Poppy update

[calmtulip]

Some of you may remember Poppy, a spaniel cross husky, that was owned by a mumnetter earlier this year. The owner had adopted her through Facebook and was looking for advice (which she actually chose not to take).

Through a series of strange co-incidences (it's a small world) I've heard about Poppy more recently. It seems that things went from bad to worse with that owner, and it culminated with Poppy biting a man's hand so badly that he needed to go to A&E for stitches.

(The owner was at a garage and Poppy got out of the car and was loose. A man grabbed her to bring her under control and that's when Poppy bit him.)

Poppy was then booked in to be put down, as the owner said no rescue would take a dog that had bitten.

However Poppy was rescued by someone with a kennels and he managed to get Poppy there before the vet's appointment at 3pm.

Poppy is still there, but isn't getting much training I don't think. They are looking for a new home for Poppy but obviously aren't an experienced rescue. I'm so worried that Poppy will end up in yet another home (her fourth) which won't be able to meet her needs and help her adjust.

Any ideas on how we could help?

I just can't get Poppy out of my head, but know that we are not the right family to give her a new home.

I hate how these dogs just get passed from pillar to post :(

PS I can PM anyone who's interested the number of the kennels. It's down south.

That woman who had her was a disgrace, it was obviously going to end badly for the poor puppy, and she hostilely swatted away all the good tips and advice. The biting was the fault of humans, she shouldn't be slaughtered.
I don't know how to get her into a good rescue, they're all over full because of fuckwit humans :(

Poor Poppy:(

I remember the thread well.

Maybe you could dig up the old thread and message the posters on there who were giving the op advice. I remember the thread and I'm sure there were posters who had lots of huskie experience. This breed really is the new staffy isn't it?

Oh what a shock!!!

Poor poor poor dog.

I remember the thread and the ignorance of the poster. She just blithely carried on with her own set agenda.

Shame on her. Where is she now? Feeling ashamed? Embarrassed?

Baberuthless, I was thinking the same as you. There are loads of untrained, unexercised barky reactive muskets here. It's actually quite frightening. My trainer says the increase definitely coincided with the twilight books/films :(

This is a shame, but inevitable. A lot of us did try hard to give balanced advice to the OP

I don't want to be slated for this comment, hopefully you all know me well enough to know how much I love my mutts, but, in the absence of a committed, vastly experienced, forever home for this poor dog, I do wonder what the kindest thing for it actually is? Poor poor dog

It is a sad tale all round isn't? There is no grim satisfaction at all in the fact that we could see how it was going to go.

There is no need for 'grim satisfaction' Poppy was our dog for 4 weeks and we loved her, helped her feel more secure, tried to take her to the vet and couldn't, had behaviourists in to see her who saw what she was like (nearly attacking us while we were playing with her) and really helped us get to grips with how to deal with her.

She then attacked someone in a carpark and we decided as a family that it was not safe for her to be around the children, given the advice we'd had from the vets and how obviously we were unaware of her previous history.

So we found her a kennels to go to, which is good because it was either that or she would have been put down, none of the rescues would take her because she had bitten that man.

If I hadn't gone and got her and loved her enough to take her to a proper kennels and rescue rather than just given her away like her previous owners, she would have been passed on to 'two blokes from the pub' who they were going to give her to after us. It was a horrible experience for the whole family but it had NOTHING to do with us mistreating Poppy, that dog had issues long before we had her and if I didn't have two young children I would have kept her and done all I could to support her but they have to come first and a dog with unknown history who has bitten someone really badly is not something I can have around my kids.

We did our best, so please don't judge us it was awful and it still breaks my heart that Poppy isn't here but I am glad it happened, I am glad that she didn't end up in some dog fight or in the pound or whatever might have happened to her and I am sorry she was so nervous I couldn't trust her around the kids.

However what she is facing now is infinitely better than what she could have been facing and I am glad about that.

So please just stop with the nasty comments about how we treated the dog, we fed her the best food and gave her the best love, she loved us and we loved her and she knew that. We were getting on with it really, really well and in time she would have been amazing but that nervous attacking nature of hers (which was nothing to do with her lack of training I think she had been badly treated) was too much for our family.

So no it was not 'inevitable' as soon as we saw how Poppy was around the vets and other people we got as much support in as we possibly could have.

Just because I didn't agree that saying 'no' to a dog jumping on the sofa (which the behaviourist agreed with) doesn't mean we mis-treated her!

Her biting was the fault of humans but it was certainly NOT the fault of THIS human and if I were such an awful person then why would the behaviourist have asked me if in future I could foster dogs for their rescue?

People are just saying a lot of REALLY hurtful things here without having any idea of the full picture

Does anyone have the link to the old thread?

How old is Poppy? And what sort of size - closer to spaniel, closer to husky or somewhere in between.

Could you PM me the kennels' info? I'm not sure I could take her as I work all day, so couldn't put the time in she sounds like she would need, but I know some very doggy-experienced people, so could pass her info out to them.

Poppy was born on the 26th November last year

she is slightly bigger than a Spaniel but lean like a husky. She has a curly wurly tail and she is absolutely beautiful.

She needs someone who can make her feel really secure and be really gentle with introducing her to new areas and public spaces, Brian at the Kennels has been in touch throughout and says she is making good progress at being close to other dogs now.

plus.google.com/114422768523773794220/about?gl=uk&hl=en

Oh god I remember those threads. I didn't comment as it was very clear that the OP was going to do whatever she wanted regardless of the fantastic advice given to her.

I am sad that the situation has ended with a man being bitten and a dog without a home but I did see it coming as many of you predicted.

Had the OP listened to the advice then I think the situation would have turned out differently.

Giving a dog food and love is not enough in certain circumstances and the irresponsible owner should have sort a more appropriate home for the dog with experienced owners who could have dealt with her behavioural issues.

You were told time and time again that the dog would be too much for you to deal with and iirc you threw the advice back in peoples faces and you were very rude about it too.

In regards to not judging you it's too late I judged you as an irresponsible idiot the second you posted about poor Poppy.

Fuck off I didn't listen to advice, I took lots of advice from my vet, from people on here, from my behaviourist.

I wasn't the irresponsible one, the knob-heads who offered her to the next person to pick her up and gave me no indication of her problems were.

saying 'no' to a dog is not cruelty, not in the real world where the majority of us live.

As I said I am confident that I took the best advice and did the best thing for that dog, her biting someone was due to her past issues not to do with me saying 'no' when she jumped on the sofa.

ffs

Why judge someone if you have no idea of the situation?

Why dont you come around and meet us? Then you can judge us. All the people who actually KNOW us don't judge us as being irresponsible and bad people. Jesus christ after all the shit that we went through, the money we spent and the fact our hearts were broken from losing that dog this is just too much.

You people are fucking evil

Ah I see, just been trying to have a look for this thread that labelled us as evil irresponsible cunts or whatever it is people are trying to pin on us.

Seems that everyone is an evil irresponsible cunt according to mumsnet.

At the end of the day you were responsible for the dog when it bit somebody. Had you placed the dog in a suitable home with experienced owners when you were advised that your home was not suitable I doubt very much that it would have happened.

Nobody said the jumping on the sofa was the main issue. It was your lack of experience, the wrong environment that has meant the dog did not receive the training it needed which in turn led her to bite someone.

It seems you are the kind of person that will never accept responsibility for your actions and frankly you come across as very unpleasant.

I wasn't advised that, not by the person who came to do a homecheck OR the vet.

No, we had that dog for FOUR WEEKS and it bit someone, the blame for that should lie with the people who 'cared' for her for SIX MONTHS prior to that.

I DO accept responsibility for my actions, thats why I am STILL in contact with the rescue I worked with on her behaviourist issues - BLIZE rescue, people can speak to Gemma if they want to actually understand who I am rather than making rash judgements based on FUCK ALL

I would say making out you understand a situation to the point where you judge someone who FUCKING GRIEVED for that dog is far more fucking unpleasant actually.

I was told to seek a behaviourist, so I did.

I was told to change her diet, so I did.

The only thing I didn't do that the vipers wanted me to was to stop telling Poppy 'no' when she jumped on the sofa.

No I wasn't 100% prepared because I WAS LIED TO ABOUT THE TEMPERAMENT OF THE DOG so how the fuck COULD I be?

My intentions of getting another rescue dog are 0% what you hope to gain from being a cunt to me is something I am unsure of.

I would never have privately rehomed her anyway, not after the experience I had. I would have done it through a rescue and I would have done it if the behaviourist from the rescue that came round said that is what needed to happen.

That dogs problems came long before I had anything to do with her, the anger here should be placed at idiots who get a puppy and then throw it away when its not a puppy anymore.

If it weren't for us Poppy would have suffered a far worse fate, I am glad for her she ended up where she did because I think it is what was best for her.

if that means I get treated like this then so be it I suppose.

I am by no means being a cunt as you so beautifully put it.

And I am so pleased you will not be getting another dog.
As for getting one off FB then that proves you have no idea.

Basic tips for getting a dog:
Purchase one from a reputable breeder and visit the premises so you can see the living conditions and the mother.

If you want to give a rescue dog a home then visit one of the moderated charities who will give a comprehensive out line of the dogs past and temperament and who will ensure your home and level of experience is suitable.

The fact that you are grieving for the dog is entirely your own fault as you bought/got a dog from bloody facebook with no idea of it's past or temperament.

Now the poor man and the dog are the ones suffering but you are too selfish to see that and it is all about how you feel.

I have absolutely 0% intention of getting a rescue dog

are you struggling to read?

Bollock it is 'all about how I feel'

It is all about what is best FOR THE DOG and what is best FOR THE DOG is not being given to 'some bloke from the pub' which is what would have happened without all of this.

I am GLAD that didn't happen to her, I really am and whatever happens now at least she is with a proper rescue and has a proper chance.

You just want to be nasty and I don't really know why. Its not doing either of us any good.