Kind of a shock, because the place and the people seemed so ideal for Ebony. We thought she had finally found a home. The people are upset about it, but it’s a farm and Ebs has been causing too much disturbance with the other animals.
They said Ebony is food aggressive. Well, they leave food lying around all day for the dogs to snack on whenever they want it. Clearly this doesn’t work for Ebony, she was fine with our two when we fed them together. Once a day, own dinner bowls.
They said Ebony is attacking their other dogs. I’d had reservations about their old cattle dog, Teddy – he and Ebony had a fight the day we took her there. I felt a bit sorry for old Teddy losing his place, clearly he was no match for Ebony. The fights have continued, with blood drawn, and Teddy relegated under the house. Their new puppy dog has also been the occasional subject of attack (around the food I’d say) and the people were worried about little kids getting in the way.
So Ebony, who I can’t help but love for all her high-spirited faults, is coming back. And I think Ludelle would like her to stay with us for a while, so she can settle down a bit. H has some time off and is going to get stuck into building a secure compound for her to stay in when we’re at work.
Shows how difficult it is to re-home older dogs, especially when other dogs already on the premises. Much easier for puppies to be accepted into the pack – the younger the better. Also, a few controlled meetings on neutral grounds first, which wouldn’t be easy to organise and wouldn’t guarantee acceptance/ friendship anyway.
One of the drawbacks with dogs not actually being the “people in fur coats” we’d sometimes like them to be is : we can’t just sit down with them and explain situations to them!
M
Hi Liss,
I read somewhere in a dog book or magazine that if a person wants to play fetching games with their dog then they shouldn’t leave the toy or toys they play with lying around for their dog to play with whenever they want.
As the dog’s owner should start the game and end the game, as this is how a person can bond with their dog and be viewed by the dog as their leader.
And when the game is over the owner should then takes it away somewhere where their dog can’t get it.
What I think I’m trying to say is that it’s not Ebony’s fault that she becomes aggressive towards dogs when food is around.
And it is a real shame when some people have problems with a dog that it seems that the first thing they think of is to get rid of the dog rather than trying to find out the best way to solve the problem.
As these people could just as easily change their routine like deciding to change how they feed their dogs.
So if leaving food around all the time is causing a problem which is only natural in some dogs then an excess of food shouldn’t be left out. As really it should only be given when it is feeding time and that is not all hours of the day.