Revolving Door Syndrome

[Piper's mom]

What are the odds this guy actually knows anything about show animals?

I say this as someone who has never shown a dog but who found her last dog because as my husband and I joke she washed out of show dog school. We were so blessed because she was just what Katy needed when Bailey passed and I can't imagine our family without her. However, in the years I've met people who do show dogs all seemed to be clearly aware that some dogs will end up as pets because for one reason or another they aren't suited for show. Contrary to all the horrid stories out there breeders do make arrangements for these dogs and those of us who are lucky enough to find one greatly benefit from the experience. That doesn't include the dogs who retire after their show years are finished and also make their ways into retirement as pets.

I know all of you are aware of this but I do find it weird when people make ignorant comments that indicate really understand.

This guy was the epitome of a stuck up know it all who in reality knew nothing. His comment showed to me his ignorance. Piper ended up getting his OTCH...in my opinion he most definitely wasn’t a waste of money and the breeder is VERY proud of this boy she reared.

 

[mimiretz]

People should really do their research before rushing out and getting a dog. Too many times I've seen people say "it's not what they expected" so are returning them. What did they expect, a guppy. Dogs are hard work, granted some more than others. People like that really should'nt be pet owners.
I do believe that if they can't look after them correctly then find someone who will rather than give the dog a poor life, BUT DON'T GO GET ANOTHER DOG!!!!!

Personally once I have a dog it's for life. Once Monty had settled into my home he was VERY hard for me to deal with for a while. I just wasn't used to that level of naughiness and crazy but we worked through it and now I have the most funny, caring little dog i could have asked for. He still can be a challenge sometimes but I wouldn't swap him for the world. If I had just given in and taken him back he would have been more mentally scared and I would have missed out on such a special little guy. I feel you should only give in as a last, last resort as you never know what special little soul could be waiting if you just give them a chance.

I absolutely agree with this and commend you for working through the challenges Monty has thrown at you. Like all of us here, I wait (not really that patiently) for the next Monty story.

However, there is another side to this discussion. After our Samoyed (Mercutio) died my husband and I decided we didn't want to start over with a puppy and wanted to adopt instead of going to a breeder. We found a really good no-kill shelter and adopted a mixed breed shepherd who was, according to what they knew, about a year old. She had been found wandering around the streets in New Mexico. We took her home and committed to being her forever family. We were in an apartment at the time so no yard, but frequent walks throughout the complex. On one of those walks she literally broke her leash and attacked to smaller dogs. We then got into the habit of walking her early in the morning and late at night to avoid other dogs. During the day I'd take her out to potty but made sure there were no other dogs in the vicinity and if I saw another dog we'd head the other way. Then we were at Petco one day. A woman who I knew was a trainer there came over, talked to us, and the dog lunged at her. If the woman's reflexes were not as good as they were the dog would have bitten her -- not nipped; she lunged in a very aggressive way.

We talked to several dog trainers about what to do, and none had any good ideas. We talked to a couple of behaviorists who said to simply avoid situations where she would be tempted to bite. We tried that -- but it's very hard to avoid all other animals and people all the time. I spoke to my vet and he said that if she ever bit another dog again or bit a person that she would be put down and that my husband and/or I would be in jail because we knew of her tendency to attack. I did not want her to end up being put to sleep. She clearly had been abused at some point in her life, and her personality was permanently affected by it. If we had had a yard at the time we would definitely have kept her and lowered our expectations of her. However, we did not. I spent a month in tears almost all the time because I had committed to this animal and did not want to renege in that commitment, but also knew that eventually she would attack someone or something and her fate would be sealed.

We ended up taking her back to the shelter we got her from. We had decided that we were best off starting with a puppy again. I had grown up with a Sheltie so was familiar with the breed. We were fortunate that we found a breeder not far from the shelter who had a litter that was ready to go so we were able to pick up Oberon that same day.

This was about 7 years ago. I still wonder what happened to that dog and hope and pray she found a family that was better suited to her needs than we were. It is one of my great failings in life that we could not keep the commitment we made to her.

 

[Bailey's Mom]

There is a term forever foster that generally refers to dogs that have high medical costs and are deemed to hard to adopt. These are often left with a foster family and the costs absorbed through fundraising by the shelter/breed rescue.

I do believe in the rescue community there does need to be a closer look at dogs with aggressive behavioral issues. We can keep blaming people like myself who said upfront I couldn't take an aggressive dog and then was knowingly given one which I returned or we can ask what would be a better solution for dogs who aren't going to fit into a normal home situation because they can't function in a normal environment? Do we need to look into long term foster care to determine when or if these dogs can be rehabbed and returned to adoption?

We can keep guilt tripping adopters about these dogs but the reality is many shelters and rescues know there are dogs that aren't going to get better with a basic obedience course and yet they keep pushing those dogs on to people and complaining when the dogs come back.

Sure, people should become educated about the expectations of what it takes to own a dog. However, as I mentioned in my previous post there was a huge difference between my oldest dog who had challenges when she came from rescue and the dog who was aggressive and unmanageable. With help from my Vet and other providers who worked with my dogs we've managed her challenges. That is part of getting a dog from rescue. Some do come with challenges. Aggression can be more than a challenge it can be something that overwhelms adopters and unless you are trained and have the skills and interest to take on that particular problem shelters shouldn't be dropping it in your lap and wondering why the dog doesn't stay.