Rehoming a young male dog

fitzie79

I recently found a young male Jack Russell. I fed him and gave him some water but when I woke up the following morning he was gone. The following day I saw that the owner had a poster up for the missing dog in the local shop. A few days later the dog came up to our house again. We hung onto him and duly rang the owner. As it turned out the owner was unable to keep the dog so asked if we would be interested in keeping him. We were looking for a dog anyway so it suited everyone.

My question is now how to I get the dog to realise that he has moved home? He has already shown a tendancy to go wandering and I obviously don't want to keep him locked up all day. Is there anything (besides feeding him) that I can do?

I live in the country so if he goes wandering it's nearly impossible to track him down!

Toulouse

Is he neutered and vaccinated? These would be the first things to do with any new dog. A collar with a name tag and also get him microchipped, this will help if he does get out.

Is your garden secure? If he has a secure home then he won't go wandering.

Other than that just try to get to know him. Teach him tricks, train him, these are all good for bonding. Take him out for walks, just spend time with him and he'll love you for it. .

Alfasudcrazy

As said get him micro chipped and put a collar on him with tag. The only cost effective way to keep him in is the pet electric fence. It has worked well with mine and I live in the country too.

fitzie79

thanks for the feedback so far.

he isn't neutered - yet! the garden isn't secure - it's too big to make completely secure and i don't want to make a small enclosure.

the pet electric fence sounds like a good idea. Where are these available and how much are they? what kind of radius do they have?

patmac

My own opinion on pet fences:
We had a Shiztu who was very exhubrient, very needy and would take off at a moments notice no matter what training we gave him. Anyway in circumstances similar to yours we decided to purchase the electric fence, followed all the instructions watched the DVD etc. To cut a long story short the dog would take the shock rather than stay within the confines so we decided to do away with the fence, Anyway a lump developed where the collor had been and became malignant and unfortunately Oscar passed away.

Whether the fence was the cause or not I can't say for sure, but I don't think I would get another one as I found them quite cruel.

As for your new pooch I would ask the previous owner regarding his Vet history, and it is no harm to bring him to your local vet to get checked out. Good luck.

Whispered

Great that you're going to keep him, most unwanted dogs are not as lucky! Your best bet would be to build an enclosure, I know you said you don't want to, but for his safety (and the safety of drivers who may swerve to avoid him if he runs onto a road) it would be best. Even a small one, with a kennel, a shaded area and an area where he can get the sun would do, and then when you are in the house have him with you. It would be awful if anything was to happen to him after him being lucky enough to find a new home. And in my opinion, countryside or not, a responsible will always do their best to stop their dog from wandering.

Oh as for the shock collar/fence, just the name would put me off putting it near one of my pets! Also in my experience they dont work well. A boxer down the road got out past his, got hit by a car and had to be PTS.

fitzie79

thanks for the feedback. i'm going to go the enclosure route. It'll be reasonably be big with the sun shining in all day along with a shaded area as well for our hot summers

Whispered

For our indian summers with temps hitting 24 degrees or above :eek:

Thats great, congrats on the new family member! He's a lucky boy!

Alfasudcrazy

Pet fences ( its really just a length or wire laid on the ground) have to be put along the visible boundary to your property. ie' along the hedge or partial real fence / wall etc.

If there is no physical boundary obstacle at all the dogs may jump over it.

Its radius can be a big as you like (I have one and a half acres) its just a matter of buying another roll of wire if you run short of whats in the original pack. (the wire can be joined up and does not effect the performance).

I watched the video and tried to train my dogs but they just thought it was one big laugh. They got one shock from it and from then on knew not to go near it. They gradually learn the exact limit as the collar lets out a beep before it shocks so its maximises the area they can enjoy and never get close enough to get a shock these days.
It gives me great peace of mind but you have to make sure rodents etc don't cut the wire (happened me once).
You then have to search for the break in the wire which can be time consuming but once its laid over ground it makes this easier.

emsy g

my brother has 2 big dogs,a mongrel and an alsation,he is in the country too with no barriers,both dogs are neutered,he has a wooden shed around the side of his house and put up high metal fencing,like the ones they use to keep people and animals out of construction sites,it's not a HUGE space but large enough for a small wander and as they have the shed for shelter and they only have to stay in there for 5 or 6 hours maybe 4 days a week it seems to work fine,they are very happy dogs and have never tried or at least never actually escaped from it