http://www.borntodiepets.com/html/doctor_death_wm.htm

A TALE OF A BYB PUPPY (A TRUE STORY)

Back in early December 2004 my family and I were looking for a female Rottweiler. We had tragically lost our one year old Ripley and our hearts were hurting in a way we didn’t even know they could. We had trouble functioning as a household, every day was a struggle. Yes, we had another dog but the empty hole in our family was cavernous.

We first looked online for Rotties available for adoption. There is only one Rottie rescue in our area and it’s run by a hoarder-type woman. We met some of her dogs at a Petco event, I spoke with her (the only person who could approve applications) and told her we were interested in a female named Paige. She told us to submit an application online and she would get back to us. And that’s what we did as soon as we got home. Later in the evening I got a phone call from the woman and she asked a couple of questions, and then, without any explanation, she said she couldn’t help us. She hung up on me before I was able to ask her why.

Side note: We were not the only people treated like this, I met at least a dozen others who were treated just as rudely with no explanation for her abrupt dismissal. And the dog we were interested in? Stayed in her rescue for over a year. Now that my family is heavily involved in rescue we know that this particular woman does not have a good reputation in the rescue community

We looked online for Rotties available for adoption. There weren’t any at the shelters surrounding my area and the ones listed on Petfinder were either too far away or they were in the rescue that had turned us down. We did what many people who aren’t involved in rescue do, we decided to purchase a puppy.

I looked online to find out what makes a breeder a good one. I used those rules and found what I thought was a good breeder. She was not a puppy mill, she had a waiting list for her dogs, she fostered and placed homeless Rotties in pet quality homes. Her dogs had portfolios with family trees, OFA certificates (with the father of the puppy we chose ranking as “excellent” and the mother rating “good”), there were pictures of the dogs posing with judges of conformation and obedieince shows with trophies, not ribbons, and the certificates for the competitions neatly bound into the books. The breeder kept us at her house for three hours, grilling us about our vetting habits, what we knew about the breed, how we planned to implement training, and what we would do if we could no longer keep her puppy for any reason.

We met the parents of our puppy. Both demonstrated their obedience skills, they were flawless and the father was titled in Schutzhund. The mother was not titled in Schutz but had won obedience competitions. Both dogs were very friendly with us, were gentle with our children, and were amazingly quick in converting from lap dog to working dog. We met the parents separately and thought nothing of the fact that we did not see them interact together. We were just amazed at the level of obedience both of these dogs had achieved.

The breeder had two females from a litter that she had not sold. One of them was the runt who had a large scar on her elbow from an injury she sustained at three days old. Her mother had accidently stepped on her and tore the skin with her toenail. Because the wound was on a joint it had to be sutured multiple times, leaving a large patch of scar tissue. She was a sweet little puppy but no one wanted her because of this imperfection. This puppy would always have a home with the breeder if she needed it but it was that puppy who stole my heart. There was also another female of the same litter who was made available after the breeder decided that she wasn’t show quality. Both dogs were three months old.

We were happy with our new little puppy. She followed us around like a shadow and was very submissive and eager to please. She followed her big brother (a black lab named Brutus) everywhere and he tolerated her. We were once again a happy family. This little puppy, who we named Brandy, filled the empty place that Ripley had left us with. She wasn’t a replacement, she was a distraction.

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Yes. I know. Brandy is both dangerous and vicious. I’m not making excuses for her any more. After seeing pictures of my most recent injuries our trainer (who is awesome and I trust her implicitly) says Brandy is beyond help. Our vet says Brandy is beyond help. People we know in the rescue community say she is beyond help. People I know who are against euthanizing agree that Brandy should be euthanized. So no, I’m not second guessing myself. What I’m doing, though, is looking around to see exactly what the definition of “vicious” is. In the county I live in it’s defined as:

612.21 DANGEROUS OR VICIOUS DOGS. (Former 612.21, Vicious and Destructive Animals, repealed and renumbered 612.215 and then renumbered again 612.21 in 1998)

(a). As used in this section:
(1) “Dangerous dog ” means a canine, or canine crossbreed which has bitten, attacked, or inflicted injury on a person or companion animal, other than a dog, or killed a companion animal.
(2) “Vicious dog” means a canine, or canine crossbreed which has killed a person or inflicted serious injury to a person, including multiple bites, serious disfigurement, serious impairment of health or serious impairment of a bodily function; or which continues to exhibit the behavior which resulted in a previous finding by a court that it is a dangerous dog, provided that its owner has been given notice of that finding.

Serious injury? Check. Multiple bites? Check. Inflicted injury on a companion animal? Check. Continues to exhibit behavior? Check.

These definitions are based on a dog being deemed dangerous or vicious by the court. Fortunately we haven’t had to go to court…but I’m sure a visit to the court would be necessary in the near future if we weren’t doing the responsible thing. And I’m sorry, I don’t see how “against another dog” can be the exception for defining “vicious”. Poor Jezzy has been attacked multiple times. She’s endured many, many painful puncture wounds (including one to the throat). She had to have a gash on her flank surgically repaired! I don’t think other dogs should be excluded from the “companion animal” portion of this definition. She didn’t do anything to provoke it, twice she wasn’t even facing Brandy when it started! My poor girl deserves better.

In doing some research I found a site that explains different types aggression. It’s called k9aggression.com It’s very resourceful and I wish I had found it before. From what I’m reading on this site Brandy has three types of aggression:

Territorial or Protective Aggression

Territorial aggression is defined when the dog protects an inappropriate location as its territory, or an inappropriate location in an inappropriate context.

It presents as aggression to strangers when what the dog considers as the dog’s turf (owners, home, surrounding streets, car, etc.). is perceived by the dog as being threatened in some way. People in uniforms are a particular target. Can be friendly on neutral territory such as a veterinary clinic.

and:

Dog-on-Dog Aggression— Related to pack (sibling)

Usually occurs with a known dog or between dogs living in the same household. It usually involves challenges for status. Challenges may involve access to resources (toys, attention, food), or may be more passive and involve posturing and manipulating the trajectory and behaviors of the other dog. Often occurs between dogs of similar age, or when the younger dog reaches social maturity. If the older dog refuses to give way, or neither can maintain sufficient status to win over the other dog, interdog aggression results.

A less common form is when submission of one dog is not enough to discontinue the aggression. To the extent that this aggression is considered abnormal depends on the intensity of the (potentially lethal)response to normal canine behaviors designed to resolve the conflict.

and finally:

Redirected Aggression

Dogs may redirect aggression if interrupted in another aggression (i.e. dog-on-dog aggression). The dog may turn and threaten or bite the closest person or animal to them, who are often not involved. These dogs may be non-aggressive in the absence of the interruption of another threat.

These three definitions describe her to a tee. Reading on I also see that there is no cure for these problems. An owner can be taught to manage them…but from what I’m interpreting…it’s extremely difficult (if not impossible) to manage them in a multi-dog household. A very large part of the management is to remove the triggers. When the triggers are another dog in the household and/or strangers visiting the home or walking down the street the only solution is to keep the doors and windows closed and covered so she can’t see out EVER and to rehome Jezzy. We can’t implement those changes in our home. As much as I would like to be able to manage Brandy it’s painfully clear that I can’t.

Every day she exhibits dangerous and vicious behaviors. Today I saw her going into “evil” mode and it was disturbing. She saw workers in the parking lot of the company next door and she was growling her evil growl and pacing around her kennel in a tight circle. Every few seconds she would lunge at the back of her kennel and bark, showing all of her teeth with her hair standing up on her neck and shoulders. Her eyebrows were furrowed and pointed into a “v” shape down the bridge of her nose.

I can’t imagine what it feels like to be her. It’s got to be unbearably stressful inside her head. I need to look at her impending trip to the rainbow bridge as a kindness rather than a punnishment. Once she crosses that bridge she can be happy all the time. And when it’s time for me to meet my dogs at the end of the bridge she’ll love them as much as she loves me.

I’ve been meaning to write something over here all week but I just haven’t been able to do it. Between recovering from the bite from Brandy, waiting for her 10 day quarantine to be up (this is so hard…), and my foster ferret, Loki, dying this week I just haven’t had the right motivation. Hopefully I’ll be more into it next week.