Does anyone want to adopt a wee 2 years old doggie called Massie.

Massie is a lovely wee dog and loves anyone she knows and is familiar with, but as she was brought up by druggies/dealers for the her first 6 months, so she can get very scared, mostly of adult men.
She bit/nipped a child last year on the leg or arm I think and just a few days ago did the same to a grown man, nothing serious and no childs faces were harmed.

The problem is that she lives with my brother/fiancé/couple off kids 9 & 16 in what only can be called an open house with people coming and going all the time because they’re surrounded by family and friends who pop in all the time.

Massie really needs some training to help her get rid of the fear, so only really suitable for someone/couple/family who are prepared to put in the time and help her, unless you’re happy to muzzle her around people she is scared off.
Massie will let you know if she is scared of someone, so she is not a dog who will attack without warning, attack is the wrong word, she’ll just bark and growl from a safe distance.

I would take her in an instant even though she doesn’t like me, but I am just not able to look after a dog at the moment.
Friday is D-day for the vets for you know what, unless I can get someone who might be interested.

Nobody wants to see Massie put down, especially me because I see how loveable she is to everyone she knows, except me!
Pictures of Massie~

Have they been up to Balerno with her yet?

Whats in Balerno?
Dog homes have been contacted, but they wont take dogs that have bit.

shame you can’t post her down to Somerset 🙁

Any local dogs trusts have a FB page you can advertise on? Don’t have her put down.

Is it too late to seek the advice of a professional behaviourist? I could recommend one in Biggar – it would cost about £80 to call her out.

Looks like a Springer/Collie x – would be a lovely dog in the right home.

Jimmy to the forum. Calling jimmy.

SSPCA

I was in a similar situation over a year ago with my mother in laws dog. ended up taking it to PADS near Dunning. As far as I know it’s now found a new happy home.

Seems a shame that the wrong dog has gone to the wrong home and now is facing being put down, why the deadline why not find a way wound it until she finds a home?

We called a professional of 40 years and he basically said that as she had bit twice, that there was no hope/point!!
I personally think that is BS, what do you think?

scotroutes, my mum said she called someone and they said they wouldn’t take dogs that bit, I think she might have just called Edinburgh dog and cat home. So would that not be the rule for other shelters?

My brothers fiancé cant keep an eye on Massie all the time, and as I said lots of people are always zooming in and out the house and she just doesn’t want something worse to happen, so she really has to go, hopefully to a new owner.

Seems a shame that the wrong dog has gone to the wrong home and now is facing being put down, why the deadline why not find a way wound it until she finds a home?

She started off in the wrong home and my brother saved her from them, and she has been living with them for about a year and a half now, mostly without any issues other than what I mentioned above.
She really loves being at my brothers, but if this issue with her being scared and sometimes biting/nipping people cant be fixed, then she needs to go.

Just talked to my sister in-law and I seem to have given her some hope that something can be done, so Fridays appointment will be cancelled 🙂

Hi Lightman

I’m interested in getting a new dog, was going to wait till January to get a puppy, but this looks like a good opportunity to help a dog in need.

I’m a forestry surveyor in Aberdeenshire, so spend long days with my one working cocker spaniel out in the woods covering lots of ground. The dog loves it. If I were to take on Massie, I would obviously wait until I’ve trained her with a bit of recall and have developed some bond. But our dog is a very happy guy, keeps very active, has some discipline, and is very spoilt by my missus, and I’m pretty sure we can do the same for a newcomer

I clicked on your profile hoping to be able to send this as a private message, but either I’m being a bit blond or there isn’t a pm function. Email me your number if you folks are still keep on letting her go. gammat4495(at)hotmail(dot)com, as anything furhter should probably be done over the phone…

Cheers,

Luke

Tried dogpages????

One of our rescues came from there.

obelix’s offers sounds perfect for her.

If it doesnt happen for some reason them give me a shout. Just sent the OH a picture as shes on nights this week (vet).

TandemJeremy lives in Edinburgh. He was always the main contributor to any dog thread, so one assumes he loves dogs. It would probably be ok to just pop the dog into his flat then it’ll be like a birthday surprise when he gets home!

Taylorplayer, could you give me the contact info for the behaviourist, thank you?
Is she happy enough to travel? They’re about 35miles away.

It seems, as they do love her and everyone would really hate to see her go (even me), they’re going to see if a professional can help, but if not, Luke, I have told them about your offer which sounds absolutely perfect for wee Massie 🙂

Andy, I’ll keep you as a back up 🙂

Thank you everyone for your input, looks like Massie will be alive and happy whatever happens 🙂

Give her a call (not right now!);

http://www.dogbehaviourclinic.co.uk/

And if she asks where you heard of her, tell it was Bear’s “dad” 🙂

when i die i want to come back as one of obelix’s dogs 😀

I’d love to take Massie, but have young kids, I also couldn’t compete with Obelix’s offer! For a dog, that sounds like heaven- lots of exercise, doggy company and loving owners. Hope it works out OP, please let us know what happens. Scott

Doggy temporary fostering might be an option. Rescue centres should know folk.

I can see it getting very dusty in this thread

Hi lightman

No problem. Hope things work out by you guys there, but if needs be the offer is still open…

We called a professional of 40 years and he basically said that as she had bit twice, that there was no hope/point!!
I personally think that is BS, what do you think?

Hmm, you asked someone with 40 years experience what they think – and they gave you an answer…

Two options really, put her down or give her to Obelix – at least he knows what he is getting.

tbh We had this when my second son was born and the dog took an instant dislike. He nipped him once and then bit him. I took him straight to the Vet and had him put down (on his advice too).

The Dogs Trust never put healthy dogs down, and will attempt to rehabilitate and rehome their bitey inmates. They actually have a category for dogs that have shown occasional signs of aggression to humans (or have a specific trigger) – ‘amber’. In our experience they’re 100% honest about the dogs in their centres, and will only rehome them somewhere suitable.

When we were looking for a dog, we looked at a border collie called Robbie. Lovely dog, very calm, but apparently disliked having children in close proximity. His original owners had raised him from a pup, but apparently he’d always been a bit iffy around kids after being batted around by one when he was 9 months old, and they’d not taken any steps to correct the behaviour. Six years later, their 3 year old grandchild came to live with them, and climbed up onto ‘the dog’s chair’. Face biting ensued – cue one split lip requiring stitching, and one dog requiring rehoming.

Although we don’t have kids, we’ve got family who do, plus we live in a fairly kid-heavy area, so walking him would have been a bit of a tense experience. Poor Robbie – think he was rehomed with a suitable owner fairly quickly though.

With patience and training you can turn around a lot dogs – my in-laws acquired a deranged Yorkiepoo who had originally been kept in a terraced house and not exercised (presumably the original owners thought that just because he was small he’d be a lap dog, not taking into account the intelligence of poodles and the energy of terriers…). Because he was left alone, bored and not exercised, he turned destructive. Because he turned destructive, his owners kept him in a crate all day. Because he was in a crate and couldn’t entertain himself with destruction, he started barking. Because he was barking, they put a shock collar on him.

Eventually they handed him over to a rehoming centre, saying that they couldn’t cope with him. My in-laws ended up with a traumatised, very weird little dog that was edgy around people, would bark once then start spinning in a slightly disturbing manner, and would occasionally bite. He was really random – his attacks were completely unpredictable, no change in demeanour before he’d nip at your feet or legs. Over nearly two years he’s much improved – he no longer bites people, although he’s still very aloof with people who aren’t my in-laws (whom he’s very affectionate towards).

Hope Massie gets sorted!

Glad the dog looks like he’s going to get a new home rather than destroyed, it’s a shame he never settled in his current family and would have been a shame to have destroyed due to some expert claiming there was no hope. You’ve done the right thing to find him an appropriate home which with the kind offer Obelix sounds the right place to go.