Nervous new puppy not eating or drinking and scared of lead

[BlueBoy2]

I have just brought home a 16 week old cavachon and hes really nervous. I thought he was 14 weeks but when we worked out date of birth it was 16 weeks.
We tried to ut a lead on him and he freaked out. He won't eat, take a treat or drink.
Im worried he has t been socialised at all even though breeder said he was.
What do I do? How do I introduce him to anything I can't even get him on a lead?

Sorry but I struggle to agree. There is so much info out there. And it's not like the bad old days when info was much harder to come by. We all walk around with computers in our pockets. And we don't know how the lovely lady and the OP are linked so we can't assume she is just an acquaintance. But I agree that any info that helps even one person is worth it.

Edited to say: I just think, like many people, that it is so very depressing. And I think that a far more radical approach is needed than just providing more info. But that's not popular on here!

Well describing someone as a ‘lovely lady’ says acquaintance rather than friend to me but there’s no point splitting hairs.
I see so many well meaning people utterly bloody duped that you are right….it is utterly depressing
I don’t know how individuals can influence it though other than try to educate- I only get to see people after they’ve got the dog when it’s already too late 🤷‍♀️

@redboxer321 I also do home checks and dog assessments, so I am 'involved with a rescue charity'. I've still never had people ask me about buying a puppy. One for advice on rescues.

Regardless, the OP made a mistake with this puppy and has hopefully learnt from it. Along with other potential puppy buyers who may be reading this thread.

@EdithStourton One of my rants about pedigree dog breeding is the amount of litters stud dogs are allowed to sire. I have working cockers and some of the 'popular' stud dogs have sired over 100 litters. At one point it was said all workers could be traced back to three stud dogs. Until that is sorted, there isn't much hope for the gene pool and the COI.

• only for advice on rescues.

Was too late to edit.

I think you have done the right thing OP. Credit to you for realising your mistake and acting swiftly. The situation might have been reversible with lots of coaching but probably its best left in the hands of someone with more experience.

I admire anyone who tries to improve the current situation but I am not convinced a pinned post on MN will make any difference.

It might though. OP posted before about her dog, but no one really sparked on the risks - perhaps if something had been pinned she might have avoided such heartache. And there are usually at least fortnightly posts for people asking for help and the same advice, from the same posters, pops up!

Oops, fogot to tag you @redboxer321

I think if MN agrees a thread pin, then the credentials of people contributing to the pin should be authenticated, including mine. Anyone can say they are an 'expert' and we have enough online posturing and frauds. So, not a bad idea in principal, but I think contributors need vetted. Maybe even professional third parties outside of the MN citizen pool.

Maybe your just not cut out to be a dog owner? It doesn't suit everyone. The next one will probably be a bitey little banshee peeing everywhere and you'll regret that. Puppies are hard going.

Sure. But I wasn't talking about the fosterer/home checker/dog assessor but the lovely lady who sounds like she runs the establishment. I'm sure the fosterer in the OP's post also does those other things but would be mostly known, as you likely are and as you described yourself, as a fosterer.
I'm surprised no one has ever mentioned to you that they are going to buy a pup. Not necessarily coming to you for advice but just something that would come up in conversation. I'm sure you're more knowledgeable than me (I have done home checking and fostered myself but not very much) but if someone I knew told me they were going to buy an older, x-breed pup, I think the conversation would go in such a way that they would likely do a bit more research/possibly have a rethink rather than just go ahead.
I take the point that pp said about you can't ask what you don't know to ask but it's about having a conversation, sticking something into google, whatever...
I realise there is a lot very bad info and promoters out there which makes things difficult for people.

But yes, let's hope it's a lesson for lots of people.

@EdithStourton & @TheHungryHungryLandsharks a pinned thread is a great idea. I thought I had done enough research before I chose a breeder for my WL lab - asked questions about health tests and how many litters the mother had and how old she was etc.

The health tests were done and scores were good, but I didn’t find out until later that she had lied to me about so many things. I didn’t realise you could search the name of the kennel of the KC website for example! After I found out that the dam was older than the breeder said she was and mine came from her third litter, not her second (she’s also breeding from the same pairing again right now and the dam is right on the age limit as I understand it, not to mention it’s not much more than a year after her last litter) I also found that she was breeding multiple breeds along with Labs which I had no idea about.

In the end, I was very lucky as my dog (coming up to 14 months old and I brought him home a year ago tomorrow) is a total gem, confident and healthy and outgoing and has no behavioural issues apart from being too friendly but I learned all of what I know so far about breeders from this forum. And if I was to ever get another dog, I would go about it differently next time. He was confident and exploring and eating from day 1 to be fair.

I think a pinned checklist would be amazing.
Of course now I can see all the signs of a puppy farm but I didnt even know what to look for. I thought a puppy farm was a big shed but now i know it can be glossy website and photoshoots. I didnt know that people shipped dogs to the 'home' and probably all sorts of other things.
I thought paperwork were health scores and now I know its just microchip numbers. Im embarrassed about some of the things I missed but hopefully it might help somebody else.

The thing is with a well bred puppy you don’t know what you’re getting. I go to ringcraft classes and someone there has a very expensive, well bred KC puppy and he’s hoping to go to crufts. He got the puppy at 8 weeks old, has socialised it well (he’s very experienced) and it’s just very nervous and not confident to the extent that still at six months old the dog won’t walk in the show ring. Just sits down and won’t move.

I spent a lot of time and conversations with my puppy’s breeder agonising over which puppy to get as I had pick of the litter. I went for what she felt was the calmer puppy. Well I’d hate to see the others. 😆🙈. Saying that wouldn’t change him for the world. I got him knowing there were no guarantees and was prepared for anything.

Yes! If someone had pointed me to a checklist I would have spotted it a mile off. I think when you have dogs and are interested in them its very obvious to spot and you would think I was a bit dense not to realise but if you aren't thinking like that you can get caught out, well I did!

😁 I think a show dog is definitely a cretin type of doggy personality!

@SpanielsGalore - I agree what you said about the COI in WCS. I really wanted one as my next Agility dog, but feel that the breeding just doesn't match my standards. It's really hard to find one that is ethical on every level.

@BlueBoy2 how did it go at the vet and with the foster person?

Just a side note: relinquishing a puppy, even after only a day or so, can be really hard - harder in many ways than relinquishing a dog after a few years. There's all the 'what-if's' and sense of having let yourself or the dog down. So give yourself a bit of time to come to terms with the 'grief'.

We'll figure out how to pull together some sort of puppy guide. But it is hard so don't beat yourself up.

100% with you there. Popular sires are an absolute blight. Surefire way of spreading a genetic disease through a breed. Especially when one popular sires begets another successful dog who becomes a popular sire in his turn.

How did it go at the vets @BlueBoy2 ?

Dont beat yourself up over it.

I think everyone is unaware of how puppy farms/ back street breeders work until they get caught themselves

My first Cocker, back in 95, had all the paper work to a seemingly good breeder from the IOM - It wasnt . He came home with kennel cough and a worm infestation that would turn anyones tummy . He was also 12 weeks old, and I lived in a flat with a shared open garden. Luckily we didnt have children , we were young, and we had the strength and energy to get him through it all, and he became the best dog who has ever lived

We were so lucky. This was back in the day when cocker breeding was really shit as they were the dog of choice and cocker rage became a recognised condition

Ive had another cocker since, from one of the best breeders ( at the time - sire, owned by breeder - was a crufts champion ) But so carefully bred, he came with his own problems - nothing we as a couple couldn't work with, but when you have family its tough

Dog now is a crossbreed , from an actually true accidental breeding, DIL left her pug in with " friends " who bred Frenchies whilst on holiday - of course it happened so we ended up taking one of the pups. I thought I knew dogs and pups, this wee man has run rings round me every day of his 5 years.

Dogs are hard work. No matter what breed, None of them actually tick all the boxes of the breed standard , Pug/frenchie cross - he comes miles cross country with me - when hes supposed to be a lap dog that likes gentle exercise , and if he sees sheep and off lead, I may as well pee into the wind - hes running and what he thinks is playing with big dogs , then I cant get a decent sleep as he comes and plonks himself on me at night

I would never ever ever advise a family with young kids to even think about getting a dog - unless the whole family are on board for the commitment , let alone a pup. It really is a lot of work. My first pup, who I had in a flat, I had to pay a dog walker and treat the girls in the flat across the landing to a bottle a week to come in and check on him whilst we were at work and our weekend were spent travelling to open spaces where he was allowed to run

However , in saying all that, I find it hard to not have one

Don’t feel bad @BlueBoy2 they are so clever at deceiving people these puppy farmers.

Please, please, please do report them though to the council so no other dogs are being left there to suffer. The council should inspect them.