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They Shouldn't Have A Dog
T---I have in the last couple of weeks been trying to help a
completely unsocialised, untrained male German X Belgian Shepherd have a better quality of life but the owners haven't got a clue and I despair for the animal. He is kept in the large grounds and is not allowed in the house at all and they have no wish so to do, for them a dog stays outside all the time. Both partners work and even when home, unless the weather is fine, which in England is unusual, are indoors and the dog is left alone outside. The man had a "vicious" German Shepherd previously of which he was quite proud in a machismo kind of way and he keeps asking me how big the young dog might grow, clearly wanting a large powerful dog. His wife who has to feed and look after the dog likes the idea of a well-trained dog but hasn't got the time. The problem I see is that the poor animal which is kept chained to a tree next to his kennel most of the time is going to go mad from boredom and loneliness and lack of attention. He can never become part of the pack or family because he will never be allowed inside the house and they spend very little time outside the house in the garden. The dog craves company and consequently escapes from the fenced garden when he is unchained and left to his own devices. The owners like the idea of having a guard dog that will be happy to live on his own for most of the time within the grounds/garden, be friendly when the children poke and play with him, obey commands, walk to heel without pulling and be satisfied with perhaps two twenty minute walks a day, greet the owners enthusiastically without jumping up at them, and then be content to be left alone for most of the rest of the 24 hours in a day. I am coming in to see what I can do and am taking him to a dog class for socialisation with other dogs and people but it seems futile to me if the owners intend keeping the animal on his own, excluded from the family pack except for maybe two twenty minute walks a day, when he is being fed and when they leave and enter the house. If this was a child I would bring in social services and have the child taken into care because of neglect but it is a dog. The dog craves company. The male owner says things like the dog is crazy and I tell him that he is just reacting to his circumstances and that it is cruel to keep a social animal like a dog on his own all the time, that it is unnatural for them. I can come in and socialise the dog for maybe four hours a week but what dog is ever going to be well-adjusted when it is left on its own for most of the time and excluded from the pack. I am distressed by the situation and think that the dog, which has a non-vicious nature so far, would be better off being given to an animal rescue centre for re-homing to people who want a dog as part of their home and life. Although I already have the care of three dogs myself which is enough for me I am thinking that if push came to shove that I would take the dog under my wing rather than have him continue to live in such adverse conditions. Whatever I do for the dog with the present owners and what they want from the dog and is largely futile. Has anyone else found themselves in a similar quandry? |
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