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Wanted to know how others feel about this situation...


PnkFlyd204

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A friend of mine on FB (went to high school with him) and his wife adopted a beautiful yellow lab named Ryker from a local shelter this past weekend. Unfortunately, only a few days later (Wednesday), my friend posted on Facebook:

"Unfortunately, things did not work out with Ryker. He had severe separation anxiety and destroyed the house. We had no choice but to take him back to the shelter. Sh** happens I guess."

Well, Maybe I was wrong for feeling this way, but I immediately became VERY ANGRY. Separation Anxiety is a common problem that those adopting/buying a dog should be aware of. My friend states they had "no choice" but to return Ryker. I disagree with that. There are always choices. They chose to return the dog. Another choice could have been to crate the dog or put the dog in one area of the house to try to prevent a lot of destruction and try to work with the dog on his issues at the same time. Do some research... there are ways to make this better. They chould have also chosen to talk to a dog trainer about the issue as well or others who have gone through the same situation and learned ways to alleviate it. But no, their choice was to return Ryker like he was a shoe that did not fit right after only having him for a few days.

At the same time, I thought about Ryker and all the stress he probably felt about being in a new environment (their house) and then the additional stress he also felt about being returned to the shelter. Makes me want to cry honestly. :( Perhaps the separation anxiety would have gone away on it's own after Ryker got used to his new environment. It's possible.

My boy Viggo had separation anxiety as a pup... as soon as I put him in the crate, he would defecate and cry for hours on end. After a month of this (and trying different methods to make him love his crate), I gave up on crate training and let him have run of an area of my house. Guess what? He destroyed things. My floor, my walls, my curtains, my couch... I could go on. Not once did I even play with the idea of giving him up. Instead, I worked with him. I gave toys to distract him, left the TV on for noise, etc. Eventually he learned the schedule and stopped the destruction.

To make matters worse with my friend, some other friends of him on FB posted comments like... "yeah sometimes this happens when you adopt an adult dog" (as if to infer that this would not happen if they had purchased a puppy- :eek:). And others were like "you should definitely adopt another". Come on now... how many dogs are we going to hurt here? What if another dog has an issue like Ryker? Back to the shelter he or she goes I guess. You know, if this guy was not willing to work with Ryker, I doubt he would be willing to work with any other dog.

My friend's wife also made a few comments about the situation. One comment "I tried everything to help the dog and we were not the right fit for a dog with major separation anxiety (which no one knew about until after we adopted)." How much could she have possibly tried in 3 or 4 days honestly?

I truly hope Ryker finds a good home. As for my friends... they are obviously not ready for the responsibility of owning a dog. And she not even consider adopting another.

Too harsh?

Oh also... I posted with my thoughts and some suggestions about separation anxiety and guess what my friend did? Deleted my post. Oh well.

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Pah. Such a shame they gave up after 4 days, Bear's been ripping up my hallway carpet and destroying the toilet rolls on and off for over a year now. It is draining sometimes but if you love someone enough, you deal with it. Poor Ryker. :(

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A friend of my daughters got a beagle for his partner I assume because he works away a lot. From day one there were pics on fb of the puppy being baby'd. He's now just over a year old and they put on fb they thought they would have to rehome him as he was so 'naughty' he barely takes notice of the man and gets aggressive with the girl.

Its so sad as reading between the lines it seems he's been a substitute baby and been allowed every privilage going. Now he thinks he's the boss.

I messaged and offered what limited advice I could. They shill have him but for how long who knows?

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If they were say fosterparents and they took in a child, what are they going to do take in that child and then a couple days later because they are having issues, send them back? I doubt it. People need to think of dogs and their feelings, they automatically disregard the dog's feelings because it's "just a dog". Well no, dog's have feelings to and the actions that people take can severely affect that dog same with if a person takes in a child and then all of a sudden gets rid of it. When you adopt a dog, you are taking on that responsibility to take care of and love that dog and to work at its problems. Come on, everyone should know that adopting a dog is no walk in the park.... Sorry, don't think you were too harsh- just also have strong opinions on this!

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Completely agree with you, i hate how people dont even try to solve the dogs problems and just say 'oh we werent right for that dog'. Surely it makes more sense to work with that dog, then and only then will they feel the unconditional love, loyalty and happiness that dogs bring us, im sure everyones had problems with their dogs but the difference is they have WORKED through these probloems, They should have given him more time to settle in and help him, Poor Ryker hope he finds a home where the pwners can dedicate the time and effort needed to help make him into a happy dog with a forever home :) x

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I'd say the dog is a lucky one. You see, they could have hit it. I'm not saying they would but... Some people think that that way anything can work. I'm sure Ryker will find a better match. Someone who'll now know he has separation anxiety. They obviously didn't like Ryker well enough to commit to him.

Of course he'd delete your comment, he only wanted affirmatives.

Yes, Ryker will now have to wait for other owners but I honestly believe he'll be better off this way. Thank god his wife doesn't want any other dogs right now and hopefully never will!!

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While i agree taking the dog back is shitty, on the idea of them getting another dog, allow me to play devils advocate.

A lot are saying it's good they are not getting another dog at this time. Why? So they aren't the best dog owners. A lot of people aren't, but still have healthy/happy dogs. My local shelter will kill about a thousand dogs this year. Isn't a dog going to less than ideal owners better than killing it?

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While i agree taking the dog back is shitty, on the idea of them getting another dog, allow me to play devils advocate.

A lot are saying it's good they are not getting another dog at this time. Why? So they aren't the best dog owners. A lot of people aren't, but still have healthy/happy dogs. My local shelter will kill about a thousand dogs this year. Isn't a dog going to less than ideal owners better than killing it?

I appreciate your point of view. The good news (well, not so good news in my opinion) is... they will have the oppotunity to try again. they have been approved (what the HELL) to adopt another dog. It's a puppy this time. My friend is driving 5 hours tomorrow to pick her up. I personally think this is a MAJOR mistake. A puppy... I can only imagine... they chew, they poop everywhere, they destroy things. WOW great match...

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I appreciate your point of view. The good news (well, not so good news in my opinion) is... they will have the oppotunity to try again. they have been approved (what the HELL) to adopt another dog. It's a puppy this time. My friend is driving 5 hours tomorrow to pick her up. I personally think this is a MAJOR mistake. A puppy... I can only imagine... they chew, they poop everywhere, they destroy things. WOW great match...

Wow... Puppy is definitely wrong for them. But, a dog they adopt is a life saved.

It's pretty easy to adopt a dog here too. I think they see it as one more dog they don't have to kill.

Now if your friend was buying a puppy from a breeder, then getting rid of it, I'd highly disagree with that. To me that's ADDING to the homeless pet population.

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I'd like to ad that I hope people don't misunderstand my words. I'm certainly not saying what they did was right. I hate the way people treat dogs- like they're throw away objects. It's a bad mentality, but it's still better that those people give a dog a home and food, than to kill it.

Hope their puppy works out...

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Yeah I'm all for saving a dog's life, but I don't think these 2 have done any research about dogs whatsoever. You have to do research... otherwise, the odds are high that the dog will be back in a shelter situation... as these 2 have proven to be true with Ryker.

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Yeah I'm all for saving a dog's life, but I don't think these 2 have done any research about dogs whatsoever. You have to do research... otherwise, the odds are high that the dog will be back in a shelter situation... as these 2 have proven to be true with Ryker.

People make all kinds of decisions without research. Investments, kids, buying cars or electronics, and getting dogs. You don't know what you don't know.

Fifty years ago do you think people did a bunch of research before they got their dogs? There wasn't HO, other forums, or a lot of books. People just got a dog and went on with it. I think some people still have that mentality.

Don't be so hard on em. I doubt they would make the same choices if they were more educated. Everyone is ignorant about something. I couldn't tell you the first thing about cooking,but still try it (I tried to hard boil eggs once, blew them up and got yolk on the ceiling. Gf was out of town and left me to fend for myself) Your friends don't know much about dogs, but got one. Again, you don't know what you don't know.

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