Maybe if you haven’t got time for a dog, you shouldn’t have one. But people should at least take advice on what kind of dog would suit their circumstances. Just as an example, a Labrador is easily trained, will go anywhere with you, is extremely affectionate and will die for you if necessary, but it will cry like a baby all day if left home alone!
There are plenty of people around here who leave their dogs outside all day with no more than a wire fence to keep them in. They tend to bark at passers by, so I guess they earn their keep by deterring unwelcome intruders.
I have only had rescue dogs and you never quite know what to expect. As far as we could tell, our current “best friend” had a difficult childhood and had been through several unsuccessful re-homings. She had a thick scar around her neck that suggested, at least, an unsuitable restraint. It took about four years before she finally stopped chewing soft furnishings! But she is affectionate (possibly over enthusiastically so!) and great fun to have around.
As the slogan say “a dog is for life” and that works both ways because old folks with dogs live longer.
@SuePJ Rescue Remedy has been in my armoury for many years. As a volunteer transporter doing around 80,000 kms a year for the past 10 years I have only used it twice.
With Enola I have been using it with chevre to try and reduce her separation problems, not sure if it is working, but the constant repetition of preparations for my imminent departure do seem to be having a benificial effect, But slowly, very slowly.
Regarding her wish to please me. When she went over several times yesterday I was very grim faced when she was back in the garden. Today she has been better, only gone out once, I think, but if I haven’t see her for a while I blow the whistle and she is immediately there at my side, at which point she gets a lot of fuss and loving
@ jane Jones Yes, this is something I have heard, that fast dogs in full flight ignore the very brief discomfort. But this isn’t the case with Enola. She walks to the gate, or the fence, then gathers herself at the base and springs to climb or jump to the top to then scramble over. I don’t think a 2 metre gate or fence is really an option, even if I could afford it, or persuade the association to do so. Besides, I wouldn’t put it past her to climb it (hence my earlier reference to a smooth wall) I have already watched her climb a 1.5 metre fence at the pension when I collected her the other day.
Dogs live in the present. If you are not happy when she is in the garden, she will think that what she is doing NOW is wrong.
You are quite right of course, Mike, she may be canine and doing what comes naturally to her, but I am human and subject to the same triggers of my own species. Grim face on the inside only from now on. 
Best wishes, David.
Follow my travels with dogs at:
People’s circumstances change over the course of a dog’s life - I didn’t move house but my family situation inevitably changed quite a lot between when we got our 8 week-old lab/pointer cross, and 16 and a half years later when she died.
Dogs can adapt, so long as they feel secure.
Well done for rescuing your dog. I recently adopted a dog from Spain. We have also had separation anxiety issues and it is hard work.
I got a supplement Zylkene from the vet. It is either that or just him starting to feel more comfortable but things are slowly getting better. Not all vets are open to it but you can get fluoxetine or other stronger medication and apparently it really helps as SA is essentially a phobia. I am following advice in a book called ‘Be right back’ and it sounds like you are doing similar exercises.
We have had Aston six weeks now and whilst still essentially prisoners in our own house there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. I am really pleased your dog is still with you. I think if they went back to the pension/refuge now it might make the SA worse?
We also have a fencing project on the go to make our garden more secure. We don’t leave the dogs out unattended as there is too much risk of them going off and causing trouble. Can Enola stay in the house with you?
I have just had a look at your website and loved reading about the work you do. Poor Brianna though. What a sad tale.
Best wishes.
I find that a couple of lashes with the dog’s lead is sufficient punishment but not too hard. This does make my dog wonder about human behaviour though but she waits patiently until I let her have it back.
She did nick the fur lined handcuffs once & I found them with all her other toys. 
Yes, our dog 
coped with: all her charges getting bigger, cats with dictatorial tendencies, litters of irreverent kittens, an arrogant overbearing hen who thought she was a dog and squatted her basket, other less characterful hens, escapologist tunnelling garden guinea pigs, an idle rabbit who was possessive about the hearthrug in the kitchen and a halfwitted pony.
Hello Marijka,
I haven’t rescued Enola, just fostering her till an adopter comes along, but of course, if one does we will have first refusal to keep her.
If not here she would be in a pension that PAD uses about 12 kms away, at any one time there are 9 or 10 Dobies there waiting for homes. Apart from the freedom to roam here all day she may not be too unhappy there as, when she is not in a kennel, she may be running free with lots of other dogs
As regards medicines it is the association who decides what is appropriate or not, for us it is just her training and her 2 main problems. Ironically the escaping started about the time she began to, very slowly, have less of a problem with the separation anxiety. Feeling more secure I suppose.
Our dogs are never shut in the house, always free to come and go through the dogflap, even in winter. The only time it is shut is when we are all in bed. This because the dogflap is really just a patio door opened with a curtain hanging down to keep out the drafts.
Yes, poor Brianna the dog that I never got to meet, Gary though to the best of my knowledge, is still doing well.
Best wishes, David.
Follow my travels with dogs at:
Because I am new to the system here, also aged and confused, an update to this subject has appeared in the Dobermann Lost at Villac thread. 
They look very cosy
You would have to follow the link to the site, Stella, they sometimes post updates, but it depends on whether the owners can be bothered or not
David… …
Personally, if someone tells me something is missing… I hope they will tell me if/when it is found… but I won’t necessarily be interested enough to follow an external link to keep checking… If you hear any good news… I hope you will update us… 
I put the link to your other thread on this forum … so that folk could see what else you were saying… it all seems pertinent.
Sorry Stella, but I am just like you, a person who has been sent a link to a lost dog, which I have passed on for general interest. I get these links from Chien Perdu whenever a dog is missing or found in the Dordogne because I once posted a dog of my own which went missing. She was found, by me, and I notified them, not everyone does.
But sometimes I get floods of these and it is up to anyone interested enough to check. Seems fair enough to me.
In which case… I wonder if a thread “Lost and Found” in the Animal category might be of interest… then anyone can post “whatever” alerts one has received …
that thread would then be ongoing as and when other lost and/or found came along… yet no one would be responsible for any particular follow up…
a bit like stolen cars… one rarely hears the outcome…
just a thought
Well yes, a possibility I suppose, but while there are sometimes many of these there are equally times, like this present crisis with C-19, when they are fewer and farther between. The dog I posted is the 3rd I have received in 7 days, the other 2 were put on another forum by a friend.
In other places I have publicised only those dogs which are chipped, on the principle that anyone who loves their pet so little is not a fit person to have one, or retrieve one.
Finally, I only get notifications of dogs lost or found in the Dordogne, Perhaps if people were to sign up in other departments we might find ourselves overwhelmed.
But if you think it a good idea, I will put up any suitable ones that come my way.
I’ve no idea… I was just following through on your original post…
Just added a comment and thought twice about it.