Okay, here's the deal guys. I need some serious opinions, suggestions; Back me up on this one... PLEASE!!! This will probably be a bit long due to me giving a background of each of the animals and situations- Apologies ahead of time.
A little background on my family and our dogs:
Between my fiance and I, we have a GSD, Min Pin, and a Warlock Doberman Pinscher. All three are so well behaved other than normal annoyances-Chasing cats, consistent barking while playing, etc. They're great and they've been great since day one because I've repeatedly tried (on purpose) to condition them and socialize them for our children and so they would come to expect close to everything and anything at all possible. My children AND other people can literally take the food and toys away from them and/or out of their mouths if needed and the dogs will just wait for the food to return.
Now, on the other hand...
My parents had a Pomeranian named Lika whom recently passed away about a year and a half ago. I had never known her to be aggressive although my parents said she "didn't like" the neighbor kid and had snapped at him. I was totally unaware of these "attitude problems". Well, after my childhood dog had passed, my parents decided to get another family pet for their house and of course loving the breed, went with the pom. The new baby's name is Shotzie. She's a beautiful little purebred pom and seems to have repeating problems of spontanious aggression. The dog is now a little over a year I believe and since she's been brought home has snapped at certain people (including my mom, my youngest son who is 6, and myself.) Knowing what this could lead to, due to personal experience and handling of dogs, I had repeatedly told my father who is technically the "owner" of the dog, that he needed to take care of that and repremand the dog more often when this happens or it would continue to worsen and more than likely would result in a bite. Nothing was ever done and then dog as I specified, did continue to worsen in material dominance.
So, that being said:
Several weeks back my family and I were over at my mothers house and Christian, my son, was playing with one of his toys and accidentally dropped it too close to the bone the dog was chewing on and the dog jumped up and bit the child in the eyebrow, broke skin, and drew blood. I know this wasn't the dogs fault- She was only doing what she thought was protecting her belongings. I WAS ANGRY WITH MY FATHER. He didn't correct the dog at the time of the bite. Instead when I said something out loud about the dog not being further trained as recommended, HE GOT MAD AT ME AND ACTUALLY STARTED YELLING AT ME AND DEFENDING THE DOG!!! I told him that I wasn't upset at the dog- It was the fact she wasn't even repremanded and then was taken up for when I defended my son. Later I found out that he didn't realize that she actually had bitten him so I explained calmly why I was upset and to please get the dog further help and until then, I wasn't letting my son over there house because I felt I couldn't trust the dog. They agreed to get the dog help and asked ME (I have experience in working with dogs) to do the further training and until properly trained would keep her confined while we were over. I agreed and forgave. UNTIL TODAY.
We were over at the house picking up belated Valentine's Day gifts when I was saying goodbye to my father and when I turned to walk away, the evil little dog attacked my foot and bit my ankle. I did as I said I would and told the dog she was a bad dog and and NO. She ran and my dad had the gall to tell me to leave her alone as if I was picking on her or something!!! She didn't draw blood or break the skin on me but a dog bite, big or small, is a dog bite nonetheless. My mother called me a bit later and having no knowledge of what happened earlier, I informed her and told her that "THAT DOG HAS GOT TO HAVE HELP. IT WILL CONTINUE TO GET WORSE". In which my mother told me that that was her personality and that it was just me that she hated so there was nothing wrong with the dog. "That's just the way she is. If you are afraid of her, we'll put her in the crate when you're here." I responded by saying that it's not normal for a dog to bite and dogs may have personalities but biting is not co-existant with that. I also informed her that I'm not "Afraid" of the dog or I would have hit the door running but that I'm very adament about it will get worse! She said she thinks I'm upset because I didn't get to further train the dog and I told my mother that I'm upset because the dog has now bitten twice and i'm upet that she hasn't had further training- whomever it may be by! I don't care who it is if she has the help she needs!!!!! Why do they not understand this concept!? Next time, it might be my son's actual eye or someone else that may not be as forgiving and press charges but they still continue to defend the dog and blame ME for the dog biting!Can you believe this!!?? I'm appauled and hurt and very, very angry. This poor dog doesn't know this is wrong and is not corrected but shockingly, DEFENDED when the dog snaps or actually bites someone. And for them to choose the dog over their own family is wrong and offensive and physically dangerous!!! I will no longer visit my family anymore or let my son stay until the dog gets help or is removed from the household.
My parents aren't stupid either that's what really bothers me. They are well established in the community and have very respected positions at their place of work. I'm so confused and hurt and scared. Anything good or bad will be appreciated. What does everyone think!? HELP!!!???
Dakota, Apollo, and Pixie's Mom,
Heather
