Finding a Good Home...

paddydriver

Hello,

The time has come that I need to make a very tough decision on my two labs. Have had dogs all my life and lived alone for 10 years with two labs but now married and we have had 3 kids in 5 years. I unfortunately just cannot give the dogs the time and attention they deserve.

They have a good area out the back but I never trained them so they are a bit "over excitable" around the kids and just knock them over. Not a bad bone in them and have never shown any jealousy towards kids and have always shown perfect temperament.

In years gone by I used to love taking them off for the day to Djouce Woods and up 3 Rock but just cannot do that anymore and they are not getting walked now.

One is 12 years old Golden and other is approx 6-7 Black Lab - both bitches. The black unfortunately has an oversized heart so she really gets knackered very quick - spent time getting this diagnosed when she was young as she was never up for the long long walks and would just cave in sometimes and collapse from exhaustion.

All said, I am giving the full story above in hope I don't get flamed and lectured:o

I am looking now for best advice on what my options are to try see if I could have them rehoused together in the hope they get to live out rest of their life the way they deserve - and the way I just cannot provide.

Not sure anyone will want a 12 year old and a 6-7 year old with dicky heart!

Would welcome all advice.

Thanks
Paddy

dollydishmop

I had hoped this was a wind-up, but I fear you're serious.

paddydriver wrote: »

One is 12 years old Golden and other is approx 6-7 Black Lab

:eek: :rolleyes:

paddydriver wrote: »

They have a good area out the back but I never trained them so they are a bit "over excitable" around the kids and just knock them over.

Some say you can't teach an old dog new tricks...and I say that's rubbish. You can teach any dog at any age...so rather than go the drastic route of re-homing 2 dogs which have essentially given you the best of their years....train them!!!

That, in my opnion, is what they deserve.;)

paddydriver wrote: »

Not sure anyone will want a 12 year old and a 6-7 year old with dicky heart!

No, I'm not sure many folks will take on a 12 yr old lab, nor a younger one with what could be considered a major health problem.

paddydriver wrote: »

I am looking now for best advice on what my options are

paddydriver wrote: »

Would welcome all advice.

Find the time for them, please don't just discard them because you feel they no longer fit in with your life...they don't need to go on all day walks, and I simply don't believe you can't find 40mins-1 hour to get them out for a good walk at least once a day. Heck, even half an hour is better than nothing.
And with the training...just be gentle and consistent with how you want them to behave...start tonight, and remember that consistency is the key, and I think they may well surprise you with how quick they pick up the idea of behaving within whatever ground rules you choose to lay down for them.

Please reconsider rehoming them...the rescues are over-flowing with young, healthy dogs as it is...and are finding it hard to find good homes for *those* dogs. There's a strong chance your two may never find a good home to end their days in given the age of one, and the health issues with the other.
I would consider they are already in the best home in their interests, you are clearly very fond of them - you may just need to juggle a few things around to find them their place in your new lifestyle.

paddydriver

I am well up for a wind up with the best of them - but this is real life now; I ain't posting about a car or a bargain alert etc and its a tough one to have to consider.

I take on board all said and appreciate such a detailed response straight off. Sometimes I reckon they are probably in the best place for them and the upheaval of being possibly split up might not be the ideal solution, but I gotta put it out there and get a few opinions.

No decision made yet but if someone came along with the magic solution I might take it. Liklihood is they will be going no where... but just don't know at this stage.

LucyBliss

I'm not going to flame or anything but I do think that rehoming might cause a lot of stress for a 12 year old and a 6/7 year old with a bad heart. We had a border collie who had an oversized heart and the vet said that walks were out of the question for her and that she was to be kept calm and happy. So I'm not sure taking her away from the home and people she knows is the best for her. And a 12 year old dog, she's going to find it very difficult too. You are basically all they know. They're not going to need super long walks in their condition either. I think even a spin in the car would be fun for them at this point.

I'm not trying to guilt-trip you or anything here because if you have 3 small kids, two big labs are probably knocking into them as though they're bowling pins and that's obviously a concern. But you can teach them boundaries even at that age.

I'd just really hate to see your family broken up like that and it would be very hard to rehome them.
Whatever you decide, I hope it goes well. Best of luck.

pokertalk

if you feel you dont have the time anymore you have options
1- you clould try and make time to walk them even if it is around the block
2-you could bring them out maybe 2-3 times a week and pay someone a small fee to walk them 2-3 days a week there s loads of dog walkers out there looking for a few quid.
or maybe a neice or nephew could do it for some pocket money they probably dont need muck walking as one is fairly old amd the other has heart problems
3- you could send them to socialization classes to address their problems around children . you can even do a basic commands class.
4- ring some rescue centres to se if they would take them in im sure there is someone out there would like to rehome them .they just need a bit of work. try and avoid sending them to a pound as they will not be rehomed together. thats if they make it out alive.there is not much call for labs out of pounds.
5- you can use the rehoming thread here on boards and state that you would prefer that they are rehomed together.
good luck in whatever you decide to do;)

Zapperzy

To be honest with you you will find it pretty much impossible to re-home them together if at all, one is quite elderly and the other is middle aged with health issues, most people who go looking for a new dog look for a young healthy dog that is out of teenage stage but is still young usually between 1-2 and rarely look to re-home 2 big(ish) dogs together.

Your best option would be to look at how you can fit them into your life,
where in the country are you? You could look at putting them into daycare one or two days a week, or employ a dog walker (or indeed a willing neighbour or relative for a few euro, plenty of teenagers around who might be willing to walk them for extra money). An elderly dog and a dog with a heart problem aren't going to need hours of walking, even half an hour a day would be sufficent at their stage, how are they offlead/onlead? Training mentally wears them out, and playing games where they have to use their brain like hiding food or toys and making them find them.

If it really comes to a stage where you find it impossible and there is no other option, putting them down would be a much kinder option than them spending months in a shelter with the prospect that they may never be adopted. If they do get adopted separetely it may cause too much stress to them. At least if they were put down while they were still with you they wouldn't go through that stress.

You could try contacting this crowd either but I would imagine they are inundated with dogs at the moment. http://www.oldies.org.uk/ They might be able to give you advice anyways.

boxerly

I have 3 kids,3 dogs,cat,fish,foster dogs and walk 2 GSDs 3 times a week for a friend.You have to make the time.Your dog with the bad heart prob needs little exercise?Im sure at their age they are happy to snuggle up in a bed in the kitchen /sitting room etc.Sending them away would be cruel:(

pokertalk

boxerly wrote: »

I have 3 kids,3 dogs,cat,fish,foster dogs and walk 2 GSDs 3 times a week for a friend.You have to make the time.Your dog with the bad heart prob needs little exercise?Im sure at their age they are happy to snuggle up in a bed in the kitchen /sitting room etc.Sending them away would be cruel:(

pet shop ya mean:D

TooManyDogs

Its very difficult to rehome labs in Ireland at the moment. The rescue I volunteer for has to send most of the labs to the UK to charities there, that includes the puppies so it'll be a very hard task to find them a new home.

In general it's difficult to home a dog over the age of 3 and extremely hard when they hit 6 or more, there's too many young dogs needing homes in pounds and rescues around the country that people have their pick so tend not to go for older or sick dogs.

Like the others I'd suggest finding a way of working them into your life, even giving some local kids a few bob for walking them a few times a week would make a big difference.

amacachi

I'm going to sound like a **** but it's going to be very, VERY hard to find another home for the older one.

As for the younger one, how are the kids with the dogs? They should be getting to the age now where they'll be confident around them and be nearly big enough to handle them on their own, they should have loads of time for them.

lorebringer

Have you tried contacting rescues about rehoming them? Many rescues will allow you to advertise your dogs on their site while a home is being found for them, and you keep them in your home while this takes place. May be worth a try to see if you get a response.

As other posters have said - labs are difficult to rehome, as are older or sick dogs, so old or sick labs (unfortunately, both of your dogs fall into these categories) are going to be very hard to home. Along with this, rehoming 2 dogs together is very rare and usually only happens with smaller breeds. You may have a long wait to rehome them in a suitable home so please be prepared for this.

I do agree that is may be more realistic to try to retrain the two dogs (old dogs CAN learn new tricks!). Classes and a few weeks of working hard with them at home could work wonders. Also, training and any sort of mental stimulation will help tire them out so they will be more calm around the house. Paying a local teen or getting a dog walker in to walk them a few times a week (or even better, every day!) will also make a difference with the hyperactivity in the house.

I know the decision to rehome a dog is a very hard one to make but please try to (I don't know if you already have, you didn't say) exhaust every other way of trying to make it work

boxerly

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Its very difficult to rehome labs in Ireland at the moment. The rescue I volunteer for has to send most of the labs to the UK to charities there, that includes the puppies so it'll be a very hard task to find them a new home.

In general it's difficult to home a dog over the age of 3 and extremely hard when they hit 6 or more, there's too many young dogs needing homes in pounds and rescues around the country that people have their pick so tend not to go for older or sick dogs.

Like the others I'd suggest finding a way of working them into your life, even giving some local kids a few bob for walking them a few times a week would make a big difference.

True true xx,Have to say I love older dogs:)I have an 11.5 boxer,an 8 year old boxer,12 year old cat,an 8 year old male lab foster and they are great.I have a 3 year old bichon who is more work than the rest of them put together :)Something very noble and humble about older dogs?They are great.OP can you say what area you are in?A dog walker would deffo be a great idea.I know the dog walking services can be expensive but if you got a dog lover who enjoyed walking and who needed a few bob youd be sorted xEven if they got them out 3 times a week for ye xx.Alot of labs from the pounds are going to the uk,but the stress on doggies that age can be very upsetting for them:(

paddydriver

Thanks all for the responses, I would love to address all points but I think I can see a general concensus that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to get a good outcome that will be best for Daisy and Milly - and our family.

The main things to raise is that these two dogs are mad (In a great way) - they practically knock me over when I show them the leads and I could not consider handing them over to someone else for walks. I have so many memories over the years of nephews/nieces etc taking the lead and ending up on their face from being pulled..:eek:

When I was younger I did take my other labs to obedience classes - remember walking 40 mins to one that was over in Churchtown behind the Braemor Rooms - but for Milly and Daisy I didn't do this unfortunately.

These two live out back too - they love it and neither were ever interested in living in the house and always wanted to be out in their own kennel together; before Milly - it was Fern and Daisy - Fern lived to 17, mostly indoors, and then we got Milly soon after Fern passed on. Its so funny going out in the morning to see them and feeling the heat out of the kennel and the two of them coming out with the squashed heads after being so happy and warm.

I am not sure if them and kids are ever going to integrate - whilst they love being out in the garden; the dogs are just too boisterous. Problem is too that Milly has the terrible habit of eating Daisy's... you know....:( and one of our kids has already spent a few nights in Crumlin with a bad case of a bug called campylobactor and doc's said its something that can come from dogs - don't think they got it from our dogs but we had HSE on questioning us on where we had been etc prior to him getting it so it was taken very seriously! Milly does not do herself any favours by continuing this habit!!

Anyway's - I think its fairly clear I will not be able to get somewhere to take both of them and I am not going to send them off into the great yonder and hope they stay together; I would like to see where they end up and don't want to take a chance that they end up in UK or being put to sleep.

I will take more time to think it through. Need to get them out in the car some more and take them off a few walks.

Finally...Funny story. I remember having a barney with an oul neighbour just before I got married; they were getting work done in their house and I recall it was a Sunday during the Ryder Cup final day and I was watching (must have been 2004) and the neighbours were going hammering at it on the Sunday! - were nearly in on top of me and my sky sports. I had enough and went in to ask them to take it easy... we ended up going at it and during it they complained about the dogs scrapping in their kennel out back; I just basically said "You have kids.. I have dogs"... go figure. Amazing how 6 years later things have changed so much.... and the two of them still scrape in the kennel at all hours:D

Thanks again to all.

Paddy

boxerly

Ye can get tablets to give them that stops them eating poop.Dont know the name of them sorry,I was minding a lurcher a few weeks ago who ate his poop and they worked great on him.Ye can get them in pet shops x

Cherry Blossom

Apparantly if you feed a small bit of pineapple to the dogs it makes the poo taste foul and discourages them from doing it.

Zapperzy

Have you thought about getting something like a halti or dogmatic to make walking easier? There are also harnesses designed to stop dogs pulling also, can't remember the name of them but theres a thread 'giving up rescued dog' that has good advice on making walking a strong dog easier.

paddydriver

Tried the tabasco sauce, pepper.. etc... this bitch is hardcore! It doesn't even get to hit the ground sometimes... hot meal and all that:o

Won't lower the tone too much for now.

paddydriver

Zapperzy wrote: »

Have you thought about getting something like a halti or dogmatic to make walking easier? There are also harnesses designed to stop dogs pulling also, can't remember the name of them but theres a thread 'giving up rescued dog' that has good advice on making walking a strong dog easier.

Yeah, have been on harnesses the last few years and works better for me - but handing on to someone else and asking them to put on harness etc is too much as two of them are hopping mad at walk time and you have to wrestle to get harness on. Don't like leaving harness on (outside of walking time) either cause I always worry they will do themselves and injury when playing. The harness definitely makes it easier to keep control and can keep them tight when on a short lead.

Never went near the choke chains - even though that's always what people have suggested.

On harness issue - whats people's thoughts re these? Am I being over protective not leaving them on the whole time? During the day the two of them don't have anything attached - i.e. collars etc. - have always thought walking time would be easier if I didn't have to spend 10 mins getting them to settle so I could put on the harness!!

Discodog

If you ever found a rescue in the UK that would take them I would jump at the chance as they are pretty certain to be well looked after. It sounds like your dogs have shown you a huge amount of love & loyalty maybe now it's your turn.

Dogs are never to old to train & I believe that kids raised with dogs are far better off that those raised without them. What does your partner think ?

lorebringer

Harnessing - very good idea, esp head harnesses for larger breeds. On the "the jump around like mad things when the leads come out" front, this is something that is easily rained out of them. All dogs get excited when they know they are going for a walk so getting them to behave while you are getting them ready to go is a must.

I don't think it is a good idea to leave the harnesses on them all day - as you said, they could injure themselves or they could eat them so generally not a no no. A good quality harness that fits properly is invaluable and most large pet shops sell them. Getting them to quieten down while you get the harness on may take a bit longer than finding good ones though!

cocker5

I have to reply and say i just cannot believe what i am after reading...

you have had your dogs for 12 and 6-7 years and im sorry to say you have done nothing to help these dogs... you will find it VERY hard to get someone to take one let alone the two of them...

you havent trained them at all.... nor intergrated with the family or with children etc..... no wonder they are mad crazy knocking people over etc...to be vert staright and honest with you from your posts its sounds like you just left the dogs in the garden for 12 years etc... yes fed them and walked them etc.... but NO socialisation or you did not bring them into the family unit... where they could learn how to behave etc.....with no training or socialisation what way would you expect these dogs to act???

why or how could anyone actually take on these dogs...

I feel very sorry for these dogs... why have dogs is your gonna leave them outside and not train them.... cannot understand this :mad:

Vel

My initial thoughts are that these dogs are not getting enough exercise and that if you could commit giving them at least an hour every day you may see changes. I know it can be hard to find time when you are busy with work and kids but I don't believe that you can't make the time to get them more active. You could do it when the kids are in bed, or early on weekend mornings before they get up. Sometimes having dogs means we don't get to sit on the couch of an evening and watch he footie or get a lie in every Saturday, even after a long week at work

It would be a far easier and less cruel solution than uprooting them from the only home they have known. I think any dog who isn't adequately exercised is going to be a bit crazy in a back garden when the kiddies go out there so hopefully once you address their exercise needs and start some basic training the dogs will calm down around the kids. No one ever said owning dogs is easy all the time and you really do have to at least give a little and in return you will get a lot back. It will be worth it.

Whispered

OP it seems your issues simply stem from the dogs not having enough exercise and absolutely no training.

Both of these issues are so easily sorted I'm astounded you are planning on getting rid of them when it's obvious you care deeply about them. If you didn't care I'd understand and put it down to an owner who just wants an easy life - but you obviously want whats best for the dogs.

If for 2 weeks, you can follow the advice on this thread I can almost guarantee you that you will see a huge change to your dogs.

A head collar or an anti pull harness would be a huge help. I know a woman from our local town so was given 2 fully grown labs as a gift. She knew nothing about dogs and had no idea why she was given these two
(:mad:).
The first time I met her she was at her wits end , standing in the park with them wrapped around her, in tears. I ended up walking one of them back to her house with her. I suggested a head collar and bumped into her again a week later - she was walking them with head collars with very little problem. (I'm not going to say it's a magic solution as it still requires training but the difference was huge)

Kids and dogs are supposed to be integrated. The relationship a child has with a dog stays with them through their lives. I'm so thankful to have come from a house where both dogs and kids had to learn how to behave around each other. (this includes not treating the lurcher as a pony )

Teach your kids how to train the dogs. My niece is a very small 2 year old and can sit on the floor with my dog making him sit, lie down, and give the paw. Granted he was trained to do these anyway - but as a 2 year old her commands sound very different to mine. With a tasty treat in her hands it didn't take the dog long to figure out what she meant! (always under strict supervision)

Training will go a huge way and obviously from having dogs before - you know how quickly they can learn the rules when there is something in it for them!! I'd recommend listing your most pressing problems. (eg: behaviour when they see the lead, behaviour around the kids, behaviour when on the lead, and the poo eating); get a trainer out once or twice, he or she will start you off and tell you how to deal with them, then it will be up to you, your wife and kids, to impliment the training.

Please give them a chance - do what you know you need to. If you commit to doing it - you will see a huge difference.