Rescuing An Ex Puppy Farm Cocker

[tiggerbabe]

Hi - me again!

With regards to the three beautiful girls currently being looked after by Many Tears.....  

Does anyone have any experience of re-homing an ex puppy farm dog?  

I would hate for someone to offer a home to one (or more   ) of these poor girls and not realise the committment they might be taking on.  

I am aware that they are very rarely housetrained, might never have walked on a lead before and might not be very socialized due to being kept in a shed for most of their lives.

But can these problems be overcome with time, and can things really work out in the end?

All advice gratefully received!    

[Luvly]

 

[tiggerbabe]

Thanks again Luvly  

The only trouble with these 3 gorgeous girls is that I could never pick one, I would want 2 (being sisters and all!) - then you could never leave the 3rd, so what do you do?!!  

Dilema!!  

My house is definately not big enough for 3 cockers!!    My poor cat would think she had been invaded from Mars!!    

I do love the look of them though - the are practically identical - except that Cora looks slightly curlier than her sisters.

 

[Jane S]

I agree with Luvly that Many Tears will be best able to answer your questions with their experience in rehoming ex-puppy farm dogs. I would caution against taking 2 at the same time - these girls could need a lot of socialisation & it's not easy to socialise more than one at the same time (there could be a tendency to copy each other's reaction if one is fearful in some situations etc). We did use to have a member on COL who had taken on a ex-puppy farm blue roan bitch who was in a bad way but was getting better with a lot of TLC - unfortunately I can't remember her name (was it Lucy?) - perhaps someone else will remember?

Jane

[tiggerbabe]

Hiya,

Had a look through the members list and there was a Lucy that had taken on a rescue dog called Toffee?

Perhaps she still reads the forum and might get in touch to let us know how she is getting on.  It has been a while since she posted.

   

[Jane S]

I remember that Lucy's Toffee - she's a black & tan so not the member I'm thinking of. It was quite a while ago now but I'll see if I can find the old threads if they haven't been deleted.

Jane

[Luvly]

 

[tiggerbabe]

Hi luvly!

Sorry,  I maybe gave the wrong impression earlier  

I would never think of rehoming two rescue dogs at the same time - especially from those circumstances - I just meant that it would be a hard decision picking from the three and in an ideal world it would be good if they could be together.

Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world  


These poor souls will need a lot of tlc & reassurance, and they will not be able to get that if they are both competing for their new owners attentions  

Still considering my options.........  

[Luvly]

 

[tiggerbabe]

I know - Cockers have "that look" at the best of times - but these girls deservedly look sad.

I really hope things work out for them, but unfortunately, as we all know, there will be others along shortly after in the same predicament  

Ooooooo, puppy farmers - the work of the devil    

[PennyB]

I have friend's in Cardiff who recently took on ex puppy farm breeder cavs. They took the advice Many tears gave them and socialised them gently (not too much at once) and they've both come on really well. They didn't overfuss them when they arrived and just got on with it and eased them into as normal a schedule as possible. We do have a good network of dog walkers here to help socialise other dogs though (loads of friendly spaniels etc.). These dogs live in separate homes but socialize occasionally together. The only problem one cav has is housetraining, but she's getting there.

As with any rescue its best to try to just fit them in round as normal a schedule as possible.

I'd agree with Jane about not taking on 2 at a time. If you have problems its easier to sort out one that it is two at a time.

There can often be associated health problems with having been intensive breeders.

I've fallen in love with Nelly (but am sure she was called Megan the other day!)

[tiggerbabe]

Thanks for the advice!

I liked Nelly too - but you can hardly tell the difference between her and Nora - they are practically identical - so I like them both, and the wee curly Cora too.

The name "Cora" means friend - let's hope she becomes someone's forever friend soon.  

I might give Many Tears a call today to see if I can get some more info on these girls - whether they are good with cats, kids etc so that I can let everyone on the forum know......just in case someone is interested.

I am in the process of starting up a "dog walking" business in my area, so I don't mind the training aspect.

I have had a rescue dog in the past who suffered from SA - but I thinkt a lot of that was of my own making, I probably smothered her with love when I first got her as I thought that is what she needed, but I know now that easing her in and just making her feel at home rather then dependant on my love would have been a much better way to go about things.  

You learn by your mistakes!  

 

[PennyB]

I have had a rescue dog in the past who suffered from SA - but I thinkt a lot of that was of my own making, I probably smothered her with love when I first got her as I thought that is what she needed, but I know now that easing her in and just making her feel at home rather then dependant on my love would have been a much better way to go about things.  

You learn by your mistakes!  

But at least you did, some people just don't see the connection and think its cruel not to just foist loads of love and attention on them all the time.

I forgot to add that a foster cocker I had in the summer had been a puppy farm breeder's stud dog and would've lived in same conditions as the bitches. He'd lived in a lovely pet home for 2 years then the owner died and he came into rescue. He was a lovely dog who has now also settled into his new home very well with realtively few problems.

Many tears probably won't really be able to tell you if they are good with cats or kids as they would've gone from puppy farm to rescue kennel.

[Mary P]

Hi,
I like Nelly too (who was originally named as Megan!). As I said in the other post, Sylvia is best contacted by email, or by phone at the end of the working day.

Edit - Jack came from Many Tears, and he was cat tested there. He hates them which is the reason we got him and not another interested party  

[padfoot]

Hi,

My cavalier Trixie is an ex-puppy farm bitch. Sadly her daughter has also just been handed in to the same rescue (Lizzies Barn) but that's another story  

Trixie was very nervous and scared for a good few months. She just wanted to curl up on the sofa alone, and at feeding time we had to hold her food bowl for her so she could eat because she was afraid of approaching it on the floor for some reason. She wasn't really house-trained. She was very frightened of people sometimes. If anyone raised their voice at anyone else she would cower. She was also very handshy (it's hard to describe how upsetting it was that occasionally if we went to pull her from the sofa gently by her collar she would try and escape frantically and wet herself   ).

She was better around the children than around adults. She quite liked a fuss from them but was a bit scared of us at times.

However, with time and patience she has changed so much. She is still shy, but she is far more fussy now, she loves her walks, she comes up for a fuss, and a couple of months ago she finally started to run up wagging when we came home if we'd been out   It was all worth it.

You could post on dogpages as there are a fair few people on there who also have ex-puppy farm bitches and would be able to tell you their experiences.