Tigers Thread - spam, 9/11
John was at work today and out jumped from in front of his car a full grown American Akita. John, who loves dogs and has noticed a serious issue with out of control dogs in his area, carries two leads in his kit. He managed to catch the dog and take it back to the owners who were lounging about in their front garden. (edited to remove comments about his job)
They asked him "do you want him?" he explained we couldn't because we haven't got a house to look after him, nor do we have a crate (they don't either) but that if they gave us till the 1st of august we'd foster him till we could find a suitable home for them. John left to finish work, on his way home he noticed the dog out in the street again and offered to walk him for them so he'd be too tired to escape. He did this and then, on a whim, decided (about 6pm) to go back and take some photos of the dog for the Friends Of Akitas Trust rescue site so we could find a forever home ASAP. Well, guess who was out walking in the street again? The owners, who hadn't noticed he'd gone missing, laughed about it. John called me and asked for advice, I don't want this dog to get run over. He is a perfect looking, male (neutered), well socialised akita. He has his papers, he's not aggressive with other people, small children and he will be handled whilst he's eating. The only problem is he has no obediance training whatsoever, but aside from a little bit of pulling on the lead there are no serious problems.
So we brought him home. I've gone to the neighbours to explain that any barking is due to a dog we've fostered shortly because of an accident in the family. They've all been very sympathetic.
He's beautiful. Honestly. We just can't have him here. In the morning we're going to have to take him back to that awful, uncaring family and hope he survives this dance with the cars until the 1st. It's upsetting. I'm hoping to spend some of my savings on a crate big enough to hold him at their house until then and then we'll take both dog and crate with us. We're about to take him on a walk and then, I shall return, with pictures.
Can anyone offer us any advice (aside from STOP GETTING TO ATTACHED) for fostering a dog? We don't want to stress him out being in a new home etc etc. We need to do right by this dog, he deserves it
oh, he also has a bloodshot eye due to a dog fight (he was out in the street, apparently, and a dog barked at him and lunged for him, so he fought back. Neither dog was hurt. However I don't know how much truth their is to this because obviously the owners probably weren't there. However we've seen no aggression so far and he has encountered dogs on leash with my fiance this afternoon.)
They asked him "do you want him?" he explained we couldn't because we haven't got a house to look after him, nor do we have a crate (they don't either) but that if they gave us till the 1st of august we'd foster him till we could find a suitable home for them. John left to finish work, on his way home he noticed the dog out in the street again and offered to walk him for them so he'd be too tired to escape. He did this and then, on a whim, decided (about 6pm) to go back and take some photos of the dog for the Friends Of Akitas Trust rescue site so we could find a forever home ASAP. Well, guess who was out walking in the street again? The owners, who hadn't noticed he'd gone missing, laughed about it. John called me and asked for advice, I don't want this dog to get run over. He is a perfect looking, male (neutered), well socialised akita. He has his papers, he's not aggressive with other people, small children and he will be handled whilst he's eating. The only problem is he has no obediance training whatsoever, but aside from a little bit of pulling on the lead there are no serious problems.
So we brought him home. I've gone to the neighbours to explain that any barking is due to a dog we've fostered shortly because of an accident in the family. They've all been very sympathetic.
He's beautiful. Honestly. We just can't have him here. In the morning we're going to have to take him back to that awful, uncaring family and hope he survives this dance with the cars until the 1st. It's upsetting. I'm hoping to spend some of my savings on a crate big enough to hold him at their house until then and then we'll take both dog and crate with us. We're about to take him on a walk and then, I shall return, with pictures.
Can anyone offer us any advice (aside from STOP GETTING TO ATTACHED) for fostering a dog? We don't want to stress him out being in a new home etc etc. We need to do right by this dog, he deserves it
oh, he also has a bloodshot eye due to a dog fight (he was out in the street, apparently, and a dog barked at him and lunged for him, so he fought back. Neither dog was hurt. However I don't know how much truth their is to this because obviously the owners probably weren't there. However we've seen no aggression so far and he has encountered dogs on leash with my fiance this afternoon.)
Comments
I don't want to sound rude, but if the owners are too lazy to buy a crate, who's to say that they would even use the crate or even keep it in working condition during the short time they'll have it. I've dealt with far too many people that when you give them something you think they can use or would benefit them, and they just toss it aside or break it. I'd wait until the akita is in your care before buying major equipment for him.
I just don't think these people will care for him properly.
My plan for tomorrow is to wake at 5, when no-one will be leaving / coming to the apartments, and walk him for 45 minutes and then we have a guy from the rescue coming at 3pm to take photos. Unfortunately they have no space until october time, this isn't a problem for us after the 1st of august but until then...
I am waiting on return emails from friends with dogs though, to see if they can help us out. We're very determined, I'm sure I'll find something. I refuse to let this dog get killed by a car.
Maybe you can call dog boarding facilities and explain the situation and see if they will give you free/major discounts for boarding or daycare?!?!?!?
Calia, John says they're garden is unfenced and that he lives in the garden as opposed to the house. But also the last time he went in to see about fostering the dog (and then taking it home) he said they left their front door open and the dog escaped again.
he's also in a choke chain collar so the first thing we'll be doing in the morning is buying a new one. They didn't even have a lead. Photos in about 10 mins once I've walked him to the shop for some food.
Halfway between the two the shitty lead the owners gave us snapped off, John shouted Tigers name and I dropped infront of him to block him, I had my arms out around him and John grabbed the scruff of his neck and his collar. We were both pretty shook up but we survived, so it's ok. The guy was blabbing on about how his dog would rip our dog to pieces, which is probably true as they are the ultimate fighting breed but I don't stand that guys chances against me and John in retalition. Grrr.
Anyway, aside from that guy we had a really nice, polite walk. He doesn't pull too often, is a bit jumpy at loud engines and sometimes at extractor fans on buildings but he was very well behaved. We walked him to our friends house and then followed her to walk to the pub and pick up her boyfriend, we figured it'd be a good way to gauge how well he did with a fair few people at once. We invited Emily and her boyfriend close first and when he was ok had another few people. At the most he had 6 strangers around him and whilst he wouldn't sit for very long he didn't snap or jump at all, he loved it. We're very impressed.
I don't want to let him go
I feel, also, like he is ever so slightly overweight. John doesn't agree, from these rather average photos what do you guys think?
(I do apologise about the lack of skill behind the camera, he did not want to sit still. Tomorrow I'll do what I can when we take him for a walk or when we have more time with him. I'll even go as far as to edit them, too)
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/36035646@N07/3744478736/]
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/36035646@N07/3744470702/in/photostream/}
I'll upload the rest in the morning but the boys are settling into bed and I'm suddenly lonely out here! Thanks for your patience, there are a handful more on my flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/36035646@N07/3744487400/ ) if you fancy.
where in the midlands / England are you? My inlaws are there and we will be in the Birmingham area the 31st, we can ask them for you.
I also have to agree with Beth /Calia, just an FYI, per our trainer, people have being "letting their dogs loose" due to the bad economy...they don't want to "give up" the dog and have people talk about them / fear of having them killed at the shelter...so they rather have them "escape / get lost" so it sounds better / dog might be found by someone like you--don't buy the crate or anything for that matter for the owners, my gut is they can't afford him anymore.
I hadn't thought about them not being able to afford him anymore, that makes much more sense. I was so confused as to why someone would let a guy like him go when he has no obvious problems!
We're meeting someone from the Friends Of Akitas Trust today who will put him straight up on the website for us this afternoon, but they haven't got space for him in their shelter. There's a bit of a waiting list, too. Today we're going to look at his papers, if he does indeed have any, and get in touch with his breeder too. They usually want them back rather than going into shelter.
If all else fails, I have friends over near Nottingham who love dogs. I think they recently moved into a dog friendly apartment, so I could drop a line and see if they might be able to help.
I've offered him the owners chicken, no interest. I've cooked chicken, no interest. I gave him a slice of turkey, no interest (Though I don't blame him, my sandwhich was also not worth bothering with.). Boiled him up some rice, no interest. He's drinking his water fine and he doesn't appear lethargic apart from the nap we just had, he's woken fine and is ignoring commands as he has done all the time over the past 24 hours.
I think I may just be panicking but I guess thats what you're all here for
This is a big change for Tiger, all these new people and places can get a little overwhelming at times, even if he doesn't show it. Some people I know who have brought home an adult dog hadn't seen the dog eat (or eat very little) for a few days.
Did you find out what kind of dog food the ex-owners were giving him? Maybe a taste of that would spark his appetite a little. Or you can try making it more interesting the way you give him the food. Hide the food someplace and try to get him to find it, or if you have a plastic roundish container (something similar to a pickle jar) you can melt a hole into it and put some kibble in. Rolling toys around to get the kibble out is one way I get my guys to eat during times they don't want to (I think doing all this effort makes the kibble seem more special).
That bowing pic is the cutest, and congrats on getting in contact with the FOA
Calia, they only ever feed him ready cooked chicken from Asda, according to John. I dont want to change his diet too much but I'm going to try adding some rice, both you and akiraleshiba are of course right, it's a lot to take in for him and thats probably why he's not eating. I'm sure when he's hungry he'll eat. Thanks for the advice
Have you thought about also boarding him for a week at a pet hotel or at the vet? It's usually alot cheaper through his vet.
Would be really cool to meet Tiger though when we're over! He does looks like a good dog! You're apparently 30 min away by Lecister or however that's spelt.
I did talk to a boarding facility in Worcs but they're not able to offer us a discount and it was way out of our price range. I'm over the moon, we're taking him to the rescue guy in about an hour but John really doesn't want to let him go, we're going to put him on the page and if a better home comes along then we'll take it as a sign and rescue another guy when we're better prepared. I think it'll break Johns heart.
I am eternally grateful that you've gone to so much trouble to try and help us and Tiger out, and I am definitely keen to meet up with you guys when you're in the UK
in other news he ate some food, I set it out and left it 15 mins. Went to take it away and he realised we weren't playing no games so he sat whilst I held the plate and gobbled it all up. I think his food was always just out for him and so he just picked and choosed when he ate it. He's a-learning.
This'll be the end of this blog for a few days so I'd like to thank everyone for their help, I hope I wasn't too annoying of a first time step-mom! I look forward to carrying on this blog when we're in our house!
That's great news! I'll msg you when we're there...would love to meet Tiger!!
I love this last one, we didn't have any toys so I grabbed an old tea towel and played some catch games, cept as soon as John tried so I could take a photo he just kind of watched it fall onto his face. Made me smile.
He's spent the day in the woods with Johns friend, a rhodesian ridgeback and a lurcher . He played well if not a little boisterously apparently. It's something I've noticed when I played with him, it's like he doesn't realise how strong he is. Can you teach bite inhibition to a 2 y/old? The stopping and ignoring technique?