Poll of the Day > Oof I might have to take this dog back to the shelter

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'd hate to do it but when we adopted her they said they didn't know anything about her background because they picked her up as a stray. So we said that might be risky and they said we'd have 30 days to bring her back if she had issues with our other pets.

She may be a one pet household kind of dog. She does not like our cat at all. She is always trying to attack it. Maxie is terrified and will not come out into the open.

Her and Ernie have gotten in two dog fights that she has provoked already and he is terrified of her now. He is always hiding under this chair where she can't reach him. Whenever I take him for a walk, because I walk them separately, he never wants to go back to the house. She's always getting in his face immediately when he tries to get water or anything with an intimidating posture and it's hard to pull her away even though she's only 17lbs.

So Ernie and Maxie are just straight up living in terror right now because she is so aggressive towards them and I feel horrible about it. I might take her back and tell them she needs to be the only pet in the household so they can tell the next people who try to adopt her.
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What a bitch
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do it sooner rather than later. like, today if you can. the longer a dog stays in its household before getting returned, the worse it'll be for the next family
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Muffinz0rz posted...

do it sooner rather than later. like, today if you can. the longer a dog stays in its household before getting returned, the worse it'll be for the next family

Yeah I'm thinking today or tomorrow. I gotta call the shelter. I get home at noon today from my group therapy. I've only had her since Monday and I haven't really been able to bond with her because she's been so aggressive towards my other pets that I haven't been able to get any attachment to her.
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That's rough. I'm surprised they didn't do a foster period on account of the other pets in the home
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Doctor Foxx posted...

That's rough. I'm surprised they didn't do a foster period on account of the other pets in the home

Jen0125 posted...

they said we'd have 30 days to bring her back if she had issues with our other pets.

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SunWuKung420 posted...

Doctor Foxx posted...

That's rough. I'm surprised they didn't do a foster period on account of the other pets in the home

Jen0125 posted...

they said we'd have 30 days to bring her back if she had issues with our other pets.

That's not the same thing dude. That's the return period where they don't charge you to surrender an animal. You're still giving up an animal that is legally yours.

Fostering is done before the adoption is completed.
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Yeah, I feel really bad about it but I don't want to jeopardize the safety of my existing pets. I hope she'll find a good home and not be put down :/
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Yeah, return her asap, because your other pets may never fully recover, or it'll take awhile. They can start to feel unsafe in your current home, and that is hard to reverse, even if the other pet is gone for along time.

My cat Siren was like that with a roomates dog Bowie, and she basically never came out of my room anymore, even months after Bowie was gone. Some pets are just not good with others and it sounds like this dog is like that.

Things might get better given time between the new dog and Earnie, but once you start off with an attack/run relationship between a dog and a cat, that doesn't change. The cat gets scared of the dog, and that in turn makes the dog want to chase it more. What is worse, is if it happens long enough it might spread to earnie/maxies relationship as well (Maxie will become scared of Earnie and then he will want to chase her etc).

So yeah, seperate the new dog if you can't return it for now (put it in it's own room with water/food) then return it asap.
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If Arctic were here he'd give you a good talking to for this
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Well I did the deed and harmony has been restored among the pets. I feel bad because they had to quarantine the dog because she bit me during a dog fight I had to break up the other day and I had to file a report about it. Blegh.
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You did the right thing. It's hard but when is the right thing the easy thing? It wouldn't be a question then
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Thanks, Foxx. I hope she finds a happy home for herself.
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Shih tzus and small breed dogs generally find homes very easily. Even if they're only pet kind of dogs. There's also private groups and rescues that are breed specific that would promote the heck out of her if they came across her info. She stands a great chance of finding a well fitting home before very long.
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Doctor Foxx posted...

Shih tzus and small breed dogs generally find homes very easily.

I volunteer at an adoption center and can confirm that the adoption rate of small dogs is super high. Very rarely are they there for more than a week.
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Blightzkrieg posted...

If Arctic were here he'd give you a good talking to for this

lmao

Its sad but you gotta take care of your animals

That dog probably just needs to be in a single pet home. With so many elderly communities in AZ Im sure some senior citizen can adopt it and give it a good home
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I dont mean to be a buzzkill or anything, but that dog is most likely going to be put down since it bit you.

No, they just quarantine her for 10 days and they'll put her back out. She's not aggressive towards people. They may have done that if she is human aggressive but the only reason I got bit is because I was breaking up a dog fight and my hand got in the way.
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Jen0125 posted...

No, they just quarantine her for 10 days and they'll put her back out. She's not aggressive towards people. They may have done that if she is human aggressive but the only reason I got bit is because I was breaking up a dog fight and my hand got in the way.

Yeah this is a requirement from the local health board for rabies protocol. Animal stays at shelter for 10 days under observation to rule out rabies. Only other alternative is examination postmortem. Animal rescuers can understand the difference between a fear reaction and human aggression.
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Does fostering happen a lot. Ive never had to foster mine...
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I fostered Ernie before I adopted him but I was fostering through a rescue and wasn't originally going to adopt him. This dog I got through a county shelter.
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Bummer. You did the right thing though.

Sounds like behaviour from living as a stray where if you don't fight for your food you don't get to eat, it's pretty sad.
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aHappySacka posted...

Sounds like behaviour from living as a stray where if you don't fight for your food you don't get to eat, it's pretty sad.

I could deal with the food aggression just by feeding them in different areas. I started just feeding her in her crate and Ernie in his normal area and not leaving any food out so they couldn't scuttle around to fight. It was mostly the terrorizing of the cat that I couldn't keep allowing.
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