If you have a rescue dog do you play detective about his past?

[higgle]

We have had our 10 year old rescue Staffie, Porridge, for nearly a year now.

I would really like to know his history - he has clearly had a bit of a hard time, but has lovely manners and some quirky ways that give us a bit of a clue about his previous life. We know he has not lived by water because he seemed astonished when we took him along the canal and kept looking at the water between the boats. If you say "come on then" when he is in the bedroom he takes this as a command to burrow under the bedclothes like a rabbit! He certainly knows what fish and chips and pizza are, likes most fruit, and wants to climb into every small van we come across. Did he live with a junk food loving electrician in a bedsit?

We play this game endlessly, wondering whether the constant searching for balls when he arrived meant he had lived with children, wondering why his teeth were so worn down etc. etc. Are we the only ones ( certainly not, I suspect) who play this game - I'd love to hear about other rescue dogs who do strange things that give a clue to their past.

with my parents dog we do.

they got her at 9months. not house trained. cants bear her back legs to be touched, totally untrained.

soon after my parents got her my dad took her to the park. turns out she is well known. and from what we can gather, she was passed from piller to post. left at rescue stating that the previous owner was moving and couldnt take her. all lies.

Your dog sounds fab! I love the "burrowing under the bedclothes like a rabbit" wonder what that's all about?!

I used to have a rescued King Charles Cav, and whenever I said "walkies" and got her lead, she would head for the car when we went outside.
I don't know if she was previously taken in the car to a park for a walk, or if her 'walks' were actually 'drives'

She did come to us very fat, so possibly the latter!

Lol, I did spend years trying to work out what sort if breeds were in him, even though there was absolutely no way of telling as he was just a generic black dog with no major discernable breed features.

He was only 6 months when we got him, so only one real previous home and he was terrified of - you know when you shake out an empty black bag before you put it in a bin or a duvet cover before you put it on a quilt, that, that terrified him, which confused me completely, lol

he was also massively confused by puddles and rain when we first got him - so I suspect he'd been shut in somewhere :( we're in Scotland it's not so likely that he'd just not come across it, rofl

Yes, the burrowing under the bedclothes is very strange. DH lets Porridge come upstairs at 6.30am to see me before I get up to take him for his walk. The first time this happened I said "Come on then " to indicate I was getting up to take him, but before I could do anything he had lept onto the bed, shoved his way under my arm and down under the covers and was curled up around my feet! He does a repeat performance every time the magic words are used, so obviously either learned or was taught this.

My ex poundie guards me while I am on the loo. I have no idea why. He does it to everyone. He'll open the toilet door (we had to take the lock off because dd2 would lock herself in there for hours at a time in temper) and come and sit between you legs. He won't leave until you're done and he won't let anyone else into the bathroom.

He did the same to my Dad when I took him to visit and he had a coughing fit.

He is scared of rucksacks and people fighting. If I have an argument with DH he's straight in there by my side warning DH not to come too close.

I have deduced he lived in abusive home and was beaten with rucksacks. One of his owners had chest problems and I have no idea about the toilet thing.

Yes I always wonder at their previous life, apart from the horrible bits connected to an abusive background, such as being scared of hands, feet and sudden movements.
My dog Lottie had lots of quirks, she had an obsession for white carrier bags, always wanting to stick her head in some random strangers bag as they walk past, it wasn't always because they had food in.
She howled every time an emergency vehicle with a siren went past and could recognise a post person, which ever type of uniform configuration they wore and she wanted to do them harm, if given the chance.

My postman had a theory that she'd been beaten by someone who'd been a postman. My postie tried many ways, giving her treats etc, to help change her behaviour, but its the only thing I couldn't get her to change.

So my thought are, nasty postie, lots of take aways in white carry bags and lots of involvement with emergency services.