# Am I Crazy?



## doggonefool (Apr 15, 2004)

So I come to you, my compatriots, because the minute I tell my family this, they will tell me that I'm crazy!

We have an eight year old BGSD that we rescued when he was two. We rescued a WGSD/Wolf? hybrid from the same facility two years later, she was a year old. We lost her this year to kidney disease at four years old.

One of my son's works at a Pet Food Store that regularly sponsors rescue events. We stumbled into adopting a brother/sister pair of almost one year old Alaskan Huskies.

My heart has longed to foster/rescue and out of the 10 dogs that I've had, only one was a purebred purchased as a pup; all of the rest have been rescued.

My heart breaks when I see all the urgent postings, and I've hesitated to foster for fear that I wouldn't be able to give them up..my track record hasn't been so great, though I've tended to jump directly into adoption rather than taking the chance.

Well, now I'm taking the chance. Today, I talked with my friend who we have adopted from twice. He has a beautiful young shepherd named River, who seems to bond to one person and then becomes protective of them. 

With the progress that we have made with Jukka and her fear of men, as well as decreasing her dependence on me, we thought that our household might be a good halfway house measure from the rescue facility with 25 dogs to her forever home. (It is in my 'foster contract' that he won't adopt her to me







) 

As she shows a tendency for bonding to men, we think that with my strong disciplinary skills and my tendency to be pack leader, that we might be able to establish her more as a family dog.

Personally, I think some of her behavior might be because she's insecure. This is our first night, and everyone is crated and quiet, but she has been glued to my side since I got her home and is defending me from my own dogs. She is taking the correction well, considering that she has been with me for about 9 hours.

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you, because I know that I'm not the only one crazy enough to take on a fourth (or more) dog...just the only one in my family and boy will they let me know.

Here's River on our first night










And with the rest of the pack; no blood tonight- that's a good sign!


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## emjworks05 (May 30, 2008)

Wow she is beautiful!


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## oregongsdr111 (Nov 20, 2005)

Very Cute family!!

On a side note, my grandfather worked for the government, and when I was little I spent a week with them in sweethome.

I got stung by a bee in the pool, and almost drown myself. (I was five) We stayed in a really cute little cabin.

: )


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## kularing (Aug 24, 2006)

Thanks for fostering!! Rescue groups really need the help. You will do great!! I know how you feel, as I sit here with my two foster failures!!


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## doggonefool (Apr 15, 2004)

> Originally Posted By: doggonefool
> 
> 
> Well, now I'm taking the chance. Today, I talked with my friend who we have adopted from twice. He has a beautiful young shepherd named River, who seems to bond to one person and then becomes protective of them.
> ...


So on the positive side; Yesterday, I was home, as I will be all week. We worked on her defensive attitude towards my dogs, and this morning she is actually playing with them, which is like playing with a pair of tazmanian devils!










On the negative sign, when DH came to let everyone out of their crates, she was biting at his pants leg. I reprimanded her, and am trying to get him to show dominance (which he always lets me do, he likes being the good guy but that won't work with this girl)

She has calmed down now, but I wasn't planning on having to train DH - I told him before we went into this that he would have to stand up to her in the event that she bonded with me rather than a man.

So, here I am back in bed, waiting for fur to fly, but I think he's making his lunch, which means for every piece of meat or cheese that goes on his sandwhich, one goes in a dogs mouth too (no wonder I never have lunch meat or cheese - we're making six sandwhiches a day!







) She's not barking at him, so I will hide out in my room until dentist time







Two crowns for Carol today









Any advice out there on how to control this protectiveness and nip it in the bud?


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

OMG, River is so beautiful! You have such a big heart and experience with dogs and willingness to work with her that I am confident you'll be able to help this little girl. 

I absolutely agree, her protectiveness comes from her insecurity and confusion. My Yana was and still is the same way and only when she started developing trust in us as pack leaders and our ability to protect her she relaxed a bit. 

What a behaviourist told me about Yana is that I need to develop and stick with very strict daily routine for her and make everything black and white for her so she doesn't need to make any choices. Maybe, this is something to try with River?


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## doggonefool (Apr 15, 2004)

I'd like to discuss some of your behaviorist results and suggestions; am at my mom's today but will try to catch up for some advice; I know that you've had to work really hard with Yana; how is our girl?









My family all thinks that I'm certifiable for taking on this girl...I think she has the potential to make someone a GREAT dog. She is not destructive, travels well, and is not playing with my wild crew, so we have made great strides this week!


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## dchamness (Oct 18, 2008)

She IS a gorgeous girl!! I can't blame you for taking on the challenge!


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

Carol, I'm going to write you a long email tonight telling about how we were working with Yana that was real effective. I should learn to write short emails because when I'm walking around composing a long one time flies by so fast









Yana is healing well, tomorrow will be 3 weeks after surgery. The major difficulty right now is to keep her calm because she howls and barks and tries to jump which she absolutely can't do for a long time. 

How is River doing today?


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## doggonefool (Apr 15, 2004)

River did well today, my first full day back at work. She didn't seem to experience too much separation anxiety and greeted both myself and my husband affectionately; no sign of the agression issue of bonding to one and defending off the other. She does show some signs towards my sons, or guests in my house...seems more like protective anxiety? Will try her out of the house to meet people this week. If I sit with her when someone new comes in, and hold her, and have them sit across from her with treats, she settles within 5 minutes and will make friendly approaches to meet and snack. Am trying to convince her that new people coming in mean goodies. She will still nip at the back of people sometimes, am trying to 'nip' that one in the bud








I'm thinking anxiety more than agression though, hope that she can find a strong enough family to work through these issues and would recommend a trainer that will come to the home to work with them...


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## doggonefool (Apr 15, 2004)

So, I stumbled across this and realized...an update is past due. 

River is still with me. I have failed at fostering...again







Her aggression with new people makes her difficult to adopt. We were all set to take her to meet a family who also had a dog with social issues. We chickened out as this dog was a 125 pound German Shepherd. They have pretty much given up on socializing him, from what I was told. They wanted to have the dogs meet through a chain link fence! Their dog is aggressive to both other dogs and humans. She seemed comfortable in our home and with our pack. It was either keep her or send her back into rescue. Am I rationalizing? Maybe I wanted her all along. So she is in her forever home, with us!

As I have felt all along that her fear is based on insecurity, we are working on making her more secure She is very loving now to both dh and myself. She is very smart and eager to please. We have been teaching her how to play...sadly to say that she doesn't seem to know how. She is not aggressive with two of my sons but is fearful and aggressive with the middle son, who is also nervous of her (Catch 22) Fortunately, they are all grown and living on their own, so it is only occasionally a problem that I am still working to solve! River and Jukka get into spars occasionally, usually over me







but River is submissive and so far, no blood. I haven't taken her to a trainer yet, but will be attending Susan Clothier's seminar in April, hopefully to learn more about how to understand and communicate with her. 

So, I guess that I am a little crazy...in love? I now have four furbabies and have never felt so loved! And I know that I can tell it here, cause I'm not the only one.


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