Joined
·
32 Posts
First, the background to this long story.
Emily came to us a few months ago when someone found her running loose and took her home to keep her safe and try to find her owner. People in the area told him that she'd been loose in the area for several days at least. This dog was too exuberant for his little dog, so my husband and I took her in.
She's a Rottweiler mix and probably part pit bull. There might be other breeds in the mix too.
We took all the usual steps to try to find her family but never found them. We're pretty sure she was dumped. She was about 8 months old then.
She loved sleeping in a crate. She went into her crate on her own at night, and she took naps in it during the day. We locked her in the crate at night but not during her naps.
She was well socialized and affectionate, but she was also afraid of being hit. I learned to ask people meeting her not to hold out their arms but to just let her come to them.
She bonded strongly with me in particular, and it took her a few weeks to feel comfortable being in the yard or the house alone. We crated her when no one could be there because she got into everything as a puppy (she took things off the kichen counter, chewed on the edge of the rug, and things like that), but we didn't have to crate her often or for long. When she was crated, she rested comfortably. Except for her first night with us, she was fine in the crate. If we forgot to crate her when neither of us was on the main floor (we had gates up to keep her on that floor), we would find things on the floor that didn't belong there, but there was never any damage except to my husband's old slippers.
She wanted to be where I was, but if she couldn't, she settled down. If she was in the yard when I went out, she would watch me longingly as I drove off, but she would be fine. (I wouldn't leave her in the yard unless my husband was home.) When I got home, she would practically do backflips in excitement even if I'd been gone for only a short time. But a lot of dogs are like that.
After our 13-year-old dog crossed the rainbow bridge last year, my husband and I decided not to adopt again at this time but to help dogs temporarily when we could, such as by taking in found dogs. When we're ready to adopt, we want to adopt an older dog, one that's hard to get adopted. We don't have a lot of time or money these days, and there are a lot of people who want to adopt younger dogs and give them great homes. So, we worked with a local rescue group to get Emily adopted.
We found the perfect family. They're a young couple with plenty of experience with dogs and they have their own house and a fenced yard. One of them works from home. They're active, and they wanted a dog that could go everywhere with them. When Emily met them, she was excited right away. We all thought it was the ideal match.
Her new family took her for walks and runs every day and let her spend a lot of time in their fenced yard. They kept her routines as close to possible as what she had with us to help with the transition. However, while Emily loved being in her crate at our home, she destroyed 2 crates (the same size of crate that she had with us) and the floor under them at her new home. When she was left alone once, for 2 hours, she destroyed a wood door. They cannot leave her alone at all, and she's been with them for a few weeks now. She has cost them hundreds of dollars in damage to their home and to crates.
According to something they read, a growing problem these days is dogs that become too attached to their people because they get used to having them home all the time because of the pandemic. When these dogs are foster dogs, they're so attached to their foster families tha they can't bond with new families.
That may be the problem or part of it. I've worked from home for years, and my husband is mostly retired, so the pandemic didn't change our daily lives that much. We've had foster dogs before, and they adjusted to their new homes. But Emily was abused and probably dumped in her past, so her bond with me is more than just love. I was the only person who could wave my arms around and not have her move her head away in fear. Maybe she saw me as the person who saved her.
Her adopters are bringing her back tomorrow. We all feel terrible about this, but it's the only option at this point.
How can we help Emily? We want to get her adopted, but obviously we can't try again until we help her get through her emotional challenges that we now know about. If the problem is her bond with me, then we need to make that bond a healthier bond, one that she can transfer to someone else.
She's already very sociable and socialized, and we often stopped to meet people on our walks. She knew our neighbors too, one of whom sometimes took her for walks. She's always happy to meet new people. I'm thinking that I should try to find people who will take her for a few hours here and there so that she gets used to being with other poople more and less with me. We can't ask anyone else to take her overnight at this point knowing how destructive she might be, but we need to work up to that somehow.
Does anyone have similar experiences or insight into this problem? What can we do to help Emily?
Emily came to us a few months ago when someone found her running loose and took her home to keep her safe and try to find her owner. People in the area told him that she'd been loose in the area for several days at least. This dog was too exuberant for his little dog, so my husband and I took her in.
She's a Rottweiler mix and probably part pit bull. There might be other breeds in the mix too.
We took all the usual steps to try to find her family but never found them. We're pretty sure she was dumped. She was about 8 months old then.
She loved sleeping in a crate. She went into her crate on her own at night, and she took naps in it during the day. We locked her in the crate at night but not during her naps.
She was well socialized and affectionate, but she was also afraid of being hit. I learned to ask people meeting her not to hold out their arms but to just let her come to them.
She bonded strongly with me in particular, and it took her a few weeks to feel comfortable being in the yard or the house alone. We crated her when no one could be there because she got into everything as a puppy (she took things off the kichen counter, chewed on the edge of the rug, and things like that), but we didn't have to crate her often or for long. When she was crated, she rested comfortably. Except for her first night with us, she was fine in the crate. If we forgot to crate her when neither of us was on the main floor (we had gates up to keep her on that floor), we would find things on the floor that didn't belong there, but there was never any damage except to my husband's old slippers.
She wanted to be where I was, but if she couldn't, she settled down. If she was in the yard when I went out, she would watch me longingly as I drove off, but she would be fine. (I wouldn't leave her in the yard unless my husband was home.) When I got home, she would practically do backflips in excitement even if I'd been gone for only a short time. But a lot of dogs are like that.
After our 13-year-old dog crossed the rainbow bridge last year, my husband and I decided not to adopt again at this time but to help dogs temporarily when we could, such as by taking in found dogs. When we're ready to adopt, we want to adopt an older dog, one that's hard to get adopted. We don't have a lot of time or money these days, and there are a lot of people who want to adopt younger dogs and give them great homes. So, we worked with a local rescue group to get Emily adopted.
We found the perfect family. They're a young couple with plenty of experience with dogs and they have their own house and a fenced yard. One of them works from home. They're active, and they wanted a dog that could go everywhere with them. When Emily met them, she was excited right away. We all thought it was the ideal match.
Her new family took her for walks and runs every day and let her spend a lot of time in their fenced yard. They kept her routines as close to possible as what she had with us to help with the transition. However, while Emily loved being in her crate at our home, she destroyed 2 crates (the same size of crate that she had with us) and the floor under them at her new home. When she was left alone once, for 2 hours, she destroyed a wood door. They cannot leave her alone at all, and she's been with them for a few weeks now. She has cost them hundreds of dollars in damage to their home and to crates.
According to something they read, a growing problem these days is dogs that become too attached to their people because they get used to having them home all the time because of the pandemic. When these dogs are foster dogs, they're so attached to their foster families tha they can't bond with new families.
That may be the problem or part of it. I've worked from home for years, and my husband is mostly retired, so the pandemic didn't change our daily lives that much. We've had foster dogs before, and they adjusted to their new homes. But Emily was abused and probably dumped in her past, so her bond with me is more than just love. I was the only person who could wave my arms around and not have her move her head away in fear. Maybe she saw me as the person who saved her.
Her adopters are bringing her back tomorrow. We all feel terrible about this, but it's the only option at this point.
How can we help Emily? We want to get her adopted, but obviously we can't try again until we help her get through her emotional challenges that we now know about. If the problem is her bond with me, then we need to make that bond a healthier bond, one that she can transfer to someone else.
She's already very sociable and socialized, and we often stopped to meet people on our walks. She knew our neighbors too, one of whom sometimes took her for walks. She's always happy to meet new people. I'm thinking that I should try to find people who will take her for a few hours here and there so that she gets used to being with other poople more and less with me. We can't ask anyone else to take her overnight at this point knowing how destructive she might be, but we need to work up to that somehow.
Does anyone have similar experiences or insight into this problem? What can we do to help Emily?
