[Dailydrool] Help for Bertha

[Esther Strom]

After my parents' beloved basset Daisy went to the bridge in January, they started talking about adopting another dog. After some wrangling, they ended up adopting Bertha from Suncoast. Bertha is apparently causing some problems, and they're talking about sending her back to the rescue. Hopefully someone can give me some ideas to help them so this poor girl doesn't end up back in foster care, or worse, in a kennel.

*She countercruises something terrible. I've explained that they can't leave food out, and they seem to have forgotten that Daisy once swiped an entire coconut cake that was waiting out for guests. My mom says that she wasn't "leaving" food on the counter - she was unpacking from the grocery store, and Bertha scored an entire roasted chicken before she had a chance to put it away. My suggestion was to gate Bertha outside the kitchen while Mom unpacks; their response was...

*She chews on furniture if she's barred from the kitchen. She's already chewed up the legs of my dad's desk chair, the sofa, and an antique end table. She apparently can't be trusted at all when unattended (meaning someone not in the same room, not left alone in the house.)

*She snapped at my sister's Jack Russell - after the JRT bit her on the ear, drawing blood. I don't see this as an issue, since my sister and her dog are moving out in less than a month, but my parents are upset that Bertha apparently doesn't "get along with other dogs". 

*She growls and snaps whenever they try to clean her ears. They've tried a muzzle during those times, but apparently can't even manage to get it on her because of the snapping.

Bertha is crate-trained, but my dad doesn't feel that it's fair to her to keep her crated constantly, and I have to agree there. My parents are saying the foster parents knew about all of these behaviors and didn't bother to mention them. He's furious, because in spite of all the problems he's already attached to Bertha, and my mom is the one who's really insisting that she go back. If I lived closer, and didn't have an elderly hound of my own with health problems, I'd take her myself, but that's just not possible now.

Does anyone have any ideas of how to deal with her so that she doesn't have to go back to rescue? (FYI, my parents are older, and don't seem to have as much patience as they did 10 years ago when they adopted Daisy.)

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Esther Strom
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