One of the best decisions I ever made was to take the time to find the right dog for me.
The “right” dog for me at the time was a medium-energy, housebroken, kennel-trained dog that was good with cats and dogs.
It’s not easy to take your time to choose the right dog when there are dogs available pretty much everywhere.
But it was worth it.
Ace causes me very little stress. He sleeps a good 19 hours or more a day. He never chews things that aren’t his, and he hardly ever barks. He’s never had an accident except that one time when he was sick.
But there’s a question that’s sometimes in the back of my mind whenever I think about adding another dog to our family:
Should experienced dog people (like me and many of you) adopt the more “challenging” dogs?
Because we know how to exercise, train and manage some of these dogs better than the average dog lover, do we have some sort of obligation? Should we leave the “easy” dogs, like Ace, for first-time dog owners?
The answer, of course, is no.
We should all adopt (or buy) dogs that are best for our lifestyles. After all, a dog is a longterm commitment of 10+ years. You don’t want to pick the wrong one.
Still, I’m drawn towards the more hyper or reactive dogs at the shelters sometimes. I like to think I could help them. (Maybe I could, maybe I couldn’t.) I do like the challenge of helping and training a more “difficult” dog. But really, aren’t all dogs challenging in their own ways?
So, I thought I’d raise the question to you.
Have you ever purposely adopted a more “challenging” dog? Or have you ever thought about doing so?
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Kate C.
Wednesday 10th of September 2014
I adopted a dog that I *thought* was going to be an easy dog. Med-high energy, good with cats, kids, dogs. They got the last one wrong. Okay with the other foster dogs? Yes. Good with my super non-reactive dog? Yes. Strange dogs? NO. Too late, I'd fallen in love with her and now I have her to thank for my specialty in dog training. But at this time in my life could I take on another dog like her? No. My mom and I just adopted an "easy" dog, and I had to convince myself that it was "okay" to adopt an easy dog I knew we couldn't adopt a "difficult" dog because of our living/work situation, so I guess I just told myself that it's better to give a home to an "easy" dog than to not give a home to any dog at all. I felt like I should leave an "easy" dog for a novice owner. Turns out she is behaviorally "easy," but she has a lot of health issues and allergies so she wasn't so "easy" after all. No need to feel guilty after all! HAHA! But we can deal with that far more easily with health issues than an aggressive or fearful dog.
weliveinaflat
Saturday 26th of July 2014
I have one year+ experience :D but than Donna is a pretty easy to train dog. One of the reasons we adopted her was because she was smart. She was hyper in the shelter and labeled as "dog aggressive" though. We were advised to just avoid contact between her and other female dogs and it should be fine.
What we thought we adopted turned out to be totally different at home. She never was aggressive with any female dogs we met and she became pretty laid back after a few months. She showed a patience that we would never have guessed she had.
So it least to me, what you see in the shelter doesn't necessarily will be what you get at home.
And we also didn't expect the extreme thunder phobia we had to manage. I am rather fastidious about cleanliness in the house, and I get cranky without sleep. So to have to clean up after a fearful peeing and pooing anywhere dog consecutive nights and days during the rainy season drove me nuts. And of course, I wouldn't be too helpful to a fearful dog when I myself wasn't feeling calm about it. It got so bad that my husband was considering rehoming her at one point, because it just wasn't healthy for me.
It was actually lucky that we managed to finally help her with it so that after a year of trying everything and consistent desensitisation, we got her to a point where she only worries for a first few minutes and then goes back to sleep.
Lots of people just get by with a thunder phobic dog, so I guess I am lucky to be pretty successful in having really toned down her thunder phobia until a level that no longer troubles us. So in that sense, you can say I am experienced with it?? But no, I will NEVER adopt a dog with thunder phobia again.
Sometimes, it's not about experience. The human's own temperament and lifestyle needs to match the dog's needs or the relationship can be destructive.
Lindsay Stordahl
Sunday 27th of July 2014
That makes perfect sense. You don't always know everything (or very much at all) about the dog you are adopting. I'm so glad you have found a way to help Donna with her thunder phobia.
Elizabeth
Wednesday 23rd of July 2014
We put Belle down two months ago. The reason being that she bit my fiance. We were both crying buckets when she left us but we couldn't have a dog that would bite.
Belle was adopted from our local shelter at about 18 months. We figured we were her third home, as the owner surrender form said they had gotten her from the pound. While she wasn't high energy, she was reactive to other dogs and would get fixated on a dog, food, etc. We gave her five wonderful years where she really blossomed into a pretty good dog. However, she would bark, and lunge and snarl at other dogs from the back of the truck and when a nieghbor got a puppy she decided that she didn't like it and actually broke out of Charlie's canopy to go attack the young dog. The first day she did this, my fiance was able to call her off, the second time he got her back in the car and she nipped his finger for him scolding her and telling her she was a bad dog.
And the horrible/wonderful thing is now that we are down to our more mellow dog the stress in the house has gone way down. We are no longer worried about the nieghbor kids, dogs in the yard, D.O.G. will just lay in the yard and watch them walk by. I did not realize how much of our life had revolved around making sure Belle wouldn't do something and how much we worried about her taking off, not listening, not playing nicely.
You and everyone who's commented are right, people have to realize that getting a more challenging dog may mean a lifestyle change, and make sure they are willing to make it. We did change our lives a lot for Belle and I wouldn't change any time that I spent with her, but I am glad that I can go for a walk and not worry when I see another dog.
Eventually, we will probably get a puppy, but there will never be another Belle in the house, that name and memory is sacred.
Thanks for the post.
Lindsay Stordahl
Wednesday 23rd of July 2014
Oh my gosh, I am so sorry to hear you had to go through something so difficult. I know how much you loved Belle and gave her the best life. I wish I had something to say that could help.
Linda - Alfie's Blog
Saturday 19th of July 2014
I agree - you should always pick the dog that is right for you and your family's lifestyle. Having lived with a high energy dog for over 4 years now I can honestly say that even if I'm more than qualified and able to look after a hyper dog, when the time comes for us to get another dog I will pick the laziest one available :-))
slimdoggy
Friday 18th of July 2014
We've adopted seniors for the last 3 of our new family members and while we didn't know it at the time both Jack and Maggie had some behavior problem we had to work at pretty hard. I don't know if I would have chose them had I known, but we just dealt with it. Luckily we had the resources to do that and the skills to know we needed a different trainer for Maggie then we had for Jack. But I think it's critical to get the pet you are prepared to make a part of your family for the good or the bad.