ferrousland.com - diary archives
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
getting rid of the dog - 09:20 AM
we've made a decision to get rid of the dog. we're going to have to find him a new home. it's not that he & the baby don't get along well. they get along really well, they adore each other in fact, which makes this decision all the more sad. it's simply that mcgarnicle & the rest of the world don't get along.
when he gets out (which is easy enough here as we don't yet have a fence) he just barks & barks at people & scares the willies out of them. he's not seriously interested in biting them or anything, it's just that he thinks the whole neighbourhood is his & he wants them to go away .. or something.
he won't come back when we call him. he just ignores us. if we chase him he thinks it's a game & runs further. this could go on all day, so we simply don't bother to chase him anymore. he's just out of control.
i blame us. we never really trained him properly. we should have. we should also have chosen a breed better suited for being around the house rather than the very active & excitable cattle dog/kelpie cross.
so we're going to find him a new home. we'll put an ad in the paper & see if there's a farmer that needs an active dog. he'll have much more fun there. we will miss him, despite really not liking him at times, but it simply can't go on. we don't want to make enemies of all the other mill workers around here. this is a small community & we have to make sure that we do our bit to keep it as nice as it is. it would annoy me if i couldn't even walk down my own street without some seemingly mad dog running at me & barking his head off.
at least smiley's young enough to not really know what's going on. we will get a new dog, because i think it's good for kids to have a pet, but we'll choose the breed much more carefully this time .. & i think we'll make sure we get a girl dog, too. generally they're much calmer. boy dogs are such idiots. i don't mean that they're stupid, i mean that they act like idiots. think of almost any fifteen year old boy & the way they act, running around like a dickhead & generally being a wanker. that's been my experience with boy dogs.
i'm not looking forward to going through the puppy stage. all that pissing & pooing around the house. we will have to get a puppy though to make sure it grows up knowing that smiley is numero uno, not itself, unless we can find a grown up dog that has a very good history of getting along very well with young children.
*sigh* stupid dog. why does he have to be such an idiot? we'll miss him. it's the right thing to do though, for us, for him, for the neighbourhood.
Yes, we've been through this with dogs before. All you can do is find the best home possible for him and realize that everyone will be happier this way. This is for McG as well as for the family. There's someone out there for that loveable idiot!
you did have trouble with him two houses back, if i remember (something about getting out) and nipping through the fence at the last place. probably best. i know you'll miss him. tough love all around.
Definitely sounds like the right decision and I'm sure the locals will appreciate what a difficult thing that was to do.
It's just what the poor dog needs. I firmly believe that cattle dogs should never be kept as city pets. They have too much of the working farm dog bred in them. They have such an instinct for rounding things up, which is what your dog is probably trying to do, round up all the locals.
um... think about our dogs - the boy dog, and the girl dog.
and then maybe revise your views that it's just the boy dogs who run around like idiots
I agree too. It's a tough decision but the right one. We have a pedigree yellow lab. He was five when my son was born and has been the best dog. He lets Scottie climb all over him, pull his tail, everything and doesn't care. If you have the child first, which you do, in the house, and bring the new puppy in after, I think the dog will agree that the baby is numero uno, being that the baby was there first. Its all about the order of the pack.
I agree that male dogs act stupid. Ours definately acts like a 15 year old boy!
Have you thought of a dog run. It is a shame to ged rid of a pet if there is another way. A dog run would let him have a little room to move around in and he could still be par of the family. that is if he is good with riley.
Can I suggest, when you go breed-hunting for a new dog, that you avoid terriers like the plague.
We are having similar issues to yours with McGarnicle (especially on the barking front) with our two, Basil and Charlie (Jack Russell terriers). While we haven't actually decided to rehome them yet, mostly because they adore and are adored by Alia, we are at our wit's end with controlling their barking, territoriality and escapism.
dearest ferrous
being a responsable dog owner means, lookin after yr doggy, plz take the time to exercise him, (u could take yr pram).
this relieves alot of doggy tensions, and youve really gotta get a fence.
neva give up on yr childen, (of the fur variety)
kezz
gmail
com
I agree, poor dog, but you can't have him chasing or barking at (a new) community. Get a puppy and let Smiley grow with him... train the new dog (perhaps there are obidiance classes around? Prolly unlikley seeing you are so far out of town) but train him to come on command, eat to a command (so he won't pick up baits etc in a rural area) and take him for walks. You might still have to think about a fenced in yard? It might be unlikely the company will pay, as it would cost quite a lot, and they would have done it already if they were interested. What about a cat? lol