anazepereo
New member
5 months ago, my wife adopted a 11+ year-old cross-breed (shepard-rottweiler we think) from a shelter in the outback of Romania. The dog lived for at least 6 years in that shelter before it came to us. In general, she's a good dog; she walks nicely on the street, is very calm, doesn't bark a lot. It even peacefully coexists with our two rabbits in the same room. We did notice that she's also very skittish, especially around men which leads us to speculate she is traumatized due to past abuse.
I also have an energetic 8-year old daughter who is used to the big, playful dog we had before this dog. She already got bitten three times by this dog, always in a situation where my daughter startled or annoyed the dog. The first two times, the dog nipped her hand. The last time, my daughter planted her face too close to the muzzle of the dog and the startled dog grazed her lip; a lot of blood, a lot of drama.
We explained to our daughter several times that she has to be calmer and back off the moment she notices the dog gets annoyed. However, I can see it coming that my daughter one day forgets about all the warnings again, startles the dog again which then will bite out of fear with more horrifying results.
Most people I talk to about this, say it might be time to look for a more appropriate home for the dog. I frankly don't know how to proceed here.
I also have an energetic 8-year old daughter who is used to the big, playful dog we had before this dog. She already got bitten three times by this dog, always in a situation where my daughter startled or annoyed the dog. The first two times, the dog nipped her hand. The last time, my daughter planted her face too close to the muzzle of the dog and the startled dog grazed her lip; a lot of blood, a lot of drama.
We explained to our daughter several times that she has to be calmer and back off the moment she notices the dog gets annoyed. However, I can see it coming that my daughter one day forgets about all the warnings again, startles the dog again which then will bite out of fear with more horrifying results.
Most people I talk to about this, say it might be time to look for a more appropriate home for the dog. I frankly don't know how to proceed here.