Last night our seven-month old pound puppy, Denali, aggressively snarled and hurled at Chena, our six month old Great White Pyrenees shepherd sweetie. This was the fourth random, snarling session in the last 2 months and really unnerved me. Denali was separated from her mother and siblings too soon and put into a stressful shelter environment before coming home with us at seven weeks old. I didn’t realize the challenge we were taking home, too caught up in her sweet puppy eyes. All along we have struggled with her lack of boundaries and I often recognize the confusion on her face as she tries to figure what we want. She has a hankering to be the alpha, and her howling (literally) protests to my dominance are sometimes quite entertaining. But last night was the breaking point. I had a surge of fear thinking about what could happen with this loose cannon of a dog. My darling daughter sobbed huge tears as I honestly processed with her that we were going to have to get rid of Denali if she continues to be aggressive. (She has already had to give up two dogs due to our moves out of country and I HATE to put her through the pain again, but we HAVE to be a safe place). Denali hasn’t hurt anyone- it appears to be all growl and bared teeth, but we can’t take the chance here.
Sometimes it’s baby steps, once in a while a joyous leap; but most of the time I’m just falling forward.