Im excited that so many are following this story! It is indeed one to never forget!
Lets See.....
So, after the incident with Molly trying to bite Elvie, we re-evaluated everything we were doing and started over with her training. We kept trying to get her adjusted to being crated. We gave her special chews and bones that she only got in the crate. She was always reluctant to go in, she would go but then bark after I left the room. I was told by my brother who lives in the apt upstairs that she would bark a lot when we were not home. I noticed one day that she was missing one of her front bottom teeth and wondered if she had done that trying to bite the bars in the crate. After a few months of this, we decided to try not crating her....and put her in the kitchen/dining area where she would have more space but not able to have full access to the house. This went ok for a short time...until she realized she could manipulate the gate and use her nose to knock lose the clip and then she would be able to get through. She seemed to have a problem with any type of confinement. So now we had to figure out what to do next........
During that time, I took her into work to be spayed. The spay went great, and we decided to do X-Rays of her hips and elbows while she was still sedated. The vet looked at them and said that her left hip looked perfect but her right one...not so perfect. It was mild, but her hip was very lose in the socket and it could cause her to get arthritis as she got older but that surgery was not necessary, for us to just keep her in good shape and just see how it played out. What a bummer? We now have just hurdles of issues with this dog, but at least she didnt need surgery. She didnt even seem like it hurt or even bothered her so we didnt worry too much. She recovered well from the spay and by this time she had fully bonded with my other 2 dogs. Rufus and Amber seemed to have an understanding of her better then we did.
It was very interesting to see the 3 of them interact. Molly and Rufus became extremely close and they all ate in the same room together. Molly never once growled at them if they came too close but she always gave us a dead stare and her body would get so tense if we came near her. She did get better over time with that..I just kept up with the hand feeding and all things positive. I had Elvie hand feed too, cause she seemed to have less of a relationship with him then she did me. I think she was finally starting to understand what she was supposed to do. It was not easy, and she tested me ( and still does) all the time.
Rufus ( left) and Molly ( right)
As spring time approached.......so did Thunder Storms and we were about to see another issue emerge. it seemed to be a pattern in this journey, get one thing at bay and yet another one begins. Rufus and Amber never got too upset over storms...actually, none of my previous dogs did either. I remember we had a storm come through in the middle of the night and she started to scratch on the bedroom door. We ended up giving her the chance to have full access to the house after her spay and at night she close to sleep either on the couch or in the hallway outside the bedroom door. So, when she started to practically claw the door down at 3am...I slowly awoke in a panic trying to figure out what was wrong. I open the door to her looking at me in a panic. Oh boy.....so, NOW she has a case of Thunder Storm Phobia. Great......whats one more problem, right?
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