I was running with a leashed Elvis in a field by my in-law's house. He escaped and ran away from me. We found him running on the side of the highway. Fortunately, we came up in front of him and he ran right to us.
It's all well and good to be hopeful that one day Elvis will come around and want to be part of the family, but I ask again, how long do we wait? The running away isn't so bad in itself. Many dogs would take that opportunity. But it's the ignoring us, avoiding us, being fearful of everything and everyone, pulling on the leash, peeing everywhere. We need HELP!! Training sessions don't get us anywhere because he's not motivated by food. He doesn't really trust us and he doesn't trust humans in general, so why on God's, or Goddesses for my Pagan readers, good green earth would he listen to a damn thing we say? Could it be that this dog really needs to run off-leash and we are doing a disservice to him by keeping him? Also, Molly is old and has multiple health issues. We have not been able to spend as much time with her as we used to because of the Plott. Are we wasting time we could be spending with her on a hopeless case?
Both Steve and I would rather see Elvis become a loving member of our family than to give him up. I don't want to shelter him again - I'd rather keep him here until we can find him a good, fenced in yard kind of place. But we signed a contract with the shelter not to give him up and I don't know if they'd put him up for adoption on their website and have him live with us so long as we made him available for visits.
I dunno. Tired and winded from the unexpected run and at my wits end. And, as he's not a very loving dog, it's hard to understand why we are working so hard at this.
I'm so f-ing tired and have loads to do for finals week next week, yet I spend a good 3-4 hrs a day just on the Plott. Damn Plott. Let this be a warning to all you who think you wants lots of pets. Listen to your mother and only have one pet, besides rats, because you can always fit rats in to the schedule.
Poor neglected little rats. No wonder Olive has turned to a life of Riffdom.
posted by Molly and Elvis @ 8:59 PM
7 Comments:
Do you think your maybe spending too much of your time on him? I know hes going to need alot of work but if you have tried giving him tons of attention and its not working, maybe focusing more on your other dog and giving her loads of love will make him think? Maybe if he isnt motivated by food he is motivated by attention, but because he is so 'naughty' he only ever gets negative attention. I learned this with my son. Ignor the bad behavior(within reason of course) and go overboard on every little good thing that he does. It worked for my son. I dont have a clue if you have tried this or not but I still use this positive feedback technique with my kids.
Just ignor that if you tried it already :)
We do give him attention when he's good and are just patient with the bad. It's useless to give neg. attention to a dog because they don't act out of spite or meanness, they just act out of...dog. The dog trainer said that we need to be extra gentle with this guy because he is so sensitive and needs to learn to trust. I am going to call him today. Am at wit's end.
Thanks, Clare
Just my opinion here and it don't mean shite.
If you feel he needs a fenced in yard then do your own advertising.
Look up recycle groups in your area, yahoo has a ton of them and you could run an ad on there.
Craigs list is another possibility.
I know it's hard, your trying and nothing is working and Molly is paying a price. She needs your attention ( I know you know this )
We had to give up a dog once a few years ago as we had the same kind of deal, but she was an outside dog that barked all the time, Henry sleeps days and it just did not work.
Like I said, Just my thoughts and they mean crap. Do what you need to do.
I would not worry about the contract you signed. If those folks have not followed up with a call or a visit to you by now their not going to. All they want is to place dogs.
Thanks, Vick.
I know it's a horrid decision to make, so good luck with whatever you decide xx
We've decided to work harder at helping him to adjust and then reasses at the end of training. We are also going to bring in a trainer to do a home assessment to help us figure out to what degree this guy can be rehabilitated and then decide if we can live with that. We are also hoping that the trainer will give us some advice on how to build the trust between us and help us get a handle on the situation. Right now we are in over our heads. And we have Molly and ratties and our lives to think about. I just don't want this dog back in the shelter if he's not with us because that would put him back even farther.
what a difficult decision. i think home assessment is good, maybe a different trainer? i have some suggestions of books that a gsp rescue person gave me and she even shows dogs.(not that you have much time to read) the other day someone asked how many cats i have and then asked about parents and said "oh, its genetic." which seems to sum things up except for elvis' uncle who seems to have it under control. and i am thinking of taking clare's advice for my son, but it is hard to ignore some of the things m does when he is bad. thanks clare for that reminder of "negative behavior" it has to be it because when i am busy trying to get ready for work or do something he goes "to the dark side" and it escalates to a time out many times. whenever he gets a scratch or bruise adn i say something about it he says "that's because i'm turning into anakin." (for all of you who know a bit about star wars).
good luck with elvis issue, even if it means he goes - you are thinking of best interest of all and that is so hard to do.
auntie k (who can't even control her humans let alone fuzz so sorry, i can't take you home with me.)
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