Let me start by clarifying that Ellie titles this post all by herself! You remember Happy...the new dog we got in December? Well after Riley died we decided Happy needed a playmate. It was unbelievable to me that we had 5 acres for him to play on but unless we were outside with him he would sit on the porch and pout. And who wants to be outside in the middle of winter in Oregon?! So back to the shelter we went and came home with a lab pointer mix, super cute white and black, super sweet (hence the name) dog. Yes, we now have two dogs named Happy and Sweetie...we are those people! After nursing Sweetie back to health (giardia and kennel cough both of which she gave to Happy) we had two dogs that already love each other and run around together and play...problem solved! Until they together felt "tough" all of a sudden and thought they ruled the neighborhood. Not just our yard, but the neighbors yards and even the street. Which meant that every walker, biker and kid getting off the bus got chased and barked at...and although they really are friendly dogs they look really mean when they come charging you...especially two of them. So now we were the neighbors that nobody liked...they wouldn't go out to get their mail, the parents had to drive the kids to the bus stop because they were so scared...you get the point. So as if the dogs hadn't cost us enough money in vet bills...they were now costing us even more by forcing us to find a way to "contain" them. Keep in mind where we live...everyone has at least five acres, no one's yard is fenced, all the neighbor dogs roam free and always have and ours have to go and ruin that streak. We called up invisible fence and two days later they had dug the trench around the entire 5 acres and the dogs had on their pretty shock collars. It has been a success...it only took Happy one time getting shocked and he won't go within 20 feet of it and all it took for Sweetie was a beep and she backed away...she's our fearful one...the silent assassin. We have no idea what happened to her in her past, and although she is so loving and cuddly, she has some issues with her hips and back end which cause her to be a little "snippy" at times. We found out the hard way when Jalen was laying on top of her and giving her loves (Jalen style which means pinching and squeezing with much intensity) and somehow managed to hurt her which led to a yelp and a quick turn of her head landing a tooth right on the edge of his lip. It made me feel a little better that it wasn't a full bite...there was only one tooth laceration, but still I had that protective mommy moment where I wanted to immediately get rid of her. The girls are crying (I'm still not sure if it was because Jalen got bit or they thought they had to give Sweetie back!) so I told them I would wait to make any major decisions. A trip to the emergency room, 30 minutes of screaming at the top of his lungs, being mummy wrapped and strapped to the bed and 4 stitches later he was fixed. I thought ok well at least he will learn his lesson and be nice to the dogs now but no such luck. The first thing he did when we got home is go right back at her...no fear in that boy! Yes, we still have Sweetie...everyone I've talked to from trainers to friends have said that all I have to do is teach Jalen how to treat the dogs. Haha...easier said than done but we are working on it...my solution is to keep them separated for the most part. I figure this stage will pass and one day they can be best buds running in the field...but for now the squeezing of the cheeks kind of affection needs to be given to humans!
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