Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:00 pm Post subject: Losing the will to live in finding a new family member......
I am really starting to lose the will in trying to find a new family member through rescue. I have met so many dogs, all lovely in their own special ways but none right, today is the straw that broke the camels back. I have driven 5 hour round trip to meet a dog that on paper was perfect for us, and he attached my dog I have ended up stopping at the vets on the way home and spending £67 on antibiotics and pain relief as by the time I got home, all her eye was swollen I am seriously considering getting a puppy as finding a rescue dog that gets on with mine and doesn't have too many issues seems impossible.
My girlie is 9 so doesn't like dogs bouncing all over her. she wouldn't hurt a fly, but grumbles if they enter her personal dance space. She doesn't really do play, but is still super fit and so loves a good hour a day gallop over the fields. We have a 6 year old daughter so needs to be child friendly. We caravan so needs to be good in the car and OK to be left for a max of 3.5 hours per day while I pop out to work without destroying the kitchen or pooing and peeing everywhere. I think maybe a more submissive dog/bitch would maybe be better. I have always like the girlies but I have been told that I need to be careful as bitches can spat.
So far we had a foster yellow lab who tried to eat her and so we had to take her back. We fostered a lovely choc boy who couldn't quite keep up with us and refused to get in the caravan so he couldn't stay permanently but has now got a lovely new home.
Today was a 3 year old black male had lived with other bitches, cats and children and had been in the kennels with lots of other dogs and had been as nice as pie
We have fostered a couple of Many Tears pups and she has accepted them fine and been lovely with them but puppies are hard work and I sometimes wonder whether we have the time and effort to put into a pup (although if I had got a pup in the first place, we would have been past the hard parts by now )
And I still kick myself that I let my second foster go to a forever home and didn't keep her.
Sorry to be all depressive, I don't really know why I have blathered on about it, but feel better for offloading.
I am sorry you are struggling to find the right dog, but he/she is out there.
If you met this dog in a kennel environment then maybe the stress of everything was just to much, awful environments to meet new dogs in.
When your fosters came along I bet they were brought into YOUR house and not the other way around?
Why not go back to fostering, you never know, the next one might be your forever dog
____________ Natalie x
LAB LINK RESCUE Co ordinator and Forum Administrator for my sins
Jack, Molly & Maia, watched over by Tara Banana from the Bridge
I'm sorry, it is not a route I have gone down yet (well I did get Fern as a 7 month old and Grouse and her integrated fine from the get go but then Grouse is a soppy plonker!).
Maybe fostering again is the answer - so many people end up keeping them. Could you ask to foster in your own home a dog who is a little older i.e. not having to do the puppy thing?
I do hope you find one. Sorry I can't directly help but I know how you can feel at the end of a bad day and often things do look brighter in the morning, I hope this is the case and that around the next corner is the dog for you
We list dogs aged 7+ for many rescues across the UK and you will find all sorts of breeds and crosses. You can search under various categories on the right hand menu. Are you only looking for a Lab or would you look at other breeds/mixes too as there are so many dogs out there, I'm sure you'd find a suitable one
Many people on the forum have more than one bitch in their household and don`t seem to have any problems, males can fight just the same, I used to have two that had spats now and again, full on too.
You start your post by saying you think you`d be better off looking for a pup then saying one would be too much work, but you`ve fostered a couple from MTR that Sky accepted quite happily, you could try fostering again, no shame in being a failed fosterer, there are many on the forums
I really feel for you. I looked for "Charlie" for months before I found him. Slightly different I know, as I didn't have another dog to take into consideration, and although there were some other lovely rescue dogs, they just didn't fit, or I didn't connect However, then I saw Charlie and I knew he was meant to be mine Please try not to be disheartened, but I can imagine how you feel. The right one is out there somewhere. Big hugs x
Thanks guys for all your ideas and support. I think I am just a bit tired from all that motorway driving!
It is purely selfish reasons why I have erred on the side of caution regarding a pup, it was this time last year that I was putting all the hard work and effort into raising, training and socialising my soul mate, but he was taken from me in December. I have been offered a pup by the breeder that Finn came from. She was devastated when he passed away and has now had another litter and has offered me one.
And Many Tears have lots of pups in at the moment.
Or I could just leave it as Sky the only child. I just don't like it with only one dog, the house feels empty and I feel redundant. At 9, Sky looks at me as if go say "oh not the clicker again....."
No Marianne I am not going to Nibley, are you? I really would like to go but we have quite a lot on this weekend and I don't think we can fit it in. I think I know who you saw at the centre, she really looks like my girlie. I think it says she needs to go with males only. I quite liked the look of Tito, sad that he is back at the centre
Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:08 pm Post subject: Losing the will to live in finding a new family member......
Hi Skysky69
Have you seen Cocoa on the Many Tears website? She is a chocolate lab and being fostered in Wales (don't know where you are based?) I speak to the lady fostering her on a regular basis and I know they adore her and have even considered keeping her (but she is not allowed!) She has never had a bad word to about her.
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I have ended up stopping at the vets on the way home and spending £67 on antibiotics and pain relief as by the time I got home, all her eye was swollen 
However, then I saw Charlie and I knew he was meant to be mine 
Please try not to be disheartened, but I can imagine how you feel. The right one is out there somewhere. Big hugs x
