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Originally Posted by jrsygal37  I'm sorry you are going through this. How old is Sadie and how old is Bentley? Assuming she was with you first, did she get along with him at first and how long after did it start? I'm sorry, I have not been on YT too much following the threads. Although, my situation is different then what is happening here I went through a similiar. My Jersey, out of the blue began attacking. Her attacks were mainly focosed on Lilly, but then they soon started with the others. We had her to the vet over and over and was told that she needed training and then it was that some dogs just don't like other dogs. It didn't make sense to me, since they grew up together playing and loving each other. Jersey was a strange puppy, always liking to be alone more then in with the others. Just certain behaviors I found strange and this was why we took her to the vet often to be checked. I had concerns from the beginning at 10 weeks of age, and should have listened better to what I was feeling. The aggression with Jersey started at about 16 months old. We finally came to a decision to try and rehome her without other dogs, and was set to work with a rescue in placing her with someone on their waiting list. Our neighbor who was great with animals, and had none had an interest in adopting Jersey. She has a 10 year old daughter and we decided to take walks with her and see how she did. The first night, her daughter had Jersey on the leash, Jersey turned and charged toward the little girl aggressively. I was in tears. During her aggression she would get a blank look in her eyes and if you tried to intrupt or stop it, she'd turn on you. It was getting very bad. The ending point was when she turned to grab the little girl. i took her back to the vet, but used another vet. Jersey was diagnosed right away, with an issue with a brain abnormalty and possible Liver Shunt. In between the incident and the vet visit, she also fell a couple of times, jsut fell over and started screaming in pain. This was a first. It came out of the blue. Ending, was that we were told we can go through thousands and never be able to cure or fix her. We were told the most humane thing to do would be to put her down. it was horrrible. We had just put our 10 year old (Our first Yorkie) down a year to the day ealier. Jersey, my husband got for me to help me through losing Newman and now we had to put her down. This is the first I have been able to talk about it without breaking down. As I look at her pictures over the 17 months we had her, I noticed or really my son noticed that Jersey's eyes changed. Right before we lost her, there is a picture of her and her eyes look dead. They do not look bright and vibrant as they had. It was tough, 17 months old. I don't know evne now for sure what happened, I know I spent months and months after on the internet looking for answers and crying not sure i did the right thing. Sometimes I'm still not sure, but I do believe through the reading that Jersey may have had Hydrocephalus, maybe through a trauma when she was young before we got her. She had classic symptoms that at the time i was not aware of, and maybe if I had been we could have prevented this and she'd still be her. I would exhaust all options and medical possiblities before making a decision. I'm sorry again you are going throug this. Elaine |
What a story, i'm so sorry for what you went through. I have been researching that very disease as well as thyroid issues just in case and have found not a single other symptom of either to match her to one. It also started when I got pregnant so we're pretty sure it's hormone related. I had a lady suggest a pheremone collar which mimicks the mother's scents to calm puppies. Maybe having that on will help soothe her and mask the smells i am putting off to freak her out. Also thought about trying her thundershirt all day long to calm her, seems like with it on she's a happier dog. May start that today.
UPDATE: Both dogs slept in their own crates last night. Sadie was silent and I think slept okay and Bentley panted all night but didn't whine for once. He's the seperation anxiety dog so it's harder on him even with his crate literally right beside me. He made it to 4am and both got a drink and potty break and came back to my bed with me while DH went to work. They slept all morning with me.
It's not that i mind them in our bed, but it's nice to be able to snuggle each other for once without dogs in between. and it'll be helpful with nursing to have the dogs in their own "safe space" where they aren't woken up as much by our up and down for feedings.
Also have a few holds at the local library on introducing and preparing dogs for babies and other training books suggested. If you have any suggestions on great books let me know.