Here are just A FEW of the issues that we had with our puppy mill puppy.... sudden outrageous unprovoked outbursts (my daughter had to remove her from the pet store once when she went beserk when a little boy looked at her (she loved people) and then had to stand in line to pay listening to people talk about the psycho dog. She had submission issues and while she did fairly well with housebreaking, if my husband just looked at her, she let her urine go everywhere. It was impossible to even find all the spots when she was tinkling while running. She had a hard time learning her place in the pack. She was insecure so she went between being overly submissive to being very aggressive. She snapped at all of us if it wasn't one of her "good days". She did not sleep - ever. She could only sleep for an hour or two at night and never during the day. You know how a toddler is when they're overly tired? She was horribly agressive to our other dog. I was worried about her biting someone. These are just a handful of the issues we faced. AND the stress that all of this takes on your family is hard to predict. My poor husband just could NOT stand the stress. We fought constantly over his impatience with her and my coddling her. It is not JUST the dog that is affected. In severe cases like Roxie's, it can place a strain on your family. I started imagining how my husband would act if one of our children had a learning disability, etc., etc. We were so good to Roxie and I miss her terrible, but you have to think of your family also. Yorkie Rescue Mission worked with me through a lot of it, but we finally had to find her a forever home with no children, no other animals, no company, and stay at home parents. I still get teary thinking about the pain that she lives her life in because of puppy mills. Sorry to ramble - it's been three years and feels like yesterday. |