Getting an 11 month old dog - advice please

[Lessworknow]

During our family search for a dog ,we came across an 11 month old cavapoo that has been extensively health checked.

We found him at a home breeders when considering a pup .

He was going to be a stud dog but now she does not need him as she has a pure breed - and this is why we know he is extensively checked and in good health

Breeder issues aside please….

This pup lives with multiple dogs and appears v gentle and chilled .
He has never been on walks but lives in a multi dog house hold and plays in a large garden

The owner took him for his first walk the day before we met him - with another dog and he was hesitant but coped well.

The next day , we went to meet him and walked him near a road . I sat on the floor with him on the grass verge and chatted to him and stroked him as if it was a non issue- again he was fine

When we returned to her home, he sat next to me and put his paw on my leg .

We have decided to bring him home - but are mindful that he has not seen children, been to public places.etc.

Bearing in mind he has missed his early socialisation window, please can we have your practical suggestions to help him transition to our home ?

Am aware he has never been without other dogs- is this a thing to be aware of ? And what can we do specifically to help him settle ?

My ideas in include-
.sleeping near him.
.quiet time at home initially .
some gentle visitors .
. walks near the home - same ones for familiarity .
.introduction to friends dog oriented dog - walks with her for confidence.

I need to introduce him to cafe s and pubs as that is very much part of our family lifestyle.I presume that the idea is to introduce slowly- but if he is anxious- what is the best way to react - treats and reassure or exit .. advice on this and general matter’s would be much appreciated.

Also - I feel that pups are like a box of chocolates- in that you never know what you are going to get.
My rational was that with an older pup - there would be an established nature .

first walk

.

Please come and tell my neighbour's cavvy that. He spends his life running around in circles in the backyard, yapping at the sky.

I wouldn't give these unscrupulous backyard breeders a penny of my money.

Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice

Okay . Thank you .
He does seem extordinarily gentle though.

If it's a Cavapoo, how can it be a stud dog? A Cavapoo is a crossbreed. A stud dog would be purebred. I think you are being misled.

And as regards Cavaliers, please do your research because they have a multitude of pretty severe health issues.

This will end in tears.

That did cross my mind .

VioletBramble
I just looked on her web site - he is still actually on advertised as a stud dog.

Just because he was a stud dog that is zero reason for her not have taken him on walks. She has raised him unkindly and without giving him proper opportunity to socialise with dogs & people outside the home or become confident in new environments.

You could look on it as him being a rescue I guess. But he is likely to have issues because of the neglectful way she has raised him.

Twiglets1
Dont disagree.
When he saw me he cowered a teeny bit . I got down on the floor beside him and massaged his shoulders. Instinctively- and he really relaxed.
He relaxed enough to allow me walk him - his second walk.
He sat in my van with me a short while with his paw on me - also in the home he did the same . When i got up to leave he pushed against me . .. so he did seem to like humans.

I was considering a rescue because I was very apprehensive about getting a puppy. i have the opposite opinion to you. I think with rescues you don't always know what your going to get. I knew what I was looking for found a breeder and spent a long time watching the puppies interact with us and our children. I choose well, We've now got our 13 week old puppy and couldnt be happier. If you want an older dog please consider going to an actual rescue and look at getting a dog that's been in foster where they have a very good idea of the dogs personality and if it will be suitable for you and your family

Not walking a dog for 11months is disgusting I don't care how big the garden is.

That’s good he could trust you. But the poor boy has been neglected in his socialisation which could affect him negatively in future. He is more of a risk than a young puppy that you can raise the correct way but it’s up to you if you are willing to take a gamble on him and rescue him in a sense from that life.

You sound really caring and like you have a good affinity with animals. And like you're prepared to put the work in.

I honestly think you would be a great match for a rescue - from a foster home as a pp described - who really needs the love and who might be on death row otherwise. The money you spend to buy it covers their costs and hopefully a bit left over to save the next dog who needs it.

Instead you want to support unscrupulous breeders who have bred and are now trying to sell him for profit. Does this really sit well with you?

Hi op just wondering how old your family are? If older they can help, if younger I’d say this dog might not suit- if you’ve puppy anxiety your whole life will go into trying to get this dog integrated and up to the milestones the average dog has already reached, puppies to me are like babies, getting to know the world, putting everything in their mouth, wary and excitable, clingy etc.

We got a puppy three years ago and while I adore him to bits, it was soooo (so so so) difficult with kids. I honestly cried at times. My outstanding memory is him, just newly having come to us, jumping up on my then 14yo over and over when they were in the garden and the panic on my sons face. The fact that I’d have to put him on the lead when children came for play dates.

I always say to people if you’re not totally totally a dog person then take the time you’d have spent with a dog and bring your kids somewhere or go visit someone you won’t get to see as much because of the dog. if you really really want a dog but use the word anxious and puppy together, I’d say if you have older kids get a rescue and if younger maybe wait a while

That poor dog!
We rescued our second dog, she was a lab who was seized terrible conditions from a really back street puppy farm. I knew the animal welfare officer who was in charge of the case and he knew we wanted a second lab to rescue, so he offered her to us directly from the council pound. She had just had a litter weaned from her.
Although she had been walked a bit as far as we know, it was limited to going out on the lead to go to the toilet. She had never “seen” anything at around 2 years old aside from the estate and flats she was moved around between.
It took her time to settle and to relax and trust us. She is still overly sociable and wants to greet and play with every dog we meet, regardless of if they are interested 😂 we have done lots of training and classes with her, she enjoys them but to be honest it’s not massively worked, she’s a bit feral sometimes when we are out and about but the kindest most gentle and loving little dog.

People who go on endlessly about rescue dogs and castigate you for ‘supporting an unscrupulous breeder’ seem gloriously unaware of the hypocrisy /if you get a ‘rescue dog’ - by their ‘logic’ you are supporting peeler who abandon their animal, and c who probably bought them from an unscrupulous breeder before that.
Would be more noble to refuse to get a rescue dog and only ever buy from registered breeders.

All other issues aside, I'm not sure why if you find puppies overwhelming you'd want to take on a project dog. And this dog is almost certainly going to be a project. Given the mix of breeds and the fact that he's been brought up with multiple dogs you're almost certainly going to have to deal with separation anxiety. Are you able to cope with a dog that can never be left alone?

This gets even worse.

A dog that cowers when approached is a dog that’s a bite risk when someone not so careful as you approaches the dog too fast, too loud. Usually a child.

Honestly, I don't know why you would pay someone for a dog she does not want. You're funding a puppy farmer who despises her animals so much she doesn't even walk them? How can you stomach that?

On the other side of this, DMum rescued a bitch (Satan - as she is fondly known) who was used by a puppy farmer, but she did it through responsible channels (Spaniel Aid) and knew precisely what she was getting. It took three years for my DDs to be able to be in the same room without the dog flying at them - because even though she was 'fine' around DD initially, once she got settled she became incredibly territorial and would lunge and bite. And she was fully prepared for that because she went through a goods rescue. Satan is fine now and loves my DDs. But it took years of incredibly hard work, from a very experienced dog owner, to fix it. No 'behaviourist' or 'trainer' was capable of helping.

On 'puppies are like a box of chocolates - you never know which you'll get.' A good breeder will be able to match you to a puppy because they will have spent 6 weeks, by the time you first meet them, with those puppies - sleeping by their side, barely leaving the room etc.

So no, older dogs are not 'more established in nature.' Rescues are just as unpredictable.

And, finally, in the nicest possible way - you are not a experienced enough owner to be able to handle the likely issues this dog will present (eventually, even if it doesn't right away) and that is going to only end in one way; tears and a possible bite.

If you want to take this absolutely insane gamble (and let's be honest, this sort of scumbag owning him now isn't going to take him back), then that is your choice. But, personally, I think you'd be absolutely insane to take such a risk and to pay for the pleasure - leaving my personal feelings about what sort of person you are, if your fund a puppy farmer, aside.

So if it didn't work out you'd actually return the poor dog to a home where he has never once been taken for a walk? Jesus. This just gets better.

The FB group Dog Training Advice And Support is well worth joining. Lots of excellent advice from trainers, behaviourists and vets. You do have to read the guides but if you have any questions after that you can post and get more tailored advice.

To be clear what you’re describing does sound unwise but it sounds as if you’re pretty set on getting this dog so it makes more sense to point you in the right direction for the dogs sake.

are there no happy ending s to similar circumstances?

I’m sure there are but we just want to open your eyes a bit to how badly this dog has been treated and how that might impact them behaviour-wise.

I’m a dog lover and if I took a dog from a home like that, I could never bring myself to return them to that environment even if I was struggling.

Could you ask to look after the dog for a few days to assess his behaviour in your home? It would be a happy ending for him to move to an owner that would look after him properly and walk him daily. You just have to be sure he is a good forever match for you.

Why are you so fixated on this particular dog?

Got our dog from a rescue around this age. We love him to bits and are committed to him but to be honest it’s been a rough ride

11 months is peak dog adolescence where they usually go through a patch of testing boundaries and bad behaviour even if you already had a bond and some training. What with all the chewing stuff up, running away, reactivity and waking at night I frequently wanted to give him back the first year

ours was not neutered when we got him and I guess yours will not be either. This meant that he would get very excited about females in heat anywhere in the vicinity to the extent he would not eat and he humped a lot: humans, dogs, inanimate objects. We could not let him off lead in case he ran off. Plus we had to pay for the op and get him through recovering

Ours is largely good with other dogs but he chases cats and is very reactive to motorbikes and not safe to be walked near traffic which is limiting. That might have been due to lack of early socialisation and has not proved possible to change. I can never take him to a pub or cafe unless we can sit outside as he is too unpredictable. He has random triggers like once he lost it with guy carrying a high chair. He’s big and not an ‘easy’ breed so those are factors but it might also be not having that socialisation period to such triggers.

On the plus side ours was toilet trained and never had any accidents in the house and he is very nice with other dogs I think because he was used to so many in the pound and the rescue centre. He seems to read other dogs well and adjust to them eg be playful with bouncy ones and quiet with nervous dogs.

I never wanted a puppy either but I think 11 months is quite a hard age to get a dog. You may end up with a dog with reactivity or separation anxiety and then you just have to work around it and they may never be able to do things you hoped for.

If I had my time over I will never get a puppy but I would get an older dog (over 2) from a rescue centre.