Considering rehoming - not dog's fault!

[Lizzie982]

Hello.
Please no hate, I already feel awful and know it's all our own doing.

We have a two year old chocolate lab . Had her since 8 weeks old. She's lovely and affectionate and we love her dearly, but we never quite managed to train her as well as we should have done - and tbh, though we did give it a lot of thought, I think we underestimated the impact of a dog.

Long story short, we now have a 5 month old boy. We can't let him crawl on the kitchen/diner floor as the dog makes it so unhygienic. She is still destroying objects we leave within her reach, despite giving her walks and toys . She occasionally still wees in the house. She still pulls on the lead, making walking her with the pram really hard.

She is costing a small fortune in doggy day care as we don't want to leave her on her own for more than a couple of hours, it's not fair - but we will soon have nursery fees to contend with....

We are really torn about this but considering giving her up for adoption.

Has anyone done this? Did you regret it? I love the idea of my boy growing up with a dog, but just don't have the time, energy or money to be the good dog owner I want to be.... don't know what to do 😢

How has your dog reached 2 years old and is still toileting in the house?

I'm not getting a dog for this very reason - I can't put the time, money, and effort into looking after an animal.
I think you've already checked out really, so it would be fairer to the dog to rehome them. Of course there are ways to train the dog to stop going to the toilet in the house and to stop pulling on the lead but it doesn't seem like you can/want to do that so I would rehome in your situation

OP rehome. Rehome responsibly but rehome. I kept a dog for far too long and it was a misery for him and for us. Rehoming it is not cruel. You are trying to find the right match for the dog and you will.

A well trained Lab is a joy, but if not well trained it is hard work. Rehome her via a Labrador rescue, and she will find an experienced person to help her become a lovely pet. She’s still young and will respond well.

Get a dog trainer to visit you at home. Get it nipped in the bud now. A better behaved dog is worth it. I took mine to puppy training and it helped so much. Reward good behaviour always e.g. when your dog sees outside give him a piece of chicken, he will always wee outside. Mine is months old and he is toilet trained. You have to put in the time and effort, it will be worth it in the long run. If you're worried about the floors then get carpets replaced with laminate and mop up once a day. Your child will be walking soon.

If you regime please contact the breeder first - they may take her back. Otherwise try a breed specific rescue

Regime to someone who has the time and energy for the dog. My sister has had a string of dogs rehomed to her, she has time, a huge garden and takes perfectly nice untrained dogs and gives them an ace life.

She won’t be hard to rehome if you do it now rather than later.

Go back to basics. Take her outside and use two word commands, ours is "do wees", when they do, reward with a small treat. (I buy from our local animal/food shop), natural treats that aren't harsh on their tummies and can break them in half.

Chewing is boredom, buy a kong or other toys that stimulate the brain.

An extra walk a day?

If still chewing, take what she is chewing and a firm no, do not move the item out of reach, every time she goes back to it, another firm "no" until she gets the message.

You admit you made a mistake and I admire you for that.

Give it to a rescue pace it will be very easy to rehome.

Don't beat yourself up. Sometimes we make mistakes with pets, and the best we can do is rehome etc them carefully. A lab rehoming charity would be ideal.

We had a dog which was very high energy and even though he was 8 years old was still very puppyish. DS1 had a traumatic birth and has sensory issues and is disabled. The problem with the dog is he would bark at the doorbell, and I mean very loud, long barking episodes and DSs brain injury made him super sensitive to noise, and he would jump out of his skin. It caused high anxiety. We persevered with bark busters, training etc (nothing worked) for 4 years but in the end DS came first. We rehomed the dog via an 'oldies' site and he went to a fabulous home with active young boys who loved him and gave him the time we no longer had. DS still gets anxious when the doorbell rings so we should have acted sooner.

Lizzie982 it sounds like you simply don't have the time or energy for your dog at the moment which is understandable with a baby to look after too....I'm sure that when you got your dog this is not how you envisaged it to be but circumstances change and sometimes we are able to adapt accordingly and sometimes we struggle, do you have any family or friends that could maybe help you out for a little while and look after your dog for you? Where do you live?we could maybe help if not to far away
We also have a chocolate Labrador who is perfect and so well behaved but we are fortunate enough to be able to invest a lot of time and energy into him (along with some very enthusiastic teenagers who are always willing to train and walk him!) I don't think I would have been able to manage a dog with a baby too so I take my hat off to you for trying I also admire you for reaching out for some help, support and advice....please get in touch if you think I could help you...I live in the North West, Merseyside xx

I have a lab. They are (generally) easy to train. Bright, eager to ‘work’ and very good driven. It does take time and a lot of repetition though. You need to be constantly reinforcing what she has already learned and reinforcing it in different environments. Dogs are clever but not good at generalising what they’ve learned out of the very specific scenarios they’ve learned them in and automatically applying them in other situations/environments.

The teenage weeks/months are a PITA. They are big, strong and v stubborn. Ruled by their hormones. Stick with the training throughout, be consistent (though the results will probably be a bit hit and miss). They’ll come through it. By two, she should be coming through the headstrong teen phase and settling down.

Puppies/young dogs and babies are hard. You can either get a good trainer in to help you with specifics or you can go with a breed rescue. If you are attached to her (and she probably is attached to you), I’d try the 1-1 training scenario first. If not, please make sure she is rehomed via a responsible route, back to her original breeder or via specific Labrador rescue.

Very FOOD driven

I'd suggest contacting the breeder first and if that's a no go then certainly Labrador rescue (there are a few, but most probably have a waiting list). We took on an 18 month old dog many years ago. She wee'd in the previous home - but not in ours as we let her out often, so it can work if people want it too. Some good suggestions about training on her - but the big thing is that YOU have got to want it to work. Good luck, whatever you decide.

It's good that you have admitted to yourself that the dog is just too much work for you.
It happens!
I feel the dog would be happier being re-homed. As others have mentioned, Lab Rescue would be best to approach.

I've got two dogs and a crawling almost-8 month old and I just...clean the floor? Unless you're not cleaning up wee and leaving it to fester, how is it unhygienic? Babies get exposed to germs everywhere, it's good for them. A bit of dog hair/dog slobber won't hurt your baby.

My dogs are both rescues. GirlsDog still has the occasional accident (she's prone to an anxiety wee ), she had one this evening and I just gave the floor a good scrub. It wouldn't occur to me not to allow the baby to crawl there tomorrow.

If it helps children brought up in homes with dogs have fewer allergies and are healthier.

You could turn her into a lovely family pet with some effort.
Be realistic - are you willing to put that effort in?
If not, then rehome her to a breed specific rescue and they will find her someone who can, and she will be happier, and you probably will too.

Even if she will find a home, thsts one other dog now that wont, because you couldnt be arsed to train