Dear Labby, petiquette expert

Dear Labby: I live in a household of nine adults and one child. We fostered a lab/chihuahua mix dog for a local shelter and the first few hours of taking care of the dog, she snapped at my sister's toddler. Scared, my family immediately sent the dog back to the shelter. No questions asked, either. Since then, I've joined Dogtime and have done lots of research on why it happened. I've grown to love dogs and have gained a desire to adopt one of my own. My family, however, has shied away from ever getting a dog now. How do I convince them that dogs are not as bad as they think they are?

9 months ago by Pluupy

Thanks for 'Dear Labby' for addressing all of these questions! I have a problem with my little dogpack, and need some advice from either Dear Labby, or one of your experts! I have four remaining dogs living with me - a 5 year old 'blue-teagle' (he's huge!), a 6 year old teacup chihuahua, a 4 year old papillon (all are males) and my son's 3 year old chi-weenie (female) All are neutered/spayed. Here is my question; Last week three of my dogs - the blue-teagle, papillon and chiweenie attacked my oldest chihuahua (a teacup 3 1/2 pound little 7 year old blonde boy) with a ferocity I had never seen. They actually were biting him to the point of pulling skin! Now, we have had fusses before - the 6 year old chi sometimes growls in warning at the others when they are bugging him, and sometimes (though rarely thank goodness) it results in an all-out fight. I have been bitten (accidently) trying to break up these fights because when they erupt, it is chaos. I am actually afraid the pap, chiweenie and blueteagle will kill one of the two teacup chis. Because of the attack, my little blonde chi is living with my daughter now - he was so traumatized that he hid under the tv cabinet in a corner, so I wanted him in a safer place! How do I break up - or even better stop these brawls before they begin? It is horrible! I don't even know what sets them off to the point of such violence. If anyone out there knows a method of stopping these attacks upon each other, I would truly appreciate it! I love all of my babies, and want my little blonde boy back. Thanks to you all!

over 1 year ago by Anonymous