dididog

You are right Ams, sometimes dogs just don't have great temperaments and this dog may very well be in that boat, hence suggesting the dog be properly evaluated before considering rehoming as the dog may never be ideal. But as you can see from your anecdote sometimes a change of situation can help a dog, perhaps this dog needs people home more often or a doggy friend which this family can't provide whilst trying to work through the issue. Plus the fact that the dog is fine once the OP brings her home led me to believe the dog doesn't like being alone in general rather than being separated from its owner is reassuring for the possibility of rehoming. As the OP only said what she had done to help but provided no follow up on how the dog reacted/any improvements I was working under the assumption the owners haven't been implementing this help. Also as you said, 12 months is a long time and the behaviors would be very entrenched by now and the fact they only just sought a trainer's help due to the OP's suggestion also led me to believe they perhaps haven't been too committed to helping their dog thus far. But obviously all assumption and I may be completely wrong. To the OP, do you know what the trainer said? Did they provide instructions and help or did they advise pts as it seems their decision to do so has coincided with meeting the trainer. Have the owners tried the things you've suggested?

It sounds like they might be throwing in the towel early. Is the dog only being vocal? No trying to escape/self mutilating? If not it sounds like they might not be bothered with trying to fix this poor puppy's situation as Im sure working with a good trainer or behaviourist would help with a milder case of separation anxiety. As for rehoming, if the dog had extreme destructive behaviours brought on by separation or bad dog/human aggression than yes it would be irresponsible to pass on a behaviour problem so bad however it sounds like this puppy's behaviour may be managable. At least try and get an evaluation from a behaviourist and if they are confident the puppy can be helped then maybe rehoming would be a good option. An owner who is home often will be better able to ease the puppy into learning its okay to be left alone. I know this is an awkward situation for you because it is somebody else's dog but please try to talk to them about putting her down. If placed with an experienced rescue who could oversee the rehoming properly she could very well be rehomed and rehabilitated and live a full happy life. It'd be a shame for a by the sounds of it lovely, young dog to be put to sleep because its owners haven't tried to help rectify an issue they are probably at least partly responsible for. (Going off the assumption they didn't do much work as a baby puppy in getting her used to being alone/that they haven't really been implementing the resources you have been giving them from the sound of your post.) Its great you care and have tried to help though. I am no expert with separation anxiety (if that's actually what this is) just my thoughts.

Well I spose if all of those dogs were as used to goats as Gary was used to dogs they probably would've reacted a bit differently

Clearly done for a bit of a laugh but without any real forethought to the repurcussions... some guy takes his (pretty placid) goat to a really busy dog park... watch here. I for one would be extremely annoyed if that happened while I was at a dog park, some of those dogs came very close to a horn or a hoof to the head and I'm sure could have been pretty badly hurt. Even after seeing that most of the dogs were uncomfortable he still let it off the leash... Sadder still is people feeling the need to tell their dogs off because they are reacting badly to the goat which is fair enough as I assume most city dogs have never seen one! Really irritates me when people do stupid things to their animals for social media attention

Possibly the worst thing about not having a purebreed is buying long term investment products like a kennel... so we are settling for this cheapo cubby house until we know exactly how huge she will get before getting a nicer one. Lucky she is not a destructo puppy although the plastic is no worse than many kennels I saw for sale. She seems unimpressed with the novelty of it though hehe :laugh:

Disgusting that the other owner could have been so dismissive and left you to deal with that when your dog was so severely injured! Bad enough he was being an irresponsible dog owner but even worst that he lacked any compassion for you. Hope she gets better soon

retracted for being really sleep deprived and much too crabby.

That's a shame. I only use the train for convenience sake but I imagine there are a lot of people with pets who do not.own cars nor have friends or family to drive them in an emergency. It would never happen but it would be good if you could sit a test similar to therapy dogs to be approved for public transport and then pay for a membershipmembership/ticket for the pet which allows them on certain forms of public transport. Obviously buses and trams are no place for a large dog but it would get rid of the irresponsible and inconsiderate pet owners who would try to use public transport. I don't know about you but Id much rather share a train with even an annoying dog than a loud, abusive and rude junkie who smells like piss and cigarettes, demanding spare change off people whilst also fare evading....

Where I live and catch the train there are a lot of people who for cultural reasons do not like dogs and maybe having my dog muzzle would put them more at ease or maybe it would make them anxious, I am not sure but I assume since she's big and black and muscular and most people aren't aware dogs have to be muzzled they would assume the worst. I have seen such people chew a severely epileptic man out for allowing his service lab to stand underneath a tram shelter while it was raining so I don't really want to risk verbal abuse for bringing a 'dangerous dog' on the train. I just don't like the idea of muzzling a 4 month old puppy who doesn't need one when it is a rule barely anyone follows. At the rate she's growing Id probably have to buy a lot of muzzles too.

Most likely that too :laugh:

Unless its on a sign on the train or station, yeah I also think you could get out of a fine - it would be a bit unreasonable to expect people to read the metro website back to front. I just try and stay out of everyone's way and she doesn't make a peep so it's fine. Only catching the train since I'm not old enough to sit my driver's test and need to get around every now and then. I can see why they would want dogs to be muzzled though, trains can be pretty stressful for dogs unless you get them used to it, throw in lots of people, some who will not know how to act around dogs and a complacent owner who lets it roam all over the train and I can definitely see somebody getting bitten. But seeing how it is not an actively enforced rule, Didi is well-behaved and I'm very mindful of everyone else's comfort I don't see the need. If I get a fine I'll just stop catching the train - I don't want to muzzle a puppy who doesn't need one!

Hmm I was unaware of the muzzle thing as no dog I've ever seen has worn one and ticket inspectors/station staff haven't said anything... don't really want to catch the train if it means she needs a muzzle as I find this makes people unecessarily afraid of her/she is just a puppy and doesn't need one. Wouldn't worry us greyhounds are muzzled by law anyway. That's interesting I never knew that, do you have to buy them a ticket? Nope as long as you have a valid ticket they are allowed on metro trains. You are just advised not to travel at peak times/not allowed on the seats and must clean up mess etc. which is all more than fair enough.

Hmm I was unaware of the muzzle thing as no dog I've ever seen has worn one and ticket inspectors/station staff haven't said anything... don't really want to catch the train if it means she needs a muzzle as I find this makes people unecessarily afraid of her/she is just a puppy and doesn't need one.

Haha she did although her nose was too big to get to the bottom

Only been to a couple with Didi but she's been fine. In fact we just caught the train to the city to catch up with a friend over some Italian. Didi is a pretty placid puppy and will just lie down or stare at people with her puppy dog eyes until they pat her. She's also awesome on the train and just lies down though Im not sure I'll be able to take her out as much when she's fully grown as she'll be kind of big to maneuver under tables/might scare patrons.

Didi doesn't blink an eye when trams and buses roar passed us when I walk her down the local shopping strip but freaks out every time we walk past a takeaway shop that has those plastic flappy things that hang in the entrance.

Didi is 22 kgs now i forgot to mention! She doesn't look that heavy but then when I try to pick her up its quite a battle. Since I have to be so careful about her joints too there's a lot of lifting on and off of beds, cars. My brother who is really strong has no problems picking her up and carrying her like a baby though

Hope you guys don't mind me intruding but I saw the comparison pictures and thought I'd add my own :) 17 weeks vs 10 weeks

Didi is 17 weeks now (and 22kgs )! She has now finished puppy school and can competently sit,shake, stay, wait (food and toys),come and with some guidance she can do down. Her recall is fairly good and she plays nicely with dogs, preferring to leave a situation rather than confront it if she feels uncomfortable. She is pretty much fully toilet trained and has stopped most of the puppy biting or at least listens when you ask her to stop. She's been to the beach, the park, the chiropractor, friends houses and some cafes and has caught the train a few times too! (She just lies down while everyone rubs her belly.) I start uni soon and will miss hanging out with her so much but I've started leaving her alone more and she copes just fine. For my first ever puppy Im pretty proud of where we are at training and behavior wise although I owe a lot of the to her being a lovely dog :) Here are some more pictures ^.^ Her being a massive goof Looking all grown up Not too big for cuddles though And here's a size comparison although you can't see just how big she is.... 17 weeks and 10 weeks

Beautiful! The photos and the horses

Didi also likes to share, she did the cutest thing in the class where they were given toys, we had a different instructor and she made everyone pick up their puppies and only let Didi play with the only other big puppy in the class (german shep) who she doesn't like. She'd been playing with the beagle puppy next to us with a squeaky elephant toy and when the beagle got picked up and Didi let off her lead the first thing she did was reach up and give the beagle puppy the toy which was a bit of an 'awwhh' moment. I get what you mean about the big dog = stupid/can't play with my puppy stigma. Didi is kind of high strung and goofy looking so I could just see everybody thinking "oh look at that boof head puppy" while she would swim and roll around on the floor chewing her own feet but at the end at the last class when we had to go through all the commands Didi was the only one who did them perfectly and got a bit of a clap, which I must admit made me quite pleased (smug). It sounds as though you've got systems in place to deal with any problems next week and I can understand your instructor being hesitant to single anybody out as I too would feel uncomfortable. I was considering leaving puppy school after the third class but I figured it wasn't doing her any detriment, she had fun and she got used to playing with dogs much smaller than her, after the first class she stopped bounding around and jumping on the puppies when she realised they didn't like it and was just as happy to lie down to play bitey face :) We are actually going to an event hosted by the school tonight in order to get her graduation photo (a bit ridiculous but cute all the same) but it is also a reunion for everyone who has done their classes in the past(i think they said they invited 900 ) I can only imagine the chaos so I think it will be a quick visit to get the photo and leave.

We just finished a puppy pre school similar to yours last saturday and it was a similar size class sitting in a horse shoe shape although we never sat next to the same people week after week. I wasn't a massive fan of sitting down though we spent less time talking and it was broken up with 2, five minute plays when the pups were getting too restless and we would then spend the last 15 minutes of the hour going over the new command. I can relate, having a Dane cross baby she was the biggest though the most friendly puppy in the class and played really well with the other pups (laid on her side and let the little ones approach) but there was one puppy in the class, a Havanese (who started at 16 weeks which makes me think his owners didn't do anything with him until his final shots) and he was fear aggressive to all the puppies even ones smaller than him. Of course the owners would do what they were told not to on the first lesson and cuddle him when he growled/snapped and let him roam half way across the room on their extendable leash (again first lesson told not to do.) I would say talk to the instructor and only leave if you really feel like you are not benefiting from the class or it is effecting Vinnie negatively. To be honest I only went every week because all the puppies in our class were small and I wanted Didi to learn to play nicely with smaller dogs as well as focus on me in a distracting environment. The 30 mins of talking were often things I already knew or disagreed with slightly so it's really up to you whether you want to change or not although I found that this time of year a lot of people get puppies and finding a placement especially on short notice was hard. The most concerning thing for me is that two children are being allowed to act like that. You're paying for this service and you'd be pissed off if an adult behaved that way so there's no reason children should as well. Of course it is good for them to learn but I think at least when you are sitting down the mother should control the puppy instead. Im sure if you expressed your concerns the instructor could just say at the start of the class that things got a bit out of control last week and to try and keep pups under control a bit better (and maybe hint to the mother she should control Chilli instead). It's not a very ideal set up for puppy class, Didi would lie on her side and try to swim around on the slippery floor most of the time as she got bored. One class we had a replacement instructor who seemed a bit uninformed and let the pups play with toys to stop them getting bored which as I feared brought out resource guarding behaviour in the German Shepherd pup who snapped and growled at Didi when she moved too close so I can only imagine the potential dangers of all the puppies having a high value item like pigs ears.

Didi is 4 months old now and starting to lose her puppy look She also refuses to lose the serious puppy face for photos :laugh:

Shame! Didi is a Geelong native though haha

I'm really only looking for something where I can spend time with my dog and both of us have fun, I'm not looking to win titles and have the best dog (although she is already unofficially the best dog in my eyes) so hopefully I'll be able to find like minded people to surround myself with which unfortunately was not the case when I was showing horses. I'm hoping to make some dog-minded friends out of this as well... so long as they don't mind associating with a 17 year old uni kid :laugh: I reckon I'll get together a short list of clubs and contact them to see if I can sit in on a session and from there make my pick!