Purchasing A Mature Dog

[Vickie]

I'm posting this in both Training & Breeders forums as I am interested in hearing opinions/experiences from both sides.

A friend of mine purchased a well bred 15mth old dog from a breeder who had run the dog on & then decided not to keep it.

The dog knew pretty much nothing when it arrived & had been kennelled with the breeder. It is now in a pet home & they are having to start everything from scratch...living inside, walking on leash, sit, recall, bonding with people rather than with dogs, playing, exposure to children, noises, moving objects etc.

I have seen a few people in the past struggle with this situation as the dogs habits had developed & needed lots of work for them to get it to the point where it was living a normal pet life. I am not sure what advice to give my friend as I have never been in this situation.

My question to trainers is do you treat this adult dog just like you would a puppy? how long would/should it reasonably take for the dog to "catch up" so to speak?

My question to breeders is when you do this, do you give different advice to the new owner to what you would give if the dog was 8 weeks? do you prepare the dog for a different type of life before it leaves?

would also love to hear experiences from people who have puchased a mature dog.

Edited October 23, 2008 by Vickie

[SkySoaringMagpie]

I have a new dog who is 7 months old. She came to me out of quarantine a couple of weeks ago, and while she had some good formative socialisation experiences in her country of origin, we had to start from scratch with stuff as basic as toilet training & a "sit" command. I have just treated her as I would treat any dog who needed to learn things. Yes she came to me with one or two habits to undo, jumping up particularly, but I've just put it on a cue and given her a cue for having four on the floor and she's picking it up fast.

She coped very well with her first Level 1 dog class on the weekend. She's crated when I'm not there to supervise so teaching house manners hasn't been a major drama. I also took a month off, just as I would with a younger dog, to settle her in and bring her up to speed with our home.

[Vickie]

Thanks Anita, sounds like she is doing great

[kamuzz]

Interesting topic! We have two GSDs, both bought as older puppies from their breeders.

My boy came from his breeder at 9 months and had been a "house dog" with his breeder. He grew up with cats and birds, and is very well behaved around other dogs. He also knew useful things like sit, drop etc (In fact, he walked well on lead right from the start which makes me wonder if he ever got into the show ring but I'm not complaining)

My girl came from her breeder at 15 months and she was a "kennel" dog. She is not well-behaved around other dogs, runs round in circles barking and tries to play too roughly. Her breeder had not spent a lot of time with her. Personally, I think she had been "ignored" for too long and this counts against her now.

[RL1]

would also love to hear experiences from people who have puchased a mature dog.

I will think long and hard next time before i take on a mature dog with existing problems.

[shoemonster]

We got Molly at 8 months old

She wasnt a breeder run on, but her owner had to give her up due to illness, and she had spent all her 8 months in a backyard, with not much interaction. The first time she came into our house she climbe the couch and flung herself off the top

She is genetically nutty to begin with, her mother and litter sister are both nuts as well! hehe

She just turned 3 and got her CCD title a few months ago, and her 3rd flyball title earlier in the year

Toilet training, general manners and obedience training we just did as thoughshe was a puppy, though it was hard to keep remembering she didnt "know" it already, so we had to keep pinching ourselves and not expect too much of her

Edited October 23, 2008 by shoemonster

[Nekhbet]

yup I always hit the reset button with new dogs.

Treat them like they are 8 weeks old again and enforce the rules. You'll find they pick up a new routine much more quickly and you can get on top of behavioral problems.

But yup I agree ... I wouldnt take another older dog with problems, I think I want a break and get another puppy (one day) before taking on another dog with problems. I need puppy wiggles and kisses

[Cosmolo]

I think it depends very much on the dog and whether they have "learned to learn" and have good critical period socialisation. For example, if the dog has learnt stand but not sit it will be easier to teach sit than a dog who has learnt nothing at all.

I find adult dogs easier than puppies in some respects in that they usually have a longer attention span, more physical bladder control etc but they can be more difficult if they have had long periods practicing bad behaviour or have learnt to ignore commands/ corrections/rewards etc.

Most adult dogs, regardless of where they come from have some behavioural issues- there are dogs who have been in a loving home since 8 weeks that are excitable, silly and don't know how to behave appropriately.

[Dory the Doted One]

Wow. Where do you start? It can be such and individual thing.

I would start from scratch, based on whatever the dog told me it needed. (Which is not a helpful answer at all.)

If it was used to being in a crate then I would keep it crated when I couldn't keep an eye on things. (which is what I do with puppies as well).

I work on bonding with me, before I work on any full on obdience issues, although that is not to say they aren't taught manners should it be required.

What surprises me is that Breeders think these dogs are going to make even halfway decent show dogs with no socialisation.

But then again...take it to enough shows and it will get habituated to that scenario and could look like any 'normal', 'well socialised' dog.

[Lablover]

A friend of mine purchased a well bred 15mth old dog from a breeder who had run the dog on & then decided not to keep it.

For interest Vickie, did you enquire why the breeder placed the dog? From my experience there is no reason on earth, maybe....except for death or offered too much money, why a breeder places an excellent prospect.

[Vickie]

Thanks for all your replies, seems like starting as if a puppy would be best.

My friend is quite a capable dog owner & I know she will do the right thing. I think she was just a bit worried about critical periods the dog may have missed in the kennels.

The dog was placed for cosmetic reasons relating to the show ring , structure is very nice . Seems to have a nice solid temperament & although reacts to new things as would be expected given it's history, also seems to have excellent bounceback.

Edited October 24, 2008 by Vickie

[Lablover]

excellent bounceback.

Could you explain your translation of bounceback please Vickie. I sent a dog to the US, who washed due to not handling escape/avoidance pressure. His saving grace when returned to me, was his bounce back from pressure conditioning.

[Perry's Mum]

Vickie I got Perry when she was 13 months old - she had spent the first year chained to a log on a farm and had no training, and then spent 3 weeks with the woman who rescued her who had her inside the house and got her used to family living. When she came to me she turned herself into a puppy with all the usual puppy things like chewing anything and everything except chew toys, so I treated her as a puppy and she learnt very fast. Did not take her long to be toilet trained or to learn basic stuff like sitting and coming to her name because she was so keen to please me.