Comments

1. 

   Anonymous

   Have you gotten him to a vet to rule out anything medical?  Have you hired a veterinary behaviorist to help you deal with this? 

2. 

   Alex Horn

   We don’t have a lot of money i can’t hire any body. I cant afford to do any of that. And i know none of it is medical related.

3. 

   Anonymous

   Honestly, Alex, if you’re unwilling to find a way to make this work, maybe finding him another home is the best thing for him.

   He very well COULD have something medically wrong. How do you know he doesn’t?

4. 

   PK Dennis

   How in the world can you have a dog for 5 years and even consider getting rid of him because of a man?   Will this boyfriend be around in 5 years?  You can bet the dog will be if you don’t ruin his life by sending him back out into the world of rescue. You are correct, you are Shadow’s entire world – it would be wonderful if he was as important to you as some man.  Dogs are not disposable.

   “Yelping and nipping for no reason”.  Girl, there is ALWAYS a reason for what a dog does.  You just have taken the time, energy, effort, or spent the money to find out what that reason is.  This dog has just been moved from the home he knows to a new situation.  His world is up-side-down.  He is probably in pain (the yelping and nipping indicate that), and trying to make sense of what is happening to him.

   He really does need to go to a vet for evaluation, he may have a pinched nerve in his neck or back – that is often the case with dogs that seem to yelp for ‘no reason’.

   Submissive peeing – control the flow with a belly band and sanitary pad if he is peeing a lot.  The incident you describe makes wonder if the dog might not have a bladder infection or bladder stones that prevent him from controlling his bladder under stress.  Again, only a vet can determine if this is the case.

   Snapping at the boyfriend.  Are you sure the boyfriend does not abuse your dog when you aren’t around?  If you are sure, then the boyfriend needs to spend more quality time with the dog.  He should be the one feeding the dog (by hand, one piece of dog food at a time), and taking the dog for walks.  He should also be training the dog tricks or basic obedience so that the dog learns that this man will not hurt him.  The reality is that your boyfriend has to build the relationship with the dog so that the dog can trust him – NOTHING you can do will substitute for this!

   You made a commitment to this being when you adopted him 5 years ago – probably before you met this man.  If you had a child would you get rid of the kid just because the guy in your life didn’t get along with him?  No, you would tell the guy, love me, love my child – no different than this dog.  Tell this guy that he has to either totally ignore and avoid your dog, or do the right thing and work on building a relationship so that three of you can live in harmony.

   I once had a dog the bit my husband (the husband was in my life first).  It must have been very frustrating for my husband to get up in the middle of the night to pee, and have a dog growl at him when he tried to get back in the bed.  Four trainers over 3 years did not really solve the problem – until the 4th trainer told me that I would not be able to fix the problem – it was up to my husband to modify his behavior so that the dog would respect and trust him.  When it was put to my husband in those words he began working with my Murdoch and within 3 months their relationship was totally different and no more biting!  We never, for a second, considered giving up that dog – we made a lifetime commitment to him when he came into our home.  He made us both better dog parents.  I eventually got rid of the husband, but the dog went with me to my new life!