Should we adopt this dog?

[Gamboge]

We are in the process of applying to adopt an 8 month old rescue dog. We are not experienced dog owners although I grew up with dogs. More info has come through that the dog is reactive on leash and to other dogs as well as being very energetic and quite ‘demanding’. We are guessing poorly socialised due to lockdown / Covid.
We are willing to attend training classes and do everything we can to help this dog, even employ a behaviourist. But my question is whether we would be biting off more than we can chew (pardon the pun!), and whether this is a suitable dog for novice owners? Of course we don’t expect a rescue dog to be perfect but how easy is it to solve these kind of behaviours? We don’t want to mess the dog around by taking it and then not being able to manage. At first it was described as good with other dogs. Thanks for any advice.

What if it's not only dogs he's aggressive to
What if this dog is worse than they describe
What if you can never have visitors
Never take it out during reasonable hours
Take it to the beach
Are on high alert 24/7
Its tiring I assure you. My experience with a reactive dog... I'm a prisoner in my own home, I'm stressed 24/7. I've done 7 years more than likely I've still got another 7 to go.

Don't take this dog on you will more than likely regret it.
Let a experienced person take it.

A responsible rescue organisation shouldn’t consider letting a novice dog owner adopt a dog with these kinds of issues.

I’ve had my rescue from Turkey for 3 years, she was 1 when I got her, and her issues are still not completely ‘fixed’ nor do I think they will ever.
I don’t just have this opinion due to personal experience with my own dog, I was a dog walker and spent many many hours in a dog rehabilitation centre to learn about dog behaviour. They worked together with the organisation my dog is from and like I said, reactive rescue dogs with issues would not be given out to novice dog owners.

Don’t do it to yourself or the dog! You can get yourself a dog with no prior issues which will be much less stressful, and the dog can be adopted by owners who have the experience that it needs.

I thought I’d post a photo to show you how looks can be deceiving

Here she is, about 6 months old in the shelter. 6 months later she came to me. Adorable, right?
The countless times she has attacked other dogs out of pure fear, been aggressive to men (as many foreign rescue dogs are), gone in complete aggressive survival mode around food.
She couldn’t help it but it was not fun.

Often more issues show up later as well. Once they’ve adjusted to their new home they can suddenly show new behaviour and you might find out they’re terrified of cars or extremely food aggressive.

I would advise you not to take on this dog. I have had three reactives, two of them rescues. My current reactive rescue is a sweetheart - until he meets an unneutered male and turns into a snarling bundle of rage. It took me a year to work out what he was reacting to - first theory was black labs, then spaniels 🤷🏼‍♀️.

I'm an experienced dog owner, have two others as well as him, and I know his body language and can pick him up (small dog) tuck him under my arm, and move quickly past the object of his fear and hatred. I can handle his rages now but I wouldn't let anyone else walk him. I've had him 5yrs, took him to trainers, a doggy day care that also took un neutered males and tried to desensitise him.... In the end I have settled on managing him rather than trying to fix him.

I think you would be taking on more than you bargained for tbh.

My rescue dog is reactive and yes, you have to be on alert at all times. I’ve had her sitting beside me, calm and happy. Three people walk by...first is fine, second she barks and lunges, third is fine. There’s just no telling what can bring it on.
If you’re a novice I wouldn’t do it.

My cousin got a highly reactive rescue dog from Romania. It’s bit every member of the family. My cousin still has scars on her hand. It used to chew the wooden tables and if you tried to stop it, it would turn on you snarling and snapping. It drew blood on another family member. It was really commendable intentions, but it’s wearing for everybody.

As other people have said, no, this doesn't sound like the sort of dog that novice owners should be taking on. From what you say, the breed sounds a lot like it might have some livestock guardian dog in it (possibly Mioritic Shepherd?) - they are naturally protective and suspicious of strange people and dogs, and looks like this tendency is already starting to show in this dog with the reactivity.

If the behaviour is genetic (e.g. protective instincts in the livestock guardian breeds) then it's unlikely this will be able to be solved and will just have to be managed. Worst case scenario, can you see yourself having to keep this dog on lead at all times, away from other dogs? Managing a reactive dog is very stressful.

Walking a reactive dog is no fun, even one that you know doesn't bite, just barks and lungesl - other people don't know that, and they will react accordingly. Even for experienced owners they are hard work

If it's a 'mountain shepherd dog type' it could be a livestock guardian of some sort, and will end up enormous.

I'm an experienced dog owner and that's not a project I'd recommend for a novice.

Gosh. I'm just heading to bed so I'll be short here, but honestly I think no, don't do it. My first dog (as an adult) was a 9m old rescue who turned out to be reactive and also had a high prey drive so needed to stay on lead. We did so much training, worked with a specialist behaviourist, agility, reading, so much time and care. Every walk, every situation was about managing the dog. My opinion is that you cannot cure these issues, you will be managing the issues forever. Your experience of having a dog, the image you've got in your head, that is not what this will be like. Don't feel guilty that you've started this process so need to see it through. This is not your dog yet. Honestly, don't do it.

Nope - this dog is not for you. It needs a very experienced dog owner who understands precisely what they are taking on

Asssuming this dog was bought over legally, it's been in the UK max 4 months. And one home has already given up on it. The rescue have given you inconsistent information about it's behaviour. It's described as 'reactive' and 'demanding'.

Run, don't walk, in the other direction.

Don't do it to yourself.

Save yourself the stress, tears and hard work and walk away.

There will be other dogs.

I wouldn’t.
Dog ownership is meant to be fun. Having a dog you can’t take anywhere is not fun.

I managed to train mine to an extent but she never enjoyed being around people or other dogs. We were always treading on eggshells.

Never again!!

This dog wouldn't be for me as a 1st time owner.

This does not sound like the dog for you, no. Romanian shepherd dogs (mioritic shepherds) are really not a novice dog.

Why don't you look into a nice retired greyhound? There are hundreds of them in rescue and they are more often than not lovely lazy easy dogs to own. Many of them are still very young.

DM adopted a Romanian rescue dog and it was a terrible, terrible idea for a newly retired person who had never had a dog before. The dog sounded very similar to this (it was reactive to all men which was a complete nightmare). We had just had the difficult conversation with her that she was going to have to surrender the dog (not to the original rescue, they had gone completely off the radar, and admittedly we weren't sure to who) when the dog collapsed from an underlying health condition and was out to sleep on vet recommendation. I am sure there must some legitimate ones but I would never recommend anyone to get a rescue from a Romanian rescue organisation.

No.

Your update on breed type eg Mountain Sheher dog cross would be enough for me to advise against for a first time dog owner.

A reactive MOuntain shepherd dog cross will be extremely hard work

Rescues get told a lot of things so I would take the relationship break up with a pinch of salt.

There are better fit dogs out there .

No. My dog is very mildly occasionally lead reactive and it’s a pita. The rescue are telling you this dog is an absolute nightmare, listen to them. Get a UK rescue you can meet before you take them home.

We were novice owners of a rescue dog that was described as anxious and fearful. We didn't even know the word reactive! But it quickly became obvious that she is very reactive, particularly of other dogs, and particularly on lead. 4 years on, and despite behaviourists and training classes galore, she isn't a lot better. She's the love of my life and I wouldn't go back and change the decision even if I could, but it is a lot of hard work, it restricts your life in ways you can't even imagine, and it can be very lonely and upsetting.

As an example:

Can't be left with family or friends who are not dog experienced.

Forget allowing the kids to hold the lead on a walk, that ain't happening

Can't go to day care or kennels, can only be left with an experienced solo sitter, and they are not easy to find!

DH and I both have to WFH as much as possible as a solo sitter daily is incredibly expensive and pretty much impossible to find

You can forget lovely lazy afternoons in a dog friendly pub - there will be other dogs!

Ditto days out at the beach / busy parks etc

Every walk is fraught with 'danger' - you become expert at finding remote out of the way places no-one else goes to. Most dog owners enjoy dog walks - you won't unless you're in the middle of nowhere!

You will have a LOT of run-ins with other dog owners who allow their off lead dogs to run up to yours shouting 'don't worry mine is friendly'. If you're not assertive by nature you will have to learn to be very quickly!

Using secure fields for exercise can get expensive when you're doing it a couple of times a week

We don't have children, and have been able to adapt our lives to keep her within her comfort zone most of the time, but it hasn't been at all how I imagined having a dog would be. You have to be very, very committed. Mine may be a bit of an extreme case but I know several other people with very similar (or worse) issues so I think you have to be prepared that this is what it could be like, and accept that once you take on the dog, you're 100% committed. Taking it on with a 'we'll see what happens' attitude and hoping for the best would be incredibly naive in my view, and likely end up with the poor dog back in rescue with even more issues.

In my opinion, reactivity/aggression is usually not fixable.
It can be improved somewhat but it is a management issue really and I really wish this was made clearer.
So many people talk about CARE and training and behaviourists, I think it’s very unfair and leaves people feeling like utter failures.

‘Mountain shepherd’ sounds to me like a large livestock guardian type, so I would definitely avoid that.
They can have some hard to handle traits at maturity and are not mature until 3

Just to echo the great big "nope, walk away". It's not often MN is unanimous in the Doghouse, but it seems we are here.

This dog won't slot into your lifestyle, your entire lifestyle would have to change to accomodate the dog. No training classes will be suitable for a reactive dog. It would have to be 1:1 training classes which would be more expensive and with a behaviourist experienced in that particular breed type and rescues. Also, the dog won't be suitable to go into doggy daycare nor dog walkers.

And if you have any immediate neighbours with dogs, that would wind him up as well. This dog needs to be somewhere far from other dogs to continue with gentle training. A nice farm in the middle of nowhere.

There will be other dogs, this isn't a good one for you guys. By the sounds of it the poor thing is likely to end up getting passed from pillar to post with this behaviour and the rescue's willingness to consider novice dog owners, don't be one of those pillars.

Agree with the many other posters saying don't do it. It is very hard to fix a reactive dog, they can be managed but not fixed. I am an experienced dog owner with experience and some qualifications in behavior. Currently have a rescue lab who was given up by an owner who couldn't handle her, it has taken 12 months of training to get to the point where we can comfortably go for long walks with my other 3 dogs and not need a second human. To start with it took me and DP to walk her alone one to cling onto her one to try and calm/soothe her because if we saw another dog she freaked. Even now if we see another dog while she is on the lead (fine off lead) she cry and cry with fear until it passes her, although we have got to the stage where she will sit next to me and not lunge/attack unless the other dog touches her.
Now imagine if this dog is also reactive to humans, children, lorries, post boxes etc. you are setting yourself up for a very very hard time. As other posters have said it takes the joy out of owning the dog if you are having to walk at unsociable hours, be 100% alert at all times etc. I take reactive dogs for training/homing because I live rurally and while we are working together it is very easy for me to choose a route I am likely to only see 1 or 2 other people/dogs on. If you are in a town and trying to walk a reactive dog where you are meeting others every minute it is a nightmare.
If you do live 100% rurally and are willing to spend a lot of money on behaviorists perhaps it will work but proceed with caution

No. I had a reactive dog (not a rescue but attacked badly by 2 large dogs as a puppy and despite a lot of work with various behaviourists she never really got over it) she was amazing at home but it sucked a lot of the joy out if dog ownership as I could never ever relax out walking her (NEVER went offlead) and in the end we just only walked her where we would hopefully never see other dogs

Wow. Seems unanimous then. Thank you so much to all who have taken the time to post and share their wisdom and experience. You have helped enormously and as a consequence we have decided this isn’t the dog for us, for her benefit as well as ours. A shame as she is such a fluffy cutie with the softest brown eyes… ah well.
The right dog will come along.