Next Sat cannot come soon enough.  :)

I am offering a good home to a 7yr old dog with a great nature, who cannot stay in the home of the person anymore, as the new baby is very allergic to him.

I want to make his transition as easy as possbile (poor guy is gutted that he has to give the dog up, and consoled by the fact that he knows I will do all that I can for him). 

Anyway, I am told that when an older dog, who has only ever had one owner, is rehomed, they can sometimes take a month or so, and can even get a bit sulky!

Come on guys, what is the best method to make the dog feel 'at home' here?

Steve

I rehomed a 6 year old cocker when my friend's father died. Bob had been very much a one-man dog up to then but was a very good natured little chap and settled in very quickly. Basically I avoided any dramatic changes to things like his food and made sure that his bed, blanket and other toys came with him so he had familiar things around him. He did, however, very quickly become a one-woman dog and while he got on fine with my OH, he was always my shadow and I think this was part of his coping strategy! I never had any sulky behaviour from him but I fully expected him to take time to settle in. As it happens this all took much less time than I expected but certainly, in the first few days he'd look at me with a baffled expression sometimes as if to say "It's all very nice but what exactly am I doing here?"

I guess a lot depends on an individual dog's temperament though.

Thanks for that.  Another wee question. I have a huge garden, I mean so big that it would cost a fortune to fence it on both sides, and the neighbours are not bothered about a fence.  The kids go back and forward through the back door, and I guess if he runs through after them, then yeah, he could slip through/jump the exisiting three foot fence, or even go through it, since it is slatted.

There are plenty of places in to walk him around here, so that is not the problem, just seems a shame that come the summer, we cannot really have him in the garden, lest he sees next doors cat, and goes after it!!!

The temptation of next door's cat is too much for most dogs but cats are a deal cleverer about making a quick getaway and then teasing the dog from a place of safety! Depending on the breed and character of this dog, you mightn't have an escapologist - Bob could have more easily flown to the moon than jump a three foot fence but I wouldn't trust my JRT who could make very short work of it! So to be on the safe side, if your garden is big enough, you might consider fencing off an area for the dog. 

Sure, I have no doubts that the cat would get away, however, if you can imagine, it is a new estate, and all the houses are detached, byt in a row, and none of them have 6 foot fences yet, so in theory, once he was offski, he could go from garden to garden, but hey, fencing off an area, now that might have some merits, thank you

x

Even though I only have a 60 foot garden I ahve the first 20 foot fenced acrtoss for teh dogs and that leaves the rest a sog poo free zone, very useful when the kids were little and needed somewhere to placy with their freinds.

I kept it up as the guy at the bottom hates dogs and winges at the least thing.

After all they only need somewhere to toilet, they get their excersise on walks.

It also makes it much easier to keep them quiet as theyre isn't the room for them to get too rowndy and loud without me being able to reach them and put a stop to it.

Aye, true, I could just take him into the garden for a pee, etc, and that would be that, since there are plenty of open spaces nearby for a proper walk.

Good to be back on here, btw

No you need a securely fenced area of at least part of the garden so you can be sure he can't get out.

Sorry, that is what I meant, sort of sectioning off a part of it in a secure way, yes..?

Nothing to add...but i just wanted to say Welcome Back Steve :-) And well done for taking on this 7 year old dog :-)

It's good to be back.  I had to make sure this time, that the dog was not aggressive with other dogs, and I wanted an older dog, so it was good that I was able to meet the guy, and the people from Bullies in need in a public place, as there were people, and cars, and what not, all going past, and of course other dogs, which he showed interest in (as any dog does), but not one hint of aggression or anything.

Watch this space for some more of more off beat posts, in the near future!