Need to rehome a Westhighland terrier

misschoo

Posting on behalf of a friend:
My friend rescued a female spayed Westie in Dec approx a year old. This poor dog was unwanted because of a divorce and for the first year of her life was just left unsocialised in the garden before my friend took her from a guy that rescued her. Until now all was ok - the dog was a bit nippy as regards playfully when they do when they're young but yesterday the dog was sleeping on the couch and my friends 6 year old went over to her and rubbed her and she bit him on the face. He's ok - no stitches needed but obviously my friend needs to rehome her. She doesn't want to have her put to sleep as this was unprovoked and because of the dogs unsocialised start in life thinks she needs a chance and would do well with an adult family. I looked after her for a weekend when my friend was away and she's like a puppy who needs time out every so often. I think she needs behavioural training. I have given her the contact number of <snip> but she has heard nothing back. She doesn't want to surrender her to the pound because she knows the dogs fate will be limited. I would take her but mu Westie has ongoing health problems at the moment and it wouldn't be fair to her to have another dog around at the moment. Can anyone help or give advice? Thanks.

Hooked

misschoo wrote: »

Posting on behalf of a friend:

...but yesterday the dog was sleeping on the couch and my friends 6 year old went over to her and rubbed her and she bit him on the face. He's ok - no stitches needed but obviously my friend needs to rehome her.

Can anyone help or give advice?

I've got 2 pieces of advice straight off.... And your friend is not gonna like them. 1. Never leave a dog and child unsupervised. And, 2. don't wake a sleeping dog, unnecessarily.

I'm sorry OP, but this knee jerk reaction - and the dog paying the price for human error (the parents supervising and the child not being correctly taught the 'do's and don'ts') is exactly why you see so many dog 'attacks' in papers.

They call for the dog to be killed or rehomed - without ever dealing with the real issues. Ownership, responsibility and trauning (the dog and the little humans in the household).

It'd be very unfair if the dog was moved on - and no one learned any lesson from this incident.

We were all only discussing the roles of parents in a thread last week. Dogs don't 'think' like we do. The dog most likely didn't bite out of aggression, rather fear made it react and - had it not been put in the situation it found itself in - may never have bitten. And... May never bite again.

I always go back to this poster I once saw... And how some people and kids especially don't realise that you can't greet, OR WAKE, a dog - as you would a human...

cocker5

Hooked wrote: »

I've got 2 pieces of advice straight off.... And your friend is not gonna like them. 1. Never leave a dog and child unsupervised. And, 2. don't wake a sleeping dog, unnecessarily.

I'm sorry OP, but this knee jerk reaction - and the dog paying the price for human error (the parents supervising and the child not being correctly taught the 'do's and don'ts') is exactly why you see so many dog 'attacks' in papers.

They call for the dog to be killed or rehomed - without ever dealing with the real issues. Ownership, responsibility and trauning (the dog and the little humans in the household).

It'd be very unfair if the dog was moved on - and no one learned any lesson from this incident.

We were all only discussing the roles of parents in a thread last week. Dogs don't 'think' like we do. The dog most likely didn't bite out of aggression, rather fear made it react and - had it not been put in the situation it found itself in - may never have bitten. And... May never bite again.

I always go back to this poster I once saw... And how some people and kids especially don't realise that you can't greet, OR WAKE, a dog - as you would a human...

Excellent post here.... 100% agree with the enitre post... yet another dog paying the price for humans (parents) stupidity.

On a side note you mentioned she rehomed the dog?
if it was from a rescue centre then your friend MUST contact them to rehome... 99% of all rescues have a policy taht if it doesnt work you you must return the dog and NOT rehome them directly.

tempnam

Regardless of whether or not it was the parents fault etc. why are people more concerned with the dog than the child?

2 mentions of the poor dog and not 1 about the child...

I agree that children should never be left alone with animals (being a dog owner and parent myself) but it's also not the child's fault. Just as dogs don't think like humans etc. kids don't think like adults so the child probably just wanted a cuddle. Can't blame either the child or the dog for this one imo.

But that doesn't change the fact that the dog bit the child. So it's probably best if the dog is rehomed rather than just lecturing on what they 'should' have done. Realistically the chances are that the dog is going now one way or the other so why not help out the op with some suggestions?

Hooked

tempnam wrote: »

Regardless of whether or not it was the parents fault etc. why are people more concerned with the dog than the child?

2 mentions of the poor dog and not 1 about the child...

I agree that children should never be left alone with animals (being a dog owner and parent myself) but it's also not the child's fault. Just as dogs don't think like humans etc. kids don't think like adults so the child probably just wanted a cuddle. Can't blame either the child or the dog for this one imo.

But that doesn't change the fact that the dog bit the child. So it's probably best if the dog is rehomed rather than just lecturing on what they 'should' have done. Realistically the chances are that the dog is going now one way or the other so why not help out the op with some suggestions?

I'm afraid I have to disagree. It's 'partly' the child's fault and 'mostly' the parents. There's no sitting on the fence from me. Am I a parent? No. Does that matter? No.

The child is 6. More than old enough to be taught the basics of doggie interaction. I can't buy into the child being too young to know better. I'm sorry, tempnam... This is not me having a go at you... Just my opinion on the scenario as I see it.

And we ARE helping out the OP. By not getting emotive - and looking at the facts. Of course I feel for the poor child. But I have to put those emotions aside, and deal with what happened... And WHY it happened.

cocker5

tempnam wrote: »

Regardless of whether or not it was the parents fault etc. why are people more concerned with the dog than the child?

2 mentions of the poor dog and not 1 about the child...

I agree that children should never be left alone with animals (being a dog owner and parent myself) but it's also not the child's fault. Just as dogs don't think like humans etc. kids don't think like adults so the child probably just wanted a cuddle. Can't blame either the child or the dog for this one imo.

But that doesn't change the fact that the dog bit the child. So it's probably best if the dog is rehomed rather than just lecturing on what they 'should' have done. Realistically the chances are that the dog is going now one way or the other so why not help out the op with some suggestions?

Neither the dog or child are to blame - and as far as I can see no post above suggest this , its the parents fault - simple as.

For the two reasons above 1. not teaching their child how to interact with the dog and 2. for even putting the child / dog in this situation to allow this to happen.

Hooked is right as he posted above - rehoming the dog = no one has learned as lesson at all (by this i mean the parents), they need to address the issue of their neglegence and the child lack of dog education.

Another thing to note, just because i dog bit once doesnt mean it will ever happen again. the child didnt need stiches (thank god and no blood) etc so therefore as hooked said it was a knee jerk reaction - ie "leave me alone" or "you've frightend me".

IMO over reaction to rehome after one small incident etc.

Inexile

The reality is most rescues are full, very full. Contacting one rescue is not enough. You need to contact every one that you can. If you look on www.irishanimals.ie there is a list of rescues there.

Some rescues also specialise in particular breeds, I know there are some for westies and I think one of the posters/mods on here operates one. Sorry cant remember who.
The sad fact is that if you cant find a rescue or another home to take the dog and neither the original owner or yourself can keep the dog then there may be a hard choice to be made.

So in the meantime I would get the contact details of the rescues, get a cup of tea and start phoning round.

Flippyfloppy

I don't think anyone is going to change the OPs friends mind about rehoming the dog.

They've obviously put thought into what action they would take about the bite and their original question about rehoming still stands.

So I just want to say. When your friend is rehoming the dog she needs to take the utmost care in who she gives the dog to.

Not meaning to scare you but people who arrange dog fighting can and do arrange for people to pose as loving homes in order to get free dogs for bait.


That's what I've been told anyway. That's why rescues are so stringent in their home checks!!

borderlinemeath

misschoo wrote: »

Posting on behalf of a friend:
My friend rescued a female spayed Westie in Dec approx a year old. This poor dog was unwanted because of a divorce and for the first year of her life was just left unsocialised in the garden before my friend took her from a guy that rescued her. Until now all was ok - the dog was a bit nippy as regards playfully when they do when they're young but yesterday the dog was sleeping on the couch and my friends 6 year old went over to her and rubbed her and she bit him on the face. He's ok - no stitches needed but obviously my friend needs to rehome her. She doesn't want to have her put to sleep as this was unprovoked and because of the dogs unsocialised start in life thinks she needs a chance and would do well with an adult family. I looked after her for a weekend when my friend was away and she's like a puppy who needs time out every so often. I think she needs behavioural training. I have given her the contact number of <snip> but she has heard nothing back. She doesn't want to surrender her to the pound because she knows the dogs fate will be limited. I would take her but mu Westie has ongoing health problems at the moment and it wouldn't be fair to her to have another dog around at the moment. Can anyone help or give advice? Thanks.

I don't know what rescue was snipped, but if it's the breed specific rescue for westies, I do know that the person that solely runs it is away at the moment? Having fostered for them in the past I know they're not the type to ignore the plight of a dog in need!

Rescues are usually run by either one person on their own time, or some of the bigger rescues have a core group of volunteers to get back to messages. Either way give the rescue time to get back to you and please ask your friend not to leave the dog into the pound before hearing back. By all means try the rescues again, or leave a message on the facebook page as with those most volunteers have access to the pages, but keep the child and dog apart for now.

It all seems like a bit of a mess, getting a rescue dog from somebody else who rescued it. The poor dog getting passed from pillar to post, it would have any dog on guard, but particularly a terrier.

fatmammycat

The problem here, OP, is that to ethically rehome this dog, your friend must be honest and mention the dog bite. And few people are willing to take on a dog who is HA (Human Aggressive). If she leaves the dog into a pound it could be euthanised that same day.
I feel bad for the little dog, and it might simply be a case that your friend might instead try to manage the dog better, but either way I feel sorry I can't offer something more positive.

boomerang

The child doesn't live in the home - it was a friend's child that was bitten. So why rehome at all, unless they now feel the dog is untrustworthy - which, as someone has pointed out, they will have a duty to divulge if they do give the dog to someone else? And who would take the dog then, unless to be an outside watchdog, or by someone who thinks they can bully the dog into having "manners."

The dog is better off staying put.

Flippyfloppy

boomerang wrote: »

The child doesn't live in the home - it was a friend's child that was bitten. So why rehome at all, unless they now feel the dog is untrustworthy - which, as someone has pointed out, they will have a duty to divulge if they do give the dog to someone else? And who would take the dog then, unless to be an outside watchdog, or by someone who thinks they can bully the dog into having "manners."

The dog is better off staying put.

The ops friends child was bitten by the op friends dog

angeldaisy

We were in a similar position almost 2 years ago, we took a jrt x in from someone who rescued it from straying. for the first few months I really regretted it, the dog (her ladyship!) was aggressive, barked at everyone and snapped at me several times and at my young son. I tried half heartedly to rehome her as I felt it wasn't safe to have her around.

Now, she is a different dog, we worked out she was terrified so everyone who came to the house, we had to explain this to them. She still barks at some people who come in - but to be honest if I was a dog I'd be barking at them as well:D

She still nips sometimes, but we figure that she never learnt to mouth properly when she was a puppy, so that is an ongoing training thing.

She now rules the house, sleeps on the furniture when she thinks we aren't looking. gets my son into trouble by growling whilst playing with him, the next second she is looking for him to play again!

Its not an easy decision but I have to admit I'm glad I never managed to rehome her. she was just misunderstood and now with lots of love and attention is a pure dote who loves cuddles:D

Graces7

it is as so many have said so well, a matter of understanding the dog,

when we found the collie chained up 24/7 to a 56 lb weight and asked to care for her , our then landlord agreed.

his wife and a dear old lady up the road refused to come near the house as collie had bitten. emerged she had , being totally untrained, and a herding dog, nipped the old ladys ankles and was thus labelled a biter.

never any aggression to me or anyone here.

but those folk were adamant that she was dangerous.

kylith

boomerang wrote: »

The child doesn't live in the home - it was a friend's child that was bitten. So why rehome at all, unless they now feel the dog is untrustworthy - which, as someone has pointed out, they will have a duty to divulge if they do give the dog to someone else? And who would take the dog then, unless to be an outside watchdog, or by someone who thinks they can bully the dog into having "manners."

The dog is better off staying put.

I agree with this entirely. One of my dogs bit a visiting child in exactly the same situation a few years ago (dog was asleep in bed asleep, child decided she wanted to play with the dog and grabbed her, dog bit her on the closest part; the face). I refused to have the dog PTS because 1) the child visited my house maybe once every 5 years so the situation could be managed by putting the dog in the garden in future and 2) I didn't blame the dog at all, I blamed the parents allowing her to go near a dog they had been told wasn't child friendly when I wasn't present, and I blamed myself for assuming that they would follow my instructions not to allow the child to approach the dog while she was asleep.

When I was a kid we had a dog that bit me, my brothers, and my grandmother. In each case my parents said the same "of course she bit you; you were annoying her."

tk123

My pup bit my brother last week in similar circumstances when her leg got trapped and he went to free her. Are we getting her pts or rehomed? No - because she was terrified at the time and reacted out of fear. It was my fault - I knew she was getting too big for the chair she'd been sitting in and it was an accident waiting to happen.
TBH if they're not going to teach the child how to act around dogs and are willing to give up on it after one incident it's better off somewhere else.

angeldaisy

kylith wrote: »

When I was a kid we had a dog that bit me, my brothers, and my grandmother. In each case my parents said the same "of course she bit you; you were annoying her."

the same rule applies in my house:D

Hooked

It's so refreshing to hear so many like-minded opinions on incidents like these.

misschoo

Thanks for the replies. Yes I do agree that if it was my dog I would work with it but it's not my dog it's my friends and her little boy has puncture marks on his face very close to his eyesso she just feels that she can't trust the dog and is nervous around her. She is fully aware about saying to a potential owner that the dog has bitten someone and she is not going to rehome her to someone she doesn't know. She has been in touch with the person she got the dog from and also has had a response from a rescue she contacted yesterday.
Thanks again.