#1
|
|||
|
|||
To keep or not to keep? Advice needed.
Hello;
My wife and I decided to foster a 7 year old coonhound/lab mix over the holiday season. He is a wonderful dog and we are debating whether to adopt him permanently. He gets along with our 11 year old border collie/lab wonderfully. He is very well trained and has behaved wonderfully the whole time he has been with us. The biggest question we have is that we are not sure if he will have enough room to roam around. We have a small back yard and he is not that great at the off leash park. We is great on walks (on leash) which we take him out regularly. I guess the question I have is, if it is fair to him or not? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
What are you referring to when you say he is not great at the off leash park? Is he aggressive with other dogs or does he run off and not come back?
With respect to your yard size, I think as long as you give him a good hour long walk maybe two each and every day and he has enough yard to sniff about and toilet, I think you should be fine. I am also a "foster failure" and end up adopting the dogs I foster You end up with the best dogs that way IMO |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
I think depends on his exercise needs. You may not have had him long enough to know those yet. My own Lab is a high energy dog and the walks Lynne proposes would not be enough for my boy. My boy is bench bred but has the high energy of a field bred Lab. Add coonhound into the mix, and, well, you just don't know yet.
Our friend who runs black and tans kept them outside in a pen and they got very little exercise till he was out at night running coons and then they would go for miles and hours. They can be very laid back dogs. I don't know any with reliable recall off leash. What about just going on with the foster for a few more months and see how it works out? Leash only walks though, I can't see that being enough. Hope it is, you sound like you are in love. Do you get any say if a potential owner shows up? Can you veto and then decide to keep him yourself? Is a potential owner that likely? |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
We are not really sure about the coming back part. We just don't know at this point if he would or would not come back. A little early to determine yet. We have taken him to the park and he was fine on leash, however he did get a little aggressive with the smaller dogs. We were told that he's not a big fan of the little pooches. Nothing that we couldn't handle though. We do play with him inside and outside with some toys and he gets pretty worn out after about a half an hour. He really is a wonderful dog and we just want to make sure it is fair to him before we turn it into a "failed foster "
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|