Apparition

And this one is a potential minefield.

My daughter owns a westie. He's about 3-4 years old now. He hasn't been trained to my standards ie: he doesn't come to heel and is a potential runaway. (thereby hangs the solution)!
In the intervening years since she got him, she's had two children. One is fast approacing 2 and the other is coming up on 5 months now.
Just lately, the dog has become more and more "nippy" .He has nipped at the older boy of a few occasions which has made him cry but hasn't broken skin.
Understandably, my daughter and her partner have become concerned about this and have decided to try to re-home the dog, to somewhere without young children.
Last week, a suitable new owner came along. Took an instant liking to the dog and took him home with her. She offered money, but my daughter, quite rightly, refused, saying she just wanted to know he had gone to a good home. She was understandably upset when he went and a few tears were shed.

She's on the phone to me this morning in tears...... the bloody dog has bitten this woman who took him away and she is bringing him back today!

What would you do ?

I've said that this is more reason now to take him straight to a rescue centre and get shot. I don't want my two grandsons losing their faces to this holy terror.

If I didn't already own an ageing dog of my own, I'd happily take the dog off her hands and sort it myself. Plus, she's 200 miles away, so I can't just pop in to assist.

I'm off up there in 2 weeks, to collect her and the kids and bring them down here for a week. If the dog is still with them then, I'm sure as hell going to bring it down with us and dispose of it to some centre somewhere.

Phew....
Yve

sociopath

All these dog threads really highlight the scumminess of some people. Mr and Mrs Chav decide they want a dog, they buy a dog, they can't be arsed to raise/train it properly and suprise, surprise, it turns out to be fcuked in the head and a menace to the public.

Next Mr and Mrs Chav decide they want to breed. The dog that they couldn't be arsed to train/look after attacks the chav brats. Now they want to bin the dog. They bin the dog.

Now they can't be arsed to raise/train the chav brats either and suprise, surprise, they turn out to be fcuked in the head and a menace to the public.

Now Mr and Mrs Chav want to bin the chav brats. Well you can't. You made your bed, now lie in it!

Brendan Hughes

Sociopath stating the facts in the most offensive way possible, as usual. True though that if the dog wasn't trained, it's a bit unfair to call it an unholy terror and dump it.

Miss Kinky

i'd make sure the dog went to a rescue centre ASAP...

stilover

Agreed. They will make sure a suitable new owner is found.

My Cousin has just had to have his 4 year old RidgeBack put down, as it went for one of his daughters.
He has 4 daughters, and 2 of them as a joke kept on telling the dog to "get her" to their sister (not meaning it). Anyway last week it did. Caused quite a bit of damage to her, and a fair few stitches. My cousin nearly took a spade to it for that, but he took it to the vets, and after discusions, and cos of the size of the thing it was decided the best thing was to put him down.
Although it was trained, it could have been trained better, and they (Cousin & his wife) are blaming themselves for their daughters injuries. Lovely dog, but all dogs need to be trained the best they can.

letdown

Why on earth buy a ridgeback if you have 4 kids???? Madness.

Not a dig at you but blimey!!!

stilover

Sorry, meant to say
3 Daughters aged 16 - 18 (2 twins)
1 Son aged 1.

They have (had) 2 dogs, Ridgeback, and collie. Ridgeback was Very protective towards the 1 year old. Any dog (including the collie) went anywhere near him, and the dog would go mental. Another reason to have it put down. they didn't think the Ridgeback would bite their son (as he was protective of him) but if their son happened to be between the Ridgeback and another dog, then he could get hurt. That was on their minds, when he bit their daughter. Had decision made for them really.

Reality

It was Yve that said that .

The Snug Rhino

is it me or does this site have a huge number of dog owners that should have bought a goldfish instead?

Brendan Hughes

With the odd exception...

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=526421

Apparition

I knew this might bring out the pratts amongst you.

Yes I referred to the dog as an unholy terror, my daughter however ,who is the owner is extremely upset by the whole situation. She's done her best to tain him, but sadly, as is the case in most of these situations, the dog was purchased, parents unseen. Daughter and partner were young and naive and walked into this with eyes closed.
As for the comments above from Sociopath:My daughter is NOT a chav. I take great insult from that comment. But then again, one only has to read some of your other threads to see you are only speaking from your own experiences. You only know what is common to you. So I'll treat your input with the disdain it deserves.

Haven't heard any further yet from daughter, I imagine the dog has now been returned to her. If push comes to shove, I shall do the honourable thing and go up there and get it myself. I certainly do not want my grandchildren's faces ripped off.
Yve
PS Thanks Miss Kinky for your support.

sociopath

So you agree that the whole problem was of their own making?

They failed to raise the dog correctly so what do they do? Why, they chuck it in the bin and have a crack at raising two children instead!

If they can't even take responsibilty for raising a dog correctly why should the children turn out any different?

Your question should be 'How can my daughter make up for the lack of appropriate care for her dog?' not 'How can they get rid?' This is an animal that THEY have screwed up, not a broken electrical item they can lob in the bin, palm off on someone else or, as you intimated...

...just let loose on the general public. That is what makes them chavs, always looking for the easy way out/someone else to bail them out.

sti-04!!

Chav is a term used too lighty these days. Some people should take stock with there own lifes before belittling those around them.

sociopath

Yeah that's wonderful, cheers for that

I could be a dog eating/beating hypocrite for all you know but that still wouldn't make what I have said about Aberration's family Cujo/Chav breeding factory any less valid.

Diablo

Yve,

To a degree I'm with sociopath (are you sure thats not you Alex ) on this one.

Whilst I can understand your concern, don't be so quick to say its the dogs fault with this parents unseen red herring.

I know of bad dogs from great sires and dams and great dogs from bad ones.

Terriers are yappy, nippy little things at the best of times. It's in their nature regardless of parentage.

Unless the dog is suffering from an unkown health problem, its the way its been brought up thats the problem.

I'd agree there is no way they should keep it - it needs to go to someone that understands how to fix the problem.

Or they should get a dog behaviourist in.

This is just one issue that really annoys me when people get on their high horses about "big dogs". Unfortunately small breeds all too often get treated like cuddly toys that don't stop moving when the batteries run out.

By your own admission he isn't trained at all. He thinks he's the boss, pure and simple.

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Get her to invest in a cattle prod ,3000 volts will soon teach the ****s to behave.

Diablo

I don't think the kids are that badly behaved

Rage!

That's part of a mountain bike you numpty!

Reality

PMSL

anc-sti

Quality

speed demoness

i'd say it's deffinately the breed of dog.
i was bitten by a westie many years ago... i was sat on a friends bed and the dog was sat beside me... i reached out to stroke the dog and it went for me... cut the skin on my hand, but luckily no stitches.

There was a program on sky last night... Dog Borstal.... the owners stayed with the dogs along with proffessional trainers/behaviouralists. the changes in all of the dogs were fantastic! they trained the owners too.. at the end of the day a lot of what they(owners) did with the dogs made them the way they were.. but by the time they all left with their dogs, they knew how to control them!
I'd say try an animal behaviour specialist to see if they can work with the dog.

Good luck with it all hun

Tim-Grove

Everyone seems to forget that dogs are pack animals and he sees the family as a pack. He's always gona try to work his way up the hierocracy if he sees weaker more vulnerable member of the pack. The dog just needs to know who’s boss. The next time he try's it on with a little nip or a growl give him a smack round the nose, if he trys it again smack him again and so on and so forth. It wont take him long to realise, dogs aint stupid.

OllyK

Great - so you train the dog to fear your hand as it thinks you're going to smack it when your hand goes near it's head.

Tim-Grove

If that’s the way you choose to view it then yes.

Meanwhile in the real world there are thousands of dogs living happily with their owners but knowing their place in the family.

We’re talking a small smack here not a Mike Tyson right hook

Ian_S

Great choice of dogs, a collie and a ridgeback
both arent exactly known for great temperments, i suppose they looked nice though

Im surprised noone has asked for pics of the daughters yet

OllyK

There is absolutely no need to hit a dog to train it, period. A dog does not and should not need to fear you to know its place in the pack.

speed demoness

I have a border collie/german shepherd cross...... he's as soft as sh!te..... lets the 10 year old daughter use him as a pillow..... and not once has he ever hurt any of us.

Had a friend who had a ridgeback too... he was clumsy and all over the place... but not a sign of a bad temprament in him !

If you don't want to 'smack' the dog... then do what they used in Dog Borstal last night on sky... a small empty pop bottle with small stones in it... they called it a rattle bottle. if the dog is doing something you rather it wasn't... then use the bottle and bang it harshly down on the floor by the dog and tell the dog to 'leave' using some degree of harshness/seriousness in your voice.

Reality

But if it doesn't know it's place in the pack a healthy dose of fear will stop it from biting you

*Sonic*

Or make it turn on you when you least expect it cos its had enough of being bullied/feared etc

red_dog104

Haven't read the whole thread and so sorry if i'm repeating BUT.....Bark Busters are brilliant for dog training. It's pricy but the dog will be co operating within the first hour! I speak from experience. I had a rescue Rotty cross who was dominant, he used to mess in the house and was generally threatening to my son. Paid £200 and the woman came round to our house. Retrained us and the dog!!!! He is the nicest, well behaved dog I've known. Fabulous. Really would recommed them if you want to keep the dog!