Dreamer_D
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2007
- Messages
- 29,408
My husband and I have two beautiful long-haired miniature dachshunds, pictured in my avatar. Seamus is the silver dapple, and we raised him from puppyhood. He is a bit of a troublemaker, but generally he is a great dog -- loves people, house trained, outgoing, confident. Dreamer is the red dog, and she is the source of our dilemma.
We adopted her as a bit of a rescue when she was 9 months old from the breeder who bred Seamus. She had originally adopted Dreamer to join her kennel but discovered a) that Dreamer had never been socialized and was *extremely* fearful of ALL people and b) that she had a genetic condition that caused her to become lame -- and also made her unsuitable for breeding. When confronted, Dreamer''s original breeder offered a refund on the money paid for Dreamer and told our breeder to just put her down
Our breeder refused and convinced her vets to perform the surgery to fix her leg for the cost of medications along ($400) instead of the thousands it would otherwise have cost. Then she started looking for a suitable family to adopt her.
We stepped in here and adopted Dreamer, who was a very troubled dog. She was so fearful of people that if we went for a walk she would start panicking and try to bolt if she saw a person walking 2 blocks away! She hid in her crate and would only come out to eat, and she howled and barked everytime a person entered the room, including us. She was not house trained. We thought for the first 2 months that she was too troubled and there was no way to keep her. But she slowly improved. Now three years later she has come a long way. Our breeder says we have worked wonders. She is a loving, happy dog in the safety of our home. But she is still scared of people and very territorial of our house. She marks her territory and is not 100% house trained. She hates walks and barely tolerates them. And when a stranger comes into our house, she howles with the most ear piercing screech you have ever heard, and nothing can make her stop.
Even though all of this behaviour is annoying, we could like with all of it. Unfortunately, last weekend we were at our neighbours house in their yard, and their four year old, whom the dogs have known for years and spend lots of time with, was holding their leash and talking to them, and walking them around in the yard. Out of the blue, Dreamer charged the girl barking. Those of you with dogs know this is fearful & dominant behaviour, and such behaviour is all too often a precursor to biting. We always thought that Dreamer was just fearful, and that bites would not be a major issue, but this dominant fearful behaviour scares us. And it makes us think about her other behaviour differently -- her territoriality, her "marking" of her space in the house (inclusing recently marking places where the baby tends to play), her tendency to sometimes charge at people when we go for walks.
We have a six month old son and plan to have more kids in the near future. Our house will be a loud and rambunctious house in the years to come. And we are very very worried that this is a household that will not fit well with Dreamer''s issues and needs. Knowing her, and seeing this new aggressive behaviour towards children, I suspect that in such an environment, in the long term, a bite is highly likely. Perhaps not to our children, but to one of their friends. Our breeder agrees that this is a good possibility, given Dreamer''s recent behaviour, and we all feel bad that we didn''t think of this when we adopted her -- we all thought that she was so young that she would make a complete recovery given time
I have spoken with our breeder and she is totally willing to take Dreamer back and keep her with her pack of dogs until she finds her a new home, one without young children. Dreamer knows this pack and has spent lots of time with them over the years being boarded. Our breeder is a very responsible person and always takes lifelong responsibility for any dog she breeds or acquires.
We are heartbroken over this situation. On the one hand we love Dreamer and she is a wonderful dog is so many ways. But on the other hand our family is changing and I don''t think that she will thrive in an active, rambunctious family -- and we are moving accross the country shortly! Something she would find very stressful. On top of that, I don''t trust her with my baby or other kids anymore, and in the long term, I think it is an accident waiting to happen to keep her.
I guess I just wanted to share our story and tell you how torn I am about what to do. My heart wants to keep her, but my head says that it is too risky, and isn''t good for her or for us. Has anyone faced a similar dilemma?
We adopted her as a bit of a rescue when she was 9 months old from the breeder who bred Seamus. She had originally adopted Dreamer to join her kennel but discovered a) that Dreamer had never been socialized and was *extremely* fearful of ALL people and b) that she had a genetic condition that caused her to become lame -- and also made her unsuitable for breeding. When confronted, Dreamer''s original breeder offered a refund on the money paid for Dreamer and told our breeder to just put her down
We stepped in here and adopted Dreamer, who was a very troubled dog. She was so fearful of people that if we went for a walk she would start panicking and try to bolt if she saw a person walking 2 blocks away! She hid in her crate and would only come out to eat, and she howled and barked everytime a person entered the room, including us. She was not house trained. We thought for the first 2 months that she was too troubled and there was no way to keep her. But she slowly improved. Now three years later she has come a long way. Our breeder says we have worked wonders. She is a loving, happy dog in the safety of our home. But she is still scared of people and very territorial of our house. She marks her territory and is not 100% house trained. She hates walks and barely tolerates them. And when a stranger comes into our house, she howles with the most ear piercing screech you have ever heard, and nothing can make her stop.
Even though all of this behaviour is annoying, we could like with all of it. Unfortunately, last weekend we were at our neighbours house in their yard, and their four year old, whom the dogs have known for years and spend lots of time with, was holding their leash and talking to them, and walking them around in the yard. Out of the blue, Dreamer charged the girl barking. Those of you with dogs know this is fearful & dominant behaviour, and such behaviour is all too often a precursor to biting. We always thought that Dreamer was just fearful, and that bites would not be a major issue, but this dominant fearful behaviour scares us. And it makes us think about her other behaviour differently -- her territoriality, her "marking" of her space in the house (inclusing recently marking places where the baby tends to play), her tendency to sometimes charge at people when we go for walks.
We have a six month old son and plan to have more kids in the near future. Our house will be a loud and rambunctious house in the years to come. And we are very very worried that this is a household that will not fit well with Dreamer''s issues and needs. Knowing her, and seeing this new aggressive behaviour towards children, I suspect that in such an environment, in the long term, a bite is highly likely. Perhaps not to our children, but to one of their friends. Our breeder agrees that this is a good possibility, given Dreamer''s recent behaviour, and we all feel bad that we didn''t think of this when we adopted her -- we all thought that she was so young that she would make a complete recovery given time
I have spoken with our breeder and she is totally willing to take Dreamer back and keep her with her pack of dogs until she finds her a new home, one without young children. Dreamer knows this pack and has spent lots of time with them over the years being boarded. Our breeder is a very responsible person and always takes lifelong responsibility for any dog she breeds or acquires.
We are heartbroken over this situation. On the one hand we love Dreamer and she is a wonderful dog is so many ways. But on the other hand our family is changing and I don''t think that she will thrive in an active, rambunctious family -- and we are moving accross the country shortly! Something she would find very stressful. On top of that, I don''t trust her with my baby or other kids anymore, and in the long term, I think it is an accident waiting to happen to keep her.
I guess I just wanted to share our story and tell you how torn I am about what to do. My heart wants to keep her, but my head says that it is too risky, and isn''t good for her or for us. Has anyone faced a similar dilemma?
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