Hi all,
On Thanksgiving, hubby and I adopted a 4 year old Dane (likely with some lab in her). We don't know a ton about her history - only that she was dropped at a shelter, adopted and returned the next day for growling at a child. Then, she went to UMGDR and came into our lives.
On the overall, she is very well behaved. She stays off any furniture that she's not allowed on (she gets to spend most of her time on our couch). She will sit to go out or for a treat. We learned that she knows "down," "shake," and "high five." She doesn't love to sit and it sometimes takes some patience, but we're sure that a consistent routine and some practice will help her get used to it. She is very gentle and calm when meeting people (folks we've run into at the park, etc.) and gently sniffs them. Other dogs seem to still be a bit of an unknown. She is very conscious of them. Sometimes, she has barked at a dog in the distance. Other times, a dog is barking at her and she's oblivious. When we first brought her home, she got into a snarling match with a pit bull at a rest stop. A neighbor dog was off leash while my husband was walking her two weeks ago around the pond at our apartment complex and they didn't get along well. The little dog ran quite a distance and ran up on Karma. Before my husband knew what was happening, Karma had swatted at the little dog, throwing it. No injuries occurred and the other dog's owner was very apologetic as her dog was off leash. Still, we wish it hadn't happened.
On Thursday, we had a playdate set up with one of my colleagues and his two Rhodesian Ridgebacks. We don't have a fenced in yard and he does, so we hoped that it would be a great opportunity for them to all play. We brought all the dogs outside and tried to properly introduce them. His dogs are a male and a female littermates. Initial introductions went okay - some raised fur, but mostly good. Then the male let out a growl and Karma became very reactive. We pulled them apart and moved to separate parts of the yard, letting them all calm down a bit. The female was let off lead to approach Karma, but was very nervous and wouldn't really come near us. Given some time to cool down, we let the male and Karma approach again. Again, things seemed to go well until the male let another growl out. I couldn't keep hold of Karma (she's so big and strong) and she went after the male. We tried to get them apart, and were only successful after I accidentally stepped on Karma's wounded paw. She winced and I was able to pull her back. I found blood on my shoe and jeans, but couldn't figure out if it was from Karma's paw or not. The male had some blood on his fur, but not in a place where it seemed like Karma's foot had been. My colleague looked his dog over completely and couldn't find any spots where Karma might have drawn the blood. It was probably the scariest thing I've gone through.
We're so scared and sad. Aggression is the one thing we weren't prepared for. Part of our plan was to bring a puppy home in the summer, and now we're so afraid. Even if Karma is okay with the puppy, we don't want her to teach the puppy this behavior.
Of course, I already contacted UMGDR for some resources and suggestions. I also reached out to Moni who suggested the "Look at That" method and sent me some resources. Reading through some of the other threads, it looks like I'll be picking up "Click to Calm" as well.
I know that we've made mistakes. We shouldn't have tried the play date and I completely understand that that's on us and not Karma. Dealing with an aggressive dog is so out of our wheelhouse - Zoe was about as submissive as possible. Please know that we realize we need to be trained as much as she does. We're trying to get a hold of the well-reviewed obedience instructor in our area, but haven't gotten a call back yet. We're new to South Dakota, so we just aren't super aware of our resources yet.
Karma is such a laid back couch potato. We just can't believe this is happening. Any suggestions or resources would be appreciated.
On Thanksgiving, hubby and I adopted a 4 year old Dane (likely with some lab in her). We don't know a ton about her history - only that she was dropped at a shelter, adopted and returned the next day for growling at a child. Then, she went to UMGDR and came into our lives.
On the overall, she is very well behaved. She stays off any furniture that she's not allowed on (she gets to spend most of her time on our couch). She will sit to go out or for a treat. We learned that she knows "down," "shake," and "high five." She doesn't love to sit and it sometimes takes some patience, but we're sure that a consistent routine and some practice will help her get used to it. She is very gentle and calm when meeting people (folks we've run into at the park, etc.) and gently sniffs them. Other dogs seem to still be a bit of an unknown. She is very conscious of them. Sometimes, she has barked at a dog in the distance. Other times, a dog is barking at her and she's oblivious. When we first brought her home, she got into a snarling match with a pit bull at a rest stop. A neighbor dog was off leash while my husband was walking her two weeks ago around the pond at our apartment complex and they didn't get along well. The little dog ran quite a distance and ran up on Karma. Before my husband knew what was happening, Karma had swatted at the little dog, throwing it. No injuries occurred and the other dog's owner was very apologetic as her dog was off leash. Still, we wish it hadn't happened.
On Thursday, we had a playdate set up with one of my colleagues and his two Rhodesian Ridgebacks. We don't have a fenced in yard and he does, so we hoped that it would be a great opportunity for them to all play. We brought all the dogs outside and tried to properly introduce them. His dogs are a male and a female littermates. Initial introductions went okay - some raised fur, but mostly good. Then the male let out a growl and Karma became very reactive. We pulled them apart and moved to separate parts of the yard, letting them all calm down a bit. The female was let off lead to approach Karma, but was very nervous and wouldn't really come near us. Given some time to cool down, we let the male and Karma approach again. Again, things seemed to go well until the male let another growl out. I couldn't keep hold of Karma (she's so big and strong) and she went after the male. We tried to get them apart, and were only successful after I accidentally stepped on Karma's wounded paw. She winced and I was able to pull her back. I found blood on my shoe and jeans, but couldn't figure out if it was from Karma's paw or not. The male had some blood on his fur, but not in a place where it seemed like Karma's foot had been. My colleague looked his dog over completely and couldn't find any spots where Karma might have drawn the blood. It was probably the scariest thing I've gone through.
We're so scared and sad. Aggression is the one thing we weren't prepared for. Part of our plan was to bring a puppy home in the summer, and now we're so afraid. Even if Karma is okay with the puppy, we don't want her to teach the puppy this behavior.
Of course, I already contacted UMGDR for some resources and suggestions. I also reached out to Moni who suggested the "Look at That" method and sent me some resources. Reading through some of the other threads, it looks like I'll be picking up "Click to Calm" as well.
I know that we've made mistakes. We shouldn't have tried the play date and I completely understand that that's on us and not Karma. Dealing with an aggressive dog is so out of our wheelhouse - Zoe was about as submissive as possible. Please know that we realize we need to be trained as much as she does. We're trying to get a hold of the well-reviewed obedience instructor in our area, but haven't gotten a call back yet. We're new to South Dakota, so we just aren't super aware of our resources yet.
Karma is such a laid back couch potato. We just can't believe this is happening. Any suggestions or resources would be appreciated.
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