Crystal

Positive thoughts and prayers your way. Keep us updated.

Ah, the dog he will be. Thanks I feel better. It is stressful. He has recently decided to trust us enough for belly rubs. He sees someone coming and rolls right over to wait. I'm waiting on my daughter to point out his "you know what" and ask what it is. Shes 6 she will ask.

Thank you pyrless. By the way McKenzie was Boxer and Pit so she Toby is all that different in energy aspects. Toby ate a hole in the laundry room wall. Yesterday he knocked some of the stucco off the side of the porch. Monster. Well I am gonna keep trying. Only about 8 months to go until a year old. I can survive. I've just always been able to so easily train other dogs. He is impossible. Hopefully he will trust us before long and warm up.

He spends alot of time with us. As long as he isn't pooing behind the furniture he is allowed in the living room. I sit and pet him and talk to him and such. He spends a few hours alone, but even then I go out often and reassure him that I am not gone. I try to redirect him when he bites. I say no, I've tried a sharp ouch, and I've given him something he can mouth instead of me. I've grabbed his mouth and closed it. I've even placed him in time out. Which is a few minutes alone placed in a room where he can't see anyone or have any fun. Doesn't work. He consistently bites me. I will ow ow ow, and he finds it even more of a reason to bite. One day he bit he extremly hard and I poped him on the butt out of shock. Really that little tap seemed to have the most affect. It was not hard and didn't hurt him, but it removed his attention from me and biting. I just don't want to go around poping his butt, that seems cruel.

BK, ok if you are not trying to make me feel that way. I feel you are carrying feelings from another thread to this one. Sorry if you didn't know about Toby's play bitting. I had mentioned it before in other threads, guess you didn't see them. My stinky little town is so small and crappy that there is no training classes. The closest good one is over an hour drive away. So he gets the training I give him. I work with him often and we romp and play but he always turns into play bitting. I know this can develop into a big problem. He is stubborn. This may be what is stoping bonding, but I don't know. He has be a loner ever since day 1. He prefers to keep to himself and not be bothered. It's odd, never meet a dog like him. I know some dogs just aren't good around kids. I thought getting a puppy would stop that. Maybe the kids make him nervous or something. I dont konw I'm grasping at anything here.

No I'm not saying it will defiently happen. Nor am I jumping the gun. I am just hoping to prevent it. You don't know my Toby. He play bites big time sometimes to the point you can't go near him. Sometimes he has to be crated because he gets so out of control. My son usually hides up on the couch so Toby can't get him. My daughter puts gloves on so he can't' bite her fingers. The other day I was pushing my son on the swing and Toby came up behind me and jump up and bit my fingers. I was minding my own business and he bit me. So I can see it turning into a problem. I just wonder if he is unhappy. I am doing preventative matience here. I didn't say I was going to run him to a shelter. I said if he bites one of the kids my husband will make me get rid of him. I am trying to work with him before something bad happens. I defienlty didn't say I was getting rid of him for not living up to my expectations or wouldn't cuddle with us. I infact said the opposite. I don't have high expectations. I just wanted a good familly dog. I just want the normal bond owner and animal have. We have nothing. I'm trying to stop him from ending up one of those dogs who bites a child and gets PTS. I was looking for advice for anyone who may have had a similar expierence. I wasn't tyring to get treated like an idiot who didn't know what she was doing. I knew the responsibility, Toby is not my first dog. Geez, why must you continue to try to make me look stupid. I said I am not going to see you differently due to a disagreement in another thread.

He came from a oops litter. I knew the woman who had him and she had two kids. The pups stayed in the house and the little girl loved Toby, she carried him all over the place and loved him to death. Maybe he has had to much love. I honestly fear that without the bond of family and dog that something is bound to go wrong. I'm scared to death that if this dog doesn't love and respect my family that he may bite one of my kids. When that happens it will be the end. Hubby will not allow any more Toby. He will have to be rehomed, put to sleep, or takin to the humane society right away. I have to fix this problem before something bad comes of it. You can't force love but what is stopping it? I know someone will think maybe it was trying to hard to replace McKenzie. NO that isn't it. I knew there would never be another like her. I never expected him to live up to those standards. She would be an impossible act to follow. Maybe it is the breed difference. Maybe he just wasn't the breed for us. I need a pittie. How can people think they are so horrible? I bond so easily with them. Toby is part lab, pure stubborness. Then the husky attitude, geez what am I gonna do. I don't want him to live as the dog. I want him to be part of the famiy.

Why can't we seem to bond with this dog? I mean he is cute and sweet when he wants to be, but there is no bond. My husband can't stand him sometimes and last night he even said he hated him. I was nearly in tears for sometimes I feel the same way. Please don't think badly of me and don't tear me apart here. I need advice. I don't honestly know what to do. Maybe it was to much to ask of a dog. I mean McKenzie was a great dog and she was like a baby to me. Toby never fit that. There was no spark from the begining. He cowered in the back of his crate for the first 48 hours. He would hide behind the furniture. He doesn't play he just bites and chews on your shoes. Honestly I don't know if he is even happy here. I'm so sad thinking about this today. I mean I try and try but I can't fall in love with this dog. I am starting to think maybe it was a mistake to get him. I feel maybe I am depriving him of the place he should be. Could it be possible he was just not meant to be our dog? Can that be? I am really lost here. I've never had trouble bonding with animals. It always comes quickly and easily. I mean I've had probably 6 or 7 dogs and 2 c@ts. The bond just forms. It's been about 2 or 3months. Nothing, he is cute but hates to cuddle. So no cuddly, but he is a dog and I wanted a dog, but he just doesn't bond with anyone. Maybe my daughter, but I'm not for sure. Is it horrible to long for that bond and relationship with an animal? Should I give up? Should I find him a new home? I'm falling apart on this one.

AWWWWWW

Wow that's odd. :o Someone is up to no good!

Aww what a sweet post. Glad you are head over heels so quickly. Look at those eyes, how could you not get wrapped around her little paw.

you and pooh will be in my prayers. Don't worry, the doc have done this before and think how much better his life will be afterwards :wink:

:cry:

OH that is so sad. Why do people not realize they must supervise there children and dogs at play? :cry:

Ha haha, wouldn't that be great if you could shock the neighbor eveytime they tried to call the cops. HA, I love that one. I can see someone walking around with one of those collars on. :lol: But realisticly you have to do what you have to do. Good luck and sorry you had to resort this far, but some dogs are stubborn!

:evil: GRRRRRRR

How evil to sit and torture that poor dog. :lol:

I would say shock collar would be better than the police and a possible fine for disturbing the peace.

I love em, but hubby doesn't. We've had two, but one hated everyone but me and the other I gave to my grandmother (she was lonely). Someone stole the second one. I kept mine in the house. That is thing about c@ts, litterbox. It is so much easier than house training a dog. C@ts insist on digging to go potty. I know males don't always use the litter box. They tend to want to mark there territory when other animals are around, but if you have them fixed I don't think it becomes a problem. Not for sure I'm not an expert. Good Luck. My first c@t loved my dog. they slept together most of the time. We kinda forced them together. We had the c@t first and then when we got the dog we would hold the c@t and let the dog sniff him. They became good buddies. Until the c@t swapped the dog of the nose and the dog grabbed the c@t by it's head. I screamed, dog let go and it never happened again.

oh good luck Kat, you deserve it.

Oh my K, you said what I was thinking. Our kids and dog are made to behave and people look at you horribly. The other day these kids were running all over walmart while there parents chated with some friends. They were knocking things over and screaming, the parents totally ignoring there existance. Our kids were walking quietly holding our hands. They aren't even allowed to touch things and when the reach for something they are told no. People act like you are horrible. Toby is fairly well behaved. He learned sit within a couple of days, stay is not so great. Stay, yes ok for all of maybe 1 minute. The vet just weighed him while holding him, then weighed himself and subtracted. I used to do that with McKenzie and she weighed a good 75 lbs or more at the time. She would stand on the scale at the vet, but when I wanted to know at home we had to get on the bathroom scale. It was hilarioius.

Oh he's gorgeous, Congrats!

I just had to say- He does it simply to drive you crazy. I honestly believe now that dogs are out to make us looney. :lol:

I don't let it drive me nuts when my husband comes home and gets lazy. I mean he works and I get to stay at home so I give in and do most of the work. He made dinner last night, well he cooked it. I did the prep work. I love my hubby so much I could never explain it. I even offered to get a job during the summer, while my mother in-law is off work. She could babysit and I could work full-time all summer. I was gonna put back money for a big fat vacation for our anniversary. I was told no. I was only doing it so he could cut back, but he said he would rather work. Rightly so too, he makes way more than I ever could. Which is odd, I finished school, he quit to take a full-time job when I got pregnant. Anyway, back to dogs. Toby is a lunatic. I honestly think he jumps personalities to drive me up the wall. Oh well, I love him. Oh and he hates a leash, can't get one near him. We are working on it. Very slow progress.

Kendalyn, yes I know this and my kids are not allowed near him with us. Even if he were the most perfectly well behaved dog in the world they would not be allowed around the dog without us. Big rule in our house. So don't worry about that one. If I see him acting goofy I make the kids leave him alone immediatley. Now, we do have a crate. He is crate trained, and if I bring it in the living room he is right in it all the time. The crate goes everywhere he goes. If he is in the laundry room it is there to sleep in, but he has the laundry area to straetch his legs in. When he goes outside the crate goes out on the porch for him to rest in when he wants to. He loves his crate. He will lay right in it all day if I bring him in the living room with us. He runs and hides behind the couch if I sit in the floor though. Well, usually. Here is the news from lastnight. I swear I wanna go to counseling after dealing with this dog. Your never gonna believe this. Yesterday I went out to play with him and he was the most friendly thing in the world. We played and he was happy as could be. Then I went to bring him in for the night and give him dinner. We had chicken and someone dropped a piece so I took it in hopes that he would come in easily. I went out, unhooked his chain and he jumped right in the back door and right to the laundry room he went. I didn't even need the chicken, but I gave it to him as a treat and praised him like crazy. We played back in the laundry room for about 20 minutes and he just wagged his tail and was a totally different dog. This morning I took him outside and gave him his breakfast. For some reason we do breakfast outside and dinner inside???Who knows why, it just works. I opened the laundry room door and he followed him right to the back door. He went right out let me put his chain on and then my son, who is scared of him usually, came back there. I let him give Toby a dog biscuit. Toby was great this morning too. We played, I petted him and he even takes the sit command from my 1 1/2 year old. I'm totally blown away. This dog can drive me up a wall one day and then be a complete different on another day. Who knows what he is thinking? Maybe he will stay this way. If so, problem solved. For some reason I have figured out he is better approached from the front of the house than the side. I take him out the side, because the porch is big and covered. Well his chain is pretty long and it reaches around to the front of the house. If I go out the front door and call him he comes bounding around the corner and is all happy. If I go out the side he is afraid it is time to come in. He doesn't want to come in until dark. When it is dark he is a little better at coming in. So I think the problem may had been that he didn't want to come in. Might explain why he backed off the porch and worked his way closer to the front of the house. Just my guess??? Maybe that was it.