I agree with this.

Does that mean if your circumstances change and they need to be left that you will have to rehome your dogs straight away?

I have an NI, I've had her around 18 months, she is now 6 yrs old. I wasnt warned that she was dog aggressive and had very little recall training...I found this out purely by chance 'testing' her while out with my neighbour and her dog several times over.
She has been diagnosed with osteo-arthritis & hips displasia,aswell as other stuff so walks aren't allowed to be strenuos.

She now has to be walked on a huge flexi lead & muzzled while we are in busy places incase of the offchance of meeting another dog.

I tried training for around 6 months to try and curb the dog aggressiveness & also the recall, but as she isn't really fussed too much on treats or anything else, it proved very difficult especially at the age of 5.

Despite her problems, I wouldn't part with her for the world. She is a very loving dog!

B x

i wouldnt personally 'just let them off' i would train a recall i wouldlnt expect them just to come back without training, we can let one of our huskies off but not the other 1, have you tried going somewhere enclosed to train a recall that way you can let them off without worrying about them running away and if he doesnt listen then you know its not really the best idea to let him off just yet and you need to practise on the recall sommore

My two NI want to be with me (follow me about) when i'm around... (especially my bitch) but when i go out they are absolutely fine to be left alone for up to 4-5 hours (the longest that they`ve been left up to now)

None of mine have issues being left alone. I do wonder whether sep issues are created by owners, created by breeders (breeding from the wrong dogs), or if it is either or.......or whether it is normal in some breeds hence some NIDs having it and some not, (eg with the balance being different from breeding to breeding) ????

I respect your opinion Gnasher but its not realistic to expect people o be with the dog 24/7, they just won't do it.

Therefore should the dog be rehomed? Imo no as the homes like yours are few and far between and the dog will suffer a great deal of distress in the rescue system.

I believe its better to improve the dogs own confidence so it can stay home alone and be more relaxed in general.

As you've found your system isn't foolproof, at some point you will leave the dog and it will become distressed. I 'd sooner avoid that happening.

Note my views may change if I get a wolfdog!

Adam

...and why would you wanna do that ?

Of course no-one can tell what the future holds, but the circumstances would have to be extremely exceptional for both of us to be out of the house every day. OH is 62, and semi-retired, works from home as a website designer and picture-framer, so therefore extremely unlikely to suddenly become employable after 18 years of being unemployed. If something ghastly happened to him, and I was left on my own, a widow, I would have a real problem. I am a medical secretary, it would be impossible for me to work from home because of confidentiality issues, so I have to go out to work, and it would be a problem. I would do everything I could of course to keep my dogs, and of course I would not rehome them straight away - I would have to build kennels with a run for them and see if they would eventually settle. Ben is not the problem actually (Hal's son), it's Tai. Because his previous owner used to sneak out of the house when he had to leave Tai, Tai now has an innate distrust of being separated from us because he thinks that, for instance, whilst he is out in the garden, we will sneak out the front and leave him. Instead of doing this, it would have been so much more sensible - which is what we did with Hal - to let him know that we are leaving and being open and honest about it, instead of sneaking off and traumatising the poor dog. I sincerely hope I am never put to the test of having to leave the boys home alone all day, but if I had to, I would certainly give it my best shot.

It may be unreasonable, but I do it, or at least me and OH do it! You are probably right, that we should work on leaving them. Ben would not be a problem, it's poor Tai, you would need to meet him and see with your own eyes the problem to be able to understand. Our system is foolproof actually - but we, us humans, have to make sacrifices, sacrifices that I am more than happy to make. But I do accept your point that we should do something about it - for the dogs' sakes.