avivahg posts today about our conundrum regarding Holly, our new dog. I don’t know what to do either.
I’ll be honest, I went along with getting her because of avivahg‘s insistance. She was heartbroken over the loss of Canute, her old greyhound, and wanted a new one to take her place. I kind of looked forward to having another dog around, but the dog had always been her thing. I’m not a dog person at all, and although I had formed a rare bond with Canute, that’s not the norm for me. At best dogs are occasionally entertaining nuisances to me.
So now we have this new dog. She’s a nice dog. We don’t really have any complaints about her behaviour. She isn’t peeing in the house anymore. She’s pretty spastic, and dumb as a post, but I’ve come to expect that of greyhounds. She seems to like us a lot. Really, she’s a good dog.
I just don’t like her. And I don’t see any potential for comeing to love her like I loved Canute – I think that was a very special, one-time thing. I don’t like walking her late at night, and picking up after her, and I don’t like the expense of owning her; but all that was true with Canute as well. What’s different is that for me she offers no redeeming value to offset those factors. There’s nothing I can point to and say “this is why I can’t live with her” – I just don’t like her. But that’s hardly reason to get rid of an animal, is it?
Actually, it’s plenty of reason. The dog derserves to be loved by someone. How would you like spending your life with someone who didn’t love you? But if you are going to get rid of it, do it responsibly. Find someone who wants it who will love it. There are plenty of ways to put a dog up for adoption. If you need some ideas, let me know. Just don’t take it to a shelter and drop it off.
We’re kinda obliged to give her back to the rescue we got her from if we can’t, for any reason, keep her.
well, if the rescue has her in a situation where she’s at a house being raised as a house dog, that’s not a bad option. If however she’s in a kennel and largely ignored, I would find another good home for her.
sounds like a typical rebound relationship to me. and Holly’s none the wiser.
poor pooch.
Re: der m
once again, someone elegantly summarises what it took me a paragraph to say ;). avdi please see my response in her entry, if you think its ‘too much’ I will edit it.
from what i have read
from the both of u, it seems like u haven’t had her too long yet. i have found it can take animals, especially rescue animals a good while to warm up and come out of their shells. the fact that u recently lost a beloved pet makes it harder as well. u subconsciously put standards and expectations on the new pet that they will never live up to, not being the old one. definatly give it some more time. have some real one on one time. obediance training (home or professional) just playing with the pup, all sorts of things, well let u and the dog get to know each other better and help u guys figure out if u mesh. if u don’t, it really is in the pup’s best interest to find her another family.
Re: from what i have read
I’m with this. I don’t think you should keep the dog if you really don’t like her, but hell, relationships take time.
Another thing to consider: I could be wrong, but from what I’ve gathered reading about Holly and some about Canute, Canute was a lot older. Large breed dogs, especially hounds, take a while to mature. You wouldn’t judge a kid in her twenties by comparing her to a wise old dame.
I’d say give her a few months to half a year if you can.