Considering rehoming my dog

[Smirna]

I had a lovely small dog for many years. Cuddly, friendly, placid. Sadly she died. It left a hole in my life so I got a new puppy. Same breed, same breeder.

New dog is horrible. She’s a year old and still chewing things all the time. Still peeing and pooping in the house sometimes, she just isn’t getting the message about going outside. She’s very barky and constantly barks for attention. If I’m eating she barks beside the table. She wants to play all the time and barks at me to join in. If I ignore her she starts clawing at me. I do play for a bit but she hassles me constantly. I end up locking her out of the room so I can work or watch tv. When I come home she leaps around and runs in circles, she won’t cuddle me or let me pick her up. If someone is eating she’s in their face trying to snatch food. Kids are always crying because she’s taken their food. Even if we’ve just been for a 30 minute walk she’s still bouncing around and playing when we get home, she won’t lie down.

Basically we are not a match in terms of energy levels. My previous dog was ideal, two short walks a day and a bit of playing with toys, then she lay down. So I purposely got the same low energy breed, but this dog is not low energy. I’m considering rehoming to someone who wants a more high energy dog. I feel awful about it but I just don’t have the energy or time to play with the dog the amount she wants.

Agree. Using fear is no way to train a dog.

Poor dog. You sound dreadful. Just make sure you re-home her responsibly so she goes somewhere she will be well looked after by people who deserve her

@Smirna have you talked to the breeder? Shih Tzus are a common ‘puppy farm’ breed, but if this is the third dog you’ve had from the same breeder, I assume you feel that they’re reputable? Any decent breeder would rather take a young dog they’ve bred back than see it go into rescue. It sounds like she’s got a lot to give the right family so they may be happy to rehome for you.

I know you’re getting a lot of grief here, but I do understand why you’re struggling. This dog is clearly more highly strung and has higher needs than your previous ones. You don’t sound like you have the bond with her that would underpin you putting more effort in to training and meeting her needs (maybe she’s picking up on that lack of a bond with you and that’s driving the anxiety and neediness?), so I think rehoming her to a home where she’ll get her needs met is better. She’s not ‘horrible’ - she just needs more than you feel able to give her.

Next time get an older rescue whose needs match yours… maybe an ex breeding bitch from your breeder (if they’re a decent breeder)?

Millions of dog owners up and down the country get up at 5 or 6am to take their dogs for a walk

And how do you suggest I go out for a walk at 5am when the kids are still in bed? Ridiculous. Most people are not getting up at 5am to walk their dogs.

Most dog owners I know don't get up at 5 or 6am for two hour walks.

But they do spend sufficient time exercising and socializing so the dogs are relaxed and happy.

Puppies are hard work and I wouldn't have gotten one with young children, but you have the dog now.

Can you afford a dog walker as you're unable to provide the exercise required.

A shih tzu!

My Nan had one pure bred and one cross bred shih tzu’s and they were the most neurotic things ever. The purebred never house trained and she has decades of experience with dogs.

She was always barking. The male, the cross bred, wasn’t as bad but just as noisy.

He loved his walks whereas she was hard work to get out.

@Smirna of course they do - I know people who get up at 4am to give their dogs a run before work.

If you really want to fix this there are loads of easy solutions but they all require time and effort on your part. You can't just expect to walk a dog for thirty minutes and that be enough. It doesn't work like that.

Off the top of my head:

Dog walkers
Daycare
Mental stimulation
More exercise at different times of the day if you can't do it in the morning
Brain games
Training classes
Agility
Scent work
Feeding from toys instead of bowls to keep her interesting and to get her to use her brain
Trick training in the house

I do, and I take the responsibility of being a dog owner seriously.
I did the same when I had horses and worked ridiculously long hours.

Please find a nice home for the pup or return to the breeder. You haven’t bonded with her and the way you talk about her is horrible. Maybe get a robot dog, that might suit you better?

Fairly certain it’s illegal to leave your primary school kids asleep in bed while you walk the dog.

My friend and I have the same pure breed. Hers is placid as hell. Mine is the Tasmanian devil. She’s settling a bit now at age 3. Dogs vary. Your dog sounds under stimulated. Maybe try a trainer. My little dog was a nightmare when little. She enjoys stealing dirty washing and loo roll. I have pull toys to play fight when she wants / wanted attention, which I could do from sitting and a lot of small bouncy balls to throw etc in the house. As for the toilet training, she actually enjoyed running round the corner and pooing on the sofa or beside it. She treated it as a game and my being nonchalant didn’t work. At one year old, I decided this needed to stop so I hid and caught her in the act and gave her a very stern telling off. She finally realised it wasn’t a game and the pooing stopped. Now she is really clean and on walks, goes and hides to poo.

My neighbours have the same breed. They have 4. 2 are laid back little mops, 2 are reactive, barky and hard work.

They come in different personalities like all dogs even of the same breed.

I get up and walk my dog early. My husband sorts kids out whilst I do so. Dog then kips all morning until it's time for another leg stretch.

He's gets somewhere around 2hrs exercise a day, often more.

I don't know some of the comments on here are nuts! There are plenary of breeds of dogs that would be perfectly happy with 1 hr walk a day. I have always had dogs, only a few really needed 2 hrs plus and they were an exception to the breed not the rule. They were terriers. The others were happy with a good hour walk.

OP if you can't find a solution, possibly dog walker, increase dogs stimulation it sounds like finding another more suitable home would be best. I guess all breeds have general traits but you can never guarantee that your one won't be that exception.

You’re wrong

It’s not illegal to leave kids alone and I have to do it every day.

My dog is much higher energy than I anticipated, it’s really hard.

People have told you what the issue is but you don’t seem willing to make any changes? Are you going to walk it more? Provide more mental stimulation?

I am out at 6:30am with my dog. Then again late afternoon. She’s good on about 90mins a day but a pavement walk doesn’t cut it. It needs to be a park, lots of sniffing is mentally tiring. I try and give her off lead time and do bits of training during the walk.

I also hide treats indoors a couple of times a day. I do a snuffle mat. Unfortunately she’s not a fan of a kong but loves shredding cardboard.

life literally revolves around her. Even doing all these things she still claws me and barks at me every time I sit on the sofa. I’ve been doing settle training for a long time, we’ve made progress but she still needs help to settle. She won’t just do it independently.

Makes one wonder who's the animal and who's the master.

I never understand the surprise that some people have when they assume that if they do the same for every dog they will get the same outcome.

Breeds have traits but dogs have personalities and different likes and dislikes.

If you can't see that dogs have different needs despite being the same breed then I don't think any of the advice you have been given by PP will help as the first thing you need to acknowledge is that this dog is not a clone of your other ones.

You’re wrong 🙄

it doesn’t sound like you’ve done any proper training or enrichment with the dog, because you just took it for granted she’d be like your other dogs. Doesn’t work like that. Dogs don’t intrinsically know how you want them to behave. If she isn’t doing what you want, that’s down to you not putting the work in. She’s bored and understimulated. You can’t be bothered to listen to advice though and accept you’re the problem so you would be best to rehome to someone who’ll put the effort in.

You've assumed every dog of the same breed is identical and you've lazily assumed that training just happens. If you're not prepared to do the work, don't blame work, kids or disability.

You need to responsibility rehome the dog. This does not mean taking it to a rescue or shelter, although I suspect that's all you can be bothered to do.
Poor dog, I hope you find a suitable home and please do not get another dog.

Sorry but the advice here is absolutely insane. It’s not ok to leave a 5yo alone in bed while you walk a dog. You’re talking bollocks so I won’t be engaging with it any further.

Literally no one has said that it is or advocated for it 🙄

you clearly need support OP but you’re very combative and refuse to take any responsibility for behaviours that your dog has learned whilst living with you.

if you can’t cope then speak to your breeder or a breed rescue about rehoming. But don’t get another dog. You can’t gamble with an animal’s life

You are not willing to invest any extra time or training into your dog because…. you know….it’s the same breed as the other dogs you had, so should be happy with the exact same routine that they had and just stop being so horrible. Please re home the poor thing asap and do not get another dog.

Multiple people have said get up at 5-6am to walk the dog. Which is before the kids have gone to school. And literally a couple of posts up I said you can’t leave primary school age kids at home in bed while you walk the dog, and MavisFlump said “You’re wrong”.

So yes, people have suggested I should leave the kids alone to walk the dog.