The following is an educational story, bitter sweet, but was the right thing to do: Fargo is a former stray puppy who was dumped in the Glenn Allen area over 3 years ago with her brother Polo Pony, who was adopted by a family north or St. Louis, in Illinois. They were around 10 weeks of age when found, and never claimed. We rescued two other litters from the same area a year earlier and a year after Fargos rescue. We assume that the same breeder was dumping the un-adopted, unwanted pups. We so fell in love with Fargo that we adopted her. She was very submissive and forgiving. She was fair game for the trouble maker small breed dogs who enjoyed antagonizing her to the point that by age 2 she felt compelled to fight back. At that point she started to become small dog aggressive. Who could blame her? That is the problem with many small breed dogs. They may be little, but have the heart of a lion. Some like to nip at the heels of the larger dogs while others who are not so brave, yap and yap at the larger dogs due to a fear of them. Dogs communicate with other dogs by body language. German Shepherds, by their very nature, stare at other dogs, people and critters. They are from the herding breed group and herders are bred to have strong eye contact. Staring is a part of them but to the general dog population, staring is a threat, a means of disrespect, and can cause altercations simply due to the misread body language by a fearful dog. By others it is read as a challenge and may entice aggression even when towards a very sweet and non confrontational pup like Fargo was. Also the German Shepherd has tall upright ears. I feel that the design of the breed does also cause intimidation to certain other dogs. I know German Shepherds cause many a human to be cautious around them simply by their strong eye contact and tall upright ears: visual intimidation! So sweet Fargo was misunderstood and for that reason it seems, was picked on until she finally started to fight back. She started to charge small dogs and we knew we had to place her asap. We were fortunate to have Steve and Debbie call us. They were the perfect match and they understood the breed. Today getting an email from them is like Christmas, and never do I look at Fargos photo, and in this case a video too, without shedding many tears of sadness and joy at the same time. Her story is bitter sweet for us. This week I had thought of Fargo TWICE while posting dogs on FB to re-home. Those dogs are HONEY, the Great Pyrenees mix we had hoped to keep, and for the little black and tan female pup (who we will call LORI TELLER) that was found in a gated play area behind Subway in Marble Hill. So heavy my thoughts were for Fargo, and then like magic we were blessed with the following from Debbie and Steve: Debbie wrote: Hi Marilyn. We spent Thanksgiving in Pensacola with our kids this year. Fargo did not want to go in the ocean. I think she didnt like the waves. We will stick to the lakes and ponds. She had fun anyhow and left the beach tired. We ate dinner at a beachside restaurant. She does well with that too. We love her so much. She is a wonderful dog! We hope things are going well for you. We wish you well during the upcoming holiday season. ... Oh and also Fargo has begun to bark at times. Its so neat watching her come out of her shell. Going for walks and car rides are her favorite things. Take care, Debbie and Steve Fargos owner Debbie also wrote the following: ...Fargo is also very friendly towards other dogs now as well. She used to be very cautious but now she wants to meet them all, but is not obnoxious about it when on a walk. She will wag and keep walking if we dont stop and she doesnt care if they bark at her she doesnt bark back. However there are a couple of neighborhood dogs she will now bark at from her back yard. I think she enjoys talking to them when they are out together. She talks to us every night after dinner to go for her walk. Thanks again for placing her with us. She has been a blessing both to us and many others. Thanks to all who adopt from our group. We love hearing from you and seeing the pets we once cared for and still care about! —The Bollinger County Stray Project officers, our spouses, our fosters, and kids
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 00:39:08 +0000
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