after reading that thread (and making me feel worse), I figured this could go right along with it (sort of). Last night (actually REALLY early this morning) I gave Geno his first real scruffing. And now I've felt like crap all day because of it.
We've been letting him sleep with us in the bed for the last few weeks and he LOVES it and has been dong really well. Last night around 2:45am he woke up and was whining and fidgeting in the bed. I figured he had to go out to the bathroom. So I got up and he hopped out of the bed only to run across the hall into the spare bedroom and lay on that bed. A little annoyed, I scooped him up and put him in his crate.
My wife had heard us get up, and came upstairs to see if everything was ok (she was still doing homework at 3am). I told her what happened and she offered to take him potty. 20 minutes later Geno came charging in the room with an obvious case of the zoomies. I put him back in the bed and tried to calm him down a bit so we could go back to sleep. My wife came trailing up the stairs in tears and said that he had stepped in poop in the yard and when she tried to clean him up, he wouldn't sit still and accidentally head-butted her in the chin because he was all rammy. So I scooped him up again and brought him to the downstairs bathroom in an attempt to clean him up myself.
When I let him down, he was just a ball of energy and wouldn't sit still for me either. I tried putting him in a sit / stay, down, a couple of stern 'NO's' but to no avail. So finally after he tried to eat the 3rd damp paper towel from out of my hand, I'd had enough and grabbed him by his scruff and put him right to the floor with an even more stern "NO!". At that point he got the hint but I could tell he was scared. His ears went straight back (they're out of the posts right now), and his eyes were as wide as saucers. Then he started to shake. Not terrribly, but it was obvious he was shaking. At which point I started to feel terrible for what I just did. He laid there on his own after that and I finished cleaning him up with tears in my eyes. Not because of what he had done, rather what I had just done to him.
We went back to bed and he wouldn't come lay with me like he usually does but just curled up in ball on my wife's pillow and continued to shake. It took him a while to be calm down but he finally fell asleep while i sat there and pet him and rubbed his ears.
I couldn't sleep the rest of the night thinking that my little guy fears me now. I'm still upset at myself today as I sit hear and type this. I just want to leave work to go and be with him and play with him and just give him a great big hug. I feel terrible.
I in no way used excessive force when I scruffed him, but it was the first time I had done it to him. I am just afraid that he will fear me now.
When I woke up this morning for work, he was still laying with my wife. I called his name to initiate our daily morning routine. His little head popped up and his nub started to wag. He did his usual great big stretch and yawn and happily jumped down to go outside. So he seems fine this morning but I am dwelling on last night.
Sorry for the novel but I just wanted to share to see if I was in the wrong in what I did and if it will hurt our bond.....
Dogs don't hold grudges. The only thing is that he may associate having his paws wiped with the scruffing and try to avoid it. Next time you need to clean him up reward him for good behavior. My dogs love getting paws wiped because it means treat time.
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