I adopted an adult dog on a trial basis only once, he hated my current dog and wouldn't let her near me. He also bolted out the door into the street any time you opened a door. I gave him back to her desperate owner who needed a home for him after three days. I felt terrible about it because I think she eventually had to have the dog put down.
I won't own a dog that doesn't tolerate the kind of abuse the young children often impose on them.
Yeah, based on that info I would bet the dog was never trained or socialized.
The problem with such adult dogs is that you never know. Maybe the owner DID do some very basic “no” “sit” “stay” training and the dog is just naturally gentle. Like I said on a previous post in the thread, raising a dog as from a puppy, even with POOR training is still safer than the risk of the unknown dog.
Every animal has its own personality and dominance. My dog, in particular was VERY dominate and I probably had to spend far more hours than I would have with another of her siblings had they been my choice. But I picked the most playful and bossy of the litter and got a pistol!
Later, in competitions, both her demeanor and my training proved its measure. May judges commented often that they had never seen an a dog so well behaved. I mean, outside of a professionally trained sight guide dog.
She could do all sorts of tricks too. Again, almost EVERYTHING was built in that first year. But for example. She loved the rocket slide at the town park. And all the little kids loved the doggy who would ride the slide. She would climb up the stairs and then slide down face first paws out to the bottom and jump up and do it again.
She road in my lap the first 100 times down the slide for a month before she did it solo.
When I get another dog, I will be married and have small children. Not before.