Quote:
Originally Posted by livingdustmops  Why did the first family give her up? You say they were nice, how do you know?
How did she handle things when she first came in?
Did the other family have children? If yes, how old?
Is she spayed?
Do you have other dogs?
What do you mean by discipline?
What does she do to your six year old?
Having worked with rescue yorkies (that bite people) your little girl sounds very fear aggressive and the worse thing you could do is challenge her. She will continue to bite and you will have to put her down. I do not agree with Milan's treatment of dogs at all but especially with a red zone Yorkie. |
Everyone has made really good points here. I appreciate the advice. I want to take time to answer these questions because I think they are important.
Why did the first family give her up? You say they were nice, how do you know?
Her previous owner bought her as a puppy and had her until she was 5. They say they had to give her up because they were moving and could not bring her with them. I think honestly they gave her up becasue they couldnt afford her anymore. The lady was a single lady with three kids going through a difficult divorce and she was very financially strapped and needed the money from Tallulahs sale for christmas presents for her kids. I assume they were nice. I met them twice (the owner and her three kids) and I have kept in contact with them and corresponded through e-mail regarding Tallulah. One of the stipulations of rehoming Tallulah is that we were willing to send updates with pictures of how Tallulah was doing.We agreed to that with no objections. She also told us she turned down some other families becuase they did not seem like a right fit. I am just assuming they are a nice family based on their dedication to find a great home for Tallulah and based on the two times we have met.
How did she handle things when she first came in?
When she first came to our house she was a little nervous. She walked around sniffing a lot and just followed us around. She was very calm other than her pacing around a little. We did show her around the house and showed her where her pee pads would be and everything. But from dy one she just naturally sat on our couch and slept in our bed. I did speak to her previous owner and she was allowed to do all those things at their house.
Did the other family have children? If yes, how old?
Her previous owner had three kids, two teenagers and one preteen. They seemed like nice kids. They shared some stories about them and Tallulah with us that made me think they had a really good relationship with her and they were sad to see her go.
Is she spayed?
She wasnt when we got her becasue they thought about breeding her one day and then never got around to getting her spayed. We however, got her spayed shortly after we got her. That was done a about 4 months ago.I have not noticed any behavior changes since the procedure either.
Do you have other dogs?
Tallulah is our only pet, however we use to have another dog living in our home. She may be able to smell him still but she doesnt pee in the same spot he peed in.
What do you mean by discipline?
I mean she was never trained or redirected from bad behavior. Her previous owner would swat her nose. The first time we met with the owner and Tallulah, Tallulah nipped at our six year old son. The owner swatted her nose and held her mouth shut. She said she had never seen her to that before and she didnt know why she would try to bite him. I guess we should have taking it more seriously.
What does she do to your six year old?
I have two sons, a six year old and a two year old. The two year old doesnt pay Tallulah any attention. He doesnt bother her at all. My six year old is obssessed with Tallulah and tries to hug her all the time. He likes to hold her and kiss her and pet her all day long! Tallulah has been very patient with him. Sometimes he tries to get her to play and she will nip at him when she is playing. On three occasions she has actually tried to full force bite him when he is hugging her or annoying her. The first time was the first day we met Tallulah with her owner. That day my six year old just went close to her and she tried to bite him.(The owner said that maybe Talulah felt threatened since the previous day her nephew who was 4 had visited and he was particularly rough and mean to Tallulah and maybe she was just feeling uneasy around kids his age). The other two times my son was playing too rough with her and she got upset. We have been working with our son to undertsand that its not okay to be rough with Tallulah AT ALL! He is getting better with that and since Tallulah has not bitten him, except for nipping when they are playing together.
I dont think tallulah is an aggressive dog. She does not bite strangers she just barks her head off until they get close enough for her to lick and jump on.The times she has bitten were times when she got in trouble and I swatted her nose or when she had just done something bad and ran away and hid. Or when my son is too rough with her. She seems to bite only when she feels threatend (or when she is protecting someone- she use to bite people if they came near me when I was sleeping but we got rid of that habit). From my perspective she is just a spoiled dog. I do know that her previous owner babied her a lot. I was told that they treated her like their little baby. Tallulah slept with all of them in their beds, she sat on all the furniture, she was allowed all over the house anywhere she chose whenever she wanted. There were very few boundaries and very few rules for Tallulah to follow. Now she is at our house and it just doesnt work for her to do whatever she wants and she doesnt like that. I dont think she really understands who is in charge. I have seen aggressive dogs before and Talluah does not strike me as aggressive so I have no thoughts of putting her down. Of course I do understand the risk of her biting even once, and especially a child at that.
My husband and I are really looking into some good training methods because we really dont want to give her up. To be honest we really just dont know enough about how to properly train a dog. So we are working on it.