We have a lovely Whippet by the name of Milo. He is 1 ½ years old and is friendly, loyal and very lively. Unfortunately being very lively he needs a run every day and although we were well aware of this when taking him on we have recently had real problems with him off the lead. We have tried a lot of training using really tasty treats and a training lead but he loves to run so much that he just never wants to come back. Without a secure place near us to let him off for a run without danger of getting run over he is suffering from lack of exercise. We walk him every day without fail but he really needs to get rid of his bursts of energy by having a good sprint. This makes him even more lively around the house and in a relatively small house this is becoming a big problem. Add to that the recent arrival of our baby daughter and it puts us in a very awkward situation. When our daughter arrived we were very careful not to leave Milo out and gave him plenty of attention. However, it’s only natural that he will receive slightly less when a new baby arrives and this has compounded the situation even further as he is now competing for attention. The result is he tries to get more attention by being naughty and stealing the babies toys and generally playing up. This is even worse when we have visitors as he gets so excited that he tries to jump right at their faces and seems to forget everything we’ve taught him. We are trying our best to train him by making sure he gets no attention when he jumps up and praising him when he says hello without jumping but it seems to be having very little effect and it’s becoming a real problem. As you can see we now have a very lively, bouncy, attention seeking dog on our hands and we are terrified that although he is gentle with our daughter that his ‘bounciness’ around the house is going to cause an accident. It is so difficult because we love Milo so much but he is unhappy, we are constantly worried and on edge and it’s making everyone miserable.
After having thought long and hard about the whole situation we have decided that the best thing for Milo and ourselves is that he should be rehomed with a more suitable owner(s) that have more time to spend with him and where he can get all the exercise he deserves. He is a lovely dog and I’m sure with the right surroundings and situation he will provide someone with pleasure for years to come. We know that many of you on the board dislike the idea of rehoming a dog after having a baby in the family, but we do too and that’s why it’s taken us this long to come to a decision. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to have to come to this decision but it is even more heartbreaking to see a dog who is obviously unhappy in his home. If we had planned on having a baby this soon, we would never have even considered getting a dog. We both come from families of dog lovers and they have also advised us that it is in Milo’s best interest that he is rehomed.
We need help in finding him a suitable home and an advert in the paper obviously isn’t good enough, we want to be able to meet prospective owners and visit where he will go. We would prefer him to be rehomed with other dogs that he can play with and hopefully we can keep in contact with him and the new owners, but most importantly he needs somewhere where he can have a run off the lead, safely, every day.
I want to stress that we are in no immediate hurry to rehome him, although the longer it takes the harder it will be. (We have thought about contacting the breeder but have decided against this idea as we are sure he would be sold on for the money and we would prefer to arrange his new home ourselves. Our breeder never gave us the option of bringing him back.)
We have been in touch with Wendy (Chelynnah) who was very understanding and has very kindly given great advice and also directed us to this website. Can someone from this board please help us in finding a suitable home for Milo or suggest the next step to take? We are based in Cardiff, Wales so if anyone can help us out we would love to hear from you. Please don’t judge us on this decision, we love Milo and we are doing this because we think it will make him happy.
Sarah & Mark.
After having thought long and hard about the whole situation we have decided that the best thing for Milo and ourselves is that he should be rehomed with a more suitable owner(s) that have more time to spend with him and where he can get all the exercise he deserves. He is a lovely dog and I’m sure with the right surroundings and situation he will provide someone with pleasure for years to come. We know that many of you on the board dislike the idea of rehoming a dog after having a baby in the family, but we do too and that’s why it’s taken us this long to come to a decision. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to have to come to this decision but it is even more heartbreaking to see a dog who is obviously unhappy in his home. If we had planned on having a baby this soon, we would never have even considered getting a dog. We both come from families of dog lovers and they have also advised us that it is in Milo’s best interest that he is rehomed.
We need help in finding him a suitable home and an advert in the paper obviously isn’t good enough, we want to be able to meet prospective owners and visit where he will go. We would prefer him to be rehomed with other dogs that he can play with and hopefully we can keep in contact with him and the new owners, but most importantly he needs somewhere where he can have a run off the lead, safely, every day.
I want to stress that we are in no immediate hurry to rehome him, although the longer it takes the harder it will be. (We have thought about contacting the breeder but have decided against this idea as we are sure he would be sold on for the money and we would prefer to arrange his new home ourselves. Our breeder never gave us the option of bringing him back.)
We have been in touch with Wendy (Chelynnah) who was very understanding and has very kindly given great advice and also directed us to this website. Can someone from this board please help us in finding a suitable home for Milo or suggest the next step to take? We are based in Cardiff, Wales so if anyone can help us out we would love to hear from you. Please don’t judge us on this decision, we love Milo and we are doing this because we think it will make him happy.
Sarah & Mark.
