Our journey began early December last year when our beautiful deaf and mostly blind Aussie 'Fitzroy' crossed the rainbow bridge after a quick and horrible diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma. He was my heart dog and still leaves a tremendous hole in my heart. In our time of grieving we missed the pitter patter of doggies footsteps and the precious hand signal communication.
Into our lives came a wonderful 5 year old deaf and very blind aussie by the name of Roxie. Roxie was relinquished by her previous owners because they couldn't deal with her in a house with 6 dogs, 3 cats and chickens. She was very nervous when we got her and knew only 1 hand signal. I don't think she had ever even walked on a leash. The owners who gave her up wrote only a very short bio about her life, no detail at all.
We brought Roxie home to a quiet home with no other animals but 2 small children. She became very attached to our family and became very mellow. She was recovering from being spayed and removal of 3 mammary tumors (all benign) which contributed to her mellowness. Over the next few weeks her energy began to come back and she became active and walked with us for many miles.
About a week ago Roxie began nipping at anyone who came into the house or near our children. She wouldn't even let her grandpa near his grandson, going after his back legs (aussie minded). She startled a few times when other kids were in the house and became unpredictable around children with nips to hands. Roxie is a well intended Aussie who needs to be in a home with adults and maybe a dog or 2 but no kids. She does great with adults and is moderately active (loves to go on walks but isn't too fond of running). During her first 5 years she lived in a chaotic home with little love and too much stimulation. Once she got into our house she slept soundly for many nights, (catching up on all that sleep she must have lost).
We are currently working weekly with a behaviorist/trainer surrounding Roxie's protective nature surrounding our children. She is very intelligent and wants to learn. To date she is crate trained, walks well on leash, knows signals for sit, lay down, stay, come, shake and is working on touch training with the hands for heeling. We leave her crate in our living room with the door open and she spends about 50% of her time sleeping in it by her own choice.
The trainer has asked us to look at the stress that protecting the kids causes Roxie and that maybe she would be better suited in a home without children. We currently feel the same way as we live in a neighborhood with MANY children who come running thru our house unannounced, in the front door and out the back. I don't want any of these kids to get nipped (bitten) by her protectiveness and fears surrounding her disabilities. It's also not fair to Roxie.
We feel horrible about having to re-home Roxie as she is a beautiful, loyal baby.
Is there anything that you could do to help us? Foster/ adopt Roxie into the right family? We would be willing to fly Roxie to a foster home and we can help financially to contribute to her safety and care while looking for placement. We live in Colorado. Please help!
Contact:
Kimber
kimbergreg@comcast.net
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