I had to deal with stress and pressure at work and just prior to the dog's death, I was left dealing with the loss of my mother, who was a great big support system. The death of the dog shortly after the passing of my mother was very stressful.
Some people are ready within weeks, but between work pressures and just trying to adapt to do so much myself caused the time to just expand.
One day I started the search for a new dog, The local shelters had only Pit Bulls available, granted in a variety of sizes, but I wanted a harrier. It got into my head and would not leave, so I looked on line, and there was a dog described as a harrier, looked like a harrier, the height and weight was right. Was described as a sweet pleasant young dog, so I took a 3 hour ride to a retirement farm in western Pennsylvania. When I got there, there were mostly Labs at that farm, and I did have a weight limit as my dog would not have died quite than if I could have lifter her, so I put a 50 pound limit on the next dog, labs were out. They said the listing was put out a while ago an they had never taken it down, she the dog was not really adoptable - because she was vicious! and she was almost 6 years old. She was kept in a crate in a separate room, not allowed to run around freely like the labs. They took her out twice a day for walks. gah. must be kept away from men an children because of her biting. When they brought her out, Icould immediately see that she was not in the harrier family at all, the head was way to narrow, all she had in common with one was the coloring of her face. Her body was all wrong with the long thin legs and the tail pointing down and extremely narrow face, she looked like a giant Jack Russel Terrier. I did not want her, but then she just sat there looking at me, not biting, not being aggressive. They told me about her owners turning her into the shelter as vicious when she was still a puppy. Some people only want a perfect dog, and do not think of them as living creatures, They adopted her out 3 times and she was returned the same day. this whole thing sounded like so much crap, I could not leave her there. once in the car, I realized she stunk, very very badly, had to have the air vent on at full speed and a window open to take the stink out for the 3 hour drive home. Would not be returning this dog the same day. She did love the drive home, I do take her for a lot of rides, she enjoys them so.
OK, we get home, take her for a walk, she is fine, take her inside and immediately bathe her several times, - the shelter must have never washed her. It was hard to get the stink off. Turns out, she got used to bathing herself like a cat - lick her paw them wash her face and head, lick the parts of the body she can reach. She has a natural pleasant nutty smell about her. OK, let her loose in the house instead of immediately crating her - and she takes off, checking the place out up stairs down stairs and barking her head of for about 8 hours, wore me out. She barked about 16 hour a day in the beginning Now I know why she is returned - good thing I have a very old relatively soundproof house with all the plaster walls, Could shut the door and watch TV or just have a peaceful moment.
the main problem with her was she was terrified of me, took 3 months to be able to pet her, a year before she would look me in the eye, all trained overtime. as to the biting, later that night, she took my hand in her mouth, she needed more food, She wasa mouther, not a biter, people are ignorant. A little training and paying attention to her needs and she stopped that, over time I would find that she had a soft mouth and could not eat hard things that required biting down. The whole vicious dog thing was a pile of crap. Today she is the most affectionate lap dog I have ever had, Her crate when she needs one is under the computer desk, she loves to sleep there in a corner. She does not like being too far from me, she is very gentle with children when we visit, She loves the mail man and he loves her.
Sometimes the dog chooses you.
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