Adopting a Dog

[Pataflafla]

so my sister has been begging me for a dog for the past month. I finally caved under the pressure of her and my dad.

We went and looked today at our local humane society. We were torn between a 10 month old puppy named Chaos because she was "too rambunctious and did not take well to being disciplined with a shock collar" and a 4 year old cattle dog mix named Silver who was dropped off since her owners were moving.

We took Chaos out into the meeting area and she ran around a bit and was completely disinterested in us. I didn't like that since she had been in that area before and we were the new ones. The shelter also wasn't sure how she was around other cats, dogs, or kids (All of which is a requirement where we live). When the kennel assistant brought her back to her kennel, I wasn't too keen on how she reacted to the other dogs by getting all nosy with them while they were barking.

We took out Silver next. She immediately did her business, did a quick sweep, and then paid us a bit of attention before getting into the kiddie pool they have (It was about 110 out so no foul there). She was very independent but very sweet. When she was taken back to her kennel she didn't even look to the other barking dogs, which I liked a lot. The kennel paper for her said she was good with dogs, but they didn't know with cats. When we inquired up front the lady said she actually brought Silver on an even with her and she did wonderfully with dogs, cats, and kids.

We asked our landlord after deciding and he gave us the go ahead. this is the dog we'll be bringing home tomorrow and giving a two week grace period. If she has irreconcilable differences with any of our existing pets, she'll unfortunately be unable to stay with us, but we'll probably try to adopt her out through my sister's work u=instead of the humane society.

[Bettanewbie60]

Omgosh...I love her! Great for all of you...I'm so glad to hear of you adopting, and love that you know so much about animals to make such a wise choice! Wishing you all the best with her...she is very lucky.

[Romad]

Awwwwww.... Silver looks like a sweetie. I'll bet she fits in well with you and your other fur pets. Crossing my fingers for you.

Keep us posted :)

[Pataflafla]

I'm just hoping she'll be good with the cats since one of ours, Panini, is unable to really jump or run to get away since she's got hip dysplasia.

She seems really smart though, so I think she'll get that the cats are friends not toys rule down pat very quick. We want to reinforce basic commands first and then move onto more complex things with her since her breed is a very smart one. Also gonna teach her hand signals like I did with my parents' puppy. I'll just have to find out what her motivator is.

[Romad]

Motivator?? Isn't it always food :)

[Pataflafla]

I recently trained a puppy who just wanted anything you could give her.

Food is always one of the top ones, but this puppy was equal on anything. Food, toys, wrestle, attention, anything. She just wants to please.

Pretty sure Silver will be good with food or toy though.

[LittleBettaFish]

Haha if she has cattle dog in her prepared for lots of walks and mental stimulation. They are pretty full on but I find cattle dogs, kelpies, border collies etc. are very good partners and really love 'their' person/people.

Nice to see you giving this girl a chance. It makes me sad when I think of how many dogs end up going through shelters through no fault of their own.

Hopefully she does alright with your cat. There's a trainer Ian Dunbar, who did a good bit on teaching dogs to respect plush toys that look like animals so as to then go on and teach them to respect and play gently with actual animals or small children. I found it the other day searching on Youtube.

[Pataflafla]

Yeah. We've got some experience with a border collie mix. Raised her from a puppy, she was a bit food aggressive, nervous around other dogs, and had a bad tendency to nip and herd no matter what we tried. She unfortunately passed away in 2011 due to an unexpected and uncommon immuno disorder where her white blood cells destroyed her red ones. We caught it too late and she bled out unfortunately.

I've also raised and trained a catahoula puppy and she's very respectful of cats, dogs and people. She adores kids, but she's a little nervous with other dogs but not aggressive.

We plan on taking her hiking and trailing with us since we do enjoy doing that very much. We plan on being very strict with her.

[LittleBettaFish]

That's sad about your collie cross. It is horrible to lose a pet when it is unexpected like that and you always kick yourself about it later.

Will look forward to seeing more pictures of her if she stays on. Our GS girl loves going for big long walks around the hundred or so hectare park right near my house so I'm sure Silver will be thrilled with hiking and trailing haha.

It's always a double-edged sword though. The fitter they are the harder they are to tire out! Our girl has been forced to stay at home these past four weeks due to pneumonia and it is killing her.

[teeneythebetta]

She is very pretty! Thank you so much for adopting, its always refreshing to see people giving adult dogs second chances rather than supporting back yard breeders and buying their pups. Good for you :D

Crossing my fingers, I hope it's meant to be!