where I think I need to rehome my dog, Rexx.
Let me preface this by saying it's been ages since I posted on here. Last time I did was to find some advice on dealing with CRF in my cat. She's doing fine btw, still going at 20, has not been on subQ fluids yet. All I did was change her diet
But, now my next task.....Rexx is an almost 3 yr old GSD/retriever mix. We adopted him when he was about 1 yr old. We knew little of his background as he came to TAS from a Montreal shelter. The Montreal shelter caught him as a stray.
Don't get me wrong, I love that dog. He can be a real doll, he's gorgeous to look at, he has such character, the kids lve him, everyone he meets seems to really like him, we always get compliments on him, but......
He's an a-hole. To put it mildly.
We've had him almost 2 years now. It has been 2 years of frustration and tears. He is by no means a stupid dog. He's very smart, and a sneaky little devil. But, it's like he refuses to learn some things, like walking decenly enough on a leash. We've gone from normal collar, to halti, to choker to prong. He doesn't care what we use, he pulls like a sonofagun. Even with the prong, I can give a full force yank, which would have most other dogs yelping, and he doesn't care. He ignores it 95% of the time.
He has no respect for our house, or for us. He'd just as soon run you down as he would cuddle up with you. I can't watch him 24/7, I have 3 kids a job, and a life, which I wanted to include him in, but at this point......it may not be the right life for him.
Our dog guy (that we were having work with us) seems to have vanished, I 've emailed him several times with no reply. I think Rexx was too much for him and he just doesn't know how to say it. I could see that Rexx had him perplexed on several occassions.
Yesterday was just about the final straw. I took him out, with the baby in the stroller. It was 7am, no one else was up, and I can't leave Abbey with the kids even if they were up.....
So, I took him to the park behind us. I figured he can go off-leash for a bit, get his yayas out, and then we'll go for a walk. Well, the second he was off-leash he took off running, as always. Next thing I know, he's spyed a squirrel on the other side of the park. He takes off like a bat out of hell and chases the squirrel, which ran up the fence, and along the fence top around the corner down the lane-way. So Rexx followed, down the damn lane-way. Out of my sight. Dammit!
So now I'm in the park, with a 1 yr old in the stroller, and my bad ankle which I can't run on, and the dog is out of sight doing god knows what. Total panic set in. I went a few steps towards the lane-way (which was a good 200 ft or so away from where I stood) and yelled at the top of my lungs. Rexx reappeared, thank god, and started running back to me, until he saw another squirrel......thankfully this one was closer to me, so when he got closer I yelled at him again, and after some indecision (which required me yelling at him 2 more times), he came over to me. Leashed him up and said "Tough pal, we're going home".
Little buggar saw 2 more squirrels on the way home and went bonkers over them, almost pulling hte leash right out of my hand, because I wasn't about to let him tip the stroller!
Last time I let him off leash at the park he turned around and jumped at my hands just as I took off the leash. He's alwasys done stuff like this is he's off leash...runs at your full tilt, he's jumped at me as he's run by. When we were in the house with the backyard, if anyone was out there with him he was constantly charging at them, he'd never let the kids play while he was out there, he would always run at them and jump at them, so they didn't want to be out there if Rexx was there.
So, I'm thinking I may have to rehome him. He needs a farm or someone with no kids and loads of time. and he needs someone who will be hard on him from day 1. He's very dominant, very very dominant. He has no respet for us. I don't think he even respects hubby. I think he fears him more than he respects him.
Rexx has been the cause of many arguements in the house with hubby and I as well.....I know hubby isn't helping as much as he could or should, he even said it last night. But he's only willing to commit so much time to a dog. And he won't commit enough time for Rexx, which leaves a lot of it on me, and there are only so many hours in the day that I can be awake dominating over the dog...I have to sleep at some point.
I'm always up for a challenge, but I sure wasn't prepared for the amount of challenges Rex has in him. I truly didn't think we'd only have moved inches from square one in 2 years. I figured we'd have made much more improvements by now. I know part of it is Rexxs personality, he's stubborn, disrespectful and dominant. He literally doesn't give a crap about anything but himself an his food. That dog loves his food, but don't food train him..he becomes aggressive over it (he doesn't like food being held away from him for too long, he's not food agggressive if it's in his bowl).
He's a jerk about being brushed, a jerk about having his nails clipped. He can be a jerk about peeing or pooping in the house if he gets worked up too much or has to wait an extra few minutes to go out. He's now started trying to sneak into the garbage (something he didn't do until recently).
I seriously am at my wits end with him. I'm tired of being frustrated, I'm tired of not enjoying having a dog around, or not enjoying walks.....
I'm debating one last ditch effort with him. I've been in touch with another trainer. He'll come for a 2 hour session. I was in touch with him some months ago, and he well remembered my emails! Before I have this guy come in and spend the money, I'm oging to lay it all on the line for him. I want hi mto come and give an honest assessment of Rexx and how likely we are to be able to rehab him. If I get the sense that he's only coming for hte $ and keeps insisting the dog can be rehabbed (at $X persession for an undetermined amount of sessions), I'll tell him to get lost. If he can come up with a plan, a timeline and we see some progress, I'll stick with this dog.
I just feel like if I re-home him, that I've given up on him, and I really don't like that idea. The idea of dumping him and his issues on someone else....I mean, that's kinda how I got him in the first place.
I'm turning to you guys to see if you have any helpful suggestions or advice. I had forgotten all about this forum for the longest time. I should have come on here months ago and looked for some help with my loco pup.
Any ideas/suggestions/comments are welcome