Sat 17th Oct: Needing to let off steam

 I'm finding it hard to write anything due to feelings of sadness and anger, and I should really take the dogs out for a walk to calm down before posting this but ......

Not for the first time someone wants to surrender a dog, adopted as a puppy by a couple who at the time had no children.  Initially things went well and both puppy and adopters were happy, and there was initial email contact between them and Cactus, our trainer, whose services are freely available to all adopters.   Fast forward some years and there are now children, and out of the blue there's a surrender request due to the dog biting.  However AFCD have already been called to take the dog away, and only now is our help asked for.  

It's been years since Cactus last heard from the family, so we had no opportunity to offer solutions when problems first started, presumably when the first baby was born.  Intead the dog was sent away for "training", and I use this word loosely because what is taught at these places is fear.  Fear works initially, but what happens afterwards is inevitable and that is biting.  A dog has only one way to protect itself when it feels there's no other option, and that is by using its teeth.

My question is always the same, why come to ask for help now?  Why not as soon as there were signs of trouble?  If you adopt a dog when there are no children at home, there is always going to be adjustments on both sides, and sometimes issues arise.  That's often because the dog starts to be ignored, or is taken out less, and maybe gets into trouble for things that are perfectly natural like stealing toys or waking a sleeping baby.

Now it's too late and a previously perfectly fine dog will die in terror and alone.  The now ex-owners, as they have already sent the dog to its death at AFCD, are blaming me for being "judgemental" (that old chestnut), and I don't care about being called names or any of that, I care about the dog whose life has been destroyed because the request for help came far too late. 

Please don't do the same.  If you have problems, ask for help immediately.