All bark and bite.
Today is a very sad day.
I mentioned in a previous entry that I never expected getting a dog would be such an emotional journey for me – in both good and bad ways.
I had the emotions of dealing with Ruby adjusting to the cats and the cats not eating. I had the emotions of dealing with the neighbors who’s complaint could have meant we had to get rid of the dog. I had the emotions of dealing with a dog that I learned had not only been abused, but neglected in her previous home as well. I had the emotions of dealing with a dog that had significant separation anxiety and that shook like a leaf if she saw us reach for our shoes and jackets.
All of those things sort of came and went and she continued to adjust to her new environment, build trust in us as her owners, and know that we were not going to abandon her.
She no longer throws herself in front of the door when we leave. She patiently sits in her "spot" on the couch and watches us. She is patiently waiting for us in the same spot when we return. The barking is under control and is really a non-issue at this point. The cats tolerate the dog and have long-since resumed their eating, drinking, playing, and sleeping habits. They no longer live every moment in fear.
(All though from time to time, there will be a hiss or growl exchange that amounts to nothing).
We have taken her to the dog park on many occaissions where she behaved remarkably well. We have taken her for a walk every day but two days since we got her. She has only been left alone once longer than 7 hours (it was a day Chewie and I both happened to be working), otherwise we are rarely both gone for longer than 2 or 3 hours.
She has not had a single accident in our house, or any other house she has visited. She has adjusted to, and enjoys car rides. She is incredibly intelligent and has already learned several more commands that she didn’t know like "shake," "kennel," and "go potty."
We took her to the vet for her rabies and distemper shots, and full check up by the doctor, her heartworm pills, and a stool specimen test. According to the vet, she is very healthy. She even lost about 5 pounds. When we got her, she was overweight and had existed entirely on a diet of people food. We have bathered her, played with her, given her toys and spent lots of money on her.
The only thing I still worried about at this point was the fact that she didn’t eat or drink while we weren’t home. Even if we gave her her absolute favorite treat before we walked out the door, it would remain untouched when we would return. Her breakfast would still be in her bowl when we got home at 4:00 in the afternoon. It would appear as if she hadn’t even moved off of her "spot" on the couch. This concerns me, but she eats when we get home and I have been keeping close watch that she eats the same amount of food every day. (If we give her breakfast while we are at home, she eats it right away).
And then there was last night.
Last night Ruby and I were home alone while the boys went to wrestling. I gave her a new bone I had purchased at the pet store the day before. She walked with it in her mouth over to her kennel where she usually chews her bones. She must feel safe chewing her bones in her kennel even though the door is wide open. She knows she doesn’t have to worry about the cats bothering her.
She laid in her kennel for over an hour and I hadn’t heard her chew on it once. I walked over to her kennel, talked to her a little bit, pet her, and took her bone.
She came out of the kennel and we played a little bit – I used the bone to entice her. She was running all over the living room burning energy. Finally, I held the bone high and gave the command for her to "jump." She jumped up high and grabbed the bone with her mouth. I gave her praise, patted her on the back and let her wander back to her kennel with her bone.
About an hour and a half later, I realized she was still in her kennel and had not touched her bone. I walked over to confirm this. She growled a little and I left her alone.
Another hour goes by and she is still in her kennel, now sitting on the bone – it’s not even in site. But I know she has not touched it yet, as I could see into her kennel from where I was sitting.
I decided that I was going to take the bone and put it away for another day. I was worried that she would come out of her kennel eventually to go to the bathroom or something and the cats would get curious and she would defend her bone.
I walked back over to her and talked to her. She didn’t seem possessive at all. She wasn’t growling or showing her teeth.
I reached in her kennel to pet her head and then grab her bone. But before I even pet her head, she flew up in rage, hit her head on the roof of the kennel, and bit me.
Now she was snarling and growling. I quickly closed the door on the kennel so she was locked inside, still with the bone.
I looked at the heel of my hand where she got me, (the most fleshy part of my hand). It was dripping blood and burned horribly.
I was crying more because I was hurt the dog behaved in such an aggressive way when she hadn’t exhibited these behaviors under similar situations in the past. I got my self cleaned up. I bled for 2 hours following. She all but ripped a chunk of my hand off which is still attached in the middle by a thread.
I went back over to the kennel to see if she calmed down. I dumped her out of the kennel, put the kennel on the dining room table, took the bone out without her seeing me, and put the kennel back down on the floor. I gave her the command to go in her kennel and locked the door behind her.
I walked the bone outside to the garbage can in the garage.
I came back in and left her alone for about 20 minutes. I walked back over to her kennel and again talked to her in a calm and quiet voice. After about 15 seconds, she freaked out again, hit her head, and tried to bite my face through the cage door.
I covered the kennel with a blanket and started bawling.
I can’t have this behavior around the cats or Isaiah.
Chewie came home about 10 minutes later. I told him what happened. He went over to her kennel and she was in a submissive stance. She seemed to be calm and resorting back to her ways of hunkering down because of her past.
He reached down to open the door to her kennel and in pure instinctual reflexes, I started bawling uncontrollably. I was crying so hard I couldn’t tell him not to open the door.
I was officially scared of my own dog. Luckily Chewie could tell that I was scared and left her in her kennel.
About an hour later we let her out. She avoided me and hovered around Chewie, which is very counter her normal behavior. Usually she is all over me and doesn’t leave my side. She has to be everywhere I am or she wines. She even wines when I go into the bathroom in the morning to take a shower and close the door.
I tried to sleep in Isaiah’s bed because I didn’t want to sleep with her in my bed. It didn’t work. She finally stopped avoiding me and wouldn’t let me kick her out of the bed so she could go lay with Chewie. I even tried closing the door and she managed to open the door anyway and come back in.
This m
orning she seemed "normal."
But I don’t know what to do. She came up to me this morning while I was sitting on the bed and bowed her head and looked up at me like she was ashamed. She licked where she bit me. I couldn’t even pet her.
I don’t want to return her because no one will adopt her if they know she bit someone. But we can’t keep her if she is going to behave like this. What if she bit Isaiah?
I love her. And would miss her terribly. And hate that she did this because now I am forced to decide whether or not to get rid of her.
I think part of me wants to try to work with her a little longer. She was abused. She doesn’t really know anything other than that aside from the few weeks she has been with us. Maybe I need one of those dog behaviorists to come and do an assessment. The vet recommended one when we mentioned her separation anxiety.
I don’t know.
Hm. That seems odd that she’d do that now. Maybe give it a couple days and see what happens.
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Hi…found you on the front page but we also have fav’s in common…I wonder if that bone contained something that was like a poison or had some sort of chemical that your dog reacted badly to…I don’t think the dog was at fault in this case since you seem to be doing such a good job with all of her other issues. I really believe that bone is toxic from what you’ve described…
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and it could have been that you startled her – sometimes dogs that have been abused automatically try and defend themselves if woken up suddenly – I really think it all stems from her past, poor thing. I hope you are able to keep working with her.
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Random noter: You took her bone. You were using the bone as a toy, but it was obviously more than just a toy to her. Not only that, but you invaded her “space” in order to try to take it. I think you were able to take the bone the first time from her kennel because she didn’t know what you were going to do. No way was she going to let you do that again. As she has regained self confidence she isalso taking ownership of her space. I don’t think she’s vicious, she’s just learning how to be more assertive.
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I don’t have a lot of savy in the animal department. But I would definetly listen to what FRIDAY’S CHILD is saying. She has lots of animals & is learning & doing some pretty amazing things with her dog. While I don’t know -Ender- that person makes some sense too. The kennel should be her space period. Not that excuses the behavior, and you wouldn’t want to encourage that everytime someone crossed
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those boundaries, but she should have a sense of feeling some level of ownership there. If the bone does have a toxic substance in it, or maybe just toxic to her, maybe she was (in her mind) trying to ‘save’ you from it? Not hurt you. It was to her a drastic measure, but how else can she communicate the importance of that to you? IDK… I’m just looking at all the possible angles here. I don’t
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want you to have to give her up either, but neither do I want the rest of the family to be the next victim of an attack. Sorry you were hurt and frightened so badly. An assessment from a dog whisperer might not be such a bad idea. Ask FRIDAY about it. She can probably steer you in the right direction. I really trust her good judgement on animals… and she will have Ruby’s best interest at heart
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That’s the bad thing about kennels, I think some dogs are pretty territorial. Also, it sounds like maybe Ruby views Chewie as the boss and you as a friend, so not necessarily in charge. Maybe going to training classes with her so she learns that you’re in charge too, if that’s an option. Giving her stuff like chew sticks instead of bones so it’s harder for her to keep might help as well.
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see here’s the thing, you really need to show your dog who is boss. I remember when we first got Bonne-Amie, if she would growl or snap, my father would punish her. I’m not saying hit the dog, but lock her in the kennel. Take something away that she will know is punishment. They’re dogs, but they understand quickly what is untolerated behavior.
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wow. that’s horrible. i teared up reading this. my kaiser nipped at me when I tried to take away his pork chop bone that had gotten to choking hazard size. I have been bitten by dogs before and have a fear of certain breeds that I cannot control so I immediately towered and commanded respect and fear from him…mostly for myself because I had a moment of panic/fear when he nipped.
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Yeah, I see this at work all the time. It’s not a bad behavior thing as much as it’s just instincts. Dogs just don’t know better, just make sure to not let anyone go grab her food from her or anything and make sure to let the kids know not to touch a dog while it eats. They just get possessive.
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i agree that chewie is the boss & U are the friend. my hub says some dogs can have only ONE boss. Beagles are known biters. Hopefully it is isolated to bones & kennel & U can gain back yr confidence & her trust as well. Kaiser was only 3.5 mos when we got him but I could tell he already had food issues b/c of his time w/other bully dogs. I would sadly boot him if he injured 1 of my cats. tuff call
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Here you go.. “Possession Aggression” http://www.doglogic.com/possess.htm
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i’m betting it’s because you were taking her bone. dogs are very territorial over their food and even the easy-going ones will nip if their food is threatened. i’ve always heard if you have to take stuff like that, do it when they can’t see you doing it and there’s no problem. otherwise, they freak. sorry you had such a bad day. hopefully it’s just a setback and not a deal breaker.
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Oh no. That really sounds confusing and I don’t know much about that because my dog was a really big Alaskan malamute who howled alot but never bit anyone. I think what other people have said about the bone containing something, or Ruby wanting to protect her ‘space’ make sense though.
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Yup, she was just keeping what was hers. Someone was right though, you were using it for fun and it was “hers.” I really thought about what to tell you because I know how disheartning it is to have a beloved pet bite you. Since our labs have been pups, we’ve worked on taking their food away or them physically from the bowl during eating to try and avoid food territoral problems. Then one night…
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we brought home steak and Moose went all crazy–took it out of Maxx’s mouth and got really territorial. He took us by surprise. He hasn’t done it since with anything but it seems to be an isolated event. The same with Ruby. It’s my hope that she just found a little agression and it won’t happen again. And someone else was right, you’re probably not the alpha so it was easy for her to do that.
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It’s a hard decision to know what to do because of Isaiah. We we found Big Dog, we had no idea what he was like and he was territorial. I guess Isaish will know not to play with her bones, etc. I don’t know if you can teach an old dog new tricks in this case… I hope you won’t be scared of her. It’s hard to “trust” after the event. Remember it was hard for her to learn to trust after moving in
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I’m written so much. I’m so happy she found a good home and hope that you’re feeling better and she as well. Good luck with Ruby!
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My dog does things like this too. I don’t know what it is, but when you look at him from behind a fence, or when he’s outside and you look at him through the window, he freaks out. Once he’s in the same area as you though, he’s fine. No explanation for it.
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I agree with the other noters. I think it was a one time thing, or at least just something that you need to be aware of and avoid. Maybe you can find some information on how to work with her on it. *hugz*
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My first impulse was to put your love for isiah and Madaya and your concern for their welfare before that of Ruby. Then I read the other noters, and they make a lot of sense. Still, everyone (even FRIDAY, who’s judgment I trust implicitly) is only guessing at the dog’s motivations. It’s hard as hell to lose a pet, whatever the reason. (more)
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Therefore, I suggest you follow your own instincts (which, let’s face it, are usually damn good) and consult a dog behaviorist. He, too, will only be guessing, but his will be a far more educated guess than any you’ll find here. I REALLY hope it all works out, and you get to keep her.
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That’d be scary. I wonder what specifically in her past contributed to her oddly unnecessary and aggressive behavior. It used to make me want to cry when Asha gashed me when I was just petting her and she was purring. It is something that’s just scary because it’s unexpected and seems illogical. If anyone can train her to exhibit better behavior, though, it’s you.
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Monday is President’s Day. Yeah I totally forgot too, but since I work for the Gee Oh Vee Tea now, I need to know these things, since I’ll have the day off to chill and play Wii. Why do you have two days off for no reason?
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🙁 I’m so sorry. i wish I had some advice to give you. But I think I would go with the suggestion from the vet and try a trainer… i hope things get better. I couldn’t imagine having to get rid of a pet. I know you have become attached.
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I’m so sorry! That stinks. I’m sure it was a fluke thing. Maybe with more time she’ll get better?
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I recommend a dog behaviorist as well… We used to have pretty similar problems with the last dog we had and expert help was really useful.
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WOW..I can imagine what your feeling right now. That is so Odd for the dog to do that! You have to follow your heart in this. Do what you think is best for you and your family. RYN: I just wish I had my feelings sorted out in order for me to do what needs to be done! This love thing blows at times girl!
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