Originally Posted by kjc  Just an FYI... I am not judging you or your DH... I understand only because I've been in a similar situation myself (with the little angel you see to your left in my avatar, Bless his heart).
She didn't get where she is overnight, and it won't be fixed in a night. It may take months to turn her behavior around. With my Peek A Boo, we were in a downhill spiral, and it seemed like everyday he found something new to do just to piss me off.
He was sneaky, and the more I tried to correct him, the worse he got. I did a great deal of soul searching one weekend, and decided if corrections weren't working, I needed to change my plan. So I did the opposite and started praising him. He sat in my lap every night and not once in 8 months would he make eye contact with me. Every night I made a point to tell him I love you. You are a Good Boy. And I don't care what you do, you will always have a home here, I will never make you leave. After a few weeks, I decided he just wasn't going to bond with me, and choose to accept that, and accept him as he was. I did start giving him a kiss on his cheek. His response was to turn his head away from me. Fine, I was going to kiss him every night anyway. After 2 months, he turned away, I kissed his cheek, then he turned his head the other way...? What? You want a kiss on your other cheek? So I did. Still he wouldn't look at me, but he got his kisses every night.
After 8 months of this, one night I gave him his talk and his kisses (sometimes he would keep turning his head back and forth and till he got 4-5 kisses on each side, lol), then, out of the blue, he licked my cheek. I never expected that, I had given up in my heart of ever reaching him, and went into shock, tears streamed down my face, and I remember thinking, yeah, we're on our way.
And along the way, the bad behavior gradually dropped off, just as gradually as it built up. We became best buddies, and when he died in December, he took a huge chunk of my heart with him. His last day, I saw fear in his eyes and I grabbed him up in my arms, I knew it was his time, and I told him, I love you, it's okay, you're the best boy ever and I'll love you forever. Mommy loves you baby. You're such a Good Boy! And he took his last breath and died peacefully in my arms.
Just don't give up. |