[Dailydrool] Rocky and Maddie

[Dale Rutz]

Hi it's Dale, aka the clueless momPerson,
 
Let me start off by saying I am not a vet, nor am I a certified animal behavioralist.  I am saying this because I believe you need to check with both of those.  
 
Vet:  Maddie's behavior is new and different, and can be caused by pain, thyroid, disease and a multitude of other issues.  Potentially it could be corrected with medication so the vet is DEFINATELY the first place to turn
 
Behavioralist:  If the vet can't find anyting physicall wrong with Maddie, then because she came to you through rescue I would contact the rescue and explain the challenges you face and see if they can recommend someone.  Because she is a rescue they may be able to either help you with cost or else the behavioralist may be willing to work with you on cost  because you rescued her.
 
The bottom line is that Maddie's biting is escalating.  The progression is:  verbal aggression, physical aggression, biting, breaking the skin.  She's crossed a VERY BIG line when she bit you, even though you were intervening between the dogs, if it got reported she'd have a bite history.  More importantly, once that line is crossed, in her mind and yours, everything changes.
 
IMHO you MUST prevent further aggression until/unless you can uncover the cause.  Baby gates can work well so that the dogs can see each other but can't injure each other.  Every dog I've ever seen muzzled because MORE aggressive as a result of the muzzle, just my experience.  I must say I had a very rough patch with Gracie and Snoopy where Snoopy was going after Gracie almost constantly ..... we had squirt bottles all over the house and the stress level was unbelieveable .... however Snoopy doesn't bite and while he would grab her ears and seemingly tug the heck out of them he never broke the skin nor physically injured her.  For us the answer was "baby sister drops" ..... an herbal remedy applied to the skin 3 times a day ...... over time the situation got better and better to the point where Gracie and Snoopy are best friends now, playing and wrestling together and cuddling and sleeping together.  If you contact me offline I will give you the
 details of the drooler who consults in situations like this and makes up the drops.
 
Good luck.
 
The ever clueless momPerson who knows you cannot ignore this, it will only get ugly if you do.
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