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The working is a big issue for them - I work full time but my dog always came to work with me. This instantly chucks us into the 'not ideal' box.
We need something that gets on with other dogs (rest of family have dogs), won't try and kill children!, is friendly to people (can't have it snapping at people at work) and won't try and kill horses (we have horses!) and likes to travel in cars. Just a dog that can muck in with life. Seems we are asking too much.
@the-muffin-man that was more or less our requirements as well (minus the horses) and I thought we had slim to no hope. Pointers need a lot of running once they are fully grown but tick those boxes, so might be worth considering.
Cheers! I'll give them an email in the morning - my brain in frazzled now after spending the last two hours searching through rescue centre websites. 🙂
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Gorgeous. my friends just adopted a very similar looking dog from Portugal. He's super nervous too and sits down against their legs. They got excited the other day as he wagged his for the 1st time.
Here's our rescue Ivy, she's about 3 we think.
we've had her for a year now (!) she's a romanian rescue, wasn't sure what flavour until quite recently when we stumbled upon a kokoni dog page, so she's not part fox.
for the first 3 months she went for short walks but pretty much slept. She'd get really excited to see us, which was nice and doesn't bother about other dogs at all. headstrong and independent.
the following 6 months would see her come to her own a bit more. she would approach us for walks, or going outside, or just for fuss. The breakthrough was when we heard a squeaking noise coming from downstairs. She'd started to play with her squeaky toys by herself, no prompting, and didn't stop when we found her either. pretty comfortable with us and a very happy dog. From then her character just developed. She's a wonderful dog, great around other dogs, great around people, but does get spooked by some things. sliding chair legs across a floor was the first we discovered, and very quiet bikes she gets a bit freaked by.
Her recall is non existant, but she does return to treats, or when shes finished sniffing everything so will return if motivated. We tend to just keep her on the lead when out, though she's not a runner I'd rather her not wander in front of a car.
We were looking for a dog, as we missed the hole left by our last, and it seemed like an OK time to get something else. Just couldn't stomach buying from a breeder. I rather the money went to rescue organisations. Ivy came with her pet passport, and all vaccinations up to date. well worth it 🙂
Could I just plug The Cinnamon Trust here for anyone not ready to have their own dog or just those that want to do a good thing.
You can get involved in a number of ways - take a dog for a walk for someone local to you who can't so they can keep their companion. You can foster a pet whilst the owner is in hospital so it doesn't end up in a rescue centre. Or you can full on adapt. I know folk who have adopted through this and regularly (or they did before covid) take the pet (cat or dog) to see their former elderly owner in their care home and describe it as a truly humbling experience. Can you imagine how much of a reassurance it must be for an elderly person who has to go into a home to know their companion is being well cared for.
The added benefit of adopting/fostering through CT is that they cover the vet costs for the lifetime of the animal. So you can take on an elderly pet, doing a good thing for the animal and the previous owner without massive potential financial impact.
Also one to thing about for your elderly relative if you know you won't be able to step in and take care of their pet when the time comes. Funds are tight so there is always a waiting list but it's worth a look.
We got Bara in July last year (we'd been looking since late 2019) - she's just turned 2.
Our experience was much as others have said - when we first got her she was properly nervous of everything, she didn't even bark. Her recall was amazing. We got dead cocky.
Now however 7 months in & her confidence has grown massively as she's settled in & if we let her off lead anywhere other than a wide open beach then she is off through the hedges & not seen until she wants to come back. We are slowly working on this.
She's found her voice & loves nothing more than barking at any delivery people who rock up.
She also has massive separation anxiety which again we are working on.
Wouldn't change her for the world tho.
Hope your pup gives you many years of happiness.
SNAP! although this one is bit faded after 11 years. Good luck! Ours has been a fantastic dog but only started behaving c a year ago.