This has been a rough day. WonderDog learned how to scale our fence today - she climbed a 6ft tall wooden privacy fence while the children were playing with her and throwing balls for her in the back yard and she got loose in the nieghborhood. This is obviously a problem because we can't have her running loose when she may be dangerous to others. I spent all afternoon trying to figure out what to do about that.
Then this evening Monkey2 and I took her to Petsmart to get a bath. It was terrible - there were a ton of dogs there, including customers' pets and a bunch of dogs that a rescue was trying to adopt out. WonderDog went NUTS. She tried to attack every dog she came near. She was growling, raising her hackles, and lunging at them. One poor shepherd mix came too close and she was all over him biting him several times before I could pull her off. It was so scary. I had never seen her like that before, but she was totally vicious.
Once we got home and I was telling my husband what happened, WonderDog bit Monkey1 pretty hard on the leg and broke the skin [and made Monkey1 cry]. While I was tending to that issue, my husband watched her sit and bite Monkey2 on the arm because he came up behind her and touched her back and startled her I guess - and it was a mad, mean bite, not a playful one. [And Monkey2 is the one who feeds her - talk about biting the hand that feeds you!]
My husband is going to take her back to the Humane Society tomorrow. I am bawling my eyes out tonight, but I don't know what else to do. I can't STAND the thought of taking her back there, and I know she will be just devastated [and she may be killed :( :( :( ], but I can't risk having her run loose in the neighborhood and harming or killing someone else's dog or, even worse, someone's child. I can't even feel at all comfortable having her around my children now.
I wanted so much to "save" her and help her be the good dog I know she wants to be. I have worked and worked and worked with her - she is SO well behaved [other than the obvious biting problem]. Today we were working on "heel" and she was almost perfect at it already - she's doing such a good job. She is 95% sweet, intelligent dog. Unfortunately, she's 5% "La Femme Nikita" - vicious attack dog.
I just feel sick and so worried about her.
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2 comments:
Kelly,
I once had a cat that bit and scratched and I don't know if cat and dog behaviour differ but the Animal Control People said that once a cat gets into a biting mode; it's virtually impossible to break them of it. Something like a primal response to threats. We got her from a shelter too and she did go back after a time.
I know it's hard that the dog had to go back but I can really see you had a problem.
Maybe eventually you'll find an honest breeder where you can find a dog without a past.
Thanks Patience! In retrospect, I did the right thing to take her back. I probably should have done it weeks earlier than I did, but I just couldn't bear to give up on her.
Kelly
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