On Guinness

[deza]

I don't think there's any question that I absolutely adore my pupperboy. Even when he's aggravating the hell out of me, he's still my furbaby. He is my constant companion and emotional support, particularly on the really bad days. I truly believe he's kept me out of the hospital, helping to regulate my body temperature when I've had some bad methotrexate reactions.

A few months ago, a young friend of ours came to visit Rowan for a week or so. While she was here, Guinness snapped at her. She wasn't hurt, thank heavens, and since I didn't see it I just assumed she'd somehow provoked it and left it at that. H, I'm sorry I didn't believe you.

When my friend Cat stopped byon her way home from the Frozen North, she started playing with Guinness. He was loving it, playing right along, all his body language in full PLAY mode - until he bit her three times in quick succession on the wrist. He didn't draw blood, but he did break skin and left some pretty severe bruising. Immediately afterward he was slightly disoriented, but ready to go right back to playing. Both Andrew and I saw this, and neither of us could have predicted it.

One afternoon Kyle and Guinness were laying in bed with me watching tv. This is actually pretty much a daily thing. Kyle drapes himself over Guinness, Guinness washes his face, and everyone is happy. Except for the one time Guinness snapped at Kyle instead of washing his face, leaving a faint bruise that stretched from his eye to the bottom of his ear. Again, Guinness seemed disoriented afterward, and went back to normal behavior as if nothing happened.

One of Rowan's friends was over a few weeks ago. She was sitting on the sofa watching tv - I didn't see this one, but Andrew was there. The dog was on the sofa next to her, and she was stroking his head. Again, something that's happened many times before. Guinness lunged for her, and Andrew blocked him. Thank heaven she wasn't hurt.

These things are happening without warning. Guinness isn't being provoked, an he doesn't seem to remember it after it happens. He's confused about why he's suddenly being punished. I spoke with a behaviorist about this. He said that just from what I was describing, it sounds like a form of epileptic seizure commonly called "rage syndrome." Medications may help control it, but there are no guarantees.

We'll take him to the vet of course, once Andrew has some time, but if the base vet determines Guinness to be a dangerous dog then he will recommend immediate euthanasia. No matter what, with a disorder like this he obviously can't be trusted to be my service dog. I'm not comofrtable trusting him around my kids, either. All it would take is hurting one neighborhood kid, and he'd be slated for immediate destruction - not to mention how civil amd moral liabilities for having a dangerous dog.

Dealing with this has not been good for me. I have enough drama without wrestling on whether or not we have to put down our much-loved family dog. Would nyone here care to adopt a very sweet Dobie mix, in the hopes that the meds will work? I think it would be best if he were in a home with dog people, and no parade of neighborhood kids visiting every day.

Comments

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

I often refer to my kids as the dog's littermates. She sleeps in a kennel, however--and gives them her belly when they come in...

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

It's fine to call them that but they can't actually BE her littermates. It's the first and supreme no-no. The dog is on bottom, and there is never any question that the dog is on bottom.

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

The dog is the brains of this outfit -- you do not ever see HER going to work to keep ME in spa days.

The dog, however, knows her place -- hence the readily offered belly. She would rather be little and spoiled than to struggle to become Alpha. That is a battle she cannot win.

[angelic-mystic.livejournal.com]

That's not necessarily true, I was raised with dobbies and rotties. The pups saw me as their littermate and the bitches as their puppy. Aside from my parents not being able to discipline me around the dog (which is actually quite normal for females of ANY breed to do around children) we had two problems, one was thyroid and the other was rage syndrome. It is quite normal for a dog to view it's family as a pack and it's quite a bit healthier than the dog that it is subordinate to humans. The few times that I've seen dogs that are trained that way, it always came back to to bite the owners in the ass when it came time for the dog to protect the family, guess what it did. It rolled over and turned it's belly up to the person breaking in to their home.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

It is not ever acceptable for the dog to be ANYWHERE in the pecking order within the family than at the BOTTOM. And a dog can and will be fully protective of its humans and still understand it's the subordinate.

If you've got a dog doing this: The few times that I've seen dogs that are trained that way, it always came back to to bite the owners in the ass when it came time for the dog to protect the family, guess what it did. It rolled over and turned it's belly up to the person breaking in to their home. the issue is not dominance within the pack.

Jesus H. Christ.

[deza.livejournal.com]

I see where you're coming from, but rein it in a bit hon. It's possible to vehemently disagree without being insulting.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

Oh, OK. I'm done here anyway.

[angelic-mystic.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I'm reading you wrong. The way I'm understanding what you're saying is that the dog is and should be treated as inferior to the rest of the family. Again perhaps it's me but to say that something belongs on the bottom is to say they're inferior and not as valuable.

[hotcoffeems.livejournal.com]

The way I'm understanding what you're saying is that the dog is and should be treated as inferior to the rest of the family. Again perhaps it's me but to say that something belongs on the bottom is to say they're inferior and not as valuable.

The dog is the Omega member of the pack. That means it's on the bottom. *All* of the humans in the household are superior members of the pack. This is how it needs to be. It has NOTHING to do with the dog being inferior. It has everything to do with the dog needing to know where it is in the hierarchy, and it is necessary for the safety of all concerned, including the dog, that this position be subordinate to every single human in the home. The dog is NOT a human and does not feel its self-esteem is somehow suffering because its ego is not being stroked because it's the bottom dog in the pack. This is really an unequivocal issue. If you don't have the dog at the bottom, you've got serious problems.