# Flanna von Lunborg-Land



## LARHAGE (Jul 24, 2006)

I lost my beautiful girl to a tragic situation two days ago ( I can barely talk about it now) she was not even 3 and was killed by my 3 year old female whom she had always gotten along with, I read ad-nauseum all the posts by many of you here recounting your horror stories with females living together, yet here I sit either through ignorance or arrogance thinking my girls wouldn't do that, they lay with their heads on each other.... well it happened, and now here I sit, heartbroken and in shock, my Flanna was beautiful in every way, and will never be replaced in my heart, she was the epitome of a German Shepherd, I saved a long time to buy her as her sire Urban vom Gleisenauer Schloss, is a fantastic dog, I got the priveledge of watching him compete, and than spending time with him, fell in love with his charachter and beauty, I knew I would get a pup from him despite the price, and I never regretted it.

Flanna, rest in peace, and I'm sorry to have been so **** stupid, and not protect you...


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

I am so sorry to hear this!!! Unfortunately this sometimes happens, and I'm sorry it happened to you.


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

I'm so sorry for your loss LARHAGE. That must have been horrible. May Flanna rest in peace.


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## Kayos and Havoc (Oct 17, 2002)

Oh my goodness I am so sorry! 

Please do not beat yourself up over this, it was a tragic accident.

I know many people that have females living together with never a problem. Sometimes stuff just happens!


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## WiscTiger (Sep 25, 2002)

LARHAGE, I am so so sorry for your pain. I was lucky enough that my females showed their stuff when we were home, so I knew that I couldn't trust them alone.

If they always got along, something triggered it and you will never know what happened. 

The one thing I have learned about having great dogs is that some day they will break your heart, but the ride up until that point is great.

RIP Flanna


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## MTAussie (Dec 9, 2007)

I am so sorry! Don't beat yourself up, animals are animals, and sometimes they are really just unpredictable. Flanna will always be in your heart, and I am sure she knows how much you love her!


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## LARHAGE (Jul 24, 2006)

Thanks everyone, I tend to be reactive, and luckily my best friend who came up and helped me take my girl to be cremated talked some sense into me...somewhat. I immediately wanted to just get rid of the other, I realize now in fairness to her, she has many good qualities, is a beautiful dog and has the best temperament and work ethic of all my dogs ( of course this gets a few demerits!!!!) I have to realize she's just a dog, doing what dogs do, same as my horses I breed and raise, but a part of me finds it EXTREMELY difficult to ever think I can love her the same way again, my sister who has always loved her wants her, she's with my friend at her ranch right now, while I try to come to grips, grieve, and gather my thoughts. I do know I will once again go to Lundborg-Land kennels and get another Urban puppy when it "feels" right, my dilema is if and how do you forgive and forget something so horrible with the other dog, it's not fair to her to harbor this feeling, as she already sensed my anger and grief finding Flanna, thats why my friend took her with her for a few days. I am just so devastated. I can't think straight, and want to make a cool, calculated decision.

Have any of you been in my situation?


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## JenM66 (Jul 28, 2005)




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## djpohn (Jun 27, 2003)

Sorry to hear about your girl. It is devastating. I would be concerned with her with your little dogs in the future. I have multiple dogs and will only leave certain ones out together. 

I had a female Shepherd who attacked my older male corgi one day. There were painters at the front door and I figured this must have triggered the fight. My male was very badly hurt, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt. 10 months later when I had gone back to work, I came home and found my young male corgi dead. She had never given me any reason not to trust her other than the first "incident". She was being a dog, and things happen, but I didn't give her a 3rd chance. Looking back I shouldn't have given her a second chance. She might not have done much damage to another dog her size ...

If your sister wants her and she would be an only dog I would seriously consider letting her stay with her, especially if you plan on bringing another dog home in the future, JMO


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## LARHAGE (Jul 24, 2006)

Well in defense of Maddie she is great with the other dogs, who are all male, she is as gentle as a lamb with the little ones especially, they actually sit on her back when we're cleaning stalls and the ground is cold. I think this is a case of female to female agression, I seriously don't have a fear for the othr dogs at all, but when I do get my other female she will NEVER be allowed to be alone with her, I used to lock them up seperately during the day when I worked, but the mistake was not doing it at night as well.


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## djpohn (Jun 27, 2003)

I would never allow her to be around another female period. My female was great with other dogs and had grown up with the male corgi and actually "raised" the little guy. She was great with cats too. It taught me to never say never... and not to give blind trust.

Accidents happen, but to kill a same size dog requires a pretty strong "fight". I hope for your sake she never proves you wrong.


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## WiscTiger (Sep 25, 2002)

Since you mentioned horses could you forgive a horse if it stepped on a cat and killed it, if it felt distress from a dog and killed the dog. Animals REACT they don't think. 

Something happened that triggered the incident. Maybe someone came to the door, maybe they heard a vehicle. When dogs get ramped up it doesn't take much to trigger something. 
In one person's case here it started with the dogs barking at the fence at something and escalated into a full blown bitch fight.

Since you weren't there you don't know what happened. Flanna may have instigated the fight. There may have been some jealously between the two that you didn't see.

If you can't find it in your heart to just let it go stay with your sister as GS MOM stated.

Val


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## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

LARHAGE, I'm very sorry you had to have this happen.







What Val said is very true, animals react in fights and so do humans. With enclosed environments, dogs cannot be truly "ejected" from the pack nor can they choose to run away as they couldn't hope to get far enough away to no longer be seen as a threat. So it's a natural instinct to keep fighting, once it gets to a certain level, until one runs away or is dead. I think everyone who has multiple dogs takes this risk and sometimes we get second chances and sometimes not.








Please do not feel at fault on this as your females had given you every reason to think they adored each other. And I bet they did, up until whatever happened. 



> Quote:but a part of me finds it EXTREMELY difficult to ever think I can love her the same way again


That's VERY understandable and honestly I probably would feel the same if I had multiple dogs and one of them killed my "heart dog." To an animal, it's unfortunately "business as usual" but to us it is family, so please don't feel bad if you decide to let your female go to your sister. Take some time to think about it first, let your emotions settle down, tack your remaining female's photo onto a punching bag and get all your frustration and anger out, take a few days or a few weeks or however long you need to come to terms (if possible, have your sister take care of her in the meantime), then make a decision. It wouldn't be wise to make a decision when you probably now want to make stew out of her. 















Flanna.


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## LARHAGE (Jul 24, 2006)

Thanks everybody, you have made me feel better. I plan to just take a few days off and see what I feel, to the question about forgiving a horse, it's kind of odd to me, horses are more instinctual, I expect so much more from dogs, having said that though, if one of my mares killed my heart mare Rhage, it would be sent packing in no time. I really do love Maddie, thats what makes it so heartbreaking, but people break your hearts as well and are forgiven....so?


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## Qyn (Jan 28, 2005)

I am very sorry for the loss of your girl. 

We have 6 serious fights between our maltese mix and our GSD but, despite size difference, the maltese has survived with relatively minimum injury despite intent. However, our outcome could have been similar to yours if the grip had been marginally stronger or differently positioned.

I know I felt very disappointed in my GSD, even though I am aware she was provoked, and I am more to blame for not reading the signs (not saying this applies to you). Hugs to you all in this sad situation.

Your dog is still the same dog, the reason for her agression is no longer a factor and I hope you can see this as a new starting point.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

> Originally Posted By: LARHAGEWell in defense of Maddie she is great with the other dogs, who are all male, she is as gentle as a lamb with the little ones especially, ...


But you said she and the dog that was killed got along very well, too... That they laid with their heads on one another. Please rethink leaving this dog out with others. It might have been just a tragic accident but it happened.


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## LARHAGE (Jul 24, 2006)

I understand what your saying, but I firmly believe Maddie was a female/female thing, in other words she only would be jealous of Flanna when I was handing out hugs and kisses, I could always verbally correct her and she would stop, hence my false sense of complacency, figuring if I was not there they would have no reason to be jealous. I learned a hard lesson, and I will never let it happen again, unfortunately my beautiful dog paid for my mistake.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

First, I am really sorry for your loss. How devastating to lose a youngster this way. I understand how you can feel this way about your other dog as well. 

Have you considered that it may have been Flanna who started the fight? 

One day when I was short on spaces to separate my dogs during feedings for some reason or another, I put Arwen and Rushie together thinking male/female six year old bitch/ 1 year old dog. Well, Arwen would not let Rush eat, he growled, she lunged and Rush took the opportunity to nail her. She faught back, separating them was a real trick. Even with me right there, Arwen came away with a deep gash to the shoulder and a deep gash to the muzzle. Rush was unscathed.

Arwen is my oldest canine. Rushie is maybe my most naturally dominant. At one, he wanted to be top dog with Dubya as well. He picked a fight with Dubya and came back with a nice cut. That was shortly before the fight with Arwen. That was the only time Rushie was injured in any way in a fight.

Other than another squabble with Arwen (Arwen started it because Rushie was clumsy and bumped into her while running in an open field), there have been no other fights that included Rushie. Rushie laid her open during this fight too. Outside of my home, he is the most laid back, sweet dog in the universe. I have him in close quarters with dogs and bitches, intact -- doesn't matter. He has no interest in fighting dogs outside of his pack. 

Just because the one dog is dead, does not mean the other dog started it, caused it, or was responsible for it. 

If a dog jumps another, you cannot expect them to stop fighting back because the fight is over. You cannot expect them to stop because the other is younger, or geriatric, or smaller. They are dogs and we will never know what happened that day. But it MAY not be her fault. 

If I am gone, EVERY adult is kenneled separately or crated. 

Lots of people have just two dogs and leave them together without incident. Maybe if I had just a dog and a bitch I would do this. For now, I keep them apart.

Please forgive your other bitch, and do not let her be in that situation with dog or bitch again. If you are there, you can stop a fight before it gets bad. So you do not have to not let her be around other dogs. 

I see this as a tragic accident. Like having two pups run across the road and one of them is nailed by a motorist. I would not blame the other pup, even though the dog is just as dead. 

That being said, if you choose to let your sister keep your bitch, it is understandable, and no one should give you any guff about it.


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## LARHAGE (Jul 24, 2006)

Sue, thank you for your support, I have in fact considered that Flanna could have started it,if only be her tendency to " nag and incite" the other dogs at times. Flanna was in no way a dominant dog in my pack, which consisted of 2 males and 2 females, but Flanna was a VERY high drive and vocal girl, she stirred everyone up when crows were in the trees,or Coyotes howled,always vocally leading the charge, I've thought that the excitement could have escalated to the attack on her, I used to lock Flanna up in a stall with my young easygoing male while at work, and Maddie alone in a seperate stall, my oldest male had the run of the yard to protect my property, the mistake I made was not seperating the females at night when I was home, my yard is large ( 2 1/2 acres ) and I never heard them fighting. 

I have had a lot of time to reflect and think on the situation and have heeded the advice and experiences of a lot of people on this board whom I respect. I am just going to chalk it up to a hard lesson learned, put it behind me, and go on with my life. I had purchased Flanna to compete with and eventually breed, she was the best, she had such drive and intensity in anything we did, she just wanted to do something! I will go back to her breeder and put a deposit on another puppy, when the time is right, like when I can think of Flanna and smile, instead of cry.


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## MXpro982 (Aug 31, 2008)

*Couple things: 

I am so sorry you have to go through this. I can't imagine what that would be like, and hope I never do. Are you positive Flanna was killed by your other female? You mentioned Coyotes and 2 1/2 acres.. Sure it wasn't another animal?
*


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## shilohsmom (Jul 14, 2003)

I just wanted to add that I too am so sorry for your loss. I've heard horror stories of females fighting but I've also heard wonderful stories of them getting alone. Whos the say.. For me I'd never bring another girl into this house but thats because I know my girl. You had no warning of this so please don't blame yourself. 
Take care and give your other girl a hug, she probably needs it.


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