a load of tosh.
Ta muchas

He is 12 mo and has been castrated.

We dont watch Ceasar Milan

The dog is ONLY doing this with DS (11) who is a bit bigger than my littlies (5 & 3) who he lets do pretty much anything.

I dont think he would actually bite as he's using his paw to to "shoo" DS away when he's trying to retreive anything. He has also been trained not to jump up (one of the first things we had to teach him as he kept knocking lo's over) and isnt doing this with others either.

My children are pretty good around dogs (know not to scream and shout if he does anything, reward when he's good, ignore him when he barks like a loon to get them to play) and I'm a bit worried DS will get nervous so want to knock it on the head before it reaches this as that would only make him worse I think.

Could you instigate simple things like ds making the dog sit before he gives him his food, things like that?

As you know, Minimu would give a brilliantly long and detailed post on how to sort this out (and almost certainly using a clicker ) but Bella hates typing...

Should have pointed out he's also ignoring DS if he gives him commands.

Another problem is that, although the dog loves his food, he does have that stubborn streak where if he doesnt wamt to do something he doesnt do it - food or not!

I think its worth a go though, if DS is asking him something simple like just to sit/lie down (rather than to give up something he wants) in return for a treat he might do it.

If the dog doesn't sit for ds, then he doesn't get his food. DS takes the food away and comes back in 10 mins to try again. Simple.

Find out what he really will work for, if he won't work for food treats (am assuming he won't even work for hot dogs, crispy bacon bits, liver etc). If he's not food motivated at all then get him a really exciting toy which he only gets to play with when he obeys ds's commands.

Like I said, Minimu would put it so much better

p.s. am putting smilies all over the place now - will no longer be seen as judgemental, just passive-aggressive As long as the dogs get a better deal, I don't care

And here's Jon, just to lighten the mood further:

My stalker

Now, now, Bella, nobody said you're judgmental just straight-talking - nowt wrong with that.

Hope I didnt offend you with that post was just trying to point out to the OP that although you dont mince you're words, its not because you're being deliberately hurtful but just trying to get your point across.