So far so good on the new dog thing. It definitely has not been easy, but we still have her, and she is doing great. Zoe on the other hand we found out is an INTENSE emotional eater and has been eating her "weeks" worth of dog food in ONE DAY! How does this happen? I am sure you are all wondering we we don't monitor her food more closely? Well, in my own defense up until now we haven't had to monitor her food intake because she was pretty self regulating. She would eat occasionally just the right portion and then be done. However, because this new dog has been stealing everything from bone to toy from her, we believe that she insists on eating all the food in her bowl at one sitting to insure the big dog does not get ANY of it. This has caused her to gain quite a bit of weight and we now are restricting how much food we give her.
She also finds it annoying when the big dog comes and plops her head anywhere near her, and when she does this zoe insists on snapping at her and biting the tip of her nose. (At first we had BIG problems with this as Celeste would snap back and there were a couple of VERY scary moments) now she just whimpers and cries with hurt feelings, which of course makes zoe feel big and tough. We haven't found a solution to this problem. Any suggestions?
8 comments:
The crappy thing is that multiple dogs create a dominance struggle that never, never ends. The only way to avoid it, if neither of them want to back down (although it sounds to me like Zoe is going to be Alpha) is to keep them completely seperate. My mom had to do that with two females that couldn't get along.
Well... it may not be the ONLY way to avoid it. I didn't mean to state things in such stark totalitarian terms.
Maybe you should ask Kelli to do a process for her. Does Zoe believe in muscle testing?
Amy Robinson is more of your animal therapy kind of gal. I think she may actually like animals, which is one up on me and I've learned that relationship is 60% of the therapuetic process. Also, I like your new font color.
We have a little grouchy dog and a big goofy dog, and they've worked things out really well. It helps that they're male and female (female female is the hardest, I'm told). The main thing is that one of the dogs has to be content to be bossed around. Puppies usually are, but as they get older, they might get other ideas. Oh, and having them both spayed helps a lot, too.
Since you probably want Zoe to be the boss, you should do things that set her up that way, such as feeding her first, letting only HER be on the couch with you, and only HER sleep in your room (or whatever). It seems mean to Celeste, but it will help Celeste get the picture faster.
I'm sure there are good books and websites that deal with this kind of situation.
I have been wanting another cat but have put it off because I think Muttons would react very similar to Zoe. I think over time she'll get used to it and if not you could always make Celeste an outside dog since you have such a nice, big yard!
Oh and yes it's hard to believe it's been 4 years of marriage and no worries about your mum being late - I'd forgotten all about it!
Hmm...I have no ideas on how to help your dogs. I think Zoe is super sassy, and it makes me laugh at how snarky she is. Though I can't help out in any way, shape, or form, keep the stories coming. It makes for a good read.
Hey Amy and Kory!
Amy, your sister was my delivery nurse! I was so happy! She was awesome, and it was nice to have a familiar face there....I am sure she got to know me a little too well...oops. Any way, you and Kory are too cute...I am sure glad you guys married each other. Tell your sister how awesome she is! Luvs Annie
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