I have a dog! :O

[TheDetective]

Wow! I went to a cat and dog 'home' just for a little look around, and fell in love with an adorable 2 year old lab cross (more lab than cross though!). Now I've owned cats for years, have 2 at the minute. Never ever had a dog, but always wanted one. DP wanted a puppy, but I've always wanted an older dog, of the lab/collie type. So we compromised, and got an older dog of the lab type hehe!

I feel a bit daft in retrospect, as we were totally unprepared for her, I didn't go intending to come away with a dog - but we did :| Now reading up - I see they should have done home checks etc - I'm guessing we got her from a pound. Its Leigh Cats and Dogs home if anyone knows it?

Anyway, despite being so unprepared, she is an absolute star. She is extremely overweight (40kg) for her build (she has quite short legs for a lab). So she's now on a special diet, and we are taking her out for gentle exercise. Her previous owners didn't have time for her, and she was just left with free access to way too much food. This is why they gave her up.

She is so well trained - she doesn't pull on the lead, doesn't go in the bin, doesn't beg, she doesn't do anything if we leave her free reign at night or if we go out, she just sleeps! She will not go upstairs at all, or on the sofa, despite me trying to encourage her, as we don't mind this. To be honest though, I don't think she actually can get up because of her weight!

Absolutely made up with our lovely family dog, she has fitted right in with us! We've only had her since saturday, but we couldn't be without her now!

Only downside is we have 2 very disgruntled moggies! They haven't eaten, or been to the toilet since saturday, as this means coming downstairs, and they refuse to. Boy cat must have become desperate this morning, because he did come down, only for the dog to bark in excitement, and he went scrambling back up the stairs. I'm sure they will come around eventually!! Dog doesn't seem to mind them - just wants to play!!

Just wanted to share my joy with other dog owners!

awww - that's lovelyn-The detective - may you have many joy filled years togetehr. What a lucky dog to have found you all

sounds like a pound :(

Leigh Dogs and Cats Home
Leigh Animal Sanctuary was established in 1975 and has now changed its name to Leigh Dogs and Cats Home to be more in keeping with its business of being the stray animal kennels for councils in the surrounding area. They receive strays from Salford, St Helens, West Lancs and Wigan areas

hope she settles in well and you dont encounter any issues.

I'm glad you are happy and fingers crossed all continues to go well but please be aware she is just settling in atm and once she has her feet under the table you may find you have a very different dog.

This is why rehoming from pounds is a very bad idea. What's that under the blanket, you say? Ach, that's just a coffee table That's no pound dog

Get your girl enrolled in training classes asap and sort out insurance if you haven't already.

Good luck and remember we are here if you need any more tips or feel like sharing some pics.

what dooin said

Congratulations! She sounds lovely.

We got our dog on the 1st July this year. Today he and one of our cats spent time in the same room at the same level (ie both on the floor instead of cat sitting on the kitchen work top swearing at dog while dog looks embarrassed). The other cat is a lot more laidback anyway but spends her entire time on a bed so it isn't an issue as such.

So, don't worry! Only 4m to go

Congratulations!

Sounds like a good rescue. They have the pound side and if unclaimed the dog goes to the rescue side. And they have a no kill policy.

Ah, just read the OP again. Did they not home check you?

Katherine, Leigh Is NOT a good rescue.

It's NOT a rescue at all, it's a pound - and just as bad as most, sadly.

The last MNer to take a dog from Leigh, in the belief that it was a rescue, ended up with serious problems - and wasn't homechecked, neither, clearly, was the dog assessed. I can't remember the full details but I do recall that the MNer and I were in contact about it by pm so will see if I can find details FYI and for the OP's information later on.

TheDetective, don't rush anything and bear in mind that a dog yet to find her feet in your home may be a very different dog in weeks and months to come. Please have her vet checked straight away, give her the full once over and get her vaccinated, please insure her, microchip her and, if she hasn't been spayed already PLEASE get that done.

Of course, had you gone to a rescue, they would have done all that for you, before you took her home to your homechecked property, having matched you to the right dog according to your lifestyle, home, experience, family set up, ages of DC if any etc and according to the temperament of the dog and her personality... and they'd contract to take her back and offer her lifetime sanctuary if you EVER, at ANY time in her life couldn't keep her and offer you a lifetime's support and advice.

Leigh POUND has merely taken your money and let you walk out on the same day with a pretty much (or totally) unassessed, unvaccinated, possibly unspayed - if she is it won't be thanks to them -, unmicrochiped dog. They have no idea if you are going to keep her in a shed as bait for dogfighting as they haven't checked you out and although they will probably take her back if it doesn't work out they will, despite their claims, probably kill her. They will CERTAINLY kill her if you return her should she turn out to be aggressive. Should you not be able to keep her PLEASE don't take her back to Leigh dog pound but instead contact NO KILL RESCUE, ensuring that they DO homecheck, neuter, vaccinate, assess etc etc first. If any problems, please don't hesitate to contact me and I will find you such a rescue space.

I'm not having a go at YOU, you clear weren't aware of why you should avoid a pound but I just SO wish that the risks were more widely known.

PLEASE FOLKS, IF YOU WANT TO ADOPT A DOG OR PUPPY, APPROACH A RESCUE WHICH HOMECHECKS AND ASSESSES AND OFFERS ALL OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED THINGS AND NOT A POUND. WHEN IN DOUBT - ASK! ASK WHETHER THE PLACE HAS THE LOCAL COUNCIL STRAY CONTRACT!

Good luck with her, TheDetective - sorry to paint a worse case scenario but it is SO much more common with pound dogs and other, unassessed, unsupported by rescue dogs (similarly buying via free ads, the internet, shop windows, off the man down the road etc).

Just checked - the MNer I mentioned who had taken on a dog from Leigh pound, thinking it was a rescue, posted with joy about her new friend in August.

Three weeks later she was posting for advice because he had bitten her. :(

Problem is, pounds like this one (and most of them ARE like this one) not only don't assess their dogs they are also so anxious to get the customer's cash and get the dog out that the animal is rarely in the pound for long enough to be assessed anyway.

The council pays for a dogs' care in the pound for 7 days. It has to, that's the law. After that it has no further obligation and it stops paying so any food, bedding, heating, vet treatment, staff costs to care for him or anything else that a dog needs becomes the financial responsibility of the pound.

And pounds are, with few exceptions, businesses. They often run alongside the business owners' boarding kennels (one reason why I would NEVER board my dogs with an establishment which is also a pound, I won't give the bastards a penny of my money or trust them with my dogs). The law states that after a dog's 7 days in the pound are up, the pound is allowed to rehome him direct to the public (ie sell him, a nice little earner if he's only been in the pound for 8 days and 7 of those have been paid for by the council), give him to rescue - sometimes these bastards want us to pay a "release fee" (ie buy the dog's passage to safety) just as you have paid for your dog, or the pound may kill the dog.

The most profitable outcome for these businesses is to sell the dog to the public as soon after his 7 days is up as possible. Hence the dog is given no assessment, no vaccinations, no microchip, no neutering and there is no homecheck done to ensure that you are not an animal abuser, that the dog will not escape through holes in your fence and onto the road or that you have not ommitted to tell them of your 6 month old baby. (Rescue, on the other hand, will want to meet all the family, any existing pets AND to be sure that all adults are on board with owning a dog).

All too often, sadly, pounds DO kill their dogs after 7 days. They will sometimes, as Leigh does, claim not to kill "except for health reasons". For some, these "health reasons" are as simple and curable as kennel cough. Kennel cough is easy to cure but spreads like buggery and so it's cheaper to kill one dog with it than let him infect 60 of them and to have to pay for a week or 10 days worth of antibiotics X 60 dogs. Another "health reason" is mental health. Make no mistake about it, if your lab X were to turn out to be even a little aggressive and you returned her, they will kill her.

*NB - the 7 days spoken of above applies to STRAYS in the UK. If a dog is surrendered into the pound by his owner he may be sold/sent to rescue/killed IMMEDIATELY.

In Ireland, where the pounds are even worse than our own and a dog's chances of life slimmer still, this is reduced to 5 days for strays.

DBF - I realised after reading the OP again that the lack of home checks takes it off the good list. But it does say on the website that dogs go from the pound to the rescue, and they have a no kill policy - is this not true?

It's better if the dog is assessed, the home is assessed and a proper match is made. This way the dog is more likely to be homed with appropriate people in one forever home, rather than being shoved from one unsuitable home to another risking behaviour such as biting which could get the dog pts.

Good luck Detective--hopefully everything will go well, we have a lab collie and they are the BEST dogs

TheDetective, congratulations on your new acquisition. It sounds like it all happened rather fast, and maybe not the best of sources for a dog, but your heart is in the right place!

Just so you know, some re-homed dogs have a honeymoon period and behave really well the first few days or weeks because they can't believe their luck, and then revert to how they used to be (not so well behaved) after that. However, not all dogs do this, and some are the opposite (over-excited at their new home), so the fact that she is well behaved is a good sign. If you are consistent with the rules from the beginning then it will get her off to a good start as she will know what is expected of her.

It sounds like she is not used to getting enough exercise and so you building her up to longer walks will really help her.

As for the cats, maybe they temporarily need a litter tray upstairs while they get used to the new arrangement? And it might be an idea to have a pet gate to make sure the cats have a space that they can call their own (maybe upstairs, depending where the dog is sleeping). I am sure the cats will learn to tell the dog who is boss, but it's best not to leave them unsupervised with the dog.

It sounds like she is a lovely dog :)

Thank you for all the replies!

DBF Luckily she is vaccinated, and microchipped - she has to go for the second part of her vacc in 2 weeks. They aren't sure if she is neutered, the vet looked at her, and couldn't find any scars, but they said the size she has got to would be very unusual if she wasn't neutered. We will be taking her to our vet tomorrow however as she has kennel cough :( they can see if she has been neutered at the same time. I rang Leigh yesterday, the morning after we got her, and they didn't want to know really, they have given me a free 4 week insurance policy, with an excess to pay - which despite the fact she has left them with the cough seemingly untreated, they won't do anything!

Good job we love her to bits already, poor thing :( She's really hacking with the cough.

And yes, we will be getting her insured on a life time policy, had lots of quotes - think we will be going with Argos, or John Lewis.

She's out with the other half for her second walk of the day! She is very good on the lead, but she can't seem to resist sniffing every single person that passes by! Any tips on training her on that front? I don't think she has been walked a lot previously, so obviously doesn't know social etiquette yet!

I took her in the car earlier to take her to a local dog walking haven, and she point blank refused to get in the boot - I am sure she can't actually manage it, same as she can't with the stairs and sofa. So I decided I'd have to put her on the back seat, put the cover over the seats, and opened the passenger side, and she jumped in the drivers seat and wouldn't move lmao! By the end of the ordeal, the car had to be valeted!!! Think we are going to need some kind of solution for transporting her in the car!!

I think I will put some pics of her on my profile, shes just a beauty! A nameless beauty at that!! Still trying to think of a name for her, she doesn't respond to hers - myah, she does to dog though :(

Aw she's cute! But she does also look to be in need of more exercise ...

So funny that she wanted the driver's seat!

She is probably not used to being taken for walks, and that's why every person is so interesting to her. With luck she'll just get used to it over time, but if you need to work on it you can try carrying treats or a toy with you and using those to distract her from other people. (If you're going to be giving her treats, obviously you'll need to subtract an amount from her other food, so as not to detract from her weight loss program). You might also find that you need to socialize her around other dogs, as she may not have had enough of this in her past life.

It's a shame about the kennel cough. I think this shows why a proper rescue is a better choice than a pound. It's a good job she has gone to a home where she is loved already. Did you tell the vet she is coughing? They might want you to wait in the car with her rather than in the waiting room, so as not to transmit it to other dogs. I hope all goes well at the vets tomorrow, and that you have fun with your new canine companion.

If she has kennel cough she shouldn't be allowed near ANY other dogs. It is an airbourne virus and you will be passing it onto every other animal she encounters.

Please keep her away from all other dogs until she cannot pass it on.

Yes, we have been keeping her away from other dogs.
Already spoke to the vet - and they said they will ring before she comes and let me know what to do.

She's been full of cuddles today! She just bear hugs you! Off for a little walk again in a minute! She really is a star!

Any good tips on hair control? That is her only downside! Hair everywhere. I do wear a lot of black...maybe not any more!!!

Ah, hope she gets better soon.

No advice on hair control - I've been very lucky that my dog seems to hardly shed.

TheDetective, how did you get on at the vets? And is she still settling in nicely?

As for the hair, I just vacuum a lot, have throws for the settees that I can wash, and put up with it. Oh, and grooming the dog when it needs it.

Luckily (for my purse!!) the Vet said she didn't need treatment, as she appeared to be getting over it pretty quickly herself, we had actually noticed an improvement from saturday to tuesday afternoon... and sure enough, by today she hasn't coughed at all!

She's definitely settled in well! She's now figured out how to get upstairs (to my surprise as I was falling asleep!) and tonight she managed to jump up on the sofa (cat was behind it haha!) for the first time!! She's still pretty well behaved though! She does have a penchant for socks however! And any piece of rubbish that is plastic!

Tonight she ran up to me with a sock in her mouth (that she had sneaked out from me when I was hanging the washing!!) and was covered in stickers from something she had chewed up! Daft dog!

She has already decreased in girth, so she must be starting to lose weight. She doesn't have much of an appetite, we put down a small amount of food twice a day, and she doesn't finish it, and she doesn't dive in and eat loads when its first put down. She just has a few mouth fulls. She'll be a lean mean doggy machine in no time!

Not having much luck on the hair front - we already had a miele cat and dog hoover, which I've never really rated except from when it was brand new. Maybe its just that my carpets are crap (they are!) but I struggle getting bits of fluff and crap up, let alone hairs. And that is with the turbo brush, and I regularly have to snip all the hairs out of the roller gah! I've been using a lint roller, but I'm going through them at light speed. I had to roller everything I've washed this week :( I thought about getting one of these: www.amazon.co.uk/Furminator-Dog-Shedding-Tool-Large/dp/B000FSN0A4/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1321145359&sr=8-10 but don't want to waste money if its crap??

Off out on our first mega walk tomorrow, going to see if she likes the water! Oh it is so lovely having a dog, even if she is my shadow

Great that she is getting better! My rescue dog is still my velcro friend, but is easing up a little. Took her to the beach for the first time today to see if she was a swimmer but turns out she isn't.

No idea about the hair I;m afraid. I;ve got a Henry and the downstairs rooms she uses are tiles and wood.

Is she still called 'dog'?

you need a dyson