Dog Straying

K09

Hi,

The past 6 months our dog has started to stray. He might not come back for a day and often badly cut and bruised. We think he has been fighting with other dogs.
Just before he began to stray our other dog died and 2 weeks later we got a new pup who he does not like at all. He will not go near the pup.
We have tried keeping him inside for a few days but he goes mad barking. The vet has suggested getting him neutered.

What should we do??? We are afraid he will get knocked down by a car or something bad.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

fatmammycat

Get your dog neutered ASAP, most male dogs will follow the scent of a female in heat for miles, that's probably why he's been fighting too, and also it might be a good idea to make sure your dog cannot get off your property, you are legally responsible for him should he bite someone, worry sheep or cause an accident.

peasant

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055180004&highlight=fence

kerrysgold

1. get him neutered. it will curb his instinct to stray to find a female and it will prevent him from impregnating female dog's in your area, causing even more pups to be born and possibly drowned when they are born. It will also help keep him healthier and a neutered dog is usually calmer than an entire dog.

2. get your garden fenced in or construct a run for him. It is illegal to let your dog stray, he could easily get killed/injured by a car or be shot by a farmer for worrying sheep/cattle.

Ruby Soho

Please, have him neutered but in the meantime do you best to keep him in, stray dogs are a liability, any member of the public can call in the dog warden if they see your dog. Its dangerous and anti-social, you need to be vigilant. The fact that the dog is coming home battered means that he could be harassing people who are out innocently walking their dogs and getting into fights, its not fair. Also if he causes an accident or injures someone, you can be made cough up.
Neutering will certainly help to curb the roaming instinct but if its that easy for him to get out it mightn't make a huge difference, it also can take several months for the testosterone levels in the blood to decrease sufficiently as to have an effect on his behaviour, it certainly won't change overnight. But do get it done, it can also prevent many health problems relating to prostate / testicular changes in the future.

Toulouse

K09 wrote: »

Hi,

The past 6 months our dog has started to stray. He might not come back for a day and often badly cut and bruised. We think he has been fighting with other dogs.
Just before he began to stray our other dog died and 2 weeks later we got a new pup who he does not like at all. He will not go near the pup.
We have tried keeping him inside for a few days but he goes mad barking. The vet has suggested getting him neutered.

What should we do??? We are afraid he will get knocked down by a car or something bad.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

I'll second the neutering. When you say keeping him in, how much exercise is he getting? Are you doing any other training with him? This may help if the barking is down to boredom.

How is he getting out? You need to secure your property so that he won't stray when you let him out.

onedmc

snip snip

TheB

+1 for neutering ..

Also, as above - you also need to either fence or re-fence your garden/wherever he is let out. Radio fences are a useful idea if he will scale pretty much anything to get out (although neutering will mostly remove his urge to wander so he may not go to extreme lengths to get out..)

As for the puppy - did you introduce them properly ? When you say he dislikes the puppy.. just ignores the pup ? growls and snaps ? or makes like Cujo towards it ? I don't think the new pup is causing the dog to wander and I would think the mad barking is because he just wants to get out and wander..

Do you exercise him enough when he is kept in.. it's a different lifestyle (as a house/mainly in dog) if he is used to being wandering at will and living mostly outside - all that wandering will prob have made him very fit too so he will need to burn off excess energies - if you persevere he will settle inside (although now and again there are dogs that just dislike living indoors..)

Good luck

Bx

Trojan911

kerrysgold wrote: »

It is illegal to let your dog stray, he could easily get killed/injured by a car or be shot by a farmer for worrying sheep/cattle.

Or worse still, attack a child/adult. You could also be held responsible for damage to property, livestock, vehicles etc so it cost you dearly also.

lurchin along

You'll get a unanimous response from the 'pros' on this board-NEUTER AND FENCE!!!!!!!!!