i'm posting on behalf of a friend who is expecting a baby in 6 months. she has a 10 yr old mongrol dog inherited from her mum. this is the post she sent to another message board.

afternoon guys!

so...my doggy is a little shyte!

he's always been a pain in the ass but lately he's become unbearable. he gets minimum of an hour walk in the morning then another 20mins/half hour at night.

he's absolutely destroying my house when i go out though! we have tried locking him in a room on his own...he broke the lock! we muzzle him cos he howls...he's learnt how to get it off...he p*sses and sh*ts on my bathroom floor...yesterday he even charmingly did it in some of my clothes!!! he rips apart the rubbish bins, pushes the tv over(he's broken a cpl by doing that) tries knocking the computer and laptop over...there's so many other things too.

being pregnant i'm worried about the safety of the baby and it's stuff

so what do you guys think, get rid of him or keep trying with him?? i have no idea whats right for us and him so opinions would be good

I think we would need to know how long she has had him.  Was this the behaviour he displayed in his previous home, if not what is different in her current home?

How long is the dog left alone?

The behaviour sounds like extreme separation anxiety.

Has she taken the dog on following the death of her mother? How long has she had him? The dog sounds very anxious and distressed at its change of circumstances, poor soul. How long is he left alone for? Is he used to being left alone?

these are the other issues she has................

have had him for years,he was my moms before i took him so he must be about 10.

he used to try and destroy her place but she'd leave him in the garden and he'll howl the street down.

no change in routine, we moved back in january but he's had it better since then! he was never walked before we moved(wasn't my responsibility then) but is walked every day since so i'd think he'd be better behaved!
he can't be trusted off the lead to run unfortunately, he attacks other dogs and barks/growls at children...if i try to run him on a lead he'll yank me over

He sounds to have many, many, issues, and all are down to his lack of training as a pup.

The first bit of advice I will give is to buy the dog a crate to stop him destroying the house, if he is safely in his crate he can do no damage to himself or the home, bringing up a dog with issues like this is all about containment, when your friend is out for no longer than 2-4 hours he can be crated. When your friend is in, he is behind a dog gate in a safe area if not being supervised. That way he can not disrupt the house in any way.

For his other issues, we can all help with them, I would suggest that you ask your friend to join the site and go through his problems one by one we can advise her on them all, but it would be better for her to join and take all the advice from everyone.

Also if she does not use the language she used on the other site, and please tell her that no dog is a little S... only untrained. :-)

I am going to be pretty blunt here and give my honest opinion. This dog has separation anxiety issues that are longstanding, and have never been effectively dealt with. This is a dog that is going to need a LOT of help, a LOT of remedial work. I agree with carrington that we could help this girl BUT I am not really sure that a heavily pregnant person is going to have the time or energy to do this, and I am pretty sure that a new mum will not have the time or energy to devote to this poor dog. It seems like a really miserable life for the dog. I think this dog needs to be rehomed with an experienced person who can be relied upon to put the work in, and give this dog a happier life. As he is known to bark and growl at children, I think it is not appropriate to keep him with a new baby.

>BUT I am not really sure that a heavily pregnant person is going to have the time or energy to do this,

To be fair, according to the original post she's only 3 months pregnant at the moment (expecting in 6 months) so will barely be showing. Plenty of time to work with the dog if she wants to.

> Plenty of time to work with the dog if she wants to.

Totally agree. While I was pegnant with my secong child, I allready had a toddler to look after (14 months between my children) and a rescue dog that took up a lot of time for walking (5 miles per day through bumpy woodland with toddler in a pushchair) and on-going training. If you really want to do something, being pregnant wont stop you :)

Not being horrible just realistic with your friends situation . Get her to contact the dogs trust and tell them the problems- the baby coming and it was her mothers dog, his destructiveness, muzzling him to stop him howling attacking dogs & kids all the gory details, they may help out with him or they might not . They might just suggest euthanasia? I know a vet would.
Its great that she is walking this dog as he never has before in his life, but by the sounds of it he is way to far gone mentally for an inexperienced owner to manage.

He will be a danger for the baby even before its born with the amount of stress its causing, let alone when in the house with this dog.

I do not think putting this dog a crate will help the problem as he will just howl in there all the time ??  The reason he his going toilet all over the house and now her clothes is because he is one stressed out demented dog right now.

The dogs trust never put an healthy dog down and if she tells them all his problems at least they will be able to give a new owner all the history with this dog.

thankyou for your replies. i have passed them onto her. she has just started uni so the dog is alone most of the day. on the forum she posts on we have all sought advice for her. she is really trying to sort something for the dogs sake but at the end of the day i think he will have to be re homed. her landlord has threatened to evict her unless the dog is muzzled when she is out. she has read all replies and hopes she doesnt come across as uncaring because she really has tried with him......she took him on because he spent most of his life tied up in a garden. thankyou all again and i will let you all know the outcome. p.s. i'll stay as a member i like the honest way you all answered...other sites have said........put the dog down..or get rid of it.

Sadly it sounds as if the dog has gone from one bad situation into another one not suited to his needs.

Hi Blondeblue,
And well done for trying to help your friend. In the short term, is there someone - preferably a paid dog walker/trainer - who could visit the dog during the day and do some play, training and walk the dog? It's really not fair to leave it alone for more than an hour or two, especially in its current state of mind.
A session from a visiting behaviourist would be a great way to assess whether your friend could cope with the dog, and if it is to get a fair shot at another home, it will need lots of training and socialisation.
Are there any local training classes your friend could go to?
I hope it all works out for the best.
Sky