Is a DS Mix Right For Us (and vice versa?)

[goodbyelizajane]

Greetings from upstate New York, USA.

My husband and I are considering adopting a two year-old DS mix (mixed with what, I don't know; she has quite a bit of tan and cream in her coat). She is a rescue, found tied to a fence and abandoned just a few weeks ago, and is currently being fostered by a colleague of my husband's, whose wife works for the ASPCA.

We live in a small house in the country (Adirondacks - so the wilderness, really), and have three cats. Our cats are all young(ish), and I think would adapt well to the right dog. They are currently exclusively indoor cats, but this summer we will be erecting a cat fence around the yard, so there will be room for all our animals to run and (hopefully!) be safe from predators when the weather is amenable - though not endlessly; our land only comprises a little more than a tenth of an acre.

I would be the dog's primary caregiver, as my husband works in Manhattan during the week, coming home at weekends. My job is part-time, so I will have considerable time to spend with her, and in our area there is no shortage of dirt roads, hiking trails, streams and lakes for her to enjoy. She would, however, inevitably be alone when I am at work, usually 2 days/week. The winters are very cold and snowy here, and I would not expect even the heartiest dog to live through them outdoors. We have a downstairs guest bedroom that could accommodate a crate if necessary, and of course would build a doghouse in the yard so that she could enjoy the warm weather at her leisure while being out of the rain.

Thus far, she has proven a very gentle and amiable dog with her foster carers. We are urgently looking into the matter of cat-testing. If she doesn't get on well with cats, it's not going to work.

Any thoughts? We have been looking for a dog for some time now, and this one (her name is Cleo) has come across our path - but of course that doesn't mean it's a good match.

Any advice appreciated.

Eliza

[racingiron1]

It's a really difficult question to answer and there are plenty here more qualified than me to do so, but I'll give it a go...
First, are you really dealing with DS mix here? It's becoming common for folks to see a brindle pattern and immediately assign the DS label. There are MANY other breeds that come in brindle and are more common to find in this country. There's a thread on here somewhere that lists a bunch of the possible candidates. If you have good pictures we can give you opinions, but know that they'll be worth what you pay for them!

Behavior is a much more reliable gauge to determine if there's DS in there. In fact, current behavior will probably answer most of your questions. If it is indeed partly DS, cat cohabitation might be a challenge. Some here have made it work, but it depends greatly on the particular dog and the effort you're willing/able to put into it. Speaking of effort, how much time do you WANT to spend with the dog? DS need a job to do (lots of mental AND physical exercise) and she will be looking for you to provide direction. If you can't/won't, you'll regret it. If you can, your reward will be a wonderful companion of amazing intelligence--just know it'll be a BIG commitment.

Now, if it's not DS, or if the mix is such that the normal DS traits are sufficiently watered down, the above may not apply to this particular dog. That's why I say current behavior will be your best guide. I commend you for considering the rescue of a dog as well as doing some research before jumping in with all four paws!

[goodbyelizajane]

Thanks for your response. The rescue center made the call on her breed, so I'm going by their word. I can't quite figure out how to upload a pic here, though I can give you a link with a photo:

http://www.petharbor.com/pet.asp?uaid=NWYK.A1027887

That's a very limited view; I have more photos if I could figure out how to attach them.

No matter what dog we wind up with, but especially with any sort of working breed, we will commit a lot of time. If we both worked full-time away from home, we wouldn't adopt a dog at all, and in fact we've waited nearly a decade to do so for the circumstances to be right. Dogs take work; there's just no two ways about it, and we want to live with a well-behaved, well-adjusted dog whose life with us is well-suited to her nature. Our closest neighbour has an Australian Blue Heeler and she's a handful - lovely, good-natured dog, and very protective, but with a battery that just won't quit. We're expecting something like her levels of energy with a DS/mix, if that's what happens.

[Raven]

What's your experience with dogs? (Training, which breeds....)

You seem to have a good setup for a dog who requires a LOT of attention, every day, but DSs typically have high prey drives. Like Eric said, a few folks on here have made it work with cats but it took concentrated effort.

Just a thought: if you got the dog, and it has a strong protection drive, I would think that your husband might need to spend a bit of time at home before the dog recognizes your place as their new home, lest he comes home and the dog says: Hey! Who the hell are you just waltzing in here like you own the place? Or maybe I'm over-thinking your scenario. Perhaps someone else on here has had a situation similar enough to yours to offer thoughts. So much depends on the dog you're talking about, but a DS, once they know what's their house, their vehicles, their people, they don't take lightly to anyone outside their family coming too near.

[goodbyelizajane]

Raven: I last had a dog when I was a teenager, though I grew up with them - all sorts (every one a rescue; I grew up on a rural road where people from the nearby city tend to drop animals off, so we would take them in or otherwise re-home them with neighbors). Our last was a beagle. My training experience is nil, so I'll have to take advice on that, get to know the dog and proceed accordingly.

You've got the scenario exactly right, and thank you for pointing that out. My husband will probably have to take a chunk out of his summer holiday if/when we adopt Cleo or any other adult dog. My schedule is much more flexible so I was already planning on it, but you're right: there's no particular reason why it should seem clear to Cleo that my husband is a family member rather than a stranger. And she's got to be traumatized, being tied up and left for dead in the cold, then moving to a foster home where she is hopefully beginning to feel safe enough to trust, and then (possibly) another home. I would expect a considerable adjustment period for any creature who had endured such a thing, poor lass. My husband would do it in a heartbeat, but the best he could probably do work-wise is two weeks - do you think that would be a sufficient adjustment time, if our focus was totally on her?

We have discussed adopting a puppy at length - a rescue, of course, and normally my preference would be for an adult animal, but for the cat issue. In that regard, my preference doesn't seem to make any difference, as cats just find me. A dog of course is a different matter.

Thank you!

[johninny]

i think a day off for your husband would be quite sufficient to get the ball rolling in terms of Cleo knowing that it is his hiouse. besides it sounds like he might be the one to bring her home from nyc.[??]

Cleo looks older than 2 years to me.

she sounds like she does not need much basic training, so training - other than behavior toward cats - could be at your leisure. re the cats: it depends as much on the specific cats as it does the dog. [ i do not know why everyone thinks it all depends on the dog. some cats are very dog-aggressive.]

i am guessing Cleo could be a spectacular gem. it does give me pause that you may intend her as more an outside dog. this dog will want to be with her people - and that often means inside. i would think - pending cat relations - that she will manage being in the house on her own just fine.

i hope you get her -- and without relegating her to outdoor solitude. i think she will be easier to have and a greater joy than one might expect.

good luck with her.

[Stacy_R]

Just a thought: if you got the dog, and it has a strong protection drive, I would think that your husband might need to spend a bit of time at home before the dog recognizes your place as their new home, lest he comes home and the dog says: Hey! Who the hell are you just waltzing in here like you own the place?

Just something to think about in regards to Sharon's scenario:

Tyson has been with us for 2 years...since he was a puppy. He knows his home and his people. He even knows my step-son who comes over very rarely (though his first instinct is "Back off, bud...you aren't supposed to be here!!" until I put him in a sit-stay for a moment). Due to the fact that I had an itty-bitty foster puppy for two weeks, my husband chose to sleep in the guest room so that he wouldn't be woken up several times a night for me to take the puppy out to potty (WIMP!, I say!! LOL). Tyson came upstairs with me one night (morning, actually...3 am) and hopped up on the bed and we went back to sleep. When my husband came in to the bedroom to get ready for work, Tyson was caught off-guard and went in to full protection mode. My husband had to instantly freeze or he would have been in serious trouble. Needless to say, no coffee was needed for either of us that morning....we were both WIDE AWAKE after that.

Just something to consider with these guys.

[cordeliandemon]

agree with whats been said about making sure the dog knows your husband isnt an intruder if you get her(though from the shelters info she seems like a sweetheart)
demon is only 6 months old and i had him in my mums room just chilling out last night, we could hear her footsteps coming up the stairs and demon dropped his chew to focus. luckily the bedroom door was locked because the second the doorknob twisted he flew off the bed twards it with a snarl... he was chill again after i opened myself, but i can only imagine if someone unfamiliar waltzed in unannounced 0_0 (he sees my mum almost every other day, so im also surprised he didnt recognize her footsteps like i did)

fingers crossed cleo is cat friendly

[goodbyelizajane]

Thanks all!

To johninny - Cleo (or whatever dog we get) will be able to stay wherever she likes, indoors or out. I just kind of assumed that she would prefer to be outdoors a lot in the good weather, but if not, that's fine!

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Hmmmm the white on the muzzle can be misleading - my friend's mal is 3 and has a "milk mustache" and started showing white I think around 1.5-2 years? Cleo doesn't immediately look DS but more pics would be mucho helpful. You'll probably have to get them on your computer (via emailing yourself or messaging yourself), and resizing them to where they're under I think it's 150 KB. There's a few free programs, depending on your platform, and if you're on a mac you can do it in Preview under the Tools menu, select "Adjust Size". When on here if you hit "post reply" or "full editor & preview" there is a menu below the section where you write, there's a tab called "attachments" you can hit and that's where you upload.

In terms of adjusting, it'll take her 3 weeks + to adapt, more like 4-6 weeks I would imagine. Not saying that that entire time you both must be her constant companion, but that her true nature may not come out until then. So, first few weeks you spend with her, as long as you make sure everything is happy, good experience with you both (talking, pets, treats, play time, toy time, whatever) things should be okay, and I would suggest little to no obedience (house manners and life lessons not included, I'm talking about practicing sits and downs) for the first week or so until you guys get an initial read on each other and then slowly introduce OB as fun stuff.

As far as protection... My guy STILL, to this day, 15 months of living with me and almost daily exposure to my family, will still defend my house if my brother or mother will come over unexpectedly. Only difference is he'll sniff the door or I'll hold him while they open the door and the second he sees who it is, he's like, "oh yeah, you're cool. I was barking at that other person." (facepalm) He can identify people by voice or smell, or close proximity, so I would imagine so could Cleo. Practicing certain scenarios would probably also help, rather than trusting her to just "know" as the end result could be cowering terrified, terrified biting, or just aggression bite.

Do you know more about her personality? How she's doing at the fosters? And PS - LOVE the Adirondacks. Absolutely stunning around fall and spring time. Jealous!

[Raven]

Storytime!

When I first adopted Thor, he was the typical aloof-to-strangers DS--me included. People could come in the house without notice and it made no difference one way or the other. My husband and I weren't yet his people. We were just people he didn't know in a place he didn't know.

Fast-forward a tad, once he knew this was his home, we were his people.

Without notice to me or Thor, the husband came out of the backroom dressed from head-to-toe in a Halloween costume. Before I knew what was happening, the husband was flying behind the door as Thor whooshed like a bullet down the hall in full pursuit of the intruder. He sniffed under the door, got his father's scent, all was good. You would think lesson learned, but you'd be wrong.

The next week, because the husband didn't learn from the first experience, again doesn't give me or Thor notice and again suddenly appears in a head-to-toe costume--a different one borrowed from a friend that reeked like his dogs. The husband didn't have a door this time to fly behind. Let's just say he couldn't use his words fast enough so Thor could I.D. his voice.



The following Halloween, Thor was fully present while his father assembled a costume and put it on.

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

HAH that story made me cry a little from laughing so hard.