Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Hi! Great minds think alike. Bought her a harness yesterday but shes not overly keen on that either. At the mo we're using a lasoo like lead as it allows us to put it on and take it off without getting too close or have hands near the places shes not happy about being touched. At the mo. there are far too many things going on for her to be completely settled. Sudden noises, like the clunk of the dishwasher tablet exiting its drawer are enough to spook her. DD2 went to stroke her this morning but did it unexpectedly from a high stool and was rewarded with bared teeth and a v. small growl. Enough to reduce her to tears but not enough to stop her stroking hairball no. 2s nose five minutes later when it was placed on her lap. I get the impression its going to be a very long slow process. Our fear of sudden noises doesn't extend to the doorbell or the arrival of post as both were ignored.

Postie brought shed loads of free posh dishwasher tablets and an option of two dates to replace the BASC organised ladies shooting day that was cancelled last September. One is a mere four hours drive away whilst the other is on the doorstep. Will be waiting until September for that one.

Meanwhile had a v. interesting conversation with a lady from Kwik Fit who phoned out of the blue and asked me to confirm a few details. I think not. She made the mistake of asking how I thought she knew what car I drove and what my name was. Rocket science perhaps. My suggestion that she'd driven past the house and saw the car on the drive and my name on something in the recycling bin didn't go down too well. Apparently since she had a Glaswegian accent thats highly unlikely. So there you have it folks. If you get a phone call from someone you don't know, that you're not expecting to call, from a company you don't have any business with, its perfectly ok to give them all your personal details over the phone providing they don't have a local accent. So the next time I get a call from a Nigerian milionaire with a poorly mother-in-law with only one working kidney I'll be sure to give him my bank details. Muppets.

moo2moo

DedicatedDFW wrote: »

Hi moo! D'oh! - yes when I read your reply about the dogs names I totally realised my faux pas on your faux pas thread.

Just a thought - though you are probably already aware of this - do you think the new dog might be easier with one of those harness type lead things? I think these go around their back somehow instead of the neck? Have a Good Friday

I am totally and utterly paraniod but when you think about it anyone that knows me will instantly be convinced its me just by the combination of dogs. They're not exactly common breeds nor are big white fluffy things exactly inconspicuous.

moo2moo

Hairball no. 2 got more and more affectionate as the day progressessed, we had some lovely long walks that were rewarded with a wagging tail and lots of licks. She followed me round like a shadow becoming more and more limpet like and then OH arrived home and things began to change. First she positioned herself so that he was in full view at all times and then she began curling her top lip at him.

Before leaving for work we took her for a walk together, him holding the lead, her walking at my knee ignoring him but shooting daggers in his direction. Any pressure on the lead resulted in her lying flat on the floor growling at him whilst rolling on her belly for me to tickle her tummy. Returned to her to the house, opened the door, released hairball no. 1. OH went to take hairball no. 2s lead off and with his hand a foot from her nose she launched herself at him and sank her teeth into his hand. He rolled her onto her back and she immediately submitted, wet herself and ran into the house where she waited for me to enter and then stood wagging her tail and licking my hand as if to say look at me mum I did a great job of defending you from the world.

Perhaps not the ideal dog to have around children and most definately one thats too unpredictable to leave alone in a room with them or anyone else. Returned her to the animal sanctuary yesterday afternoon. Opened the boot to let her out. She impersonated an irate cat whilst looking at OH but allowed my to take hold of her lead and left the car happily wagging her tail with big doe eyes for me whilst swinging her head to growl at OH with a full display of teeth and curled up gums.

We're both finding it v. odd that a dog could become that dependant that fast and to the total exclusion of everybody else. Having provided temporary homes for large and angry dogs before we've never come across this before and I hope we never do again. Fortunately the DDs saw very little of her and are mostly upset that the lovely dog they both walked and played with two days ago became the aggresive snarling beast that we returned as unsuited to, and more importantly unhappy with, family life. DD2 has asked me to promise that the next dog we bring home is a nice one.

There endeth our very brief stint as a two dog family. Questioning my judgement quite a bit at the moment as I can usually spot a mentally damaged dog a mile off but then there are normally an awful lot more warning signs. With this one they were minimal at best and on occassion there was no warning at all.

moo2moo

So plans for today extend as far as returning the household to a state of normality, whatever that may be. DDs have a riding lesson, OH has departed for a jaunt overseas returning just in time for schools family bingo night (oh joy!), the lovely people from Ocado are delivering my shopping this evening but I still need to visit Mr Ts to purchase go-go juice for my car and its free listing day on flea-bay which should keep me occupied for the majoirity of the day.

Spends this week have been suspiciously minimal.

Thurs :
£1.90 on milk and a Kinder Surprise for DD2 to help ward off lurgi
£14.99 on a dog harness (to be returned unused for a refund)
£1 tennis balls to entertain dogs
£2.99 on fizzy paracetamol from Boots

Fri :
£3 pocket money plus an additional £1 for a treat from the village shop

Yesterdays builders were priceless and thanks to a botched job of fitting the cover over the v. small and flimsy phone connections they managed to fill them with dust rendering some of them inoperable which means yet another visit from a BT engineer on Monday. Boss was not amused when I phoned him at home to tell him.

SarahNeedle1872

moo2moo wrote: »

Hairball no. 2 got more and more affectionate as the day progressessed, we had some lovely long walks that were rewarded with a wagging tail and lots of licks. She followed me round like a shadow becoming more and more limpet like and then OH arrived home and things began to change. First she positioned herself so that he was in full view at all times and then she began curling her top lip at him.

Before leaving for work we took her for a walk together, him holding the lead, her walking at my knee ignoring him but shooting daggers in his direction. Any pressure on the lead resulted in her lying flat on the floor growling at him whilst rolling on her belly for me to tickle her tummy. Returned to her to the house, opened the door, released hairball no. 1. OH went to take hairball no. 2s lead off and with his hand a foot from her nose she launched herself at him and sank her teeth into his hand. He rolled her onto her back and she immediately submitted, wet herself and ran into the house where she waited for me to enter and then stood wagging her tail and licking my hand as if to say look at me mum I did a great job of defending you from the world.

Perhaps not the ideal dog to have around children and most definately one thats too unpredictable to leave alone in a room with them or anyone else. Returned her to the animal sanctuary yesterday afternoon. Opened the boot to let her out. She impersonated an irate cat whilst looking at OH but allowed my to take hold of her lead and left the car happily wagging her tail with big doe eyes for me whilst swinging her head to growl at OH with a full display of teeth and curled up gums.

We're both finding it v. odd that a dog could become that dependant that fast and to the total exclusion of everybody else. Having provided temporary homes for large and angry dogs before we've never come across this before and I hope we never do again. Fortunately the DDs saw very little of her and are mostly upset that the lovely dog they both walked and played with two days ago became the aggresive snarling beast that we returned as unsuited to, and more importantly unhappy with, family life. DD2 has asked me to promise that the next dog we bring home is a nice one.

There endeth our very brief stint as a two dog family. Questioning my judgement quite a bit at the moment as I can usually spot a mentally damaged dog a mile off but then there are normally an awful lot more warning signs. With this one they were minimal at best and on occassion there was no warning at all.

Hi moo, just popping out of lurkdom to say don't be too hard on yourself re your judgement on the new hairball. I'm far from being a dog expert, but I don't think you could have predicted how she would react to OH in the home situation, even though you have a good knowledge of dog behaviours. I guess some animals are just too badly scarred mentally to change... You gave her a chance, but she was not right for your home and family, but at least you tried!

Sx

beanielou

Sorry about the hairball but you did the right thing.

Intergalactic_Floozie

Poor dog, It makes you wonder what the poor little thing must have gone through in her past.

moo2moo

Meanwhile life at Chez Moo has taken an unexpected twist.

The owner of the riding school has had four little surprises all of which need homes and which are totally and utterly adorable. I wouldn't normally consider a puppy as the greeny in me firmly believes in rehoming rather than encouraging breeding for profit but since these were a shock and there was no indication last week that their mum was expecting when she was running round the yard I'm bending my own beliefs just a little. That and I'm going to think at least twice before introducing a rescue dog to my children again without knowing an awful lot more about it. Both parents are very friendly with the added advantage that we'll see the puppy each week so will get chance to see it grow and spend time with it before it leaves mum. At birth the puppy in question was the runt of the litter but at 6lbs birth weight was still huge. By the time shes ready to leave mum she'll be roughly the size of a Labrador eventually ending up looking remarkably like this. Yup, I'm totally and utterly bonkers. Very very very very very very very very excited though. Just have to tell OH now who will say I told you so and remind me that I said no rather a lot when he suggested we consider a puppy.

beanielou

Oh my giddy aunt it is rather large!!

moo2moo

DD1 appears to have mastered the art of subtelty. Her e-mail to OH reads "We'll have a surprise for you in 12 weeks" following on from an e-mail from her younger sibling informing him that the riding school have puppies its not going to take a lot of imagination for him to figure out whats going on.

Managed to spend £16 in Mr Ts whilst not buying a £3.99 magazine that I talked myself out of all whilst waiting for DD2 to visit the ladies.