Hello. :wave:
I want to know if and when you know if a dog isn't right for your family?
We have three dogs; two of them are Lab mixes, one is a Shih Tzu, all three are females. The Shih Tzu (she's 5 yrs. old), though, wants nothing to do with the pups (they are 6-8 months old), so I'm leaving her out of this post.
Both of the Labs are energetic pups. However, the one is quite a handful. She's smart -- we've trained her to sit and stay, respond to a clicker (to come in from outside), housebroke, and crate trained her. She's also figured out how to open the gate we used to gate off the kitchen and then she learned just to jump over it in one leap.
However, she refuses to walk on a leash, even on a prong collar. She will choke herself and I have a hard time holding on to the leash. She digs in the yard. She bucks like a wild animal when we hold her collar (trying to put her leash on, taking her out of the cage briefly, etc.). She's really strong. She jumps on us, and when she does that with our children, she scares them (the other dog does this too, but she seems to have a different connection with the kids). She does NOT listen to our commands to get down. Today, she went to jump on me while I was sitting on the couch, and cold-cocked me in the head with hers. WOW, did that hurt.
When the two pups play, they can go for hours -- forget about spending any time with us. So we bring them in one at a time sometimes, but she's so wound up, no matter if she's been walked or has run outside, she doesn't want to spend time with us. We wanted dogs that were playful, but also would lay quietly with us at times. Her "sister" does that. She will steal your shoes, the baby's bottle, or anything else to get you to chase her.
Just for the record, she is NO way aggressive, even though sometimes the girls seem to play a little rougher than I'd like. She always licks us for the two seconds she gives us attention, and likes to be near us if we're in the car. She hugs my leg while I try to walk her. She whines if she's in her crate and we are nearby. However, we can't let her out to be with us as much as we'd like because of her energy level.
Every time, though, I think about rehoming her, I get ill because I'm afraid that no one will care for her like we have.
I've chipped her, had her spayed, got her rabies shot and license, so it's not like I'm not committed to her care. However, it's not fair to her to be in a crate most of the day. That's not why I wanted to have dogs.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
{The girls -- the one the post is about is one the right.}
I want to know if and when you know if a dog isn't right for your family?
We have three dogs; two of them are Lab mixes, one is a Shih Tzu, all three are females. The Shih Tzu (she's 5 yrs. old), though, wants nothing to do with the pups (they are 6-8 months old), so I'm leaving her out of this post.
Both of the Labs are energetic pups. However, the one is quite a handful. She's smart -- we've trained her to sit and stay, respond to a clicker (to come in from outside), housebroke, and crate trained her. She's also figured out how to open the gate we used to gate off the kitchen and then she learned just to jump over it in one leap.
However, she refuses to walk on a leash, even on a prong collar. She will choke herself and I have a hard time holding on to the leash. She digs in the yard. She bucks like a wild animal when we hold her collar (trying to put her leash on, taking her out of the cage briefly, etc.). She's really strong. She jumps on us, and when she does that with our children, she scares them (the other dog does this too, but she seems to have a different connection with the kids). She does NOT listen to our commands to get down. Today, she went to jump on me while I was sitting on the couch, and cold-cocked me in the head with hers. WOW, did that hurt.
When the two pups play, they can go for hours -- forget about spending any time with us. So we bring them in one at a time sometimes, but she's so wound up, no matter if she's been walked or has run outside, she doesn't want to spend time with us. We wanted dogs that were playful, but also would lay quietly with us at times. Her "sister" does that. She will steal your shoes, the baby's bottle, or anything else to get you to chase her.
Just for the record, she is NO way aggressive, even though sometimes the girls seem to play a little rougher than I'd like. She always licks us for the two seconds she gives us attention, and likes to be near us if we're in the car. She hugs my leg while I try to walk her. She whines if she's in her crate and we are nearby. However, we can't let her out to be with us as much as we'd like because of her energy level.
Every time, though, I think about rehoming her, I get ill because I'm afraid that no one will care for her like we have.
I've chipped her, had her spayed, got her rabies shot and license, so it's not like I'm not committed to her care. However, it's not fair to her to be in a crate most of the day. That's not why I wanted to have dogs.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
