Hard lesson learned.

We just got back from taking Dolly back to her breeder. And I found out that there is a HUGE difference between a pure housedog and a dog that stays outside, securely contained during the day and gets housetime in the evenings, after being well exercised. Dolly was very happy to be back and returning her was a lot harder on us than on her. We will now be looking to move somewhere with some privacy (we are on a busy road) and a large, fenced yard. Dolly had some intense anxiety about being contained and NEEDED to be kept outside with some room to bleed off energy. Like a good fenced yard or a good chain set up. She would drool BADLY (as in soaking 1 or 2 good sized towels) from being crated or locked in a room). Luckily the breeder was glad to take her back and will either re-home her or keep her on their yard.


We will get another game-line pup, but not until we have moved to a more suitable location where we can have a good, safe set up for the pup, good sized fenced yard with some privacy for a chain-set and kennel.

 

Whats the reason you took her back to the breeder?

 

Aww Chris, I am so sorry. But you did what was best for her & not you so IMO you did the right thing.

 

Sorry to hear...but Good to hear the breeder took her back...

 

I dont know why doin the right thing is so painfully hard!! Props to you, many would not have cared and allow the dog to be tortured by being crated!! You have moved up on the scale of respect by your actions!

 

It is sad that you had to take your dog back to the breeder, but it is noble of you to do what is right for the dog. Good luck on finding a more suitable place to live.
I am sorry that you had to give your dog up, but sometimes doing the right thing is not easy...and i admire you for doing the right thing.

 

We live in a relatively small rental. The dog HATED being confined in a small area. She would have panic attacks, profuse drooling, dilated eyes, panting, ect. The problem was that she hated even being locked in a room or a crate and when she was older, say 10 MO. to a year she might have done some serious damage to the house and herself. We live in a rental, it could have gotten us evicted. The breeder suggested being re homed would be much easier for her as a pup than an older dog of say a year.


I knew something was serious when she broke out of two crates and the climbed a 48" x-pen and busted through a steel, pressure mounted baby gate. This at 14 weeks of age and to get into the living room with my older 12 year old dog (which she did). Thank goodness they did fine together and were sitting there happily when the person we had coming over to let her out came over.


A dog like her needs to be outside during the day either in a secure fenced yard or a good tie-out. That way she can deal with her anxiety by self exercising. And before we get another pup from game-lines we will move so we have a correct set-up since you never know what you'll get. My point is I see clearly now why for so long these type of dogs have been kept on chain set-ups and why you need space.


I'm sure there are game-line pups you can find that would do fine being in a room but you can't count on it and a lot of breeders won't take a dog back and I don't want to go through this again so we'll find a more suitable location before going this route again.


The next dog we get will still get inside time, but we wont be limited to inside to safely contain the dog.

 

well there's a couple things to be learned from this.

1. think everything through before getting a new puppy. when you think, nah that won't happen......believe it can.

2. although yours did take it back, don't deal with byb's who wouldn't take a puppy/dog back if need be. find out first what kind of policy they have. any reputable breeder would have done what yours did.

glad it worked out for the dog.