I am heartbroken to tell you that Belle (Cuddlebug) is being surrendered back to the rescue. The family first contacted me about a week ago with concerns.
About 2 months ago our vet raised a concern about Belle’s personality and her being skittish. She can be very sweet and then wants to bite and cowers... She is good and playful with our 2 girls. She likes to eat their toys but we are working through that. I just left the vet and she thought I should reach out to you. We love Belle and she is part of our family but have concerns if she is going to be skittish and possibly bite our children’s friends, etc. Our vet has seen improvement but feels she will always have this issue and require extra attention. We want to make sure Belle has the best possible life and our vet thought she might be better with a family without children and were she can receive a lot of exercise and attention. The vet thinks her skittish behavior could cause her to bite one of our children or friends out of the blue with this type of personality.
Belle is in adolescence, which is a time when there can be regression and problems in many dogs, just like in a human teenager. I see a ton of dogs between 6 and 18 mos in rescue, I suspect for this reason. The fact that she is young indicates a strong likelihood that we can figure out her triggers and work with her to stop the unwanted behaviors. The family told me last night that they do not feel they have the extra time to put in to such training.
We are working out the terms of surrender now: whether Belle will remain with the family until she can be rehomed, or Rescue Angels will take custody and foster her until then. I am sad that I can not take her in myself. But there is no way I could leave Cheetah and Belle alone while I am at work. I KNOW they would get to playing and the house would be in shambles when I come home. And I am not comfortable crating for an entire work day. Not to mention poor Mr. PM, Swiffer and Lexy. I am going to try to figure something out though so that I can work on her training a bit myself, and definitely have some play dates with Cheetah. You know I will stay involved.
I would like to publicly thank Dee Hoult for doing me the favor of pro bono consulting on this case. As always I would prefer to keep comments on the positive side - no bashing please . We can not judge the position of the family without being in their shoes. I don't get the impression they made this decision lightly.
I find this very interesting because Schroeder has started showing agression torwards children. He is not skittish just want to get to them growling and barking. These children are children are children he knows. Sat. when they were over he was very nippy. These children are alittle nervous around him and I think thats part of the problem. I agree, he is starting to test his limits a typical teenager.
ReplyDeleteIt saddens me that Belle will have to leave her family and somehow find a new family to love her. I understand what the owners must be going through. Belle is a beautiful, sweet and loving dog, but they have to take their children into consideration first. Once again, I truly wish I lived closer to either help you (and Rescue Angels) with finding Belle a new home... or to take her home with me. Many, many hugs and cuddles for darling little Belle.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that the family didn't work out. Puppies take A LOT of time and energy, not just rescues. Belle (CB) is a loving pup, and I'm sure it's just teenage angst that's causing the problems. Keeping all "our" pups in my t's and p's that they all stay with their furever homes.
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