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I really, really feel for you on this! 5 years ago, we rescued our lab/great pyrenees mix from the shelter. He was around a year old, had been an outdoor only dog, zero training, reactive aggressive to other dogs, was 100+lbs of terror chewing up and destroying everything with NO off switch. I *hated* him! I hated him so much I wasn't going to let him win his crazy games, and was determined to train that dog if it killed me. Many tears, lots of sweat and some blood... but he is now pretty much the best dog ever. Took a year for us to bond, and until he was 4 or so to settle down. His only saving grace was he was awesome with my kids. The breed mix that you have is well known to be very, very active and will require some serious training and LOTS of exercise. A huge commitment and sacrifice on your part, but it can be done. And in the end, it can be SO worth. These dogs deserve people who are willing and able to work with them. If its more than you bargained for, don't feel guilty; lesson learned.
It breaks my heart but we will be returning her. I wrote another post about it. She has severe hip dysplasia and it requires expensive surgery that we just can't afford. I just got off the phone with the shelter-I also told them that I think she would be better in a home without smaller pets or children. That was the hardest call I've ever had to make. We are not completely attached to her so it makes it a bit easier, but I do have a lump in my throat, thinking about having to bring her back there. It's weird that I feel a little bit of guilt too, even though we had no way of knowing this would happen. In a perfect world, she wouldn't need $7k in surgery, we could get a good trainer and all would be well, but it wasn't in the cards. I just hope that she can get the care she needs, and find a home that can afford that care (I dont' know if the shelter would be able to get her the surgery?). I just feel so bad for her.
I'm sorry you had to make this decision; I blame the shelter for not disclosing her condition before adopting her out to you (or anyone). The fact that the shelter personnel were not observant enough, or interested enough, to notice that something was wrong with her movement and have her x-rayed themselves makes me suspicious of them - in your place, I would not deal with them again.
But a word of advice for the future - veterinary care can be expensive. if you can't afford at least a few thousand for emergency veterinary care, and more for the future care (dogs get age-related problems, and the cost of veterinary care will go up with time) of the dog; with or without pet insurance, don't get a dog. You might get a dog that is perfectly healthy now, but in 8 years might need an operation to remove bladder stones, or be hurt by another dog or suffer another injury in 3 years, or turn out to have an unforeseen condition later, have some kind of viral infection at 10 when it is otherwise in good health (a friend of mine's dog had this, the owner spent about $2000, and the dog recovered and lived until nearly 16) - this won't definitely happen, but it is a possibility. Think about it before you get another dog.
Of course I considered vetinary care, but not $7k-$8k worth. If this happened 5 years down the road, we would certainly deal-but the fact that we've had her for a short amount of time & they did not disclose...she's going back.
Of course I considered vetinary care, but not $7k-$8k worth. If this happened 5 years down the road, we would certainly deal-but the fact that we've had her for a short amount of time & they did not disclose...she's going back.
It doesn't sound like you made this decision lightly. Its one thing to spend $7-8k on a dog who you have bonded with and is a member of your family. I understand that its a different scenario with a dog you have just met and sometimes logic comes into play. I am sad for this dog and the many others like her but unfortunately, we can't save them all.
If I were planning to add children to the family in the next few years, I would wait to get a dog. Too many people give up the dog when the baby comes along. You need a really tolerate dog to put up with a very young child as keeping them constantly separated is a real job.
The cost of vet care is through the roof now and the medical problems for dogs are much more prevalent then they used to be.
I would never get a 2nd dog that was larger than the dog I had at home.
So, we returned her yesterday. The man at the shelter was very understanding and even said he might adopt her. I hope she finds a home that is the right fit for her. I feel that we made the right decision
My Humane Society has faced a few expensive dogs over the years and we've often put up a special appeal on our website and FB page for help with funding and gotten donations to help with the cost. The Vet School at Virginia Tech has also agreed to a reduced fee on a couple of cases and so 8 grand becomes 5 and a couple of thousand in special donations made it possible to save one of those 8 thousand dollar dogs for much less or we would not have been able to do so since our annual income varies from around 30 to 40 thousand in good years.
Of course I considered vetinary care, but not $7k-$8k worth. If this happened 5 years down the road, we would certainly deal-but the fact that we've had her for a short amount of time & they did not disclose...she's going back.
My heart goes out to you. I know you said you aren't too attached but have a lump in your throat...makes sense. I had a lab years back with hip dysplasia but we were very fortunate. The vet said he would not recommend surgery on a dog under two years because there was a chance her bones would kind of grow into fitting the sockets. That's exactly what happened; we couldn't get over the change in x-rays.
I just had to put my shelter dog Moose to sleep last week (cancer). He was about a year when I adopted him - a lab mix - and we had 8 wonderful years together. But the first few months were really, really rough. He had resource guarding issues that I was able to fix fairly quickly. But he never got past his aggressiveness with many dogs & some people. I tried doggie daycare with obedience, focusing on socialization. It never really worked 100% but I still took him often; at least he got playtime with trusted staff when I was working long days. He was great with my other dog because she allowed him to be dominant over her, but he definitely gave me alpha status.
I wonder if the shelter could reach out to a rescue group to step in and try to help this dog. Here in the northeast, we are blessed with many rescue groups who put problem dogs thru "boot camp"....you would be amazed at the turnaround these dogs can make. Best of luck to you, you tried and that says a lot.
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