GEARHED

iTrader: (5)

Short story long - the neighbours across the street refuse to keep their yr old lab safe, since spring he's been crossing the now super busy road everyday to visit us. Kept offering to take him since he loves our dog (they get along great) and us too but excuse after excuse...until tonight. They finally caved and asked if we wanted him.
duh? He is here more than there! (I won't go into how he's been treated so far by that family, come over to see for yourself)

Problem: He's not trained yet. He wanders. We have enough chain link 11gauge to build a run but John will be taking care of military business and is taking next week off to get his unit together PLUS we have 20 trees being removed the 6th & 7th. This doesn't give us much time to put a fence in and this lab is weighing in at about 85lbs right now...he is going to need that outdoor run for me to handle both dogs alone.

Rocko is now so used to spending time here its getting dangerous - he just crosses the road when he wants (they don't pay attention) and we have to do this now or the worst alternative will happen very soon.

If anyone can help anytime just give me a call. We are setting this in the front by the driveway where we don't have to worry about trees being taken out, soft enough dirt to dig (will need to pour crete for posts), 20'x20'x5' is what we picked up years ago for Ubu but he didn't need it. Any day, any time, every little bit would be welcome help.

Thanks
Amy

206-753-6593

B-RAD2

Amy what all are you wanting from the dog?? Obedience,or just not to leave????as far as obedience thats easy it just takes time and working with him EVERYDAY. him leaving the property is where is gets a little tricky. but obedience is the key. how old is he??

Ackattack1

iTrader: (7)

Another idea that may work is an electric "underground" fence with the little collar that shocks them.

We have 2 labs and one is a little escape artist. We have a 6 foot cedar fence and he digs out, so we put rocks in the hole that weigh as much as him, and he still moved them. Now we have the electric fence in addition to the cedar fence, so now he can't get to the wood fence to dig out.

I figure the electric collar may hurt him once or twice until he learned, but it hurts a lot less than getting ran over.

Our other dog on the other hand could care less about getting out....but she's on Prozac too

B-RAD2

Ya the fence is a good thing!!! they will only try a few times to get out.

GEARHED

iTrader: (5)

The dog has become attached to us and our dog, we have already gotten him to respond to some training of which the current owners care nothing about. Ubu was a rescue from a very very similar situation which is why we want to make sure we can spend every minute not only as play time but training time as well. Rocko is a great dog, he just needs attention, training and a good home of which we offered to them if they found they could not do themselves (or "we know you aren't but we'll make it easy for you").

They were considering giving him up for adoption in April but the whole "we spent so much money on him so far" thing got in the way.
When the **** does equating money with a companion make sense?!
I hate dog owners like that.

Sorry, I could rant quite awhile on this because its just not been right for Rocko to live the way he has. We love him and know what it takes to give him the proper home he needs

They have tried the electric collar. Not with constant training though which does make a big difference. One thing about Labs is they are roamers by nature - we had them as hunting dogs growing up and my brother got a ticket once by Fish & Wildlife for Sam going out on her own off season bringing home a pheasant
It will take a combination of using an electric collar (which we have but will need to move the line once the trees are cut down and out) so the fencing for the next 4-6 months is a must. As for your fence: a good trick is to take some cheap rebar, cut into 16" length and drive them into the fence line dirt 8" apart. It stops a lab from digging out and is pretty inexpensive to do. Ubu had that problem when we got him 6 years ago and stopped digging in about 2 months, the only time he digs now is when we want him to dig out a root or something while landscaping. Gives him dig fun and us less pulling on a root

Rocko is so laid back he doesn't need prozac. He just doesn't have any supervision at present aside from the 8 year old who smacks him over the head repeatedly for chewing on the kids toys - yet Rocko has no toys of his own aside from the ones we've been now buying for him. We even bought him his own kiddy pool because he goes into the neighbours fountain. duh? so both dogs have their pools when we don't head for the lake.

We have grown so attached to Rocko and him to us this just makes sense. Its time we don't have RIGHT NOW and my suspicion is they are taking off the week for the 4th - who knows where that dog will end up if we don't make arangements immediately.

Thanks for the suggestions though, we have spent months considering all this and more knowing what it takes to be reposible guardians for four legged critters

B-RAD2

Are you going to be doing the training or send him somewhere??

LSxChevelle

iTrader: (4)

Send him to Brad for training...

1BAD95Z

You might have a Rottie when you get him back from Brad..

I'd help with the fence, but I'm stuck with the in-laws through the 4th I think...we've been having fun though

GEARHED

iTrader: (5)

We'll be taking some classes together just like we did with Ubu, there is a gal local who teaches classes for $40 total (about all we can afford right now). They already sent Rocko to be trained but if you don't do it yourself the dog has no idea what to expect. Just small things, "sit" he is getting better at though Ubu responds immediately so Rocko is picking it up a bit quicker and he now comes when we call if he strays a bit.

I got 4 holes dug out and put plastic planter containers in the ground today. It was weird because I had a ton of phone calls and people would ask "what are you doing?". "Digging a hole...get to the point already".
Hoping my son can come out and help dig all the holes then help me pour the crete and set poles by Friday.
And we are pressure washing the house and pavement because a neighbour has one for a week. Then put on the second coat of paint on the house...and keep trying to get the dog run done as well.
This is insane..........