u/RedHeelRaven

I’ve never had an issue. I wonder if the issue is they aren’t keeping up with their emails or applications. If they have one person in charge of this and they aren’t doing a good job it can be a problem.

I’d try reaching out by phone. Or see when they are holding an adoption event in which they are bringing their dogs out to a Petsmart or other venue, and meet the volunteers and dogs.

As for the application we have always indicated we won’t crate the dog. And that the dog does not typically get left alone for more than 4 hours. Hope that helps.

Haha. I remember the days of “potty treats” for my kids when potty training. My one loved Ande’s chocolate mints.

We’ve had 2 rescue dogs that never lived in a home. They are very challenging. The “troubled past” comment makes me a little concerned. Hopefully that does not include aggression or a bite history. A staffy mix is a dog that can do a lot of damage so I understand why people may not recommend this type of dog for an inexperienced dog owner. That doesn’t mean it’s not doable, just extra caution needs to be used.

But dedication, patience and the willingness to learn go a long way in dog rehabilitation as well as utilizing all resources at your disposal.

The first thing the dog will need is calm, confident leadership. The dog must feel that you are in charge so they don’t respond to their anxiety and decide they make the decisions. Positive reinforcement is imperative, as well as long dog walks that create and strengthen bonds.

You will need to pay attention to your dog’s cues. Catch them getting anxious/excited before they are ramped up and redirect behavior and show them they don’t need to be scared unless you are scared. In short you want them to learn to mostly mirror your energy. Not always of course, but mostly.

Safety measures should be in place. Shelter dogs, outdoor dogs are big flight risks. Make sure to identify how and where your dog may try to escape and take measures to prevent this. Do not allow the dog off leash with children or with other animals until they have proven they can be trusted. Some dogs will always need to be on leash for this.

Get a good dog behavioral expert. Not a dog trainer who calls themself an expert. Get that in place before you bring the dog home and the dog should be evaluated by them as soon as possible.

Separation anxiety work starts on day one. Make sure you are prepared for this before you bring the dog home.

We had our “aggressive” border collie/chow mix for 14 years. She was estimated to be 2 when we got her. Very high energy. A good behaviorist made all the difference in rehabilitating her. She no longer showed signs of aggression after 6 months. But I never trusted her alone or off leash with small children. She was an absolute joy. A very loved family member who trained my other dogs when we brought them home.

Good luck. Please post updates.

Sorry about the loss of your Bear. That’s very hard on you and Houdini. Right now it appears Houdini doesn’t feel safe on walks without Bear. Houdini likely thinks he has to protect himself and you during walks.

I think it would help if you work with Houdini. He’s grieving so take it slow. He needs to believe that you are the calm, confident leader who protects him. So I’d work on that aspect of the relationship. A competent dog behaviorist can help. Make sure they’re competent though and not just a dog trainer who advertises themself as an expert on dog behavior.

You can also work on desensitizing your dog to other dogs. Our new guy developed leash aggression after being approached by unleashed dogs who weren’t friendly.

I spent weeks desensitizing him before I saw progress. The key was getting his attention to “watch me” as soon as we saw another dog. He was then given a high value treat. Eventually he associated seeing other dogs as a good thing. We can walk by almost all dogs now except other leash aggressive dogs. When we see a dog lunging and barking we turn around before they get close to each other.

Good luck. You can turn this behavior around. It’s just going to take time and effort and lots of high value treats.

My new guy is a nibbler. That’s how he got my attention at the rescue. No way did I want a young, puppy mill, project dog after losing the most easy and mellow dog in the world to cancer. But that nibble, that damned nibble….

I don’t have 3 dogs now but I spent many years with a 3 dog household. How the dogs get along will determine if it’s feasible for your home. In our case we had a female dog “the enforcer” who made it her job to keep the other dogs in line. She was a mix of working/herding dog and guardian dog breeds so it was in her blood. Never had any issues. When she died the 2 remaining dogs got in a few scuffles until they figured out who got to be in charge after her death. After that they were peaceful together.

The dog we lost in February from cancer grieved the loss of her family for 6 months. We adopted her from a rescue group but she missed her family so badly. She acted happy at times but needed alone time and had nightmares. She literally cried out in her sleep. She came around and gave us the goofy, happy side of her after she processed her loss. Maybe just act excited to see him first thing in the morning and during the day. So he knows he is loved while he grieves. Hang in there, it will get much better.

Pug, or most bully breeds due to the health concerns. I lost a dog to chemodectoma cancer which is very rare and usually affects these breeds. Plus the girl I lost was heat intolerant. Our AC went out right before the temps hit 100 degrees almost 2 years ago. I panicked and lucky my husband was able to call in a favor to get it fixed that day. I in no way want to worry my dog might die if the AC fails and be scrambling to find a way to keep them cool and breathing.

Also keep in mind she now loves you and is also taking on the role of your protector. We had a dog like that and worked with a behaviorist to stop the aggression. Part of the rehab was making the dog confident in me. That she didn’t need to worry unless I was worried. A lot went into that which is why I recommend a very good behaviorist. Not just someone who had experience with dog obedience training and calls themself a behaviorist. Good luck. This reactivity can be curbed.

I’ve found the dogs are good at letting me know when it’s too hot to walk. We try to go out early or late when it’s hot out but if I notice panting or they’re walking slow we go home. I’m lucky that we have a car to take them to shady parks. When my old girl had cancer and couldn’t tolerate walks we just walked around our yard. Very slow at her pace and she was in for the sniffs not the exercise. Sometimes as long as they get their daily sniffs in they’re happy.

You can search Ritani which is a well known, reputable, online retail vendor. They have many 1.2 carat oval diamonds, some with better specs, a GIA lab report and return policy for between $1700 and $1900.

You also need to get her focus before or right at the moment she sees the dog. Don’t wait for her to react. I say “oh a dog, this is great, what a good dog” so my guy thinks “seeing other dogs is a good thing” as I give him a treat. I also taught my dog to heel. He does it very nicely, he heels and is given “go sniff” breaks. When we are in areas we expect to see other dogs I put him in a heel command. Another thing is we always start the walk with him in a heel command. This lets him know I’m in charge during the walk. It helps because he does like to think he’s in charge at times.

The fenced yard is so important to me for the dogs. I really dislike having to go outside into the world until I’m good and ready. It’s very convenient to put the dogs outside to do their business. Especially if they have diarrhea or I have the flu. Or if there’s bad weather. We get icy conditions that make it hard to walk the dogs at times. So for me that would not be a housing change I’d be willing to make.

Maybe try just taking the dogs out on a leash and walking them every single time they need to go out for a few weeks. You’ll get a feel on how much that changes your life and can better judge if it’s a deal breaker.

I relate and I hate it. My husband has sabotaged my dog training to. “No human food” was the rule for our new dog who is a picky eater. Come home from work and there’s a dinner plate on the living room floor, licked clean. Stupid stuff like that.

Just an FYI - old dogs are very trainable. Build trust by being calm, taking care of their needs and they will be wildly receptive to training. They actually crave a human pack leader who gives them clear expectations, rewards and something to do, such as obeying commands and taking them for walks. I’ve adopted old dogs in the past. One who spent 7 years tied to a tree. He was fully potty trained in a few weeks and the best boy. He filled out to 70 pounds and became my gentle giant.

You can leave the house but it seems you have had some struggles in the past. Maybe you need this. You need to develop confidence and discipline just like the dogs do. Maybe the universe is trying to teach all of you good things and created jobs for all of you to accomplish. My dogs have given me unconditional love and have truly helped my confidence when I was young. I hope this is what you experience. But you have to take the first step and believe you can master this. You can.

I had a very empathetic shepherd mix. I had a bad kidney infection and refused to be hospitalized. I was given pills and told to call the doctor to be direct admitted if I changed my mind. My shepherd came into my bedroom, howled at me and left. I think he smelled death. That scared me so bad I went to the hospital and I was turning septic. He knew. And I knew he knew. He basically saved my life.

You might try putting one of those outdoor ultrasonic anti-bark devices near the fence. Many people say they don’t work but I have one pointed at my neighbor’s yard and it actually works. My neighbors leave their dogs out for hours and they constantly bark when we’re outside. Asking them nicely to do something about it made them double down.

I didn’t want our new dog picking up that bad habit and put the device up. Took a week for the dogs to actually stop barking.

When our dog became incontinent washable diapers worked really well. I was concerned she wouldn’t accept them or that it would be an issue with the other dogs but it was fine. Also, the vet gave her a clean bill of health and blamed her age. She was 15 at the time. It was spleen tumor and the vet missed it. It was putting pressure on her bladder.

One local rescue has a FB page. My friend kept suggesting dogs for me that she saw on that page. I did visit it as well as Petfinder and Craigslist.

I used the FB of the local rescue to help decide on one particular dog I saw at the rescue. So many people made posts they were going to adopt him and left the rescue without him after meeting him. So I knew the dog had issues because those smaller “designer” type dogs usually get adopted fast (days not weeks like him) and he would likely be returned to the rescue group by a family who wasn’t experienced in working with puppy mill survivors. So we adopted him.

So true and good advice. When we lost one dog unexpectedly his body remained at the emergency vet before the cremation people picked him up. He had spleen cancer unknown to us and was bleeding internally. So we euthanized him there. It was devastating.

Came home and our schnauzer was so nervous and kept looking for his brother. I called the emergency vet hospital and arranged to bring my schnauzer in to see my sweet dog’s body.

They were very nice about it and it was in a private room. Once my guy viewed his brother’s body, and sniffed him he became calm. He grieved a long time. But the frenetic energy and anxiety disappeared the moment he understood what happened.

My dog that passed in February became voraciously hungry when she got a rare cancer. They gave her a month to live and she lived 10.5 months. Breakfast was served at 6:30 in the morning. She worked on me for weeks. Waking me up a half hour early. So okay 6 now. Then when 6 was the new time she decided 5:30 was better. On and on until we sit to 4:30. She tried to make it even earlier but we “agreed” at 4:30. Miss my baby girl so much.

We got our 10 year old border collie/chow mix a puppy when she turned 10. It made her young again and kept her young for another 6 years. She loved that puppy so much and found a new “job” and purpose in life. She played with him all the time. I used to tell her “when you grow old, you’re going to grow old all at once” because she was just that active and playful with him. She only showed signs of age 2 weeks before she died from spleen cancer.

My last two dogs that passed seemed indifferent to each other. But I caught subtle signs that they cared about each other over the years. The one day we were over my daughter’s house. As we were leaving I took the one dog to put in the car. The other dog realized his “sibling” dog wasn’t with us and just sat his butt on the ground, looked at the door to tell me we were missing his brother.

Then the little one was battling cancer and was very sick. The oncologist gave him prednisone and for 24 hours the dog felt better. The younger dog danced with joy when the little guy grabbed a toy. He was that happy to see him better.

On days we are really busy he gets a 2 mile walk in the morning and a couple short walks later. Non busy days he can walk about 3 to 5 miles with daddy in the morning and another 2 with me later in the day and play with his doggy best friend for hours.

I actually think it’s a bit too much some times. He can sleep 10 hours and be slow to wake up in the morning. Vet says he’s healthy with good blood work results.

Initial adoption fee, dog supplies, ID tag, dog license cost us &700. We paid an extra $350 for a year of pet insurance. Our vet plan is $75 a month but we have already paid $400 out of pocket for an ear infection and additional blood work. Good quality food at least $50 a month.

So earmark about $700 to start, then budget at least $200 a month because you will want to have a little extra in case your dog gets an ear infection and other unexpected infections or injuries.

With that said, there are cheaper ways to get the bare minimum vet care. Some spay and neuter clinics will also provide vaccinations and low cost heartworm preventatives. It’s not ideal but being on death row in a shelter is a much worse alternative.