Anyone fancy a rescue survival thread?

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

We got our girl (lurcher) yesterday. She's one. She's actually good as gold, but obviously there are the inevitable teething troubles. I'm at home with her all the time, and it's a bit knackering having this very intense, one to one relationship with this smelly creature that's just parachuted into our lives. Tonight I'll be sleeping on the living room floor because she won't settle at night otherwise. We are working up to leaving her, but I just don't want to come down to a trashed living room.

BTW we do love her. Just feeling the same way I did when DS was a newborn - kind of: what the fuck have we done?

No wees indoors since Friday night! She's already much quicker at weeing outside - it's pretty much her party trick now, she's so proud of it. Next challenge is getting her not to wee in the car. She's fine if she can jump out the boot and lean on me, but if we put the dog guard in she gets really stressed and wets pretty much every time.

She's getting spoiled today - pancake for breakfast (which she tried to bury in her bed) and chicken heart from our roast dinner tonight (giblets).

Trying how are you doing today?

jesus yes he is a real charmer. Totally in love with us and vice verse.
He smiles showing all his teeth when he’s happy! It’s the best thing ever

We've had our rescue boy for about 2 and a half years, he's a lab cross and took him from where he was being abused. Unfortunately he's reactive to other dogs and has to wear a muzzle when on walks, but he's great around adults and children.

@AstrantiaMajor

I'm still only at the beginning of the journey so not sure I have any tips you haven't already heard! What are your major issues? The one thing that kinda gets me is that all these youtube videos (which are largely helpful) always seem to suggest training is super straightforward and you should have a perfect dog in 25 minutes! I've been doing the stop if she pulls technique for a few weeks now and although there is some progress, there are also times when I think my god she's learnt nothing. I would like a youtube video on this experience! Lol

Today was ok, we took her to see family who have a huge garden which meant freedom for her and an easy stress free way to exercise her.

Stopping if she pulls, blimey, you're ambitious I'm no expert, but is it possible you're trying to achieve too much at once? If mine never learns anything apart from how not to piss indoors, I'll be happy. Just wondering if you're stressed partly because you're putting too much pressure on yourself?

We have to bribe her not to lunge at traffic and people. She is so much better, but every so often she will leap even if she is having a treat.

Going beserk at cats on the garage roof and going frantic and barking at the door bell. We have started to ignore this behaviour as we don’t know how to deal with it,

My main thing I would like her to do is to be able to get closer to dogs without snarling, At the moment there are not many dog walkers about but as the summer gets nearer it will be harder to ignore them.

The problem is mainly that she is a total bag of nerves. At 8years old I am not sure that we will ever be able to give her co confidence.

Happily joining the thread.

Ast my girl is also 8 and super nervous.
I’ve had her with me for just over 2 years and before coming to live with me she was a romanian street dog who spent her early years on the street and then 2 years in an open (to all weathers) dog pound.

I’ve not cracked recall with her at all. She adores me but will bolt at any sign of strangeness, I’ve no doubt she would go if she felt the need so I use a long lead around the fields.

She is a dream to live with and I’ve never felt unconditional love like it.

It was very hard in the beginning, she wouldn’t go outside, come back in and god forbid I treated her to a new bed, bowl, she hates change!

Astrantia, a behaviourist a friend went to said you have to break the negative mental association of dogs on leads being a Bad Thing.
if you can get her to sit, you block her view, keep making her look at you, talk to her in a calm voice & feed her little the bits of her fav snack till the other dog passes by. I had to hold my boy at first he was so desperate to get to the dog, he was trembling with fear.
But gradually we are getting there, we have walked past several local dogs recently, -who know to keep walking now!- with not a flicker of an eyelid so am really pleased.

I also have a lead sleeve from Yellow dog saying I NEED SPACE which makes people keep away, I'll find a link.

www.yellowdoguk.co.uk/index.php/online-store#!/I-NEED-SPACE™-Lead-Cover/p/42778277/category=0
They also have tabards and dog coats woth the same message.

@jesus

You are probably right 😂

Dory I'd quite like that on a t-shirt as well

Well, house training going well so far. Too well. She's figured it out, and now does lots of mini wees and even fake wees to get extra treats and praise.

DH out tonight for the first time since we got her, so I've had to juggle her and DS. More complicated than it sounds, as she goes berserk if she's shut in a room but can hear me elsewhere in the house. She also goes berserk if she's in DS's room when I'm reading him a bedtime story, for some reason.

Things I miss (lighthearted)
Being able to set out all the stuff for our evening meal on the table ahead of time, without posting someone on guard duty.
Being able to open the kitchen hatch and ask DS/DH a question without a dog coming halfway through in a desperate effort to reach me.
Being able to go out spontaneously (of course!)
Being able to get up without her following me (and then taking ages to settle again)

At the same time, I now stress if I have to go out somewhere without her. This is so much like having a newborn! Just one with the ability to eat a 2kg roast chicken if left unsupervised for 5 minutes.

Things I miss -
All of what @jesusinthe said plus being able to stay indoors all day when its freezing and pouring with rain outside.

Trying luckily I quite like that bit, but trying to persuade DS6 to come out with me at any time is a right ballache.

I was just wondering what a typical day with your rescue looks like?

I get up about 7am to let her out into garden
8am - breakfast
10am - morning walk in park
when we get back in, normally have to clean her!
she then normally naps for about 3 hours
Dinner at about 5pm
2nd walk about 6pm
winding down from 8pm
last toileting break at 9.30/10pm
then bed

In between there is always some play, naps, cuddles and training. I don't know whether I should be doing more or less!

For us, it depends on whether it's a weekday or weekend.

Weekday,
Up at around 6.30-7 and straight out for a short walk, around 30mins.
Food (she usually grazes through the day)
Then spends her day on her bed in the study (I WFH). Go into garden at intervals and have a play or a fuss. She has lots of toys as well, all different kinds, but prefers to snooze or pester me. She does have 2 little rawhide chews a day.
Walk of 1-2 hours in the afternoon, more food, hangs around while I cook looking for scraps, then sofa and cuddles till bed.
Obviously we do wee breaks every 2 hours max, and a last wee at night. Only training we've done is recall and weeing on command, though.

Weekends we usually try to do something more interesting, like a trip to the beach or park. She also gets longer walks and her own pancake on Sundays.

Things have gone a bit pear shaped here. Our rescue dog is awful with our cat. She is part lurcher and basically chases her like she is prey. We keep them seperate but things have got worse. If she goes in a room where cat has been, she goes mental. When we try to introduce them, she lunges, barks aggressively and won't respond to treats or her name. I feel deflated and am worried for my cat, they both need access to the garden so although I manage it best I can, an accidental meeting is possible. Can prey drive be easily trained out? Otherwise she is a lovely dog, hard work yes but no other issues beyond us being very inexperienced owners. We did tell rescue centre that we had a cat.

And the rescue said the dog was good with cats? It sounds really unfair on the cat.

Do you tell her off when she lunges and barks? Two out of three of my rescues have tried to chase the cats initially. My latest rescue has been here two and a half years and will still run at the female cat now and again (my male cat doesn't run so is no fun..). I growl and say "oy, that will do" and send the dog to her basket.

Did you try the stairgate to give the cat space that the dog can't get to? It always works for us. I've never had a dog that didn't eventually get on fine with the cats. It can take months sometimes though.

I wonder if you should talk to a dog behaviourist at this point if you still feel you're struggling with having a dog? You've given it a fair bit of time now, if you're still not happy it may be best to give it one last try (with help) and then if not return it and go back to a dog free life.

Hi yes we do tell her off, but basically she doesn't hear us at once she has the cat in her sights. I will speak to behavourist today. The rescue centre said she might be good with cats but looking back they never came for a house check so maybe didn't fully comprehend our family situation. I have considered rehoming the cat for her safety.

I don't think you need to rehome the cat - as long as she has safe space to get away from the dog and you're giving her fuss and attention she will be fine. Most dogs, even when good with cats, will have a chase of a new cat. My dog saw a cat out on a walk the other day and bounced off to the end of the lead after it, yet is 100% calm with my own cats (after two months of initial trying g to chase them when they first came). It took a good six months before my cats would even come into the living room with the dogs. But I think you need help, this is your first dog and it doesn't sound to be getting any better. Hope it goes well speaking to the behaviourist.

trying - I think a lot of your issues are as much to do with having a puppy as a rescue.
You might find it helpful to join the puppy survival thread.

Our springer is 3 years old and we have had him for 5 months.
have been lead training for the whole 5 months. It took me about 2 weeks to break the terrible draggin along, and it took 4 months before we really cracked it. He now walks on a loose lease.

We also have a cat, and the dog chased the cat from day one.
We have the cat upstairs, our bedroom is cat territory, he has 3 high place he can sit and sleep.
Dog is allowed in, but doesn't sleep in our bedroom, he is not allowed in over night. During the day the cat has to run the gauntlet of the dog to come and eat and go out. We spent a lot of time in the early days shutting the dog in the lounge while we let cat in and out.
Now, after 5 montsh they tolerat each other. Dog's instinct is still to chase, but he is stopped every time, and now I just say his name and he stops. (but only inside!)
We put them both in the lounge. Dog isn't allowed on sofa, so dog on floor cat on the back of the sofa. We had one of us sitting next to dog and one next to cat and we sat and fed them both treats, all the while the dog was down on the floor, sitting. They both gradually calmed down. The cat will hiss at the dog and he will back off which helps.
I always said it would take 6 months before we saw them both happily sleeping in the same room. We are 5 months in and nearly there.

Thanks for your messages. We are waiting to hear back from rescue centre behaviourist. My dh having witnessed her in action thinks its hardwired. It doesn't help we have a cat who just runs when they accidently meet. Baby gates everywhere.

Trying she's six months old, she's a child - everything is a game to her at the moment until she learns boundaries. It would be difficult to say a 6 month old was cat proof, it's still in the testing things out stage. Most six month olds can be trained well. It's also the start of one of the most difficult ages, a lot of young dogs end up in rescue at 6- 12 months. I find it a bit poor that a rescue sent a young dog to a first time dog owner without even visiting and checking the home, and told you it would most likely be ok with a cat. It doesn't sound the best of rescues, it hasn't helped you really.

Trying Sorry to hear things are so tough. Whatever the eventual outcome, you will honestly be able to say that you tried everything possible. If you do end up rehousing her, I hope it doesn't put you off dog ownership for life. You sound like really committed, responsible and caring people - ideal dog owners.

Quick update from us, she was spayed on Wednesday and we are currently trying (and failing) to keep her calm and make her take things easy. It's hard, but luckily our failures don't seem to have slowed the healing process. She's gone back to having accidents in the house, which seems to be due to a reduced bladder capacity. We're hoping that's not because of some long term damage resulting from the op, but are getting her checked on Monday.

Hello all! Just bumping and updating. We're over the rocky first few weeks and are all now completely smitten. She can still be a bit of a twat on occasion, but god I love her. She's a bit less clingy, but still has to sleep with a paw on one of us to make sure we can't get away.

We got her DNA tested and found out the results on Friday. 37% whippet, 37% saluki, and 25% greyhound. And there's me wondering why I couldn't catch her.