Rehoming our beloved dog

Bingo the Westie is a very headstrong character. Very male and full of bristling life.

Slender, muscular, very healthy with a carefree outlook on life belying his 6yrs of age.

He loves humans, any human and he loves (contrary to the breed) young toddlers etc. Binners- remember your young one walking him round on his lead up and down your road?
He loves rough-play and he loves running around other small dogs in huge circles in the park.

Since the baby arrived he really hasn’t coped well. Hes become very needy, starting pee’ing in the house and pacing around the bedroom at night unable to settle. I’ll be honest we spoilt bingo rotten with attention before the baby came along. Not with cake or bad snacks but veg, lots of exercise, sat infront of the tv together and even cuddled up in bed.

We are struggling to cope with the lack of sleep and Bingo. Its stressing my partner out and we both love him but we can’t cope and he is stressed out with the situation. We could have easily rehomed him three weeks ago with a good rescue charity and we could of course have just dumped him into any old home or just sold him for some money.

We’ve waited for a trained ex-vet who specialises in this breed to comeback from holiday who will take him on, foster him, thoroughly retrain him and match him through personal experience to the best possible new home.

The last few weeks have been horrendous with so many conflicting emotions going through my head. The guilt, the hope, the fear. Today I received a missed call. The lady is back from holiday and ready for him.

Yes. I will regret and mourn his leaving the instant he leaves. However my partner has had to return to work and he is on his own during the day as well. He needs someone who will be with him ALOT. He loves human companionship.

Please. Talk to me. Tell me we are doing the right thing?

its a dog hora, build it a kennel and make it live outside! if it complains tell it to DTFU

We have a Westie (4 yesrs old – Chompie). They could be peas in a pod. You’ve just described him to a T.
Should you be unable to rehome him, we’d do it (subject to them getting on together).
I am however on a bit of an upswing at the moment so I could be talking giddy nonsense but once I’m commited to something and my daughter is aware of it (he’d become her pet), I stick to it.
Ps.Any previous angst fogotten.

Hes probably the most annoying dog that I have known and yet the biggest character 🙁

monksie, the only issue is two males in the house?

The other issue is he’d be too ‘close’. Would I have regrets and want him back? He needs to be far enough away from me and uncontactable?

Dog like master eh.

Bingo motoring down off the Pike (thanks SFB)

We could always comprehensively ignore you? 🙂
The Chompmiester doesn’t seem to care about boy or girl dogs, they’re all just dogs to get giddy with.
No Indian giving though. I don’t think I could cope with a 13 year old daughter’s broken heart.
Something to think about though if it comes to it. He’d be happy as a happy westie in our house though.
I’ve just seen your photo’s. They’re mint dogs aren’t they?

Have you gone from lots of attention to none? If so maybe you could spare him a bit of time so he gets used to his new position in the tribe?

I know a new baby is hard work like (been there) but be sure you have exhausted all possibilites before you let him go forever.

monksie, let me have a think. I had my headset on his retrain with a westie-specialist then a rehome as I was worried about my partner changing her mind.

No worries, no hassles, no rush.

No useful advice, but I sorry to hear of the problem you face 🙁

Before babyhora he was abit of a handful- insisted on sleeping in guests beds (unless they shut the door), always wanted to be outside in all weathers (including fireworks), gruff and never knew his place in a pack (he constantly challenged larger dogs).

Never bitten a human and you could rough him up and he loved it. A real affection dog. Such a character. You could strangle then cuddle him in equal measure.

This was fine before the baby came along. Now we are drained, exhausted with Zach. Keeling over almost.

No useful advice, but I sorry to hear of the problem you face

Its been a very very long 3 weeks. Once we made the decision it was sat there like a white elephant. Then bingo perks up and all is well for a couple of days and I think ‘maybe’ and then he paces the room, whines alot, keeps trying to jump up regardless of the situation you are in and starts pee’ing again. 🙁

There are better dog ‘owners’ than us out there and there is a better home and maybe it is abit selfish to worry and want to keep him with us in a ‘known-environment’ but why should he suffer an average life until he dies? Why not have that opportunity to live again without a screaming kid in the house???

ah! that’s a shame. He looks lovely too. I’m not mentioning this to my wife as she would make me take him…

I’d love to but I can’t give him the time I’m afraid.

Is there no way you could keep him?…

A similar thing happened to my sister and her husband when my sister became pregnant. The dog (welsh terrier called Taffy) was starting to act just as you describe above and was treated with the same amount of care as you describe above. they took the decision to re home him through the breeders club (I think) and although they were very upset at letting him go they were happy he was being re homed to someone who has experience with the breed and would give him the life he deserved. You’re definitely doing the right thing IMO if that helps.

Last I heard the owners had set up a website for the dogs…

Have you got any neighbours who would like walk him in the day?

And a ‘screaming kid’ is temporary – in a years time your child will probably be Bingos best friend.

And hopefully you don’t take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you as an owner are the problem rather than the dog. You can retrain him but you need to be firm and not give in at the first sign of soppy eyes!

IMO, as the saying goes, a ‘dog is for life…’

You took him on so it’s your responsibility to compromise your life, not just get rid as your situation (new baby) has changed and he no longer fits in. Sounds harsh but it’s not something I would consider. I’d keep at it and work out the problem.

If you do have to rehome I genuinely wish you the best of luck finding him a good home, and that it makes him happier. I hope his new owners have more foresight than you and can offer him a nice life for the rest of his days. Again, sorry for the lack of sympathy, but it’s your responsibility and you have created the situation, no one else.

Is there no way you could keep him?…

We’ve had this conversation for 9months.

being re homed to someone who has experience with the breed and would give him the life he deserved

This is what we feel.

but it sounds like you as an owner are the problem rather than the dog

My partner can’t cope. Shes keeling over. He needs an owner who wont cave into him. For instance he responds really well to stern and strict commands- very quickly and immediate. However I can’t talk to him like that all day long. As soon as you stop- hes onto you again.

Friends and family are gutted but all admit they couldn’t take him on for his ‘foibles’. Hes a 24/7 dog and needs someone who is firm and very strict with him.

He’ll recall off the lead immediately. Wait outside the front door for you when your taking him out. Sit and lay down like a shot and run with a bike off the lead.

We are too soft. The problem is with us- its too much on our plate though. We are ground down- can’t wait a year for Zach to calm down.

angeldust when we got him we didnt have plans to have children. 6yrs change things. Some dogs cope. Some don’t.

Apperently as soon as I said the reason why to the Westie place they said ‘say no more this is the main reason as westies struggle with very young children’.

This is terribly sad – surely you can make room and adjust as you are the ones with the mental ability to understand everything that is changing around you.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a brave decision to let him go but I know what he means to you from previous repeated posts on here about him (you talk about him almost as much as Surf-Mat does about his AWESOME BMW) so surely you can adapt, give him time, let him get used to his new position in the home?

It’s still your responsibility, your actions and your lack of foresight and ability to handle the situation.

You’ve clearly put one part of your life ahead of the dog. Deal with it. Accept that its a crappy thing to do and accept the guilt. Only you know if you are doing it for the right reasons and if it’s in the dogs best interest, or yours.

I hope once the dog has got over the inital trauma of being displaced, that he has a better life.

We will have him!

I keep looking at the photos – I wish I could take him….

Angeldust – get off his back, he is making a pretty hard decision and is clearly upset about it. What do you think you have to gain by being so aggressive with your replies.

angeldust – Member

IMO, as the saying goes, a ‘dog is for life…’

You took him on so it’s your responsibility to compromise your life, not just get rid as your situation (new baby) has changed and he no longer fits in. Sounds harsh but it’s not something I would consider. I’d keep at it and work out the problem.
So say hypothetically dog can’t handle child then bites child thats ok then?
I think Hora’s doing the right thing, even though he’s doesn’t want to have to make a choice.
angledust, what planet are you on?? Talk about santimonious. Jeez

You’ve clearly put one part of your life ahead of the dog. Deal with it. Accept that its a crappy thing to do and accept the guilt.

Blimey!, with that level of self-righteousness have you ever thought of joining the Catholic church?

Angeldust – I think you need to wring one out and get rid of some of that anger.

And, given your forum name, track 9 off that album sums you up…

Faith No More: Angel Dust
9. “Be Aggressive”

angeldust – Member
IMO, as the saying goes, a ‘dog is for life…’

You took him on so it’s your responsibility to compromise your life,

yet you have to realise there is a point at which the dog would be happier with another owner. and it sounds that this is’nt a ‘drop of the hat’ decision.

Gotta be said fella, your a braver man than I…
There’s no way I could get rid of either of our 2…

Good luck fella, and I hope the outcome is what you want..

put the kid up for adoption?

put the kid up for adoption?

LOL

Given the traumas he’s had, I wouldn’t be surprised if this has been considered.
8)

I did appologise, in my posts, about the lack of sympathy. However from here it looks like he is taking the ‘easy’ way out rather than face his responsibility. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it will be unbelievably hard to get rid of the dog, but it sounds like he would prefer that to doing the right thing and actually address the problem and keep him.

So, I guess the point of my posts is that he doesn’t deserve sympathy imo.

That’s a shame Mark. Could he go stay with family for a while, that way you could keep contact and maybe come back when things settle down at home? Or is that worse for the dog? My friend had to do the same thing with his lurcher, she just couldn’t handle not having all the attention any more. I know he had a hard time making that decision (they tried for 2 years to sort things out), so I know where you’re coming from.

Biting the Baby is of course a very different matter, and has not been mentioned or even suggested by the OP, so bringing it up is pretty pointless.

I guess the point is mr dust, that if the dog gets stressed enough and sees the baby as a source of that stress, then it may bite. Mind you don’t hurt yourself on the way down from your lofty perch.

But it hasn’t got to that stage yet. You are ignoring the fact that the OP has already said that he is unable/unwilling to do what is required to sort the situation.

Why not try that first before giving him away and looking for sympathy.

angeldust, at what point would you say a troubled dog would be happiest else where. or in your opinion is this never a possibility?

Don’t do it. Persevere and work it out. My first dog became too much for me after about a year so I reluctantly returned him to the breeder.

Two days later after a lot of tears I went and got him back and it was the best decision I made and I put a lot of work into training him

Angeldust – I don’t think, from the tone of the original post, he feels he is taking anything like an easy way out. He sounds really cut up at having to make this decision but has realised that, in his opinion, it is the best solution for all concerned.