'Rescue' dog - what else should I be asking?

[mumonashoestring]

A friend of ours has two 3yr old small mongrels, littermates which she kept from an unexpected litter not realising that keeping littermates together isn't necessarily a great idea. She's now got a small child, a house move and fairly big change in circumstances coming up and is looking to rehome one of the dogs. We are looking to take in a rescue dog. So far, so synchronous

What we know so far:

• Both great around kids
• Male neutered, bitch would need spaying
• Male fully housetrained, bitch habitually wees indoors
• Both prone to barking when a new adult enters the room
• Neither particularly well socialised with other dogs

So whichever we took there'd be training needs, which is fine. I know what food they're currently on, they live close enough currently to stay with the same vet. We've visited them at home, the current owner is going to bring both dogs here, separately, to see how they behave 1:1 with us.

So before I get all excited and start shopping for dog beds and training treats, what else should I be checking/finding out before we agree to anything?

What are they like at the vets? Will they need muzzling when they're being checked over or having injections? If so, are they used to being muzzled?

What are they like being handled by their owners and by others? For example, will they let you check them over for lumps every few months?

When you say they're not socialised with other dogs, what does that mean? Are they aggressive with other dogs? Or are they scared? You need to ask yourself how you will handle that.

Are they food motivated? In other words,will you be able to use food to train them?

When they come to your house, take them for a walk and see how they get on with you and on a lead. If they're not very good you need to ask yourself how easily you can handle them and how easy they will be to train.

Why not just get a proper rescue dog , from a rescue where you will get proper support and back up .

Find out when they were last wormed/flea treatments. Also check if any historical medical issues. One of my rescues had a cleft palette, which would not be obvious in day to day situations.

I agree with Floral though. The person rehoming the dogs should give them up to a rescue centre and you should rescue a dog from a proper rescue centre.

This type of rehoming fuels backstreet breeding and puppy farming.

And sorry but your friends sounds very irresponsible. You can't have an "unexpected" litter if you look after your pets and have them properly neutered.

*personal

I don't agree you should go via a rescue at all. Not when there is a dog you know which is in need of a home,. Why clog up the system with another dog.

Presumably friend isn't going to disappear from your lives, so will be around to help and advise?

I would also be asking:

• How are they being left alone and for how long?
• Do they 'guard' anything (protect it or growl when someone comes near or touches)- food, toys, etc? Very important with kids around.
• How well do they walk on the lead?
• If not well socialised with other dogs - how do they behave around other dogs? Do they ignore, growl, lunge, etc? As PP said, it's down to you how you feel you would deal with this.

FloralNomad all of our local rescues are stuffed full of very large breeds (akitas, huskies, rotties) or small dogs that can't be near children, or can't be trusted at all near other dogs, or are so nervous around traffic they're looking for a home in a very remote area away from roads... In other words, nothing that would work for us. And if we did that then one of these dogs will end up in one of those rescues which seems a bit pointless.

YY to full medical history, thanks. They're both food motivated, good for grooming, will ask about their behaviour at the vets, thanks.

As for their behaviour with other dogs I'll need to explore it more thoroughly - will be seeing the current owner today hence the request for brainstorming!

Have you seen them out of the house? If not, I'd suggest taking them to the park - see how they behave with dogs, strangers etc there. If you've only seen them in the home they could behave quite differently.

The biggest issue is probably going to be how the dogs cope when separated from each other. Unless their owner put in vast amounts of work early on then they're likely to be very dependent on each other. Given they haven't been socialised and one isn't even fully house trained it seems unlikely they'll have been treated as seperate individuals (i.e. walking separately, training separately, playing separately, etc.) rather than a pair.

What often happens when two littermates are kept together is that the more confident one always takes the lead in whatever they're doing and the less confident one always hangs back. How they'll behave when separated can vary hugely. The confident one may carry on as they are or they may be much less confident without the back up of their sibling. The less confident one may flourish without being constantly overshadowed by the other or they may be fearful without their sibling taking the lead.

I'd also be concerned about how they'd cope being left alone when you go out of they've not been trained to ba happy separately. How often do you need to go out? If they aren't comfortable being left separately then you will need to treat them like a puppy and build up incrementally from a place they are happy with which could be as little as you stepping out of the room and back. Leaving a dog that is unhappy alone can result in full blown separation anxiety which is often extremely difficult to treat.

Definitely find out what "not well socialised with other dogs" means. Reactivity (if that's the issue) can be a pain in the arse to deal with. Again once they're separated one or both dogs may improve (especially if one was the ringleader) however they could also be worse if they're more fearful without each other there for back up. Bear in mind that at this age they can't be truly socialised with other dogs as that is only possible during a brief window when they're puppies. At this point all that can be done is desensitisation/habituation and it might not be possible (depending exactly what and how bad their issues with other dogs are) to turn them into genuinely social dogs.

I would try and see these dogs separately in as many different situations as possible. It's no use seeing them out and about together as they may be very different indeed when each is on their own. You might be lucky and the dog could absolutely thrive as soon as they're separated from their sibling but you do also need to be prepared for the exact opposite as well.