As most of you know, we have a crazy dog. We've been working with him for the past 3 years, and really intensely over the past 2 months. He shows signs of aggression to tall adults, kids, strollers, bikes, moving plastic bags and anything else we call an "apparatus". It's really been a crazy ride trying to work with Rex. He bites us often and we've learned to dodge his attacks.
A few months ago, we agreed this was not good enough. We're looking to have/adopt kids and there is no way we can have him act this way. We decided to invest in helping him get better. He recently was kicked out of boot camp (first dog in 10 years) and I began a training at home with him. We've established a pack and been working on obedience. We make some good strides, and then he regresses. A few days ago, he attacked me 2x in a day, and now I have cuts and bite marks all over both feet.
I couldn't do anything except cry as he was trying to eat my feet off. Luckily my mom stepped in and said the trigger word, "treat" and he snapped out of it. That was the point that I decided this wasn't going to work. I know he has bitten me many times, but this was different. After all our obedience and pack training, we've really established a bond. It was too hard to have him snap on me after working so hard with him.
Tonight I take him to the city vet where the rescue that we got him from will take him back.
Most of you are probably thinking, it's about time. Well, I know that's easy to say, but this is sooooo hard. I love him. I've spent the last 3 years trying to work with him and teach an old dog new tricks! He runs with me every day. He is my little buddy. But... I can't take it any more. I don't want to move to a new place and not be able to have people over because of the dog. I want kids to be able to pet my dog. I want to be able to pet my dog!
Hopefully the rescue can help him more than I can. My mom is going with me downtown tonight, so that I don't have to do this alone. I know Chris wishes he could be with me with this tough situation. As the tears run down my face finishing up this post... I just wanted to let you all know that we are now the dog-less family.
I do hope to have a dog again some day soon. We'll just have to be more picky about the right choice for our family.
We love you Rex!
Oh, Christina, I feel so sad for you guys! As much as we complained about him, Rex is part of our family and we will miss him. I hope that someone is able to help him calm down; you and Christian certainly did everything you could. See you tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteThanks MJ. Today feels a little better. I do know it was the right thing to do... we need a cute dog that Grace and Jack (and our own kids some day) can play with! Looking forward to today... mom is still sleeping, so I don't know what time we'll get out of here! I'm going to try to get her to do a workout before we leave, but that might not happen!
ReplyDeleteOh, I am so sorry, Christina. That is really hard. But the kids thing is very serious. We had to give Percy away after he snapped at Owen more than once. Dogs are sometimes unpredictable. YOu have to do what is right for your family. I'm sorry Chris couldn't go with you.
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