Marzipan12
Well-Known Member
I apologise for the length of this in advance but I feel that it needs to be long to ensure you get the full picture.
A little over a year ago a friend of mine took a dog out of a horrible situation where she had been badly attacked by another dog, left with huge, gaping infected wounds and was so matted in her own mess, other dogs mess and mud, her entire coat had to be taken off.
She had to go straight to the vets to be cleaned up but could not be operated on straight away as the wounds were too badly infected. As my friend has cats and this dog reacted very badly with cats, she came to live with me as a foster for a few days until something else could be sorted.
A year and a bit later she is still with me. She is an 8 year old Kerry Blue Terrier who has been used for breeding and as far as we know has been shown very little love and affection. Because she was chained up and I personally think attacked by another dog whilst chained up, her aggression towards other dogs is extremely bad, to the point where I believe if she could, she would kill any other dog she sees. She heads straight for their throat or stomach so she has to be muzzled if we do go out, which is limited (I'm lucky that I can exercise her at work) and she is always kept on a lead.
She always suffers terribly from seperation anxiety and if we go out will pace back and forth constantly, mess - a lot and bark - a lot.
I love her to bits and it has taken her a long time to come out of her shell, but I do not think I am the best home for her. I have tried all sorts of training methods and do some clicker training with her which she loves. I have just quit my office job so that I can work on a yard full time and take her to work with me, but she still seems unhappy.
I think the ideal home for her would be someone with a lot of land - no other dogs or cats - livestock are fine, with someone who is at home all day as I think what I'm offering her is not enough. But the ideal home doesn't ever seem to come along!
Ideally I don't want to rehome her as she takes so long to come out of her shell and settle, its taken her a year to start playing with toys for example. I just wondered if any of you had experienced anything similar with your dogs and any paths or routes you took to help this?
Sorry again for the length - any advice would be greatly appreciated.
A little over a year ago a friend of mine took a dog out of a horrible situation where she had been badly attacked by another dog, left with huge, gaping infected wounds and was so matted in her own mess, other dogs mess and mud, her entire coat had to be taken off.
She had to go straight to the vets to be cleaned up but could not be operated on straight away as the wounds were too badly infected. As my friend has cats and this dog reacted very badly with cats, she came to live with me as a foster for a few days until something else could be sorted.
A year and a bit later she is still with me. She is an 8 year old Kerry Blue Terrier who has been used for breeding and as far as we know has been shown very little love and affection. Because she was chained up and I personally think attacked by another dog whilst chained up, her aggression towards other dogs is extremely bad, to the point where I believe if she could, she would kill any other dog she sees. She heads straight for their throat or stomach so she has to be muzzled if we do go out, which is limited (I'm lucky that I can exercise her at work) and she is always kept on a lead.
She always suffers terribly from seperation anxiety and if we go out will pace back and forth constantly, mess - a lot and bark - a lot.
I love her to bits and it has taken her a long time to come out of her shell, but I do not think I am the best home for her. I have tried all sorts of training methods and do some clicker training with her which she loves. I have just quit my office job so that I can work on a yard full time and take her to work with me, but she still seems unhappy.
I think the ideal home for her would be someone with a lot of land - no other dogs or cats - livestock are fine, with someone who is at home all day as I think what I'm offering her is not enough. But the ideal home doesn't ever seem to come along!
Ideally I don't want to rehome her as she takes so long to come out of her shell and settle, its taken her a year to start playing with toys for example. I just wondered if any of you had experienced anything similar with your dogs and any paths or routes you took to help this?
Sorry again for the length - any advice would be greatly appreciated.
at the time they so desperately want the dog