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4 Posts
Hello everybody,
I am new to this forum. We have had our GSD Norman for over three years now. Since he was a puppy I worked tirelessly to socialize him... and he did very well in the beginning. Then at 9 months he had an orthopedic issue that had to be addressed as soon as possible. His prognosis was not good and it was possible that he would be on pain medication and limping the rest of his life. Luckily we found an awesome surgeon who with a combination of surgery and stem cells completed rebuilt his elbow, no limping at all whatsoever in three years!
Problem was that from 9 months to 12 months he was not allowed any walking -- so we had to keep him in his kennel. After the three months kenneling is when problems started to arise -- barking at strangers, afraid of strange dogs. I continued to socialize him. Then, at a year and half he bit someone.. since then he has bitten a few more people (luckily not injuring anyone). Anyways, as the dysfunction got larger we catered to it more and more. Now, we can't have anyone strange around -- if we have visitors for an extended period of time we have to spend days getting the dog used to other people. He's afraid of dogs that he does not now and he will snap at them in fear.
Now comes the kicker --- we just had a baby two months ago. I do not trust this dog around the child, simple as that. I don't know what to do, I lay awake and night thinking about it. I am so attached to this dog but I am also so afraid something bad is going to happen at some point. I am just hoping there is someone else out there who can relate to all that we are going through. We have three dogs and I am firm believer that once you have a dog it is fully your commitment and you cannot just get rid of them because its "not a good fit"... well at least I used to feel that way. But now, I can't stop thinking about getting rid of him -- I just know that getting rid of him would very difficult (for me and trying to find someone that would want him).
I am sorry for the really long post --I just hope that someone can relate or pass on some information on what steps I should take -- I feel so lost right now about the whole thing.
I am new to this forum. We have had our GSD Norman for over three years now. Since he was a puppy I worked tirelessly to socialize him... and he did very well in the beginning. Then at 9 months he had an orthopedic issue that had to be addressed as soon as possible. His prognosis was not good and it was possible that he would be on pain medication and limping the rest of his life. Luckily we found an awesome surgeon who with a combination of surgery and stem cells completed rebuilt his elbow, no limping at all whatsoever in three years!
Problem was that from 9 months to 12 months he was not allowed any walking -- so we had to keep him in his kennel. After the three months kenneling is when problems started to arise -- barking at strangers, afraid of strange dogs. I continued to socialize him. Then, at a year and half he bit someone.. since then he has bitten a few more people (luckily not injuring anyone). Anyways, as the dysfunction got larger we catered to it more and more. Now, we can't have anyone strange around -- if we have visitors for an extended period of time we have to spend days getting the dog used to other people. He's afraid of dogs that he does not now and he will snap at them in fear.
Now comes the kicker --- we just had a baby two months ago. I do not trust this dog around the child, simple as that. I don't know what to do, I lay awake and night thinking about it. I am so attached to this dog but I am also so afraid something bad is going to happen at some point. I am just hoping there is someone else out there who can relate to all that we are going through. We have three dogs and I am firm believer that once you have a dog it is fully your commitment and you cannot just get rid of them because its "not a good fit"... well at least I used to feel that way. But now, I can't stop thinking about getting rid of him -- I just know that getting rid of him would very difficult (for me and trying to find someone that would want him).
I am sorry for the really long post --I just hope that someone can relate or pass on some information on what steps I should take -- I feel so lost right now about the whole thing.