rescuing a dog
There are many ways you can buy dogs these days and searching the local paper is no exception. When you get to the for sale section you trawl through the puppies and stud dogs and still there’s more. That’s when we found him an 8 month old German Sheppard pup for sale. We thought … great just what we wanted a dog that was still a pup but over the worst stage (toilet training)
We went to view him and he was not entirely what we were looking for. He looked like the runt of the litter very light in colour, very small, timid and nervous. The owners had bought him as a pup but could not handle him he had not been toilet trained and kept digging holes near the gate which frustrated them. We looked at each other and knew we couldn’t leave him so paid the asking price and bought him home, we changed his name and called him Max.
I’m not saying the old owners were harmful but the word frustrated is not harsh enough!! Poor Max didn’t wee for a whole day and when he did, he coward and hid behind the tree!! The owners had said he didn’t like toys but it took us 2 days to introduce him to them and he loved them, it also took my partner to pee outside a lot with max watching for him to get the idea but within two weeks he was fully trained.
He had a habit of jumping up and this was a hard one to crack, because he had the mind of a pup but was almost fully grown and had probably got away with it for 6 months it took a lot of training and commands, he is not perfect now but he is a lot better. We find that buying a dog from someone who is not a reputable breeder is difficult, because there is a gap in his life that is a mystery to us. But our view is forget the past, concentrate on what you can offer the dog now.
My partner has owned Shepherd’s all his life and with a lot of training Max has become a very receptive loyal dog, he loves learning, playing and no longer digs. His old life is well and truly forgotten and he is a perfect pet dog for us and our children whom he treats like his brothers. The moral of my story is if you want a dog who is older than a pup and not from a breeder, be prepared to start from scratch and accept there will a part in their life you will never know about, but keep strong, train them well, don’t give up and they will become the ideal dog for you in the end.
Written by Steph