Hi guys,
I'm really in need of your help and advise please.
We thought long and hard for a couple of months about adopting a Basset Hound. We have a 14 month old bitch already which we've had since 10 weeks old and we totally adore. she really is our baby!!
On Saturday we went to pick up Bertie. He is a lemon and white boy with lovely markings on his ears. He is between 3 and 5 years old but I recon nearer 5 than 3.
He had a permanent family for a year or two. They went off traveling and paid for him to be kenneled for a year. They never returned to pick him up at the end of the year. He must of then gone into a rescue centre. he got placed for a few months and then got handed into Basset Welfare last week as the dog became too dominant in the house and his new family could not cope any longer with him.
Cut a long story short but we've had him home since Saturday afternoon (its now Monday morning here) and he is sometimes lovely and wants to be stroked but he has 'turned' and gone for my boyfriend three times and drew blood on his thumb. the other two times Simon has moved away quick enough.
He is aggressive towards food and has the most vicious growl if you go hear him if he's guarding something or even just walk past him whilst he's resting.
he seems to be fine with me (as imp the food/treat giver and walker) but with simon my boyfriend he asks to be stroked and then suddenly turns on him.
Snoopy our puppy seems to give him a wide birth. if he walks into one room she leaves it. She refused to have treats until Bertie has had one first. He seems to have totally taken control of her.
and to be honest. im afraid to walk into a room with him in it incase he turns on me.
i feel like we've failed if we had him back to the rescue centre where he'll go back into a kennel but then we cant live in our own home in fear that we might upset him and could then hurt us or snoopy.
i already know that we cant have him but i guess im just writing on here to ask for some advice if any of you have any? is there something we can do to stop this behavior or because he's attacked simon should he be sent back or even put to sleep?
im sorry if this angers anyone out there but our hearts are in the right place and we really were trying to do a good thing in giving a dog a loving home but i dont think we can cope with him. we have lots of children that usually visit us but that's definitely a no no whilst Bertie is around.
Thanks for reading this if you have got this far....
Clare
I'm really in need of your help and advise please.
We thought long and hard for a couple of months about adopting a Basset Hound. We have a 14 month old bitch already which we've had since 10 weeks old and we totally adore. she really is our baby!!
On Saturday we went to pick up Bertie. He is a lemon and white boy with lovely markings on his ears. He is between 3 and 5 years old but I recon nearer 5 than 3.
He had a permanent family for a year or two. They went off traveling and paid for him to be kenneled for a year. They never returned to pick him up at the end of the year. He must of then gone into a rescue centre. he got placed for a few months and then got handed into Basset Welfare last week as the dog became too dominant in the house and his new family could not cope any longer with him.
Cut a long story short but we've had him home since Saturday afternoon (its now Monday morning here) and he is sometimes lovely and wants to be stroked but he has 'turned' and gone for my boyfriend three times and drew blood on his thumb. the other two times Simon has moved away quick enough.
He is aggressive towards food and has the most vicious growl if you go hear him if he's guarding something or even just walk past him whilst he's resting.
he seems to be fine with me (as imp the food/treat giver and walker) but with simon my boyfriend he asks to be stroked and then suddenly turns on him.
Snoopy our puppy seems to give him a wide birth. if he walks into one room she leaves it. She refused to have treats until Bertie has had one first. He seems to have totally taken control of her.
and to be honest. im afraid to walk into a room with him in it incase he turns on me.
i feel like we've failed if we had him back to the rescue centre where he'll go back into a kennel but then we cant live in our own home in fear that we might upset him and could then hurt us or snoopy.
i already know that we cant have him but i guess im just writing on here to ask for some advice if any of you have any? is there something we can do to stop this behavior or because he's attacked simon should he be sent back or even put to sleep?
im sorry if this angers anyone out there but our hearts are in the right place and we really were trying to do a good thing in giving a dog a loving home but i dont think we can cope with him. we have lots of children that usually visit us but that's definitely a no no whilst Bertie is around.
Thanks for reading this if you have got this far....
Clare