People lose intelligence when it comes to their animals

[celticravenwolf]

I found out from my dad a few days ago that Molly, their australian sheperd, attacked Otis, their... small black something. She savaged him bad enough to puncture an artery in his leg, and dad had to rush him all the way to Calgary to get him treated. Nearly 1000$ and 2 days later they got him back and he's recovering

Comments

[belle7067]

Oy vey. You are right - this will NOT end well. I see it all the time. It's only a matter of time before she kills a dog, or attacks a human. The behavior escalates. I hate to say it but the solution is either rehome the aggressive dog to someone who is able to handle it, and no other dogs, but generally the best solution is euthanasia. Sad but true.

[celticravenwolf]

That's a good point to bring up with my mother - what if she attacks someone's kid? There's lots of young children that show up at their place. Molly's never so much as lifted a lip to human, but that's the famous last words of many.

The biggest problem that I see is simply that my parents don't have the skills/time to give Molly the discipline and exercise that she needs. This is why people shouldn't get working dogs that they aren't putting to work!!! (says the girl who let her husband get a husky).

Not that she'd be getting the work that needs to be doing with us, but she'll at least learn how to walk on a leash, get walked on a leash and I'm competent enough to be able to recognize and deal with any aggression before it actually turns into aggression. Dad could have prevented the situation at several different junctures, he just didn't know how, or that he was even looking at warning signals.

[belle7067]

I'll be totally frank: ANY dog is capable of attacking a person. I know you know that! Hopefully your mother will be able to see it, and see how bad it would be if that happened.
I agree about working dogs - my boyfriend desperately wants an Australian Cattle Dog, and I absolutely refuse to ever get one. Dogs like that need jobs. Without a job, they're insane. Either they're anxious, destructive, or aggressive. They need to be extremely well-managed and well-occupied.
It's a tough situation - Molly is a part of the family and no one ever wants to give that up, but the downward spiral possible with a dog showing aggression is really fast and scary. We had to euthanize one of my absolute all-time favorite dogs a month ago. The family adopted him less than a year ago, and he was amazingly cool. But he was anxious, and had a bad run-in with another dog. He then attacked two strangers while out on walks, and the owners didn't have a choice. It had progressed too far to correct, and the poor dog was confused and unhappy. It was painful.

[celticravenwolf]

Yeah, I really wish that I hadn't agreed to get the husky. Granted, he's an older dog, and once he was neutered he settled down considerably.

To preach to the choir, working dogs need jobs. Hallelujah! I can't even count how many collies and shepherds that I've known over the years who herd cats, chickens, horses, children or even other dogs. I've seen setters who spend hours chasing swallows. Fixation on objects. Possessiveness. These kind of dogs need outlets for their instinctive traits or they go batshit crazy

[sprinklerized]

Aww, poor Otis! I agree that something worse could be on the way. At least Molly could pick on something her own size if she was housed with your Husky!

[celticravenwolf]

Lol, that was something along my line of thought too! Old Wyatt can at least take a hit, and with his thick coat she's not likely to do nearly as much damage. Hell, if he really decided to fight back I'd be worried about her!