What's the future look like for this lab?

[Grandee]

I'm just curious. I know of this 8 to 9 month old lab that has been pretty neglected. I stopped by there the other day just to check on him. He is still friendly but really skidish--maybe some abuse. I offered to take the dog from the guy, but he wasn't ready to give him up for some reason. What's the odds a guy could get him and and do some training? will he come out of the shyness, is he trainable?

[WaveWacker]

Hard to say how he is going to come out of the current situation. There is always a chance that he would be trainable. First thing that I see is a long period of just building up trust.

[Bobb-o]

We took in a dog that we found this winter. she had been very neglected, was outside when it was -10 and was projected to get to -20 the rest of the week. She had been apparently beaten as she had a few brokem ribs that had healed and had a dislocated hip from an old injury (i am assuming car) It took us a couple weeks of no sudden movements around her before she would trust us enough to let us pet her and then she would sit on the couch next to us and let us brush her and give her a bath. I am assuming she had been kicked alot because no matter how long, she would always flinch if someone moved their foot too quickly near her. I guess i would have never thought of training her, because she was a small dog, but you would have a lot of trust building ahead of you with that dog before you could even think of training it.

[JDM]

It will really depend on the individual dog. I knew some pro trainers that were really hard on dogs, yet they could get results. If you don't have anything better to do, it may be worth a try. If it were me, I would start with a clean slate. If you are the average dog owner, you only get one every 9 to 13 years. Something to think about....

[Shack]

Under a year, anything goes. It all depends on how much time you are willing to spend with dog. It can be done and you can have a great dog, that you can rant about on these forum pages. It takes time and patients. If someone does not like or want a dog, they should not have a dog. Try to encourage this person to be better to his dog and follow up if he is not.

[dogs]

I have seen some dogs that came from a bad back ground turn out as pretty nice dogs. No FC types but they seem to realize that they had found a good home and appreciate it . I took a golden retriever once at 2 it was not abused , but just kenneled. Hunted it and she came alive. She would sit by the days bag and was not going to let anyone but me near those birds. A good bird dog has that ember in them you just need to fan it.

I wonder if the reason the guy won't give the dog up is that he knows you want it (I am a pretty cynical).

[ReelTimes]

A quote that I recall from James Lamb Free's Training Your Retriever book "Its just as easy to love a good one." That quote has always stuck with me and I have shared it with a number of my friends when they have purchased dogs for hunting. As mentioned above, since you usually own the dog for many years, you might as well give yourself the best chance for success. That comes from selecting a pup from good breeding or not acquiring a dog that may have issues. There are always exceptions but I agree with the concept of giving yourself the best chance for success. Its cheaper in the long run too. Good luck.