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. . . there was a really nice dog up for adoption but she was kind of ugly, but come look. We ended up taking her. She was rambunctious for sure, but turned out to be a fabulous walker (she's never once pulled on her leash), and she has the sweetest disposition of any of the 6 dogs I've ever owned. I can't believe my luck, and that's what it is, LUCK. She ended up weighing about 50 lbs, not very tall. She is super strong, but easy to control. It's perplexing to look at her and figure out what she is so I did have her breed tested and I was surprised. Her top 4 breeds are: Boxer, American Pit Bull, Labrador Retriever, and Mountain Cur. I had thought she was a Cur by the pictures I've seen online. I would have never figured Boxer. Her body has some pit bull tendencies but it's not overt.
According to my current vet, HER favorite breed has become anything with a pit bull mix. Not pure pit bull, but a mix such as the one I got. She said in her experience, they are turning out to be the best family dogs. Very sweet, cuddly, but also fun. I would have to agree there. Had I known she had pit bull in her, I probably would have shied away due to the stigma, but glad I didn't.
As for huskies; beautiful, smart dogs but too much for me and I think you can have a lot of behavior issues with the breed if you don't manage them strongly.
Good comments about the pit bull mixes. You've put a finger dead on the problem for me, when talking about pit bull types online. They have a lot of traits to be great pets: medium to low maintenance (exercise, activity, grooming), a strong bond to people, friendliness, all those good things. It makes it hard to talk about, because some of them have the potential for the bad side to come out: aggression. I've met a couple that I avoided getting to close to, but most of the ones I've met were just great family pets. Being a mix probably helps, since that tends to tone down the instinct level a little.
It’s just an anecdote, but my wife and I took in an older dog when we first moved into our first place. She was a great little dog but died a few months later due to health complications. My childhood dog was an outstandingly docile and chill dog who would self sustain for days and would never be a problem. So my frame of reference was bad when we took in a stray to replace the dog we took in. He was probably one at the time and had outright behavior issues when I went to get him. He growled and barked at me in the car, bit me when I put him in the crate and screamed the whole drive home.
When I got him home I let him out of the crate and he stood on the other side of the room, snarling at me. Never having dealt with a dog like this, my first reaction was to raise my voice at him aggressively. He instantly backed down and became very friendly. Problem solved right?
No. Because of my frame of reference for dogs, we thought we could keep him in our enclosed porch during the day while we were away. The amount of carpet destroyed, furniture torn up, and damage to that room he did in one day was incredible. My family told us to take him to the shelter but I had that guilt you’re discussing. Instead we got him a metal crate to keep him in while we were away and that worked (for the most part. He still bent metal bars and destroyed anything he could reach). He hated strangers and other animals and despite his size (25lbs) he’d never back down from a fight.
Fast forward to now (6-7 years later) and it’s fun to look back at because he’s old and struggling with his health these days but he’s been such a project and he’s bonded so heavily with us that I’m glad we kept him. He was a crash course in raising a dog and I’m sure we screwed some of it up but he’s a great dog now. It took us a long time to get him to where he is but he’s a been great these last 3-4 years. He still has some of his quirks. He gets separation anxiety if he’s alone for more than 10 hours but he free roams the house and yard and isn’t destructive. He is still leery of strangers but warms up. Same with other dogs.
wheelsup, I know it's torture but try to stop beating yourself up! You did the right thing and it sounds like you started to attach to the dog very quickly which is part of the problem. I wrote my story upthread (similar situation to you) and even though I'm almost a year away from it and I've got a dog that has been a perfect fit, it still bothers me that I returned that dog. I won't even go into what it did to me, physically at the time, but I am just so angry with myself over it.
I think others have pointed out that when you go looking again, you may have to just adjust your requirements.
When I adopted my previous dog, I was in my very late 30s, had two young kids, very active, etc. The "hound" I got was perfect but she was VERY strong and I had a tough time walking her even then. She lived to be 18 years old and her "senior" years" coincided with my very own start of aging (I'm 55 now). After she passed and I gave it a little time, we started the search. What I found during that search was that at 55 I wasn't nearly as confident handling a strong/big dog as I used to be (I previously owned a shepherd mix also). Hounds can be very strong and persistent in their walking. I think I was just so missing my last dog that I focused on another hound. When I brought the puppy home (6 months) I was taken aback by the strength. I may have felt very much the way your wife did if my husband happened to be leaving for a few days. Based on the dog I had for 18 years, I guess I just forgot about the rough acclimation period of a new dog.
I finally decided to stop looking at hounds, but then a lot of the shelters have pit bull mixes and I was just SO against that. Finally one day, when I was at a PetCo, I was looking at a litter of 8 week old beagles and seriously considering that (beagles are cute puppies, are they not?). I told the volunteer that I really wanted a dog but I just didn't think I could handle an 8 week old puppy (or I didn't want to handle an 8 week old puppy). She pointed me over to another dog, in a crate, across the store that was being ignored. She was approximately 4-5 months old, lord only knew WHAT she was (kind of looked like a Shiba Inu at that point), and was very calm, snoozing on her back, and letting small children poke and prod her. There was nothing about her that "called" to me because she wasn't ever the kind of dog I thought I wanted, appearance-wise. I called my husband up and said that there was a really nice dog up for adoption but she was kind of ugly, but come look. We ended up taking her. She was rambunctious for sure, but turned out to be a fabulous walker (she's never once pulled on her leash), and she has the sweetest disposition of any of the 6 dogs I've ever owned. I can't believe my luck, and that's what it is, LUCK. She ended up weighing about 50 lbs, not very tall. She is super strong, but easy to control. It's perplexing to look at her and figure out what she is so I did have her breed tested and I was surprised. Her top 4 breeds are: Boxer, American Pit Bull, Labrador Retriever, and Mountain Cur. I had thought she was a Cur by the pictures I've seen online. I would have never figured Boxer. Her body has some pit bull tendencies but it's not overt.
According to my current vet, HER favorite breed has become anything with a pit bull mix. Not pure pit bull, but a mix such as the one I got. She said in her experience, they are turning out to be the best family dogs. Very sweet, cuddly, but also fun. I would have to agree there. Had I known she had pit bull in her, I probably would have shied away due to the stigma, but glad I didn't.
As for huskies; beautiful, smart dogs but too much for me and I think you can have a lot of behavior issues with the breed if you don't manage them strongly.
Thanks for the thoughts. I'm starting to come around on a Pit mix. But it would have to be very mixy...mutts always make the best dogs though. Hands down. In my area however almost all shelter dogs are pit bull maybe mixed with a little something else. I just don't like the look of them not to mention the behavioral stigma.
You are not horrible people, you actually did good by the dog by returning her so quickly, she wasn't a right fit with you guys but she will be a right fit for someone's house. I think the dog's strength is very challenging and you could hurt yourselves or even the dog if you are not able to control the pulling and lunging.
The shelters like to talk up the animals because they don't have a lot of space and they want to find homes for all the furry beings under their care, so they will paint a rosy picture but not really go into detail about possible problems.
My sister adopted a cat that had obvious mental issues at play - the shelter didn't really go into this but said she was "shy" is all. They brought her home and she didn't leave the bathroom sink cabinet for 5 days, they finally had to call someone from the shelter to get her out. It's been about seven years now, and she is the lady of the house and doing well, she plays (sometimes too hard with nips and scratching lol) but she did have a real bad "episode" a couple of years ago when she went berserk for some reason and chased my sister and brother-in-law into the bathroom and she was angry, howling and scratching at the door. After an hour, she went upstairs and they snuck out. They think a raccoon scent or something set her off, there has been no repeat of that. She is a cat though and not a large strong dog.
Update: dog was returned again after eight days. No additional info on site.
For those saying we should settle for a small dog because we are old and weak...we are 38.
Sounds like that dog needs an owner experienced in dealing with similar dogs. This is confirmation that you did the right thing.
The dog we returned, as described in my previous post, was immediately pegged by the trainer (ran the obedience classes) as “very dominant.” Ditto when her assistant trainer handled the dog, probably to see how much of the difficulty was us the owners and how much was the dog’s temperament. We actually knew someone in the same classes with her new dog. This person said ours reminded her a lot of the wolfdog she had previously had. She said she had trained with him for two hrs every day, for many months, and almost gave up on him. She said she had to maintain that upperhand 100% of the time and would not do it again.
I think if that had not been our first dog, we would have done better, but it still would not have been a great match. We were thrilled that the next dog, and the one we got a year later, both were totally compatible with us. They still weren’t “easy”—highly independent and prey-driven to the max—but somehow it all worked out. The only “kills” they ever got were when our vacation dogsitter, who seemed to have reflexes made of cold molasses, didn’t act quickly enough to save a couple bird and mouse lives.
It saddens me as well. I hope a rescue group will get this dog, foster her, and spend some quality time training her before offering her up for adoption. A few weeks of training could make a world of difference for this girl and give her a bright future.
It saddens me as well. I hope a rescue group will get this dog, foster her, and spend some quality time training her before offering her up for adoption. A few weeks of training could make a world of difference for this girl and give her a bright future.
Agree 100%
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