chuckandsteve Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 (edited) Hi, I just.got a foster. I checked his temperament in everyway I could think of. Took him to meet my mums incredibly dominant dog, he was good gave her a bark when she stood both front paws on his shoulder which is fair enough. He meet my nieces and nephew, didnt show any interest in them didnt mind them patting him. Has been good with all the people he meet. Although barked at my Mum when she let herself into my house. Anyway has a meet and greet with a potential owner. When she went to pick him up he would nip at her hands.... hasn't done this before and I pick him up all the time. He was happy for her to pat him while he was next to me and to take treats from her The lady still wants him, she thinks he will just take a bit to settle in with her. He is a 6kg dog needs short walks and likes his cuddles and she is older single and lives alone so I thought they would be a really good match. However the nipping has worried me. Husband thinks he just doesn't trust her yet so didnt want her picking him up, the dog should go on trial and if she still has problems she can just bring him back. Any opinions? Edited May 22, 2011 by chuckandsteve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 I'd express caution. I had a foster puppy that was perfect with us, the family came to meet him and he let out an uncertain type of growl but nothing else. We put it down to the puppy lacking some socialisation and needing to grow in confidence. Had talked through a plan of how to manage the puppy i.e. plenty of soclisation in controlled situations and go to training and pre-paid behavioural sessions. They did none of what we spoke about and that puppy went onto bite 5 people and my last advice to them was to put him to sleep as he could not be rehomed and they were not capable of correcting the dogs problem with a Behaviourist. Going forward I would only ever rehome an unconfident dog to someone who could prove their skills as well as me holding onto that dog much longer and exposing it to many more situations to see it at its worse so to speak and not just take for granted that the dog is fine with me it'll be fine elsewhere and also not presume your typical family pocess the skills or drive to follow through on the directions you give i.e. they let 5 bites happen, after the 1st one they should never have let the dog be in a situation to do it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckandsteve Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share Posted May 22, 2011 Thanks I really thought I had every situation thrown at this dog and he had not shown any shying away until now but no one else has tried to pick him up as much. It might be he just doesn't want to be picked up by strangers but I have a week before possible trial so I might get more people to come over and try and pick him up and see how he goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 Anyway has a meet and greet with a potential owner. When she went to pick him up he would nip at her hands. Doesn't sound as if he's ready to find a home yet. What is he like with general body touching- teeth checks, in between toes, nail clipping .. anal gland expression- all that sort of stuff ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckandsteve Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share Posted May 22, 2011 He is fine with everything I thought it might be she touched his paw and he didn't like it but he was fine anyway I touched his paws. He gets grumpy when my dogs jump on him or sit on him but that is fair enough as it is just a warning bark and the potential home he is the only dog. He was good at the dog park too. I handle him all the time and he is fine, but only my dad and husband have really picked him up everyone else has just patted him. He was marking in the house when I got him and he stopped but he marked again last night after meet and greet absolutely no other problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casster17 Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 C&S - have you had the vet check his back??? Maybe he is sore and the lady touched a sore spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ams Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Maybe he just doesn't like the person you think will be good for him. I've had dogs play up something shocking when meeting potential homes but when I find the right one the dog will do just about anything to please the person it wants to go home with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckandsteve Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 She decided she didn't want him which is good because I wasn't happy though husband was. He has been vet checked twice in the last week so he is in perfect health. At the minute I am putting it down to he doesn't like strangers to pick him up. Mother in law is coming over tonight so we can test him on her. Lucky he is 6kgs so if he does bite her she won't het too hurt. But depending what he does meeting her we will go from there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Mother in law is coming over tonight so we can test him on her. was the meet&greet at your house, or elsewhere? Perhaps he is different 'at home' yes, he was vet checked...but did the vet specifically check his spine/legs/joints? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckandsteve Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Yes they did the annual check so checked his legs etc It was at our house and he does bark at visitors when they arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedazzledx2 Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 What breed or mix is he? The only reason I ask is that if he is a breed that needs grooming/clipping that will be a big test. If he can cope with being handled and have his nails clipped and paws scissored he should be fine. I would ask the groomer to give you an honest appraisal and explain why as you don't want a false 'oh he was fine' if he isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckandsteve Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Well last night I had my sister over she ignored him for like 10 minutes and then picked him up... he was ok but didnt look happy. Mother in law gave him a few pats then picked him up he nipped. He would still go to her for pats but if she patted under his front leg were she would picked him up he nipped. I picked him up later and he looked a bit annoyed so i am thinking it is that he doesnt want to be picked up, so anyone that meets him will be told visitors shouldnt pick him up. He has wirey hair so not really a need to be groomed dog but could be. I have no idea the breed he is quite strange looking We will work on intros with him and hopefully he improves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 so anyone that meets him will be told visitors shouldnt pick him up. Hmmmmm not sure about this - there are impetuous folks around ..and kids who may get in first Perhaps get some professional advice - someone who can see the dog, and who knows ways of maybe changing this behaviour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corvus Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 It's dead easy to counter-condition this kind of thing, and I would do it for safety's sake. Look up Sophia Yin on YouTube for a good video showing how to do it. One of my dogs is not very comfortable with a lot of handling. About a month ago he got a bad corneal ulcer. The first time the vet tried to look she spent 15 minutes trying to get him to hold still and he just wouldn't. They ended up sedating him. The ulcer was bad enough that he had to get dye checks every two days and eye ointment every 3 hours. At the vets they were very worried about how we were going to go with this. I shrugged and said "It's okay, we can train it." And we did. It took about 4 2-minute sessions, even with a very painful eye. I put eye exams on cue and 2 weeks later the vet that originally saw him was gob-smacked to see him lying on the exam table placidly while getting his eye dyed and scrutinised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckandsteve Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 Cool I'll look it up and work on it with him, it really is at te minute if we do a good intro he is fine but I'd like it to improve. He won't be going to a home with kids either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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