Pupdate: A pack of three
December 24, 2018
I always wanted to get back to my childhood ideal of three dogs and I have finally realized …. my dream is not for me anymore.
Six months into an expanded pack of two medium-large dogs and one human child, we barely fit on a sidewalk anymore. That might be the most superficial reason but we walk the dogs 3-4 times a day. It’s kind of a pain not fitting on the sidewalk together when you have to keep an eye on everyone, make sure everyone is safe on the sidewalk and not popping into the street, running off, or chasing after SQUIRREL! Not that Seamus would ever dream of doing such a thing.
Sera, though, is a bit of work. She’s basically got the template of a pretty good dog: she sort of tries to listen to our training, she puts up with all of JB’s demands (SIT! No, REAL SIT!), is reasonably calm pottering around the house during my work routine of work / walk, eat / work, which translates to sleep / walk, eat / sleep, for the dogs. She’s not overly attention-needy, not highly destructive.
BUT: she’s still terrible on lead. She pulls hard, though she has finally settled down to an acceptable distance-from-human, still can’t even beging to contain herself when she sees other dogs on leash across the street and wildly overreacts. I’m talking about ruff rising, and after a prolonged period of alert staring, lunging. It’s a good thing I am used to holding back about a hundred pounds of over excited dog at any given time but it takes my entire body and a really good leash.
She’s made hugely questionable eating choices (coprophagy happened a couple of times gross gross gross). When she got bored when we were away ah hour longer than usual, she’s selected a few items from our living room or from one of our bags to rend and destroy. That’s mostly annoying but there was one time she had snagged a battery out of one of our bags, we didn’t even remember it was in there! and thankfully just left it under the dining table instead of chewing on it. I was horrified at the bullet dodged there and we started the hunt for a crate because we couldn’t risk that again. (Why, Sera? Seamus just sleeps, why can’t you do the same??) And of course she generally took to crate training ok BUT she can’t just be good about it. She’s found ways to break out while we’re gone.
She’s impolite – she would sneak Seamus’s food right from under his head if we let her (we don’t), and frequently uses him as a warming blanket / bedmate when he clearly would like a little space. Then there was the time I left salmon defrosting far back on the counter, even Seamus with his six extra inches of height and 10 inches of length couldn’t easily reached it. She must have bounced up there like a deranged Tigger because we came home to a piece of foil licked clean instead of a dinner ready to cook. I was FURIOUS. Salmon is expensive and we were already running late. I whipped up a second dinner but that was the last straw.
Now she’s partially crate-trained and locked in her crate whenever we leave home because it’s safer that way for everyone. We manage all of these behaviors to keep everyone safe and happy but it’s a lot more effort than we ever needed to put in with Doggle or Seamus. We’ve been spoiled by really good dogs, maybe, but none of my past dogs did any of these things.
The most difficult part of it all for me personally isn’t the behaviors. We can work with those. It’s the fact that I don’t think she actually likes any of us. She’s ok with us, and learning to trust us, but even the most abused pup we’ve rescued in the past has formed a warm emotional bond with one of the family within a few months. She has not. She cuddles with Seamus for warmth, she accepts pets and skritches, but she doesn’t have any affection for us. She just wants the good food and good beds we provide. For that, we might as well have adopted a cat! I love cats, I know what to expect from them. But from a dog, I expect them to love someone in the family. But there’s time yet. I hope she decides to like at least one of us.
We had many of the same issues with our rescue girl. Destructive, would break out of crates, was sweet but not lovey. She’s still way more independent than our overly cuddly boxer but she will now climb up onto the coach for cuddles for a few minutes and come out her head in your lap for pets. She’s turned into a really great dog, just took some time.
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How long did it take for her to warm up? My fingers are crossed she comes around and stops destroying the crate!