[Dailydrool] Aggression, eating fast

[Jane Hay]

Sandi, Ginger is our aggressive houndette. She'll try to kill another dog
over a piece of kibble and I mean that literally. Over time, we have
discovered her triggers and we're generally able to work around them or
avoid them altogether by limiting her exposure to the situations that set
her off but it has been a long road and has taken us a long time to figure
out all of them. We did get a trainer involved who is knowledgeable about
bassets and who works with positive reinforcement training and I would urge
you to continue to work with your behaviorist if you're comfortable with
their methods or find someone who will help you with Owen with positive
reinforcement training rather than the dominance training methods. Owen
needs to respect his people as leaders of the pack but I promise you
that dominating him like you see on some of the tv shows isn't the way to
go. One thing that we recently decided is that we can't foster for our
rescue any longer. Our last foster hound was here for two months and it was
two months of hell for Ginger (and us!). We had several HUGE dog fights
between Ginger and Sydney and we were very lucky that neither of us got
bitten when we were breaking them up. We're very fortunate that she has
never deliberately gone after a person but the DH was bitten one other time
just because he was breaking up a fight between she and one of the mastiffs
and Ginger doesn't care what or who she sinks her teeth into when she goes
off. It hurts our hearts to have to make the decision to give up
fostering but Ginger is here for a reason and we can keep her under control
under most circumstances. Sandi, I think you may have to make some tough
choices with your Owen if you choose to keep him at your house. You already
know he's unadoptable through your rescue. No rescue should EVER adopt out
a dog with known aggression towards other dogs and especially not towards
people. I know that my Ginger would have been put down a long time ago
if she weren't with us but she is the most loving, sweet houndette that you
could ever ask for when she's not stressed. We're very careful about the
situations we put her in and limit the chaos she's exposed to here at home
and, as I said, we've made the decision to give up fostering. It seems like
a dog like Ginger and your Owen needs the stability of sameness and routine
along with doing the things that our trainer recommended. These dogs are a
tremendous amount of work and they require true dedication to keep them
stable but it has been worth it here.

Thank you everyone who responded to me about Ginger eating so fast. I'm
trying a couple of your suggestions but wanted to tell you that putting her
in a room by herself was a bust. She hooted and hollered and was terribly
anxious about being separated from the other Houndettes plus she still
inhaled her food. I think muffin tins are going to be next on the agenda
along with softening her kibble. I really appreciate all of the suggestions
I got.

The Houndettes are slinging heart healing and get well drool to all in need.

Jane & the Houndettes
Jersey, Shadow, Suzy & Ginger
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