OK end of the story. The dog was returned to the original owner who is a bit of a d*** in my opinion. Here is what happened.

The shelter told us that the people who wanted her said no so we arranged a time and date to pick her up (that was on a Saturday). At the same day, the shelter called us to tell us that the original owner showed up so if he wants her, she will go back to him. We had no choice in the matter so we had to wait if we were still interested. Of course we were. We decided we wanted her and wont change our minds that easy.

So after calling every day to find out what was going on, and the owner not being sure if he wanted her or not, we got told that he took her back so we are still on square one. They were a bit pissed off at the owner though. Here are two people wanting to give her a nice home and some idiot who lost her in the first place took 10 days to decide to take her back! Seriously??

Anyway thanks for the replies in this post. You helped us decide that if we find a suitable dog we will get one.

Anybody cares to share the experience of having two dogs in a flat and a full time job?

Sorry to hear that it turned out this way Gata.

I know how hard it is when you've lost your heart to a pet, been kept dangling, hoping - and then the original (insert expletive here) owner who originally couldn't be *rsed to collect the critter for whose welfare he is responsible suddenly walzes back in.

So sending cyber hugs to you and to the poor doglet.

Unfortunately that's the law. Unless the original owner relinquishes the animal, there is a 60 day waiting period* before an animal can be considered abandoned. So a stray where no owner comes forward must wait 60 days before a shelter can rehome him - and in the case where the animal's owner is known it can be even more difficult if the owner fights the rehoming, even after the 60 days have elapsed.

So the owner was within his legal right to reclaim the dog assuming this was within the 60 days.

The shelter could take him to court claiming he is unfit, but this is difficult to do and costly - often beyond the meager resources most rescue groups posess. I'd guess they tried to persuade the owner to hand the dog in voluntarily - and I certainly hope they have charged the owner kenneling fees for the time he dithered about.

And I hope the owner has had enough of a jawboning to put the fear of doG in him, and that he will do better in the future. Poor pup.



* FYI, it used to be a 5 year Frist - that is, the original owner could reclaim an animal up to 5 years after he 'lost' the critter. You can imagine the havoc and heartbreak that could have cost an adoptive family. But since the introduction of 'Tiere sind keine Sachen' (Animals are not things), the law has relaxed to 60 days - giving an owner time to try to find a lost pet, while protecting the new adopters. Still, it remains a very expensive situation for shelters who are required to provide housing/care for 60 days. Thank doG for mandatory microchipping of dogs, as this allows owners to be found very quickly. I wish the same was required for cats.

---

But chin up - you and Whisky will find your new canine friend. Just keep looking through the database, keep friends, vets, other dog owners aware. I am a firm believer that the animal who needs us most finds his/her way to us.

I love the dog's expression:

We already had a male Terrier of about 3yrs old (see avatar) and decided to get a bitch as were concerned about getting two males what with dominance and all that.
I brought home little Jango (few months old) in a dog cage and placed her in the garden. I then released Mr Jippy into the garden and hoped for the best. It was great, he was so excited, pouncing around the cage so I let her out and the games began.
They were chasing eachother etc. Fantastic and I caught it all on film.

He took a while getting used to her in the house. Never liked her too close to him if he was laying down etc. But that got better with time.

She actually made him more active and fitter.

Our second dog story has a happy ending - we found a little pup (well little giant pup) in Spain who will come to live with us in a couple of weeks. We're very excited and can't wait to pick her up. We used www.tierarbeit.eu if anyone is looking to rescue.

Welcome little miss Jezebel!

Dammit Phil. You made me cry.

Oh, what wonderful news, JanerMacP - congratulations!

You have done a wonderful thing. The situation in Spain is just heartbreaking - thank doG this little one will now have the kind of life every dog deserves. Good on you for going the extra mile to help.

Little Miss Jezebel is adorable - wishing you all the very best, and many happy times together.

Congratulations! Can you post some more details? How did you go about it? Did you go and see the dog? Will they sent it to you or you are going to go get it? What is it involved?

I found her on Petfinder.ch and sent them a mail. I was put in contact with a man named Michael who speaks English really well - he's answered all of my emails in a timely manner, sent extra photos, answered all of my questions and he was really polite.

Last weekend we had a woman come to our house to meet us, she's an acquaintance to the rescue as their regular interview woman had already done 4 that week. She ended up staying for 2 hours and we just talked about dog life, holidays, Canada, etc. We felt very much at ease and not under a microscope.

She gave her feedback to the rescue then we had a short call with Michael just to connect over the phone and answer a few more questions. He told us this week the little one is ours, and we will drive to the Swiss-French border to pick her up. They drive their animals from Spain vs flying as its cheaper (we will pay 270 EUR for her, inc all shots, microchip and EU passport). So no we haven't seen her, but it's part of the deal when adopting from Spain....unless you want to fly there.

We had a great experience with them when comparing with other rescues - they appreciate and are being realistic that we both work but are really going out of our way to accommodate a puppy (time off, working from home, extra dog walker time etc).

Thanks for that

Please let us know the end result in two weeks

Sorry it did not work out with the dog you wanted. Hopefully you'll find another one you like soon.

According to me the most important thing about bringing him into the family is that the 1st dog is going to be happy about the change. The lanst thing you want is Whiskey being upset about the new arrival and sulking and/or getting into undisirable behaviours. If you're dog love any other dog, great, you'll be fine if you use common sense and stick to the dogs' hierarchy. The pup will be under Whiskey -at least at the beginning- and therefore Whiskey will get his food first, will be the first to be greeted by you etc.

Additionally I recommend to make them meet on neutral territory and to make Whiskey understand that it's fun for him to have the pup around. This is especially important if he's not so excited about the new arrival. In this case it really helps if you make good things happen to Whiskey when the pup's around (like a treat, playtime, lots of attention...).

I had a bitch and then added my male dog. No problem at all. Sadly I had to put down the bitch and the male dog was left alone. I then fostered a little bitch (in both senses). They did not like eachother at all at first. So I kept them separated when I was not around. After three days, all of a sudden they started to play with each other and were bestest friends until the bitch got placed in her forever home. So, in the end, this was no problem either.

I wish you good look and a lot of joy with the new arrival!

Regarding your question about the price for a pure bred: I don't know about Dobermanns in specific, but in general in Switzerland you pay between 2000 and 3000 for a pure bred

Registered SKN Swiss breeders charge from 800CHF onwards. That was the price of a Golden Retriever when I was doing research some time back.

You can expect to pay up to 2000CHF for the rarer / smaller breeds. Just in case anyone's interested.

BTW gata, I am on the lookout for a companion for my Oskar as well. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you here and look forward to updates!

When we adopted the second dog(Hana) in the beginning everything was fine. We moved house shortly after so the new house was new to both. Our problem was the 2nd dog wanted to boss the first dog.(Abby) So it reached a point where we had to keep them quite separate. They tolerated each other. We always felt badly that Abby never got the companion she may have hoped for.

Then we had the chance to rescue a 3rd dog(Cassie) who was in a very desperate situation. Bringing her home improved the situation dramatically. Abby finally had a playmate, and much to our surprise, Cassie taught Hana how to play. Now we have this trio who are inseparable. While they are the same gender, which from what I have read is not a good idea, they are very different. It makes for a lively, fun household.

In my opinion, no matter what territory your pets meet, bringing them into your house changes everything. I am not sure gender, age or breed are as significant as the nature of the pet.

Whatever decision you do reach about getting a second dog, particularly as a rescue, once you have the dog at home there may be no going back.

You should take the second dog for me.
I took my first dog 10 years ago, a wonderful dalmatian dog name Peggy, after 3 years i took the second dog, Guendalina.
I am really happy now to have also guendalina, they are so cute and always, always togheter!!!
Take the second dog, you will not regret!

This was not the case in our experience. Last year we got a 2nd dog from a rescue shelter in Valais. We were unsure how our 11 year old bitch would react but the advice from the shelter manager was excellent. We were only allowed to take the new dog on a 2 week trial basis, i believe this is the same policy for all would be adopters at this shelter. As it turned out everything went brilliantly and we happily adopted Sid after the 2 week period. My advice is to listen to the experts and go with your gut. Good luck!

I agree with everything said here. Dogs are pack animals and need their own company as much as ours. And we also experienced that previous owners are not very truthful when giving dogs to shelters. We were told our Pug, Newton, was given to the shelter because he was aggressive towards small children. This was so absolutely not true, he loves all children. Go for it, you won't regret it!

Sounds like fun for your other dog. Not sure where you live, just note in Basel, the yearly dog fee doubles for the second dog, so owning two will cost you 450 instead of what one may think would be 300 (150 + 150)

thinking about getting a dog when we move to switzerland. Is there a place online we can look at dogs for adoption, like petfinder?

I am not a fan of petfinder, as there are many battery farmers (puppy mills) lurking there. One needs to research the folks advertising there carefully - and keep a healthy dose of skepticism.

Instead I would recommend first reading this thread:

How to spot a reputable breeder

and since rescue is my thing , if you would consider a rescue, this thread might be of interest:

Adopting a pet from a Rescue Centre



In Switzerland the kennel club is the SKG:
http://www.skg.ch/cms/home.html

In Germany the VDH:
http://www.vdh.de/

And if you wish to go farther afield, the FCI (the umbrella organization of international kennel clubs):
http://www.fci.be/Default.aspx?lang=de



Contact the breed club you are interested in - the club will have a Züchtwart, a person who is responsible for keeping track of which breeders have litters planned. Be aware that most reputable breeders will have waiting lists.

Good luck!

thank you again meloncollie. I am a huge fan of rescue as well, like I said in my thread I posted.

We have used petfinder a few times (though only for cats) and I always check out the website etc and talk to the organization before adopting. In the case of my family we have always adopted from the humane society or a cat only rescue in our area.

I looked at the CH pet finder website, which is not set up like the one int he states. I just didn't understand it really, was difficult for me to get around the site (though part of that was google didn't translate all the german haha)

Thanks again for the links. I have seen the SKG site before, love their cover picture.