Living with an Incorrigible Dog

Eight years ago hubby and I decided to return to the shelter that we adopted our little Chihuahua from. Hubby was madly in love with this little, white Chi and wanted to show off this perfect pet. Looking back I can see we must have been out of our minds. We cannot walk into a shelter and leave empty handed it seems. We should have known that. We took the little ride. We arrived and hitched up our dog and strolled nonchalantly in, blissfully oblivious to the fact that we are animal addicts.

We no sooner had walked into the Shelter than one of us, possibly me, asked the innocent questoin "Do you have any Chihuahuas?" Having had Doberman Pinchers through rescue situations we had now scaled down quite a bit. Of course, they immediatealy ran to the back and came out with two dogs. One really didn't look like a Chi, the other one looked like a teeny, tiny deer. Well, that was it. You could see our eyes glaze over watch us start to drool. Hubby is saying let's take him; I'm going, no, no (very weakly obviously). The handler immediately told us that this little deer like creature was fear aggressive and scheduled for euthenasia. Not only did this not deter us it made us more anxious to take him home. I'm sure they though we were crazy but we certainly had the background to handle a situation like this so papers were signed. The dog was altered and we picked him up after his surgery.

We do Wildlife Rescue and have gone out in any weather to help or rescue a needy animal. We have turned our home into a foster home for feral cats. We have had racoons running rampant in our closets or snuggling in bed with us skunks discover their scenting ability in our family room, snakes and buynnies go missing only to be found in the laundry or book case and while everyone else seems to have these perfect pets we have ended up with the dog from H---.

Still under the influence of sedation he was a sweet, lovely little thing. By that evening the sedatives had worn off and the monster came out. Hubby leaned in to pet him and got bitten in the face. Not once, three times. I said "Uh,oh, maybe this was a mistake." "No", Hubby said, "We'll find the sweet in him." Thus began years of working with this 5 pound piece of ferocious fur. We checked on his history; he had been living in a car with a boxer and two people.Tight quarters lending itself to food issues and general defensiveness. He also hated/feared large dogs because of this. That was understandable. He had no problem with our other dog, a small Chi; he just became the alpha dog in this situation. This was good for him since he obviously was low in the pecking order with his previous family. He also preferred women so I did alot of the the feeding and training. We both went to classes and took turns in that area.

To begin with we did a lot of hand feeding. It was a way of getting him to trust people around food and to associate me and hubby with a good thing, food. He would tend to store his food in his cheek or sometimes he would gulp it down and then regurgitate it and eat it in the safety of a corner.

We also worked on all the basics, sit, heel, come, stay with a food rewards system since he was anxious about food. This way he learned what was needed of him and that food could be earned. We enrolled him in dog school and he was very fast to learn his basics but hated the school. In these classes they mixed large and small dogs and this was an issue for him. It was something he neede to work on so I kept him in the class.

We also took him eveyrwhere to socialize him. We would go to a dog friendly beach. At first he would try to attack any large dogs he saw. In the beginning I would remove him from the situation by putting him back on our boat. He would bark at them from there and I would work on correcting him. A quick Chhht sound and a little tap on the neck a la Dog Whisperer Cesar Milan's method. If it was fairly quiet on the beach with only one large dog I would sit him on my lap, leashed and everytime a large dog would go by I would correct him if he went off on the dog. I would quickly flip him on his back on my lap and calm him. This has proven very affective in bringing down his anxiety about large dogs.

When he "attacks" them it is always a lot of charging and barking. He doesn't want to get into a fight with the big dog or people who come to close to him, he wants to scare them away. His behavior is very much like a cat puffing up to look larger and more fearsome when threatened. Of course, not all big dogs will understand him so he must be on leash when he is out and about. I alwys make sure to tell people he is in training. I cannot trust him to be on good behavior since he has a definite problem. He's certainly a hundred times better but it isn't worth having him nip someone.

My grandchildren are fine around him. When they were first introduced to him I rubbed their feet and legs with dog treat. This way they had that good scent and gave him a positive reaction to them. This is excellent to do with any introduction. Now, he's perfectly comfortable with them and they know the rules around him. He isn't a toy, never trust him completely and, no teasing of course, ever. They are respectiful of his issues and I always stay near and watch them like a hawk, the kids and the dog.

I also take him out in a stroller if I'm going to be in a large crowd. This is to get him used to crowds without being stepped on. It also keeps people at a distance since he is cute and tiny and looks like something pettable. I always tell people he's in training. Another method I used to get him quieted and less anxious was a sling. I purchased a baby sling. The kind of sling you put over your shoulder with the sack area across your front. I would and still do carry him around like that for hours. It's calming exactly the way it would be for an infant and it leaves me hands free. It also comforts him, he's close to me and he can tuck his head in and "hide" if he feels the need. I do this when I have a lot of noisey children around so he's safe; he can watch what is going on and has my body as "back up" protecting him from whatever makes him fearful. This has proven extremely helpful. It's as though he's starting over as a baby. A puppy will stay close to it's mother at first and he needed to relive that close feeling to make him calmer and less assertive.

Adopting an animal with issues means taking on a lot of responsibility and putting in a lot of work but being able to make a good dog out of a problem dog is very rewarding.