[mjsalinas]

I found a dog to adopt. His name is Jesafur but we are calling him Jessie. They say he's a husky/black lab mix. We went to visit him and took our beagle to meet him and the kids to play with him. We have had him a week and a half. Since then he doesn't leave my side. Wherever I go there he follows. He doesn't like the kids reaching out to him when he's laying down. No one can approach me (not even the kids) when my back is turned and I don't acknowledge as he will let out a little growl. When I work he lays around waiting for me to come home so we can play. One night I worked overnights and he was waiting on my bed, when my husband told him to get down and tried to shoo him off jessie growled at him and tried to snap at my husband. Well jessie spent the night in his crate for that one. I'm beginning to think he is more of a husky/shepherd mix or a shepherd/lab mix. Either way he could definitely have shepherd in him. I tried to convert a picture to post and wasn't having any luck as I really don't know what I'm doing. I wanted to get everyone's opinion on what they thought he was. I do know he has a picture on petfinder.com under dogs that have been adopted at Bellowood in Martin, Michigan. It is under the name Jesafur. He is 3-4 yrs. Old now. Do you think I will be capable of adjusting his behavior at this point. We can't even let my 14yr. Old's friends in right now as he is unaccepting of it.

mjsalinas

[labman]

I was not able to find his picture. He may not be a wise choice for you. How much support is Pet Finders going to give you in retraining him? I know they manage to place many dogs, but don't know how carefully they evaluate the dogs and homes or support you after the adoption. At 3-4 years old, his personality is mature and will be difficult to change. Pinch the web between his toes. It hurts. It is OK for him to pull away or whine, but he shouldn't growl, snap, or show his teeth. If he does, he may be too aggressive for your family. I hate to see you put a lot of time and love into him, and still eventually somebody gets bit. There is never enough homes for all the nice dogs. I am not sure it is a good idea to try to retrain what maybe a poor candidate for your household. Huskies can be aggressive and tend to be suspicious of strangers. Some other dog may a better choice for your family.

If you keep him, he must go into a good obedience program. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/. You may want to check 4-H if it isn't too late in the year. Even many urban areas have 4-H. For info look in your phone book under government listings for extension or cooperative extension offices. Ask specifically about a dog or canine club. He must learn all the members of the family out rank him and he must accept outsiders they accept.

Lilfrye frequently suggests them, and may be more familiar with Pet finders than I am. She may know more about how much support they can give.

I am not happy giving this answer. Ordinarily I go out of my way to encourage adoption and support people that adopt dogs. I am afraid this may not be a good fit.

[fredg]

Hi,
Just to add a little from the great answer before mine.
Our daughter's family adopted a beautiful Norwegian Elkhound (already had one, blackish color). This one was the Grayish color. She was great.; until the baby arrived. The snapping and growling at the baby was not to be tolerated, and even the training she received didn't help in this case. The other Elkhound is as gentle and kind as she can be. After 8 yrs now, my grandson is still protected by the first Elkhound.
They had to find a new home for the Grayish Elkhound, as she could not accept having another family member in the home; just too jealous.
I do hope something can be worked out, but if not, I am sure you can find a new home for the dog. I'll bet it's beautiful. I do wish you and your family the best.

[lilfyre]

Okay first off keep in mind I am not a vet, I do rescue animals and run a shelter out of my home.

A dog that follows you around all the time as you say he is doing more than likely suffers from separation anxiety .

As he is guarding you from your children and husband and what you have said, it is safe to say that he is a dominant dog. If you feel he is safe have your husband and children spend more time with him. Let them do the walking, feeding, grooming and play time. This will allow the dog to become comfortable with every one in the home. If you continue to allow him to spend all of his time with you he will continue to repeat this behavior. You will need to work on the dominancy issues as this could create a problem in the future. As Labman has posted obedience courses work wonders, and for you I think it is a must.

As for the bed, being on the bed is a privilege. He should not be allowed up there unless he is asked up. I keep all doors closed in my home. I have a rescued pit-bull from a shelter. We had a lot of problems with her when we first got her, such as personal boundaries, jumping on your lap, getting on the furniture with out being asked, mooching at the table, herding our cats out of the rooms that she was in because she wanted the humans all to herself.

Our dog was older when we got her and it took about a year before she completely fell into the family routine. I would like to point out if the dog is not working you can legally take him back. Miss piggy attended many classes to learn how to be a model citizen and will continue to attend classes to maintain her progress.

As for not letting your children's friend in the home, I can not help you there. Our Miss Piggy is Leary of new people in our home and will growl at them, I generally use my mean voice & direct eye contact as I am the alpha female in my home, and tell her NO, if she continues to growl I will stomp my foot on the floor and repeat the whole eyes thing and say NO! Again, if in the event she continues, I repeat the whole thing over again and I will place her in her crate. This way she knows what she has done and she can watch the goings on in the home from afar. I have only had to crate her one time like this. Generally she growls and with in five minutes she is rolling around at the people's feet. Out in public she is every ones dog, and feels the need to greet every one, and loves to go shopping at any store that she is allowed in.

With all of this said you need to be in charge, you and your family have to be dominant over your new dog. Obedience courses will help you greatly also please read Aggression Due to Dominance, Body Language: A Clue He May Be Anxious
and Adopting from an Animal Shelter. You can continue to research in the site, you should find it most helpful. Good luck and remember if you do not think he is going to work out most shelters have a trial period. Good luck, Donna

[lilfyre]

Sorry to post twice, but has the dog been temper tested, and was it stated that it was a good family dog? Look at your adoption contract, or call the shelter where you adopted him from, see if they can direct you to the behaviorists they used to test your dog, as they can also direct you to a good obedience course in your area.

I think labman is right and it is not a good match, after reading his post and your.

[mjsalinas]

I took jessie to the vet today. I would like people's opinion on what the vet had to say. When we went in jessie sniffed at animals and people, even let strange people pet him without ever growling or showing aggression. This seems to mainly be a home problem. Vet listened to him with stethoscope (jessie was trying to sniff it but did not growl) but when it came to teeth and checking hip bones that was the end of his patience. Jessie growled and tried to avoid him but did not ever snap. No muzzle ever needed, Yes!

The vet said he was middle-aged, a husky mix, but with what else he could not tell and we will probably never know. He seemed to be completely healthy from the look over and had some advice. He wants me to socialize jessie with lots and lots of people. He wants to socialize him completely and then have people constantly petting everywhere. And I mean everywhere. The vet said I should do it as jessie seems to have really bonded to me but I should encourage him to play and interact with others on a constant basis. He wants strangers to be able to walk up to him and pet him anywhere. He said obedience class for him would be excellent again. Also that jessie seems to think he has to guard me and that's bad. Jessie has to learn I don't need any guarding. The vet thinks jessie could be a great dog as he is not aggressive off our property only on. He also warned that being a larger dog if we can't stop his behavior someone could end up hurt. I fully agree. I am willing to do what it takes to retrain jessie. The vet also warned that right now jessie doesn't know what he is supposed to do or what his role is and that is what we have to teach him. He wants jessie on a good adult maintenance food to avoid future possible health issues like purina. He said soup for the soul brand is OK if we don't mind paying the higher price but that it is higher in fat which is what makes their hair puppy soft (and it does, I know from a couple of dogs) but he doesn't want jessie putting on any more weight. (jessie is now 73 lbs.). If they get enough exercise to run it off then it would be fine.

Give me your suggestions and opinions. I already plan on taking jessie to kalamazoo kennel club which has many classes.

mjsalinas

[mjsalinas]

Oh yes I forgot. This evening I took him to my work and he met four people there. He did great with the first three (all females) sniffed, wagged tail, and even let them pet him up and down. The fourth (male human) moved to fast and first and jessie started barking. I gave him a couple of minutes and then walked back to the male this time jessie did OK. Not as good as with the females though. Jessie seemed to be wary. I guess this is a clue that his problem is mostly guarding home and not everywhere.

mjsalinas

[tiny rue]

Jesafur probably isint use to all the people around her .
My dog follows my dad everywhere there's nothing wrong with that she's telling you that you're her friend and she will always be there for you. You say about the kids trying to pet jesafur and he growls but this may sound a little bit strange but if my dad goes to touch or cat the dog growls and goes for the cat .Its normal for dogs to do this . You will probably find that your dog is unsecure and she's probably scared of being left or let down again . Post back and let me know how your dog is getting on in a couple of days thatnks
Tiny Rue

[fredg]

Hi,
No breed of dog is bad. As I have heard before, it's not the pet that needs training in many cases, it's the owner! And, anyone else in the family who will be around him.
You have to be able to handle the dog, be the boss, be the leader of the "pack", as well as other members of the family. Having only one leader for the dog won't work very well, if there are other members who don't do the same as you. You can be the "pack leader", but if other family members aren't, he will dominate those.
Dogs must know who is the leader. If they think they are, then they do as they please. The Vet showed leadership, without being nervous, and the dog knew it. He knew the Vet was boss.
With persistence, this could take a couple of months. The classes will help you understand, can "train you", and then you can pass along what you have learned to the rest of the family.
I do wish you the very best.

[labman]

Getting into a good obedience class should help. Most of the kennel clubs have a good program, but not all. The older the dog, the more difficult it is to change behavior. It is well know that getting a puppy out around strangers before it is 12 weeks old makes for a dog that is comfortable around and accepting of strangers. Failing to do so will reinforce any genetic susceptibility toward distrust of strangers.

Some shelters have more resources and do more testing. I would like to see you try Lilfyre's suggestions. Many good dogs end up in the shelter because of the great lack of reliable information on dogs. On the other hand, it can be very difficult to correct some of the past problems. I don't curry favor here telling people what they want to hear. I do hope you find the help you need with him. As Lilyfrye said, it was a bad fit. It would be heart breaking to give him up now, even if safest. I think you would have been better off with a different dog. Now that you have him, if you get the real help you need, it can still work out.

You might see if a Husky rescue would help you too. Rescues dogs are dogs that lost their home, but were taken into a foster home to be retrained as necessary and placed in the right home for them. You may find a rescue near you starting at http://www.akc.org/breeds/rescue.cfm The people at rescues, like Lilfrye, have experience doing exactly what you need to do. They know and love their chosen breed and may be willing to work with you.

Does your vet just happen to sell the Chicken Soup for the Soul chow? If the vet has some large, peer reviewed studies supporting the idea it is better than other chows, I would like the reference. A JAVMA article perhaps? As far as I know, the only comparative tests of different chows I would trust have been done by the service dogs schools. I don't know that their results have been published, but I do know that many of them have settled on middle ground chows such as Pro Plan, Iams, Eukanuba, etc. With it costing as much as a nice car to train a replacement dog, it would be foolish to skimp on chow. I keep asking for some real data to back up the claims for the expensive chows both here and on other forums, and never get any.

[mjsalinas]

Wish I could help with the food, but the vet is not a huge fan of it and no he doesn't sell it. He just said it was OK. The vet's actual recommendation was for an adult maintanence food and he recommended purina for that. If I ever find any real data I will make sure I pass it on to you. Well I am going to go research and see who's somewhat local that can help. Thanks.

[labman]

Maybe I misunderstood your post and over reacted. Sorry. If you weren't aware before, there is a lot of strong feeling about what to feed dogs. Much of comes from people selling something, clouding there credibility. I use a chart copied from a old Pro Plan bag, not because I trust Purina, but because it is a good illustration of what is in my dog bible, The Puppy Raising Manual. I received a new loose leaf edition, my third since 1991, when we picked up Nita last November. Being loose leaf, they can quickly add any of the new ideas they are constantly evaluating. I don't want to be a part of an institution that has learned nothing in the last 20 years.

They used to feed the regular Purina and their dogs seemed to do fine on it. One big factor in the switch to Pro Plan is the ease of cleaning up the smaller, firmer stools. Very important for the visually impaired and those in wheel chairs.

I never lived in Missouri, but I want to see what is behind opinions.

[baby_b07]

I found a dog to adopt. His name is Jesafur but we are calling him Jessie. They say he's a husky/black lab mix. We went to visit him and took our beagle to meet him and the kids to play with him. We have had him a week and a half. Since then he doesn't leave my side. Wherever I go there he follows. He doesn't like the kids reaching out to him when he's laying down. No one can approach me (not even the kids) when my back is turned and I don't acknowledge as he will let out a little growl. When i work he lays around waiting for me to come home so we can play. one night I worked overnights and he was waiting on my bed, when my husband told him to get down and tried to shoo him off jessie growled at him and tried to snap at my husband. Well jessie spent the night in his crate for that one. I'm beginning to think he is more of a husky/shepherd mix or a shepherd/lab mix. Either way he could definitely have shepherd in him. I tried to convert a picture to post and wasn't having any luck as I really don't know what i'm doing. I wanted to get everyone's opinion on what they thought he was. I do know he has a picture on petfinder.com under dogs that have been adopted at Bellowood in Martin, Michigan. It is under the name Jesafur. He is 3-4 yrs. old now. Do you think I will be capable of adjusting his behavior at this point. We can't even let my 14yr. old's friends in right now as he is unaccepting of it.

mjsalinas

I ave a dog like that he's a border collie/ lab mix and he follows my dad around everywhere he stays by the door and doesn't move but he's never gone to attack anyone so I think that the dog has definitely got shepard in it my old dog was also like that and we got rid of him for it