This is gonna be long...

[Guest guest]

I haven't been posting much, except for here and there lately, things have been really rough for me lately. First of all, the weather has been extremely nutty...one day it's 58 and raining, and the next, it's 90 with unbearable sunshine. The moisture in the water makes the old bones in my young body ache. Second, I've had one of my best friends and her two kids (ages 3 and 8) staying with us for the past month. She's going through a messy divorce, and didn't want to pull her kids out of school (I've been pulled out of school with only 2 weeks left, so I could relate). It's actually been nice having her here...she cooks, cleans, does laundry, runs errands for me while I'm at work...it's like having a live-in maid/personal assistant lol However, since I haven't been feeling well (PMS, allergies, you name it lol), I haven't been very tolerant. I try very hard, but when the 3 yo and the 8 yo are constantly screaming, I just want to tell them all to leave. Today, the 3 yo locked the rest of us into my garage...yea, we could get out of the garage, but the front door was locked, and she "didn't know how" to unlock or, as she claimed, lock the door. When she finally opened up (only after I called to have someone come out with a skeleton key...one of the benefits of living in military housing), she laughed about it...not a normal 3 yo giggle...but a Dr. Evil cackling witch laugh. She thought it was so funny, and that irritated me more than anything. And the fact that she wasn't punished for it. And wait, there's more...

My dogs are having issues. One dog (the dominant one) has developed an irrational jealousy of the other dog, so whenever the one dog gets attention, the other attacks it. It's the most bizzare thing I've ever seen. Sierra (the attacker) has never been aggressive towards humans, she loves kids and loves to give kisses and cuddle. Cody (the victim) was abused, neglected and abandoned, and since we've been working on correcting that since the day we got her. Now, she's reverting into her old behaviors (tail between the legs, ears back and trembling violently) whenever Sierra is around. From what we can tell, there isn't even anything provoking Sierra, she's just getting mad when Cody gets any attention, and we're not going to ignore one dog to appease the other. So, since Sierra is "my" dog, I had to make a very difficult decision. I'm trying to place her in a new home. Those of you who haven't had pets can't understand what this is doing to me. I've had her since she was a little bitty puppy, not even old enough to be away from her mother. I bottle fed her, then weaned her through hand feeding. She slept curled up with her head resting on my neck the first two months we had her. She jumped out of our truck window when we were driving down a mountain, and only got superficial scratches...she's our super-puppy. But I will not put Cody in a situation where she is at risk for injuries or worse. I couldn't handle coming home to find one dog dead in the backyard.

If anyone knows someone who would like a pet, I haven't painted the best picture of her, I know. But I have strict requirements for her new family. She MUST be the only pet in the household (animals in tanks and aquariums are okay, i.e. snakes, fish, etc.). She does like some cats, but she's picky. She loves kids, and thinks she is everyone's mother. She is very protective, she actually guards the stairs until I fall asleep lol

I went to my behavior therapist today, which, in my opinion is a waste of time. All the techniques he's "teaching" me, I've been doing since I was in middle school. My mom is a psych nurse, and taught me relaxation techniques to help me sleep (I've always been an insomniac). I'm so frustrated, and so sick and tired of being sick and tired. I want my house back to myself, I want to quit my job, I want my dogs to stop acting like they hate each other...when Sierra was a pup, she tried to nurse off Cody for goodness sake. I'm at a loss, my neighbor is trying to help us place Sierra...but since she's a Staffordshire Terrior/Red Nose Pit Bull mix, it's not an easy breed to find a good family for. Right when everything started looking up, the bottom fell out again.

"Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great"-Comte DeBussy-Rasputin

[Guest guest]

,

I'm so sorry to hear about your dog. Has the jealously been slowly building or sudden? Does she have any health problems?

It's a very difficult and heartbreaking decision to give up a beloved pet. I hope she finds a wonderful home where she is comfortable. I hope it works out for the best.

S.

[Guest guest]

Miraculously, the only injuries she had were superficial cuts and a couple broken nails! She's our super dog.

I talked with a private trainer today, and she's willing to take our zoo on as clients, she is actually reasonably priced too. My lunatic of a brother tried to tell me not to bother contacting any trainers because private sessions would cost around $3000 ROFL He's so full of himself and such a pain in the butt and stress trigger, sometimes it's easier to pretend I'm an only child. Anyways, the trainer charges $165 for 3 sessions, or $275 for 6 sessions. I think we're going to go with the 6 sessions, but since it looks like I'm now out of a job, I'm going to ask her if we can make payments every 2 weeks.

She said that Sierra is coming into adulthood and is trying to dominate Cody. She told me some things to work on in the meantime to reestablish my dominance. So far so good, no attacks in the past 4 days! We've recognized the behavior that leads to them, and when we see it, we distract Sierra, which has been working beautifully!

Thanks for asking

"Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great"-Comte DeBussy-Rasputin