I've chosen a pup! General Chat

Having done much deliberating & watching my friends dogs with my Chi x, I have found (I hope!) the perfect companion for my Mouse. I decided on a boy in the hope that the bitch/dog balance will work to their favour. Mouse seems to be more relaxed and comfortable around dogs & they seem to look out for her more too. A good friends lovely old boy stopped 2 greyhounds charging her the other day on the park - it was so scary, I think they thought she was a rabbit on a track!

I located a litter of pups who's mum is meant to be a English Pointer - but she's much smaller and the dad is a real Heinz57, more leg than anything and only about knee height. Yet another accidental litter but mum is booked in already for speying. All pups have a home (plus 2 extra homes waiting if anyone backs out).

My dog was chosen on him being the most docile laid back calm boy in the litter. He doesn't instigate trouble and when he does get into a bit of rough & tumble he will back off if told. I've spent hours watching this litter making sure I've got the right one. Thankfully my daughter goes to the same school as the owners daughter so I've found a new friend & so has my daughter. Its been an experience choosing a dog for my dog & not me - really nice. Its lucky that the pup is really good looking too! Glossy beetle black coat with 4 white spotty knee high socks . Now for names....choices choices...I'm thinking Django or Roux. I will be getting him at 8 weeks old which is in 2 weeks time.
Sorry post is so long = not many of my friends will tolerate a lengthy dog talk!

......Mouse has met the litter & went to my chosen boy straight away & paid no attention to the others which made me feel like he was the right choice.

Best wishes with your new addition, looks like mouse will have a for-ever friend. Congratulations.;-)

Thats great news, hope everything works out, best of luck with your new addition when he arrives, 2 wks is so long to wait lol xx

Nice one, Lucky Mouse
Elaine xx

I can't quite contain myself!

Congratulations, he sounds perfect.

Cant wait to see some piccies!!!

Good luck - look forward to seeing some pics

Oh what a weekend My quest for finding the perfect pup has turned out to be in vain.
I picked him up and he had doubled in size of his litter mates...not a problem - just a shock! But I suppose the mongrel he is its not surprising. It was all going well..car journey was fine. Mouse very happy to see him again etc etc. The problems started with the 'puppy play'. He was flooring Mouse each & every time after many many 'time outs' Mouse just got sooo p***ed off she started growling which is VERY out of character. She even growled when I picked her up. She got hurt and had a bit of a limp for a while (absolutely fine now). And is covered in scrapes.

I had to call it a day straight away (36 hours). I couldn't forsee the situation getting any better in the near future what with pup growing so big & Mouses attempts to tell him off falling of deaf ears. I think injury was very close round the corner....if not that one very messed up snappy chi.
Anyway the pup will be going to his back up home today.
Mouse is fine now - went to the park for a big walk & met up with an Irish wolfhound they looked so funny together & the owners were great. At least she's not been too traumatised by the pup!

Do you think I bailed out too soon? I don't know what I should be feeling at the moment!...

So I'm still on the look out for a stable adult dog or a small pup is what I'm thinking.

I personally think 36 hours is to soon to bail out,
It took Isis 6 weeks to listen to Shila but when it did finally happen it sorted them both out and apart from the odd squabble they are fine,

If you have a Chi x maybe you should look at something similar size wise xx

I have to say Hilary I would have done the same.
How could you risk Mouse coming to any harm? It was too much of a chance to take.

How did you introduce these dogs? Just bring the puppy home and put it on the floor?
Sorry i dont mean to sound harsh but introductions have a big impact on how settling with each other will go. I personally feel you should not be looking at getting another dog at this moment in time. Where is the puppy going?

I feel that 36 hours was a very short amount of time to make a decision too. But in my defence I feel the situation would have in a very short amount of time turned into a big vet bill & 2 traumatised dogs which if at all possible, best avoided in my opinion. I don't think a larger dog (any dog is larger than mine) will be such an issue - just large bouncy puppy is!
I am grateful the owner of the pups had made a back up arrangements for alternative homes because we had discussed the possibility of it not working out.

The dogs were introduced 4x at the pups home prior to coming here. When I picked the pup up I took Mouse with me & they travelled in the car together with someone on the back seat. We got home & I put my dog in the crate while I introduced pup to 1 room for 15 mins. I took Mouse out of the crate and sat with her on my knee while pup mooched around. Mouse was very calm. Pup went hell for leather a couple of hours. Not being agressive. Just big bundle of fun throwing his weight around.

Pup is going to a home who lost their family dog to old age a couple of months ago.

IMO the end decision has to be yours. However I think 36 hours would be very soon to call it a day.

With any pup you get you have to be prepared for these events I'm afraid. Mouse is very small so another pup her size would be something to consider. You can get a much bigger breed to live with mouse, but there has to be boundries for the puppy, which only comes through training, ie time out etc., The pup is only doing what comes naturally, which is to play rough and tumbles which it would of done with it's siblings, and therefore would not realise that it should be doing anything different.

Maybe a breed of Mouse's size would be better for Mouse and for your feelings.

best of Luck,;-) and I hope the puppy gets a lovely home xxxxxx

I don't think the pup wasn't doing anything wrong - don't get me wrong! I had deliberately chosen this litter because it was going to be a slight build. But in the matter of 6 days this particular pup had almost doubled in size of his litter mates. Had this been the case in decision making process I wouldn't have chosen him. As I said earlier it was a shock to see how big he'd got. I don't think I could have said - 'sorry he's got too big now, I'm not having him'.! I did give it a go. I sat with the dogs for the whole time. I think that if I had left it any longer it would have had a detrimental effect on both dogs. Thats why I called it a day so soon.

Please don't think I am looking for a companion for my dog on a whim. She's a well rounded dog who likes doggy company and I've got the time & space for 1 more. We regularly have doggy company overnight which she thrives on. Hence my decision to get a companion for her.

I'm not bothered about my feelings - they're irrelevant ;-) its the dogs welfare thats my concern. I knew some people would say that I'd been too quick - but a dog covered in scrapes and limping was enough for me to take a bit of judging on the chin!!!

I think that you are the only one that could make that call, as you were the only one that was actually there, you know your dog and how much she can cope with, I think you are right to put your dogs safety first, we all love to hear a happy ending but sometimes things dont work out the way we hope for, through nobodys fault.

The feelings you have now are human nature but I think you know in your heart you made the right decision for you and Mouse.

{{hugs}}

thank you x

You absolutely did the right thing in my opinion! You can tell within 36 hours whether a situation could become dangerous. We're not talking two dogs not getting on that would find their way in time. We are talking one tiny dog and one large breed bouncy puppy (that will probably be bouncy for some months if not years) that could end up in the Chi x being seriously injured and the other dog a nervous wreck from being stopped from bouncing around.

There are lots of lovely small breed dogs out there and I am sure that Mouse would love some similar size companionship, so that she can play without worrying about getting hurt.

As the pup has gone back to the Breeder to be re-homed with a family already awaiting him, I can't see any reason to doubt your actions

If the pup's mum was an English Pointer he had the potential to be very large and bouncy indeed! You have made absolutely the right decision and no harm has been done (apart from a few grazes to Mouse). A small pup with small parents would be a better match for Mouse. Good luck in your search.