'Halla the poor TBI pup - Doberman Forum : Doberman Breed Dog Forums

Salamander · 11-16-2012, 03:07 AM

She is doing physically well, considering and is growing like a little weed.

She will be 8 weeks on the 19th.

However, due to the fact that she had to be rescued out of a horrid situation at 4 weeks, she has absolutely no social skills whatsoever.

Based on what I have pieced together, she was in bad shape from almost the start.

The second time I saw her, [about 3 weeks] she was plump but shaking and unsteady and had one eye wandering off on its own.

The eye seems a bit more straight but still wanders occasionally.

We think she has some sight but to what degree, we are not sure.

She is very active and 'happy' but has serious issues with bite inhibition and dominance.

If you try and lay her upside down, she gets upset and if you don't aright her, she gets positively, hysterically 'vicious'.

I cannot tell if this is a fear or dominance issue, yet.

She bites...a lot and hard.

Imagine a 12 pound Schutzhund attacking and shaking your arm and you get the picture.

2 out of 3 of her vets feel that she should not be vaxed until 10 weeks old due to her prior seriously ill condition.

This makes it impossible to socialize her with other dogs, such as my 'chronic mommy' Portuguese Podengo Medio who did such a great job of "raising" Odin to be a wonderfully functional member of the pack.

Things have gotten so bad with her that I gave up worrying about that and brought the PPM into the bedroom with Halla to see if she had any understanding of "dog" at all.
[Gypsy is UTD and never goes outside of the house]

She proceeded to rough house Gypsy, who is a sweetheart but very good at 'mothering'.

Gypsy snarled and snapped when Halla bit her and Halla stopped, backed up and seem to ponder that..before 'attacking' again.

Gypsy became more emphatic and Halla gave her a respectful berth after that.

So, she does 'understand dog' somewhat.

People, not so much.

Most of her tiny span of life has been spent gravely ill and from what I was told, her mother was 'being mean to her', perhaps because she sensed the 'wrongness' of a very sick baby.

She may have even been rejected outright and had to try and force herself upon her mother in order to nurse, which would explain the startling weight loss from just 3 weeks of age to 4.

And now she is basically quarantined from all canine interaction.

I would like to start her vaccines if y'all think it's safe to do so.

She's of the age now and the social benefits outweigh the possible physical dangers, IMO.

To have her being unsocialized for such a lengthy time is anathema, to me.

The alleged 'seizures' she may have had could have been just worm seizures as she was absolutely lousy with roundworm, coupled with some intercranial pressure from the TBI.

She has shown nothing I would consider 'seizure activity' since she got here.
[she does tend to be less steady on her feet when very tired]

In the 38 years I've done Dobe [and other breed] rescue, I have never had a dog this young or physically compromised.

There is also the possibility of the TBI causing some 'mental short circuits', as it were, plus the question of her visual capabilities.

I've managed to retrain and rehab a lot of 'problem dogs' but this one has me worried.

Socialization is everything at her age but there are the dead-ends mentioned above.

I'm also unsure of what/how much she can comprehend or cope with due to the head injury.

I don't want to ask more of her than she is capable of giving but I also do not want her to grow into a psychotic miserable dog, either.

Time is my enemy.

Any advice would be welcomed.

FWIW, I refuse to give up on her, no matter how 'messed up' she may be.

She beat the odds and lived and now I need to make sure she has a good, normal-as-possible life.

In the interim between my initial post about her and now, I have explored every avenue regarding her greeders.

Animal control is not interested nor is the AKC.

The dogs have food/water/shelter [such as it is] and their AKC papers are 'legit' so it's a dead end.

Although I did not 'support' them by buying her, I cannot do anything about all their other future puppy buyers, of which I'm sure there will be many.

MaxsMom · 11-16-2012, 11:21 AM

I really don't have any advise for you but to say I'm glad to read the update on Halla and very glad you are not giving up on her. She is only 8 weeks old - I think because of her situation everything is going to take more time than is would for a normal pup.

kindafugly · 11-16-2012, 01:09 PM

Hi, I read your story. Im new so im not aware of your original thread. But at 8 weeks as long as she doesnt have anything causing immune suppression or very ill shots will be okay to start her on.

I also have a 4 week old puppy im hand raising from a bad breeder alot with a half sister who is 6 weeks. So im sure im going to go through some of what your experiancing with bite inhib and training and socialization.

Just keep working with her, If you cant let her interact with other dogs other then your own maybe friends or family have fully vaccinated dogs you can let her interact. Have friends come over and interact with her. There is still things you can do to help with socialization. Just dont give up yet. Shes a puppy after all.

GingerGunlock · 11-16-2012, 01:29 PM

I am not the voice of experience and knowledge on this topic that you're looking for. My opinion is that you should probably do the first round of vaccinations. And that letting her interact with your UTD dogs is probably fine. I say this cautiously, and with full knowledge that somebody else might come along and say I'm horribly wrong, which I'm cool with.

But hey, maybe she'll be your ScH III dog

Salamander · 11-16-2012, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GingerGunlock

I am not the voice of experience and knowledge on this topic that you're looking for. My opinion is that you should probably do the first round of vaccinations. And that letting her interact with your UTD dogs is probably fine. I say this cautiously, and with full knowledge that somebody else might come along and say I'm horribly wrong, which I'm cool with.

But hey, maybe she'll be your ScH III dog

Thanks Ginger.

I'm not seeing anything that would contraindicate getting shots.

Far as I know, she's got no 'immune system' issues.

The 'wait 'til 10 weeks' advice was given by 2 vets who saw her at the beginning when she was nearly dead and 2 weeks ago when she was still wormy, wobbly and not nearly as peppy as she is now so I'm not sure they'd stand by that admonition if they saw her right now.

And truthfully, I'm wondering if her first cold laser treatment has really improved her to the point she is now.

[but she does have some fleas and I'm giving her shampoo baths to keep them down until she can have real flea spray...that place was just a real Disneyland for puppies]

I'm seriously thinking about ScH for her if her vision gets better.

There's a great facility nearby

Podium Belgian Shepherd Working Dog Club - PODIUM BELGIAN SHEPHERD WORKING DOG CLUB

And heaven knows she's already got bite work drive....

If nothing else, the little missy is going to get tons of regular obedience training.

She definitely needs structure in her life.

Salamander · 11-16-2012, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kindafugly

Hi, I read your story. Im new so im not aware of your original thread. But at 8 weeks as long as she doesnt have anything causing immune suppression or very ill shots will be okay to start her on.

I also have a 4 week old puppy im hand raising from a bad breeder alot with a half sister who is 6 weeks. So im sure im going to go through some of what your experiancing with bite inhib and training and socialization.

Just keep working with her, If you cant let her interact with other dogs other then your own maybe friends or family have fully vaccinated dogs you can let her interact. Have friends come over and interact with her. There is still things you can do to help with socialization. Just dont give up yet. Shes a puppy after all.

Are you able to let your 2 pups interact with each other?

That would definitely help them both.

I don't have any willing friends who'd help.

Most of the people I know are terrified of Dobermanns, even if they're just little tiny ones.

For my whole life, there's been precious few Dobes in my area, to the point where people commonly referred to me as "that girl who has the Dobermanns" instead of using my name.

Pits and Rotts are much more common/popular here and every time I go out with my kids, either a crowd forms or people take a wide path around us, we're that much of a novelty.

I used to see a few others back in the 70's but they 'went out of fashion' and Rotts became the new thing, followed by the Pit popularity mess.

Since I don't do "fashion dogs" I've just stayed with my first and greatest loves ever since I was a young teen.

Considering that even the local 'yutes' with their Pits on log chains avoid us like the plague, I can't imagine anybody with a Lab pup or the like volunteering to let their dogs play with my 'vishus Doverman Pincher'.

[living a rural area is wonderful in many ways but I do have deal with a lot of prejudice and ignorance, at times]

kindafugly · 11-16-2012, 08:46 PM

Well, IMO id vaccinate. Start the series. As long as she is healthy now and doesnt have a suppressed immune system it wont affect her. if you weigh the goods and bads. I really think vaccinating would be in your favor so you can socialize more and prevent deadly illnesses like parvo i hear dobies are more vunerable too.

Far as my pups i let them interact some but mostly seperate due to the age difference and i dont want the little guy getting hurt by a bigger puppy.

I dont know why people are scared of dobies. I look at dogs being one in the same. Mostly raising has to do with a dog being mean or vicious. I mean its like pit bulls reputation. yet i havent met a MEAN pit bull. Ive seen the known family dogs being labs be more vicious then the breeds deemed vicious. I think people hear stories and judge the entire breed.

Many years ago a lady who lived acrossed from us had a PACK of dobies. I was so irritated with her because she would let these 4-5 dobies run loose and they were vicious while running in a pack. It was a chore to even let my dog outside because i feared they would be in my yard again and just kill my small dog. I remember once going outside and they charged me barking and i ran into the screened in porch and these dogs were biting the screen door trying to get at me. There were acting as a pack and the owner just let them do whatever and didnt really care. We were in the country. We ended up just moving. But i dont hold that incident against the dobie breed. I hold it against there owners.

Salamander · 11-17-2012, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kindafugly

Well, IMO id vaccinate. Start the series. As long as she is healthy now and doesnt have a suppressed immune system it wont affect her. if you weigh the goods and bads. I really think vaccinating would be in your favor so you can socialize more and prevent deadly illnesses like parvo i hear dobies are more vunerable too.

Far as my pups i let them interact some but mostly seperate due to the age difference and i dont want the little guy getting hurt by a bigger puppy.

I dont know why people are scared of dobies. I look at dogs being one in the same. Mostly raising has to do with a dog being mean or vicious. I mean its like pit bulls reputation. yet i havent met a MEAN pit bull. Ive seen the known family dogs being labs be more vicious then the breeds deemed vicious. I think people hear stories and judge the entire breed.

Many years ago a lady who lived acrossed from us had a PACK of dobies. I was so irritated with her because she would let these 4-5 dobies run loose and they were vicious while running in a pack. It was a chore to even let my dog outside because i feared they would be in my yard again and just kill my small dog. I remember once going outside and they charged me barking and i ran into the screened in porch and these dogs were biting the screen door trying to get at me. There were acting as a pack and the owner just let them do whatever and didnt really care. We were in the country. We ended up just moving. But i dont hold that incident against the dobie breed. I hold it against there owners.

FWIW, any breed running in a pack will act as a pack.

I did Ibizan hound rescue for 22 years and despite the fact that they are the most non-aggressive, kind hearted breed you could imagine, running in a pack, they are nothing short of blood thirsty predators.

A few years back I had to spend $1000 bucks and put up a board security fence because the neighbor's little Parson's terrier *almost* made it through my wire fence, heading straight into the jaws of the hyper-eager pack of 5 Ibizans and 1 Portguese Podengo Medio.

They are not dog aggressive at all but the sight of some little beast ~running~ kicks their prey drive into overdrive.

So you're right...it's not a 'breed issue'.

Beats me why they're scared of Dobes.

I met my first one when I was about 5 or so and they found me inside Bruno's run, snuggled up in his dog house with him.

I was told that Bruno was a "bad ass".

Whatever.

I used to go to yard sales a lot and have encountered many pits running loose and have never, ever seen one act less than wonderfully friendly, even the one whose stupid owner bragged about being a 'champion fighting dog'.
[the dog tried to get in my car when I left...I'm thinking he wasn't overjoyed to be owned by that moron]

I'm lucky in that no dog ever hasn't liked me...even the supposed guard dogs in lots with scary "BEWARE OF DOG!" signs.

When I was 3, my dad went to "Ol' man Zello" to have something welded.

Zello was a classic hillbilly living in a trailer next to a junkyard with a dozen GSDs running loose and living on a huge tire pile.

Nobody was paying attention to me so naturally, I wound up cavorting with the dogs.

[Zello himself was afraid of them, shoving their food to them with a stick]

When dad finally noticed my absence, Zello freaked out and they both ran to 'the dogs', I assume expecting to find me mauled and/or devoured.

Instead, I was up on the tire pile with all the dogs curled around me, snarling and baring their teeth at my dad and Zello.

My dad was yelling at me [from a respectful distance] to come down but I didn't want to.
[this was the day I discovered The Power Of The Dog] LOL

No matter how much he threatened or cajoled, I knew I didn't have to come down and there was no way they were gonna come up.

Eventually I got hungry and wanted to go home so I patted and hugged every dog goodbye and came down.
[yes, dad was livid but the funny thing was, he couldn't do anything about it or mom would have found out he'd 'lost me' to a pack of vicious junkyard dogs]

Seven years later, my pedophile uncle started on me and my parents did nothing.

I was in hell.

One night, the late night feature was "The Doberman Gang" and in my despair, I asked God to send me a dog like that to save me.

Not even a week later, a stray Dobe showed up.

The neighbor who found him at the end of our lane tried to keep him but that determined dog kept getting loose and coming to my yard, waiting at the door for me to come outside.

The neighbor gave up after a few days and said "He obviously thinks he's *your* dog".

That old beat up dog followed me everywhere I went.

Suddenly, the uncle no longer had any interest in me.

I literally owe my life and my sanity to Dobermanns.

I will die still trying to adequately repay their loyalty.

Well, that sure was a lot more than you wanted to know, huh?

I'll shut up now.

MelissaRz · 11-19-2012, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salamander

FWIW, any breed running in a pack will act as a pack.

I did Ibizan hound rescue for 22 years and despite the fact that they are the most non-aggressive, kind hearted breed you could imagine, running in a pack, they are nothing short of blood thirsty predators.

A few years back I had to spend $1000 bucks and put up a board security fence because the neighbor's little Parson's terrier *almost* made it through my wire fence, heading straight into the jaws of the hyper-eager pack of 5 Ibizans and 1 Portguese Podengo Medio.

They are not dog aggressive at all but the sight of some little beast ~running~ kicks their prey drive into overdrive.

So you're right...it's not a 'breed issue'.

Beats me why they're scared of Dobes.

I met my first one when I was about 5 or so and they found me inside Bruno's run, snuggled up in his dog house with him.

I was told that Bruno was a "bad ass".

Whatever.

I used to go to yard sales a lot and have encountered many pits running loose and have never, ever seen one act less than wonderfully friendly, even the one whose stupid owner bragged about being a 'champion fighting dog'.
[the dog tried to get in my car when I left...I'm thinking he wasn't overjoyed to be owned by that moron]

I'm lucky in that no dog ever hasn't liked me...even the supposed guard dogs in lots with scary "BEWARE OF DOG!" signs.

When I was 3, my dad went to "Ol' man Zello" to have something welded.

Zello was a classic hillbilly living in a trailer next to a junkyard with a dozen GSDs running loose and living on a huge tire pile.

Nobody was paying attention to me so naturally, I wound up cavorting with the dogs.

[Zello himself was afraid of them, shoving their food to them with a stick]

When dad finally noticed my absence, Zello freaked out and they both ran to 'the dogs', I assume expecting to find me mauled and/or devoured.

Instead, I was up on the tire pile with all the dogs curled around me, snarling and baring their teeth at my dad and Zello.

My dad was yelling at me [from a respectful distance] to come down but I didn't want to.
[this was the day I discovered The Power Of The Dog] LOL

No matter how much he threatened or cajoled, I knew I didn't have to come down and there was no way they were gonna come up.

Eventually I got hungry and wanted to go home so I patted and hugged every dog goodbye and came down.
[yes, dad was livid but the funny thing was, he couldn't do anything about it or mom would have found out he'd 'lost me' to a pack of vicious junkyard dogs]

Seven years later, my pedophile uncle started on me and my parents did nothing.

I was in hell.

One night, the late night feature was "The Doberman Gang" and in my despair, I asked God to send me a dog like that to save me.

Not even a week later, a stray Dobe showed up.

The neighbor who found him at the end of our lane tried to keep him but that determined dog kept getting loose and coming to my yard, waiting at the door for me to come outside.

The neighbor gave up after a few days and said "He obviously thinks he's *your* dog".

That old beat up dog followed me everywhere I went.

Suddenly, the uncle no longer had any interest in me.

I literally owe my life and my sanity to Dobermanns.

I will die still trying to adequately repay their loyalty.

Well, that sure was a lot more than you wanted to know, huh?

I'll shut up now.

Wow, your post literally gave me the chills! I've always had a "knack" with animals too , whether cats or dogs, domesticated or feral, but no divine intervention ever happened to me... What a beautiful story!! I'd be happy to "repay" Dobermans too, for geting rid of that dirty, disgusting, piece of crap pedophile!!! People like that SHOULD be shredded by Doberman teeth, piece by piece! Uuugghhh.... you poor thing...

zorianak · 11-19-2012, 01:33 PM

Horses did for me what that Dobe did for you. They saved me. Your story absolutely moved me to tears. The sad part is to me that that man still exists somewhere. People used to say I had a knack for them (horses) - now that I'm older, I'm quite out of practice (bad hips from an accident when I was around a year old left me with something close to arthritis). Of course, there was a dog - a mutt, a farm rescue who'd lost all her teeth that we called Ruth. My foster parents ended up letting me keep her, and she was my girl (through mental illness and then finally wellness) til she was right around 16 - she died my senior year of high school, along with my lab, my first Dobe, and our Mastiff (they were all very old by that point, and all went one after another - cancer for the lab, heart disease + kidney failure for my mutt, cancer + heart disease for my Dobe, and heart failure for the Mastiff). I didn't have another dog until I got J five, almost six years afterward - I still cried when I saw pictures of that mutt.

I think Halla is in great hands with someone who can love her. Having a dog or any other animal pinned to the ground is stressful for them, and it takes building trust to get there. And, I think that some of her socialization issues may be from being so sick.

Salamander · 11-22-2012, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelissaRz

Wow, your post literally gave me the chills! I've always had a "knack" with animals too , whether cats or dogs, domesticated or feral, but no divine intervention ever happened to me... What a beautiful story!! I'd be happy to "repay" Dobermans too, for geting rid of that dirty, disgusting, piece of crap pedophile!!! People like that SHOULD be shredded by Doberman teeth, piece by piece! Uuugghhh.... you poor thing...

Well, the second Dobe I had was trained to shred.
Lucky for the uncle, Tito never got to try out his 'sic b@lls!' skills.

[yeah, that's pretty nasty but "live by the sword, die by the sword", as it were]

And to this day, they keep me [relatively] sane and I keep putting one foot in front of the other because I know I have to hang on to take care of them.

Odin is my PTSD dog because even after all these years, I'm still "broken" in places.

Pedophiles effectively "kill" -all- their victims.
Sometimes they leave them still breathing, is all.

I'm sure you can imagine my opinion of the penalties they should be handed.

Salamander · 11-22-2012, 05:39 AM

Bless your heart.
I had horses, too.

Most loved was my big, sweet buckskin gelding, Rebel.

He was the best horse who ever lived and we had a connection that irritated my dad, no end.

That horse would do things for me that my dad could only dream of.

I trained him to be 'gaited' even though he was a QH/App cross.
I taught him tricks and he followed me everywhere off lead.
[if I had a dollar for every time dad or mom yelled "Get that d@mn horse off the porch!/out of the kitchen!", I'd be rich.]

He would walk through/over/under/up anything I asked of him, because he knew I'd never put him in harm's way.
For me, he was a trail horse without equal...for dad...well, not so much...

Every day after school, no matter the weather, I'd let the Dobe boys out of their kennels and throw a bridle on Reb and we'd race through the woods and over the mountains in joyous abandon.

All my stress seemed to flow down into his legs, where it was pounded to meaningless dust beneath his hooves.

I haven't ridden in 30 years and frankly, I think that's the reason for my health/emotional woes.

I no longer have a wonderful friend who will happily pulverize my sorrow into oblivion.

It's been 28 years since Tito passed away [my parents had been keeping him when I had a no-dog apartment...I won't 'go there'] and not a single day has gone by that I don't think of him.

He died 4 days after his 8th birthday, right *on* my birthday.
[which I no longer 'celebrate']

I grieved horribly for many years...only 'cheering up a bit' when I found my Ibizan, Minny at the local shelter.

But still, in my heart of hearts, I missed him desperately...and still do.

Many dogs I've loved dearly over the years and many have passed on.

There are dogs you'll always remember...and then there's dogs you'll never forget.

Tito was My One.

With all my heart, I hope dogs go to Heaven.
I dearly look forward to the day I see him, again.

My ex took all the photos I had of my dogs, for spite and I have only one lousy, tattered snap shot of his sweet face, that I miraculously found in the attic, just a week before I found Odin and 2 weeks before the 25th anniversary of Tito's death.

I took that as 'a sign' and Odin has brought some of the joy I felt many years ago back into my soul.

He is very much like Tito in his single-minded devotion and protection.

There were many deeply loved Dobes in my life during that 25 year span but I've only found 2 who could be "The Ones".

Aw, crud.
Now I'm crying.

Little 'Halla is so afraid to trust.
She missed the entire puppy pile/loving mom thing and I think she lashes out in fear.

My hands are shredded from the bites inflicted as I try to teach her that no harm will ever come to her.

She gets so hysterical if she feels she can't get away when she wants to.

It's getting better, but so slowly.

After 20 minutes of freaking out, she calms down and lets me do the wondrously simple act of just petting her soft puppy fur and stroking her head.

She's missed so much that is essential for puppies.

Sometimes I just weep for her.

She's so alone and lonely for her siblings and has no idea how to 'connect' to people, normally.

I think what tears me apart most is that she is so much like me when i was a child.

I have often asked God "WHY?!?" but that's probably my answer.

One wounded soul will understand another.

Hopefully I can give to her what was never given to me.

Thank you so much for sharing your story...and your soul with me.

Shari

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zorianak

Horses did for me what that Dobe did for you. They saved me. Your story absolutely moved me to tears. The sad part is to me that that man still exists somewhere. People used to say I had a knack for them (horses) - now that I'm older, I'm quite out of practice (bad hips from an accident when I was around a year old left me with something close to arthritis). Of course, there was a dog - a mutt, a farm rescue who'd lost all her teeth that we called Ruth. My foster parents ended up letting me keep her, and she was my girl (through mental illness and then finally wellness) til she was right around 16 - she died my senior year of high school, along with my lab, my first Dobe, and our Mastiff (they were all very old by that point, and all went one after another - cancer for the lab, heart disease + kidney failure for my mutt, cancer + heart disease for my Dobe, and heart failure for the Mastiff). I didn't have another dog until I got J five, almost six years afterward - I still cried when I saw pictures of that mutt.

I think Halla is in great hands with someone who can love her. Having a dog or any other animal pinned to the ground is stressful for them, and it takes building trust to get there. And, I think that some of her socialization issues may be from being so sick.

BrinksBlue · 11-22-2012, 08:12 AM

I've been following your story with Halla since the beginning. I have no advice. When we brought Brinks home at 6 weeks, one of our two female dogs, who have both had several litters of puppies, mothered Brinks and helped us teach her bite inhibition. We got lucky there.

When we got Brinks, we didn't realize what a BYB was. My version of BYB was someone with 15 dogs chained up outside. This was one female dog, who was a family pet and lived with kids in a house, which is where her puppies were raised. We, mistakenly thought that AKC meant a whole lot more than it does. We thought the puppies were 8 weeks, as that's what we were told, but as we were walking out the door we asked her birthday. We were well on our way home before we did the math and realized she was 6 weeks.

We've had tons of health issues with her, infection after infection, food allergies and sensitivities, and now awaiting vWD statues, which will most likely be positive. All nothing compared to what you are facing with Halla now. So many times I have wondered why Brinks has to go through this. Followed by why, out of 8 other puppies did we pick her? Which usually puts me in tears of guilt because I LOVE Brinks and I would never trade her for anything. But then I remember that Brinks is ours for a reason. She picked us and came home with us for a reason. She is with us because maybe if she had gone home with someone else, she wouldn't be receiving the care she needed. Maybe another family wouldn't have had the financial ability to care for her or the patience to deal with 5 UTIs and the pee that comes with them, or the resources to switch to raw when every other food failed. Halla is with you because she NEEDS you. She came to you for a reason. You are doing a fantastic job and you and Halla are going to figure this out together. I just know it!

ETA: We did not ever breed our two female dogs! They are retired racers that we got at 6 and 8. They were both brood bitches for a few years before coming to us. We know they both had at least 3 litters.

gracieface · 11-22-2012, 08:55 AM

as for starting vaccinations, I would email Jean Dodds, her web site is hemopet, she is a wonderful woman, very dedicated and she will answer your questions.

Salamander · 11-22-2012, 09:14 AM

I think you are right.
We get the dogs we have precisely because we are the ones who will not give up or give in.

I do know, with absolute certainty, that if I had not gone there and taken her away from that place that very night, she would be dead.

She was dying when I got there and normally, that's not something they just 'snap out of'.

Gypsy, who raised Odin is 3 years older now, fed up with Dobermanns pushing her around [LOL] and just being obstinate wants to play with her but Halla is a little hellcat and maybe a bit too much for her just yet.

She's getting better with her and Halla finally is understanding that actions have consequences.
[she really respects Gyps...us, not so much]

I posted this advice on another immune system wreck dog thread but I hope you'll try it, too.

Read this article

http://ezinearticles.com/?Candida-Cu...nts&id=1067072

And if you can, get this stuff:

Symbiotics Colostrum Plus Candida Formula - 120 Capsules

It is great.

I would be very surprised if it doesn't help Brinks, at least a bit.

Has Brinks had a complete thyroid panel run yet?
Complete tick panel?

That's where I always start.

Best wishes for your dear dog and for you, too.

I know exactly how you feel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrinksBlue

I've been following your story with Halla since the beginning. I have no advice. When we brought Brinks home at 6 weeks, one of our two female dogs, who have both had several litters of puppies, mothered Brinks and helped us teach her bite inhibition. We got lucky there.

When we got Brinks, we didn't realize what a BYB was. My version of BYB was someone with 15 dogs chained up outside. This was one female dog, who was a family pet and lived with kids in a house, which is where her puppies were raised. We, mistakenly thought that AKC meant a whole lot more than it does. We thought the puppies were 8 weeks, as that's what we were told, but as we were walking out the door we asked her birthday. We were well on our way home before we did the math and realized she was 6 weeks.

We've had tons of health issues with her, infection after infection, food allergies and sensitivities, and now awaiting vWD statues, which will most likely be positive. All nothing compared to what you are facing with Halla now. So many times I have wondered why Brinks has to go through this. Followed by why, out of 8 other puppies did we pick her? Which usually puts me in tears of guilt because I LOVE Brinks and I would never trade her for anything. But then I remember that Brinks is ours for a reason. She picked us and came home with us for a reason. She is with us because maybe if she had gone home with someone else, she wouldn't be receiving the care she needed. Maybe another family wouldn't have had the financial ability to care for her or the patience to deal with 5 UTIs and the pee that comes with them, or the resources to switch to raw when every other food failed. Halla is with you because she NEEDS you. She came to you for a reason. You are doing a fantastic job and you and Halla are going to figure this out together. I just know it!

ETA: We did not ever breed our two female dogs! They are retired racers that we got at 6 and 8. They were both brood bitches for a few years before coming to us. We know they both had at least 3 litters.