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Anyone looking to adopt a dog
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 2005-03-30 12:18 PM |
Master  1914    Finally north of the Mason-Dixon Line |  Subject: Anyone looking to adopt a dogWanted 1 dog loving family! We have a barely 2 yo black male lab/mix (with what who knows). He's fixed and current on all shots. He's a great dog and loves people. Thats the problem, he loves them too much - rather he loves our son too much. Our son Thomas, has a severe speech problem and he is unable to vocalize to the dog what he wants and therefore just screams at him which the dog takes to mean "hey let's play" - which in turn ends up Cromwell (the dog) jumping on Thomas and unintentially hurting Thomas. Our daughter(5yo) has no problem directing him with commands and he does listen to little ones. Cromwell (that's the dog) loves to play and run - I did 3 mile runs with him and he was always wanting more, i'm sure he's up to longer runs. As anyone knows labs do take longer to mature (aka jumping), but once he gets to know people he is calm and loving. He is kennel trained, house broken, fixed, up on all shots (not due till december) and is a great dog. Our concern is that now that I'm pregnant, I won't be able to supervise my son and dog as closely as I do now. We love the dog and do not want to take him to a pound and risk him being put down - which happens all too ofter here in Houston - plus we got him from a pound in Kansas and he was soooo sick that I just can't do that to him again. We want a good and loving house for him. Anyone here in Texas looking for dog contact me. I'm willing to drive to San Antonio, Dallas even Brownsville (have family there) for you to adopt him. I will attempt to attach picture so you can see or yourself how good he is. Thanks, Cathleen |
| 2005-03-30 12:22 PM in reply to: #135751 |
Master 1914 Finally north of the Mason-Dixon Line | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog |
| 2005-03-30 12:23 PM in reply to: #135751 |
Master 1914 Finally north of the Mason-Dixon Line | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog Ok, file to large to attach will try a different route when hubby gets home with new digital camera. But hey if you email me I can forward you directly the picture so you can see him immediately. I'm at [email protected] Cathleen |
| 2005-03-30 12:45 PM in reply to: #135751 |
Pro 5153  Helena, MT | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog You might want to post an ad on petfinder.org or contact a local rescue. Many rescues will let you be involved in picking where your dog goes... especially if you keep the dog until it can be adopted out. http://www.txlabrescue.org/ Also, most dogs can be trained with hand signals as well. Maybe you can find a local trainer who can give you, your son and Cromwell lessons that will help Cromwell and your son communicate as well as Cromwell does with your daughter.... Edited by kimj81 2005-03-30 12:51 PM |
| 2005-03-30 12:48 PM in reply to: #135751 |
Pro 4206 Los Angeles, CA | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog You think if you took the dog to a class and he learned to only do things on command, your son's yelling wouldn't affect the dog then??? (because he's not saying the right commands). |
| 2005-03-30 1:53 PM in reply to: #135786 |
| Veteran 294 MO | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog I think the idea is that then Thomas wouldn't resort to yelling, because he could communicate with the dog through hand signals. If his yelling is involuntary (ie Tourette's or something similar) then that's probably not going to help; but if he's yelling because he's frustrated, then hand signals might be helpful. |
| 2005-03-30 3:59 PM in reply to: #135825 |
Master 1914 Finally north of the Mason-Dixon Line | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog We have had a trainer to the house and hand signals don't work... neither one seems to get it - Thomas just panicks and again yells. As for the rescue places, I have been trying for 9 months and noone repeat noone will call me back or email me back - I try almost every week. The link forwarded was one I reached out for help and no reply - only assumption is that since he's not a full breed the lab/rescue doesn't want to really help but who knows. We're really at our ropes end and with summer coming and the hot humid weather the dog has to be in more and I know more instances are just going to occur. Baby is coming end of August so i have the summer to watch over them but after that who knows what will happen. We hate having to find a new home for Cromwell, but we know this is best for both our son and the dog. As for Thomas, his issue is that of Apraxia, which is a neurological disorder - simply stated he's like a stroke victim in that the words can't get from his brain to his mouth - he's 4 and has the language of a 1 yr old... it's frustrating for him since other little people can't communicate with him so they walk away after trying to play with him - he just "talks" gibberish in reply to them and Thomas has learned to play by himself and not want to play with others... let's just say Thomas's lack of speech is frustrating for all but much more for him. He has learned to be by himself and along comes this dog that just wants to play and Thomas just wants him to go away - which escalates into Thomas yelling his gibberish and the dog thinks he's playing so he plays and that in turn scares Thomas so he covers himself with his arms and that only causes more play from the dog... see it's a cycle. I literally am unable to leave the room when they are in it together it can get that bad and really it's just a misunderstanding between the 2 of them - Thomss thinks "go away" and the dog based on Thomas's reaction thinks "hey he wants to play with me". Like I said before Cromwell is wonderful with our very vocal 5year old and has no problem understanding her commands. so, again any interested family please contact me. Cathleen Edited by houston-tri-mamma 2005-03-30 4:11 PM |
| 2005-03-30 4:49 PM in reply to: #135909 |
Pro 5153 Helena, MT | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog I can't believe the rescues are so unresponsive! What jerks! A good rescue, even if they only wanted pure-bred dogs, would at least refer you to some place that would accept Cromwell! I would really think that any rescue would welcome a well-cared for, well-adjusted dog because they are so much easier to adopt out than the typical neglected/abused dog that they deal with. Maybe they're just overloaded (but that still doesn't justify lack of response all together... that's just inexcusable). It's also a bummer that the hand signals don't work. Even as I was typing that, I was thinking that between a young dog and a young kid, there might not be enough focus and patience for it to work.... Man, poor Thomas. That's a rough thing to have to deal with. I know how you feel (a little) with having to watch them every second. I had a very aggressive dog once that fought with my roommate's dog (I didn't know she was aggressive when I got her... owner lied to get rid of her). It absolutely consumed my life and trying to keep them seperated was an exercise in futility. My roomie finally threw down the ultimatum... she was leaving or the dog was. Hard to find a new roomie in a bad rental market with a dog that bit everyone but me. Financially, I could not live alone so I had to get rid of the dog. Good luck finding Cromwell a happy home! |
| 2005-03-30 11:23 PM in reply to: #135909 |
| Veteran 294 MO | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog There are several no-kill shelters in my area that accept dogs regardless of breed. I adopted my wonderful, perfect puppy child from them a year and a half ago, after he had been there for over two years. They had a dog pass away recently who had been there for over NINE years. So as long as they consider a dog to be of sound temperament (which in this case just means non-violent), they'll keep him as long as is necessary to get him adopted. Have you looked into shelters like this? There are many in your area; if the rescue groups you've tried aren't responding, no-kill shelters would be a great place to try. I Googled "no-kill shelter houston TX" and came up with several dozen no-kill shelters. Here is one pretty extensive list: http://www.uexplore.com/directory/txnokill.htm And one shelter that looked particularly promising (they describe their intake policy, which few do) http://www.adifferentbreed.org/ If you really talk to all 40 or so of these shelters (I don't know if you're calling or e-mailing, but I find calling to be vastly more effective when contacting shelters), and you really can't come up with something in your area, then I will call my shelter and ask if they have room for your dog. If they do, I would be willing to drive halfway to Texas to pick him up if you would drive the other half of the way. We could meet in Little Rock. However, I'm almost certain that one of these places will be able to accept Cromwell for adoption. Good luck, and please keep me posted on your progress. Angela Edited by Angie 2005-03-30 11:28 PM |
| 2005-03-31 9:19 AM in reply to: #136067 |
Master 1914 Finally north of the Mason-Dixon Line | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog Angie, Thanks for the list. Only 2 on the list is actually in Houston - the rest are far anywhere from 3-7 hours from here and some were only for purebreds which Crom isn't. I called 1 this morning and left a amessage - that's what they all do leave message we'll call you back - but they never do so I'm not holding my breath that they return my call - I always email picture and call but they don't get back to us. Anyways, we will NOT take him to a shelter like I mentioned before. We got him from a shelter and he was so ill it took $1200 and 5 months to get his skin healthy and all the bugs out of him. We do not want him to go thru that again. Also, a few of the shelters I've found are only outdoor shelters and if you know Houston, it's just to darn hot to be outside - Crom can only last about 20 minutes before he looks like he's dying outside and needs to come in for the AC. The other thing about most shelters is that other then petfinder.com they only make animals available at Petco's - nothing against them - but larger animals and especially adults do get over looked by families who are looking for a puppy or small breed animal and well Crom is 70 pounds and big. We'll just keep trying and posting pictures at vet hospitals and hope that someone sees him and falls in love with him. |
| 2005-03-31 11:02 AM in reply to: #135751 |
Champion 5495 Whizzzzzlandia Silver member | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog Do you have a picture of him??? My husband and I have been talking about a second dog....but of course, we're in Illinois.... |
| 2005-03-31 11:21 AM in reply to: #135751 |
Champion 8766 Evergreen, Colorado | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog Give the shelters a chance. The no-kill shelter I adopted both my girls from is absolutely fabulous. EVERY dog there had a wagging tail and smiling face. And they aren't exclusive to Petco or anything. I just wandered in one Saturday and they were more than happy to introduce me to all the dogs. Both of my girls had been in the shelter about 8 months and were COMPLETELY healthy. I would go to the close-by shelters and take a look. You might be surprised. If I didn't already have two, I'd definitely take Cromwell off your hands. One of mine is a lab and the other is a lab mix. I love lab-type dogs :-) But with my lifestyle, two is already almost too many! |
| 2005-03-31 7:54 PM in reply to: #136192 |
| Veteran 294 MO | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog Cathleen, I got a couple of other ideas from looking at those shelters' websites -- a lot of them will let you post your dog's photo and description on their webpage while he's still living with you; and there's also an online service called Petfinder that a lot of shelters are affiliated with. They'll let you post an adoption notice and photo of him on their Petfinder site. That would get you a lot more exposure for Cromwell than you can get with just local posters, and you still have total control over who adopts your dog. You can post classified ads on Petfinder with adoption information if you don't go through a shelter, but I think the ads affiliated with shelters get a lot more attention. I can understand your aversion to shelters -- some of them are pretty miserable. But a lot of them are great! The shelter where we adopted Casey had large indoor/outdoor pens for each dog, the indoor portion was air-conditioned and heated, and the dogs could move freely between the two compartments. Each dog was walked 3 times a day by shelter volunteers, and the volunteers and employees played with and gave treats to all the dogs most days. They also had several large, fenced-in grassy areas where they would take the dogs in small groups to run around and play, and several large outdoor runs where the dogs would take turns staying for a few hours at a time. During the weekends, maye prospective adopters would come in and meet all the dogs, and pet them, and take them for walks. I visited Casey there three times a week for a couple of months before we were able to adopt him, and I was never concerned about his health or well-being while he was there. Of COURSE I understand that you would rather find a home for Cromwell than a shelter, but if August rolls around and you haven't found a family for him yet, please give some of those shelters a second look. And a 5-hour drive is pretty minimal when you consider that you're giving your beloved dog a chance to find a family who will love him -- that's essentially giving up one Saturday out of your life for this endeavor. Again, the best of luck to you and Cromwell! |
| 2005-04-03 8:31 PM in reply to: #135751 |
Master 1914 Finally north of the Mason-Dixon Line | Subject: RE: Anyone looking to adopt a dog Just wanted to move this back up to the top of the threads fro Monday morning.... we're still looking. He just spent this weekend with a neighbor dog and he loved having a friend - he'd be a great second dog! Thanks, cathleen |
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