Adopted

Awwws...sounds like a keeper:) congratulations. But PHHHT at your mom for not making the cats behave better. Cats are smart creatures..they can learn too. One of the things they learn is how to avoid the dog, how to make the dog take the blame and how to get the dog to do something stupid enought to get it kicked out of the house. I realize that cats can get hurt when a dog attacks..but have seen both sides..and usually the cat starts it in some way. It can really be as simple as the cat winning a showdown staring contest. Anyhoo, do remember that with this pup you will still have to train it to not bite the cats. Teach the dog that cats are YOURS..and that you love them too. (BUT if you show favoritism to the cats then all you will create is resentment. They will pick on anything that they feel is weaker than they..natural born bullies really when ya think about it. IF you start having problems with this one..instead of picking up the cat and sheltering it..try just interceding by putting yourself in front of the cat allowing the cat to get away on its own. Then you can tell her to stay..and not let her chase the cat. Also..if you teach them to play together it will work better even. Teach the dog that he can "chase the string" too (use a thicker one for the dog)..but praise the dog when he chases after his toy as you play with the cat at the same time. Just like with babies..its all about distraction from the current problem. I do feel bad for the poor pup you had to return. Hope your mom reacts better to this one. Tell her if she wants to protect the cats fine..but it's not fair to the dog to give up on it because its doing something that she doesn't like. It takes training..time...love..and lots of patience. If she is the one that gets to decide the outcome than she probably should make sure she trains the dog. Believe me on this. Took four years basically to get our dog to stop being mean to other people besides his own immediate family. He was 3mo old when we got him and very very abused (both by other dogs and the humans we got him from). Now he's a gorgeous animal...and can pull about 300lbs at 7 miles per hour...he works and thinks its playtime. He's one of the best judges of character on the planet, and even detects low and high blood sugars on my diabetic son. If we had given up on him early..our son might not be alive today because it was our dog that saved him. It is up to you to raise that pup to be the best dog he can be. You can't expect him to be a perfect dog..and you can't expect him to learn anything if you just reject him. I used to work for a humane society. We didn't let people that adopted animals and brought them back pick another one. It was against our policies to adopt to anyone that showed that they could not handle the responsibilities that come with pet ownership. Dogs aren't at fault for the bad things they do. It's our fault for not teaching them any differently. Remember that as you raise this pup. But, enough lecture. Sorry if this seems a bit snippy..just breaks my heart when people reject any animal for a behavior problem outside of actually hurting a person. Good luck with your new puppy. I hope he is very happy in his new home and that he is easy to raise. I hope the other one finds a good home for her too. Good Luck! Best wishes! I am sure you will do fine. Just please remember that if you expect to be successful at this it takes most dogs about 2 years to become fully grown and fully mature adult dogs. At four months old you are dealing with the equivalent of a four year old child and all it entails. (Thing 2 to 4 years really cus there are different speeds of development depending on the size of the dog..small dogs..smaller brains..smaller bodies..yours is probably between 2 and 3 developmentally if that little dog you are holding in the picture is the dog.) So guage everything to that sort of intelligence level as you are training her up. And remeber that by six months old they start getting territorial, so make sure that you have at least by then given her a space that is just hers and that she knows it is just her space. (doesn't have to be big..just has to be hers). And get her plenty of exercise because a bored energetic dog will do strange things to cats (like treat them like tennis balls!!) if you don't. Again, I wish you the best of luck with this one...I just hope the commitment is there to keep this for good.

Oh I'm so sorry you had to take the dog back..but you probably did what's best..if the dog was too rough and attacking the cats I shudder to think what might have happened...But glad to hear you got another puppy and glad that she is getting along better..