What would you do?

david75

This is a tricky one. I left my 8 month old boxer, he's a boy, outside the shop the other night and when i came back there was a guy standing beside him, long story short he offered me a 2 year old bitch boxer belonging to his mate who he said didn't treat t right or give a **** about the poor thing at all, for free.

Me and the better half had just that day been talking about getting our fella a pal to keep him company. Long story short, i accepted and met him 2 days later and took the bitch home. She was in terrible shape. Manky dirty, and clearly has been mistreated, she jumps if you move your hands near her and even now is still shaking. But she's almost pure muscle, like she looks lke a cross with some other dog and we can't figure out what but she's powerful.

Anyways i washed her, flea shampoo the whole lot. The two of them didn't get on at all for the first hour but now their thick as thieves.

Only thing is, she's growled and snapped at me and my other half, and today brought the two of them to the dog pond in the Phoenix park and she's literally jumping to bte the stick yer gonna throw outta your hand, so i throw it in the water and she goes and brings it back and she's grindng and chewing on the thing with a pure grim determnation I've never seen in a boxer before. It was sort of scary.

She's gone for two dogs we've passed in the street and seems ok with our fella apart from the odd growl(n fairness he's delighted to have a pal and won't leave her alone) and she's adorable and obedient enough(other than not seeming to have been toilet trained, though it looks like she only ever lived in a backgrden, if she was that lucky)but i'm just afraid.
there's clearly potential there for damage either to our fella or someone else and I really don't know what to do.
Do we keep her and love her up? hope she'll forget the mistreatment? will that work? We've no idea if she's ever had pups or is netured, her nipples are rather prominent, and I know were not ready/able for puppies from them. God forbid that happens..

The other half doesn't like or trust her after last night and i'm 60/40 myself about keeping her/letting her go. And if we have to let her go, where do I go, what do i do?

Jaysis that all sounds very whiney, sorry about that but I'm stuck and don't know what to do.

any ideas welcome.

tk123

If you take on a rescue/rehome a dog you need to be willing to take on and address any problems they may have imo? You need to give her some time to settle in - if she's been mistreated you'll need to gain her trust - it sounds like you're expecting too much too soon?

PS a DOG POND in the Phoenix park?!?! Why was I not informed of this lol!!

Tranceypoo

Wow, how random!!

Well it sounds like the poor dog has had a pretty **** life up to now and if you suspect she's been kept in a back garden the whole time and probably not socialised or exercised much then it's going to take a while for her to settle in to a new (and from the sound of it very loving) environment so I would give her time and don't make too much of a fuss of her, let your other dog show her ropes and the 'way things are done' in your house and toilet train as you would a puppy I guess.

Re the attacking other dogs thing, I have this problem with my second dog and a fellow boardsie recommended Behaviour Adjustment Training (BAT) www.functionalrewards.com and I'm currently working on this with her, probably not as consistently as I should but it does work, you have to put the work in with her but I would recommend it. If money isn't too tight maybe a behaviourist down the line?

I think you need to make the decision now whether to keep her and give her time/put the work in or contact a rescue and see if they can help rehome her. Good luck!! Keep us posted!!

david75

want to keep her. Guess we'll wait and let her settle in and see. Thanks for the words!

ps-yeah at the back of the zoo just on the other side of the main road beside some low buildings(used for polo parking i think?) there's a fenced in pond surrounded by trees. it's a lovely spot:)

Cherry Blossom

OP have you taken this dog to your vet for a full-check up? The prominent nipples part would concern me tbh. If there is a possibility the dog is pregnant it can be be sorted out but I definitely wouldn't let her have pups in the current situation at your home where she is around people she is obviously not comfortable around yet. TBH this is one way that people 'solve' the problem of unwanted pregnant dogs (i.e. dump it on someone else).

david75

Yeah i'm taking her to the blue cross van tomorrow, it's all I can afford right now, so hopefully she's ok. My partner just found lots of scar tissue on her ears. Poor mites been through the mill. We've decided we're gonna give her to one of our friends. She'll be loved. Just can't risk an unplanned batch of puppies. It'll be grand

LucyBliss

The prominent nipples could be an indication she's pregnant. When we got Rosie, a rescue dog, about a week later she had prominent nipples and my grandmother chirped "Your dog is pregnant!"
"Silence, old woman!" I cried, "You're wrong! WRONG!" because like you, the idea of having puppies was breaking my brain.

But I should have known, the grandmother knew her stuff and was right. And this may account for some (some, not all) of the dog's problems. Rosie is a little dote now but when we got her, there was some growling when I'd rub her and when we were out in the street, she'd be growling at dogs that tried to sniff her. Once I realised she had an actual reason for this behaviour, it was so much easier to deal with.
Also, if you keep your wits about you, unexpected puppies are not the end of the world. Rosie had six, all of whom thrived.

I think a trip to the vets, even to rule out any other problems, would be in order.

But I would try to give the poor girl a chance to settle in. She could be feeling very overwhelmed and if she didn't come from much, she might be waiting for the other shoe to drop and for a kick to lash out at her.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on!

TooManyDogs

+1 on a trip to the vet for a full check up, and after that I'd get in a behaviorist in to help you properly socialise her and correct unwanted behaviour. Sometimes only giving a badly treated dog love and affection without getting to the bottom of her behaviour can create more problems than it solves

david75

Timely advice TMD. She just took a big shot at my hand for trying to pick up a ball to throw for her. She's ultra aggressive about stuff to chew it seems(toys, for now :eek:). Found a family in Cork who just lost their Boxer bitch so I'm gonna meet one of them and hand her over. They're dog lovers and she'll have loads of space as they live rural it seems.
I'll take her to the vet tomorrow and see what the craic is with her anyways.
Thanks for the advice folks

this is her by the way. It doesn't give you any idea about how muscular she s. She's a cross with something but heavens knows what.


my boy asleep on top of her

SingItOut

Kudo's to you for taking her in in the first place, theres many that wouldn't have. Poor thing is going to need time to trust again. . When I was 13 we rescued a cairn terrier x who had been thrown from a car window while we were watching! she was petrified of anybody looking at her or giving her any affection whatsoever. Our vet reckoned she was 7 years old. It took over a year but she finally learned to trust us and became the sweetest dog we've ever had so it is possible with time & patience. She sadly passed away last year at age 18.

From the pictures your girl looks like a full boxer to me

Vel

Well done on trying to help this dog and sorry it didn't work out with you. I feel very sorry for her being passed from pillar to post and if she is indeed displaying some possessive tendencies over balls/sticks etc. I would worry that her next home may not be able to deal with that either and she will be passed on again.

Do you know the people you are giving her to? You have to be very careful that it is not someone looking to use her for breeding.

Its so hard to find good rescue spaces at the moment but it seems to me like that is what this girl needs, rather than being passed from one person to another.

I hope it all works out for her

beansybeansy

well done for trying. We rescued a boxer dog (approx 12 months) 2 weeks ago and she is a dote, very placid but over friendly. we got lucky but this poor thing seems to have been through the mill. You both have done much better by her than anyone else.