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Originally Posted by Deadbug  I just rescued one named Daisy a week and a half ago. She's my psycho dog!
I didn't tell the whole story behind her (I'm usually going in 5 directions and didn't have time to sit down at the computer).
Daisy will be 3 in October and is 3.5 - 4 lbs. She was scheduled for euthanasia because she's psychotic and aggressive and that alone puts her on the "not adoptable" list. She was beaten and beaten severely. Her aggressive issues stem from fear, nothing else. So I took her in, dealt with my husband's death stare regarding my decision (I didn't ask - I just did it), and here we are. So I think for the time being, I'm going to have to abstain from another rescue while I get her through her issues. I, personally, think she can be fixed.
We started with getting through the food aggression. She liked to guard her bowl and would literally attack anyone who walked by her while she was eating. So, I put 10 of them down all through the kitchen and told her to guard them all. She ran herself out of energy running from one side of the room to the other trying to guard all of them. It took 3 days before she gave up and realized it's not going to work. At that point I started hand feeding her and making her be nice to get kibble. When she misbehaved, I'd pretend that I ate it instead. It took her an hour to eat her breakfast. Now, I can pet her while she's eating. She's still eating with her food bowl on my lap, but she's not snapping and growling anymore.
There's quite a bit of other stuff to work through. I'm trying to build her confidence. She gets lots of time outs but we've made great progress. I only got bit once in the past 3 days. Every time she bites me, I laugh at her and put her in the ex pen.
I worked as the southern regional director for westie rescue for 5 years and worked closely with some very good dog trainers, so I have experience with this. It's too soon to tell how things will turn out but I refuse to let her be put down because of something some human did to her. She's not a bad dog. She's just misunderstood and needed someone who speaks dog. |
GOD BLESS YOU!!!! I love the idea of all the bowls all over the kitchen and her trying to guard every one of them....BRILLIANT!!!!! Good luck with this casuality of some idiot human......I think there is a special place in Heaven for people that take abused, misunderstood animals, and gently, patiently works through their issues....like all those "vicious, killer fighting" pit bulls from M.Vicks dog fighting kennel, and they were rehabilitated and saved from being euthanized....