Pets
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
For those that foster....advice
in Pets
My foster dog is a mastiff mix and I got him almost a week ago. He and my dog (9yr old cattle dog mix) seemed to be etting along wonderfully. They played ran around no issues. Well yesterday I got brave (or stupid) whatever you want to call it and let them out together without my husband there to help if needed. Long story short, a fight broke out. It happened so fast I don't know what started it;( My hisbnad was sleeping so I am screaming at the top of my lungs for him. My baby was in the jumperoo crying. I ended up getting bit on the hand and leg. (Needed 6 stitches on my hand.) I dont know who bit me...it happened so fast. I know neither was trying to hurt me though. They were going after each other and I was in the middle. After what seemed like forever I managed to get my foster dog back in his crate. DH does not blame either dog but says for the safety of the kids (ages 4 2 and 9 months) the dog has to go back. In general he is a great dog and super laid back and sweet. We are keeping him a few days so they can make arrangments for him and keeping the dogs completely seperate. I just feel bad it was over a mistake I made. I also don't want my kids to get hurt because what happened yesterday was maybe the most terrifying experience I have ever had. My carpet was covered in my blood. The rescue seems really annoyed with me;( Anyone been in a similar situation and have little kids?
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: For those that foster....advice
Don't beat yourself up, this stuff happens with dogs. I'm really sorry you had to experience it and got hurt in the process. Hope you are ok.
Are either of the dogs intact? That can sometimes contribute to conflict. Also it's very likely that there were some signals of tension that you, being pretty new to this, didn't pick up on. Try to educate yourself about those for future reference. I think it's a good idea to keep them separate for the time being. I don't think the rescue should be irritated with you; sometimes foster placements don't work out. It's not really your fault; hopefully you can hook up with a foster that gets along better with your dog.
To be honest, I think the rescue has the right to be a little annoyed, but I also know how scary that situation can be for the foster (I've been there).
Coming from the place of someone that troubleshoots for fosters on a daily basis, I can understand their frustration. We always recommend that new dogs are kept separate for at least two weeks, to allow them to "unpack" and detox.
Ditto pp about the intact dog, and I would think about the situation again. I would just keep the dogs separated and let your foster relax. He may be keyed up and and not able to settle.
Please note that I am not trying to be accusing, but trying to explain it to you from the other side of the rescue.
As the rescue: I'd be slightly annoyed, but we understand the children come first. Though you did set them up to fail, you couldn't have seen that coming. It's amazing how subtle one thing that will trigger a fight can be. I myself have certainly missed signs. No one is perfect.
You did offer to hold onto the dog until other alternatives were found, which is great.
I would also have been nervous about LO. When foster and my dog were scuffling (daily for a while there) they were not allowed out together when DS was on the floor playing. We did kick up the NILIF big time and within days they were playing and having fun together again. I had slacked and it really caused a disruption between the 2 of them.
GL!
I'm glad that I came across alright
If you decide to foster in the future (and I hope you do), I would be happy to send you all of our instructions and procedures for handling fosters. We only pull pit bull type dogs, many times from high stress environments, so it is important to us to do very slow introductions.
Two fosters ago, my father's dog was staying with us and they got into a fight, this was after being together for a while. My father didn't want me to return her (I offered for the sake of hospitality) so we just watched them carefully for a few days, didn't let them out together, etc. They got over it, as did we. We were extra cautious about having them together where the boys were, just in case. Sometimes dogs scuffle. There were likely signs you didn't discern, they can be very subtle to us - the way ears twitch or a tail moves... I completely understand you wanting to exchange fosters though - I did that with our 4th foster after she picked a fight with my resident dog whom she outweighed by 30 pounds. It's all about your level of comfortability. Although I get why the rescue is annoyed too, it's extra work for them... as long as you're willing to hang on to her until a new home can be found and you're willing to take a different foster, I don't see it as a huge deal in the long run. The rescue guy I work with always wants it to be fun for us so we keep fostering!
We've been fostering for years and years. We had a foster two summers ago who had space issues. We had 3 greyhound fosters and our own dog (a 60-pound Australian Kelpie) in the house and having a dog that couldn't be around the others was hugely problematic. We kept him for about a week after he bit one of the other fosters (it was pretty dramatic...she needed to be sedated and cleaned up, she had sutures, and she had a drain in for a few days), and during that time he was either crated and kept away from the other dogs, or muzzled when around them.
I don't have kids, but I was terrified that he was going to hurt one of the other dogs again. I didn't feel comfortable having him in the house, and the rescue was understanding. It can sometimes just be the mix of personalities. I've had 4 dogs in the house before with no problems. And Frank (the problem child) went to a foster with 2 other dogs after us and had no issues there.
Don't feel too bad. You tried. Dog fights are terrifying. And you're doing the right thing by holding on to him until other arrangements can be made.
*hugs*
My Lunch Blog
I agree with what Punky said. Part of what is stressful for us about fostering is that we try to monitor all interactions with our other animals, at least until they earn our trust. We start with no food, toys, etc left unattended. Our most recent foster earned freedom with our dog, but not with the cats, and not with any high value treats involved. He was a really, really good dog but we weren't going to take any chance.
I get why the rescue is annoyed; the severity of the bite puts them in a position where they could be legally liable if he were to bite someone else. Some rescues have to euthanize for this reason; to save a dog and then have to euthanize it b.c. of possible supervision issues is devastating. That said, I have seen dog fights break out on even the most experienced evaluators, so it does happen.
I'd continue to research dog intros, etc. It sounds like Katelyn has good resources for you, and probably take a dog that has been BE tested by someone you trust and do a gradual intro next time.