And it’s killing me because I waited for her for so long. It’s the breed I always wanted but never had the space, time of money for and finally, after years of research and waiting I was able to get her.
We went to what was considered a good breeder, KC assured, champions in the line, pups and dogs seemed healthy and well cared for, supposedly lifetime support ... well we were lied to basically. At the time we were told the “dad” couldn’t come into the house as was too protective of the puppies. We have since learnt that he was aggressive and untrustworthy.
My little dog has been a nightmare since day one. I have a photo of her from the day I brought her home and she’s snarling and growling on that. We thought it was cute and funny at the time as she was only 8 weeks old but Christ that picture really was an insight we overlooked.
She’s been dog aggressive from the beginning. Constantly wanting to fight. I took her to socialisation groups but she was too aggressive with the other pups and we were asked to stay away in the end. We persevered on the advice of our trainer and took her to dog play sessions with older dogs, smaller groups etc and in the space of a few weeks attacked and injured two other dogs.
Now she’s unbearable on the lead, lunges, barks, growls ... she pulled me over yesterday trying to get to another dog. I do daily training with her, we’ve had three 1-1 trainers ... only one of them could control her but once he leaves, she reverts back to being Cujo.
She has chased and cornered the postman, growled random people when they’ve tried to stroke her (one was a drug user who was under the influence of something at the time), another was a random man picking his dog up from dayschool ... he tried to offer her a treat and she continued growling and just did not like him at all. Yet with other people she’s a big daft softie who wants to cuddle and lick and play ... but I can’t trust her and it depends on who she likes and who she doesn’t.
I could never trust her with kids.
On the other hand she’s the only dog I’ve ever had that I feel 100% confident taking a bone from her mouth. She has potential, I know she does.
She’s highly intelligent, I can teach her anything within minutes. Obedience work, tricks ... anything but she’s very much a working dog and I feel so sorry for her. She’d be a perfect police/military dog and I’m sure she’d be happier.
I will not give up on her. I love her but I’m feeling so beaten by it now. I had dreams of sitting outside coffee shops/beer gardens with her in summer etc but it seems unlikely to happen. Just lonely walks trying to avoid anything that moves instead.
Fed up. Love her but god I’m fed up.