On Sunday I had to give up my much loved shelter dog Bodi. With mu husband being laid off, I was just not financially able to help him overcome his issues that previous owners had put him through. Whatever they did to him it had traumatized the hell out of him, causing him to "fear bite" and to get into a "frenzy mode". He tried to attack my husband again on Sat. nite after he got a little animated watching the fireworks and also the Nascar race. This was the second episode. Bodi leaped across the room and was going to tear into him, but somehow I managed to grab his collar and hold on to him so he didn't bite him again. Most of the time Bodi was just a big lover boy and hung out on both of our laps.....he loved my husband, but then something would just set him off and he would go from 0-60 in a matter of a second and that would be it. He reacted the same way when I would drive into the gas station and if the attendent was a tall male he would run at the window, snarling.
I called the shelter I purchased him from numerous times asking for some kind of help with him, and said I would take their one-on-one classes with the behaviorist, but no one ever called me back. They offered this up during the adoption and advertised it on their website, yet everytime I called I never talked to a "real" person. I constantly left messages and one would think that after some of the desperate ones I left, that someone would have returned my calls. Whether this would have cured the problem or not - I don't know. But I would have at least liked the opportunity to have given him that other chance. Because he was mostly a good boy that just had some troubles to learn how to deal with. Now I am afraid that they will put him down, although I pray they will find a rescue foster home for him first, but I don't know if they will. They mentioned they would try to do that, but they might have been saying that because they saw how upset I was. I also tried other trainers, but after discussing his issues no one really wanted to accept us as a client, or if they did they wanted an exhorbiant amount of money that I didn't have. I even bought some of the Dog Whisperer tapes hoping for some insight into how to deal with these issues. I could have drug that dog around by the ear and he wouldn't have care.....it just seemed to be a "man" thing that he was afraid of them beating him or me. He was very protective of me.
In the end, it was probably the best course of action because it wasn't fair to my husband or to our other dog Zeus, as Bodi sometimes played way to rough with him and it was hard to get them to stop even after Zeus wanted to just kick back. I guess when I get another dog it will be another puppy, instead of an older dog this time.
To end this post I just want to say that Bodi I will always love you and I hope you find someone that can give you the kind of help that you need, and that will love you as much as I do. I miss you very much and my heart has a hole again that you filled with your sweet little face.
K
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