There is NO WAY I would "give up" on Chloe without giving her absolutely every possible chance to live here and be happy and safe. I guess I'm just feeling a bit paranoid at the moment, and visualising the worst case scenario...I will stop it at once....I will, I will, I will
Aw Sue - I really feel for you - but take heart, because having read your posts on this thread and elsewhere - I don't think that "the worst" case scenario in terms of Chloes life with you would ever be as bad as you fear
You may have to adapt the way you exercise Chloe - and keep her on a short, secure lead in areas where she "may" be able to access livestock, but she would still have a fabulous quality of life with you, and I am sure that you can beg, borrow or steal access to safe land to give her off-lead exercise.
I know it would be culturally very different to the way in which your neighbours manage their dogs, but as you have learnt, they take these risks in the knowledge that when something goes wrong, the dog is expendable, whereas Chloe is your loved and cherished pet and so the level of risk you take with her needs to be (understandably) far lower
It obviously isn't the image of dog ownership you had in mind; I used to dream of hiking for miles with a dog running loose at my side - but the reality for me is that there are too many hazards (not only livestock, but traffic and in-season bitches
) for that to be possible. We still get a great deal of pleasure from our hiking and use other opportunities for offlead exercise, usually on the days when we don't go hiking
Remember too that Chloe is at a difficult age, and this problem may be one that takes months, or even over a year to resolve
Molo was a total b*gger for running off at about 12 months old - he disappeared on a COL meet in Surrey, and caused mayhem on Ryde sefront on August Bank Holiday running in and out of the traffic after chasing the seagulls for half a mile along the beach
In order to resolve it, he was not exercised off-lead anywhere other than in totally secure spaces for about a year - there was no point in setting him up to fail - so he never went off lead when we went for a "walk" and there was a chance I would need to call him back - if it was suitable, we'd use a longline, but if not, then we walked and ran a range and variety of routes on a a short lead to give him the stimulation he needed. I used to cry sometimes, thinking he would never be able to go offlead - but the delight I felt when we went to a COL meet and he could run in areas with phessies, rabbits and horses (in the distance) secure in the knowledge that he would come back when called was fabulous