Anyone interested in a rescue dog owners thread?

[MrTumblesBavarianFanbase]

Our new rescue dog came home on Thursday, and although she's a lovely gentle dog there are lots of little things I'd like to chat about. Anyone else got a newish rescue dog/ thinking of adopting a rescue dog - or have had a rescue dog/ dogs for a long time/ work with rescue dogs or have lots of experience and feel willing to give new owners advice?

I'd like a "support" thread to discuss the good and bad of bringing a rescue dog/ puppy specifically into the family - who's up for it?

I'll introduce my situation to kick off any maybe some others will join in?

Our new rescue dog has been with us only 5 days. Her name is Sandy, she's a mixed breed but clearly at least partly Cocker Spaniel, and around 2 years old (pics on my profile). She was found by a German charity who rescue street dogs, starving on the streets in Greece but had probably been a failed hunting dog (docked tail) before being thrown out onto the streets, and may not have been there long. She had been in foster here with a family with children for 8 weeks before we met her. We live in Germany and I have 3 children (8, 6 and 2) which to me is significant to the thread as meeting the needs of all 4 of them (3 kids and 1 dog) is a juggling act, although there is also lots and lots that is positive for the children in having a dog in the family, otherwise I wouldn't have gone for it while they are still so young.

Anyone else?

I'd asked about car travel, cats/small furries, crates, children and growing. She won't be left alone to start with but we're hoping to build it up in case.

She's been on a flexi lead, a short lead and off lead and her recall is getting very good. She's eager to please, learns quickly and responds well to food orientated training apparently.

The foster mum said it might take a few days for her to adjust to being an only dog (it's in foster with 6 or 7 other dogs) but we can chat more about that when we meet her. I don't want to make her lonely!

They know I'm a first timer and have said the dog is very easy going. But the main thing is that she finds the right home, whether that's with us or someone else.

The only thing I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is that the dog might be easy going (according to foster mum) but then she's obviously used to a very busy household of dogs, plus dog will be "entertained" because he's in the company of so many dogs and therefore has playmates all the time.

Just wonder whether he'd expect you to provide non-stop entertainment if he didn't have that company... collies are known to be pretty high energy compared to a lot of other breeds.

Good luck

Ask about barking :( Ours barks if she hears any kind of mouse in the night or outside when we are in, and the worst is that if I leave the room to go somewhere she is not allowed (to bath DCs, do or put away laundry etc.) She barks non stop even if older DC or DH stay with her. I know we should be able to eventually break the habit with training, but atm it is driving me to distraction. Tbh badly broken sleep due to having to settle her before the neighbors complain and the fact she is waking the DC weren't factors I had anticipated at all.

Amy kind of *noise - including mice probably but that isn't what I meant to type

Yes - our first collie cross got a lot easier to manage when we got a 2nd dog who she could play with. They would play together for sometimes 4 hrs. Racing round the garden, chasing, tugging, wrestling....

MrTBF - we gave up on the first night in terms of the noise - and let mistlehound join us in our room - she still sleeps there most nights (although she stayed on her own in the sitting room last night !!!). It was a big shock going from being in a barn with lots of other dogs, including sharing a pen with another, to being in our house (a house for the first time probably) with no other dogs around.

We had a collie cross. They generally need tonnes of exercise and stimulation, they have a string herding instinct and may herd you when walking in a group like our dog did! Some can be nippy if you are not keeping in the herd too, I've been told. They generally need to be doing something, mostly outdoors. I think that is why so many are rehomed - people can't give them enough stimulation and exercise.

Ours isn't a Collie Cross (she's something spanielish - Moose may have been right when she suggested a Brittany spaniel as she looks very much indeed like those, but we don't know her parentage as she was abandoned).

We didn't have any barking last night until DS2 got out of bed and caled for me at about 5.30am this morning, so that is massive progress. Her sleeping in our room isn't an option for various reasons mistle, not the least of which is that we sleep in the attic :) She also follows me everywhere and my younger DCs still wake in the night more often than not, and having her following me about, possibly barking as I am paying attention to the DC not her, in that situation every night is really totally unworkable. We were letting her sleep in the living room (She is allowed on the sofa) but after she had a bout of diarrhoea we re thought that! :( She now has a fabric walled crate with a cosy cushion and blanket in the hallway, with a stair gate to stop her coming upstairs - but she is choosing to empty out the plastic tray we have for putting muddy wellies on and sleep on that instead!

If she's choosing to sleep there MrTBF, why don't you work with her on that, perhaps supplying a blanket for the bottom? If she's found somewhere she thinks is 'right' that's really good progress.

I found having Mistlehound in the bedroom good in terms of the fact that she wasn't housetrained when we got her - and I would wake up and listen what she was doing when she stirred and followed her down the stairs pdq if she did get up, and then took her out immediately. Ours has a bed in our room, a bed in the hall, a bed in the kitchen and a mat in the sitting room that gets moved around - including onto the sofa.

MrTBF, that does sound like progress.

I'd agree with Mistle, if she's found somewhere she feels happy to sleep, work with that. I wonder if she's used to one of the more traditional oval plastic dog beds like this?

We gave Pip a hot water bottle and tucked him in under a large, supersoft fleece blanket last night and he slept from 10.45-6.10 when ds1 got up. So he was definitely getting cold and that's why he'd started waking at 2.00-3.00 am.

I've been looking at fleece fabrics and have googled a no-sew pattern so I can make him some cheap housecoats until he's fully grown.

My brother has a 3 legged Golden Retriever on reserve at Many Tears, we are getting very excited about meeting him ( his old Goldie died on 22 August and has left a big hole in his family).

Higgle congratulations to your brother, hope his new Goldie settles in well and helps him come to terms with the loss of his old dog.

Glad Pip slept better Moose - did the fleece work again last night? I always cringe when people actually refer to their dogs as their children - I don't think the relationship should be exactly that! however it can seem like that - tucking him in under a fleece :) Having Sandy is very much like having newly adopted a bright and loving but attention starved 2 year old from a difficult background ...

Do you know yet another thing I hadn't thought of as part of the deal of getting a dog was the jealousy! One of the things I am finding hardest is that she is possessive of me and hates me helping my 2 year old - yesterday she kept pushing herself in between him and me, barking and barking, while I tried to get him into his waterproof trousers for the school run (torrential rain). She's like a high speed electric eel and pushing her away didn't help - I had to shut her in another room so I could get him into his outer wear, and the whole time she barked at full volume and threw herself at the door! Yet she is so affectionate to and tolerant of my 2 year old when I am not helping him wiht something, wags her little stump of a tail at 100 miles and hour when she sees him and goes to him for his clumsy 2 year old fusses, they seem to love each other a lot and possibly actually have the best bond any of us yet have with the dog!

The older ones are also a bit jealous of the time I'm having to spend on the dog, DD (who has dreamt of a dog for the last 5 years) says she misses me atm because we are having to cut things short to deal with her...

Things with DH and Sandy have improved a lot though - she will now let him walk her in the eves (whe won't let him touch her collar, I think she has an issue there from the past as she won't let anyone but me hold her by the collar, remove and put back on the collar, or attach her lead) so I clip the lead on before I take the kids up to bed and he gives her her evening walk while I put them to bed - this helps enormously with the evening barking too, as she hates me being in the house within ear shot but out of her sight. He can also come down first in the morning - she barks whoever comes down but she is no longer terrified.

The high value treats just from DH idea really helped. We are not quite there yet but she's come on fast.

I think she is a bright dog who needs a lot of training - taught her to sit on command yesterday in just an hour and she remembers it this morning. She will now do it without a treat, but only when she is calm - when she is over excited and barking she doesn't listen at all, and the only thing that works is putting her on the lead. After I spent a focussed hour training her to sit she wouldn't accept I was stopping and doing something else and barked and barked and barked at me - clearly she wanted to carry on training. I am ignoring her in that situation but it takes a while to get through, and worries the kids... Well my 6 year old far more than the others, they youngest thinks its funny The barking is the number 1 thing I am going to ask the trainer about tomorrow!

DS won 'child handler' with mistlehound on Sat - only a very small show - but she was so good with him, and clearly responding to him and not trying to get to me...

Well done to your DS and Mistlehound, Mistle :)

We are having some problems with Sandy, mainly boiling down to barking, barking, barking, barking, barking, barking, barking and over excitement (the "zoomies" phenomenon - I appreciate knowing it is normal for some dogs, but a medium size dog doing "zoomies" with full volume barking just isn't compatible with 3 (or any) small children. It is a problem because when all's said and done she has to live as a member of our family,and atm she is making coming home very stressful (whether we've been out with her on a long walk or without her on non dog compatible errands and left her home alone for a couple of hours makes no difference) us quite unhappy and stressed :( DH said yesterday that he no longer wants to come home after work, as her barking at him is clearly not the friendly excited (but also non ideal) frenzy I get, but the hair on the back of her neck is up :(

Think I am going to start a new thread on the zoomies and barking to get a wider response, as obviously it isn't rescue dog specific!

Forgot to say - took her to a basic training class on Saturday but it was 90% focussed on socialising dogs with other dogs, there was virtually no obedience element - I want to know how to train her to stop barking and zooming on command, so it was supremely unhelpful to us - the wrong class I guess, a nice to have for later but not first priority now! I also called the foster trainer who promised to come over on Sunday afternoon, but then texted just before she was due to arrive to say she couldn't make it but would be in touch in the week, so floundering a bit atm!

Some people finding that teaching their dog to 'speak' and then quiet helps as they then can use the same command to stop the barking.

I would teach her 'in your bed' (as a clicker thing) - and include a lie down in her bed for the treat - then I would ask for that when someone comes to the door.

Zoomies and small children - you need to be able to manage this so that she can get rid of some of her excess of energy safely. Again, clicker training could be helpful because the mental energy will tire her out. If you could then include more elements such as a 'go to a spot' (I think you start off with a 'touch' and more on) type behaviour you could start having quite an active game in the house or garden that also tired her mentally.

I would also be trying to encourage 'look at me' with clicker and treats - and see if you can start instigating that one as soon as you get in before the hysteria really kicks in.

The alternative on the getting in hysteria is to totally ignore it until she calms down - and then give her attention. But you'll need all to decide on a course of action and follow it.

Just found this thread :)

We got our border terrier cross in July. We're also in Germany MrTumbles and got her via an organisation that rescues dogs from various countries (Tierschutzverein Europa); ours came from Spain and was about 7mo when we got her.

Considering her background (found at about 3mo on the streets being tortured by 3 boys ) she is incredibley friendly and trusting.
She did have kennel cough, which she passed on to our older dog (almost 8yo parson russell terrier), but apart from that there have been no other problems. She's taken to living with us remarkably well!
Walks well on lead (actually almost better than our ddog1 ), recall is okish (but we're working on it!), lets me do after-walk paw washing etc.
We took them both on holiday with us in August and while she wasn't keen on actually swimming in the sea (ddog1 is a real water baby!) she really seemed to enjoy just sniffing around the coast and watching the fishes and crabs in rock pools. Travelled well in the car too.

We have been really, really lucky. I was certainly expecting (and mentally prepared for!) a much more nervous dog with a lot more issues.

Best thing has been her and ddog1 playing together - they do the "zoomies" together, NOTHING is safe :o I love it when they snuggle on the sofa together too, occasionally one will give the other one a lick or something; makes me well up a bit, i admit :)

Well, that was quick! We went to meet the little collie cross on Saturday morning and she was a total sweetheart. So gentle and friendly and great with the DDs. We chatted with the foster mum and took the dog for a walk together and she said she thought we'd be an ideal fit so we reserved her.

Then yesterday she brought the dog with her to do a home check. Everything was fine with the garden and the cats reacted well so today we went and signed all the paperwork, made the donation and brought her home! She's a bit nervy at the moment but she's settling in well and is cuddled up with the DDs. Will get a pic on my profile in a mo.