I knew it. I spoke to soon. I’ve got bruises on my hands and arms to prove it. If Layla is any example of how I’m going to be as a parent, I’m never having children. I have no patience. I want to put her in her kennel forever, or fight to surpress the urge to kick her across the room (don’t worry, I never have) but it’s awful that I get that angry. I know that just makes her worse.
Now my parents are offering to pay for personal training sessions, where a trainer comes to my house to work personally with the dog. I’m glad they are so willing to help, but it just makes me feel so incompetent. What if it doesn’t work? What if this dog trainer is another hoax and they have no solution. Then my parents are out a good chunk of change and I’m possibly out a dog. I wasn’t going to accept it, but after the last two nights I don’t know how I can’t. I almost wish she’d break the skin because then I could put a band aid on it, instead of these bruises that I have to try and cure with ice bags.
She still makes me laugh. I still want to cuddle her. She just gets violent. And the worst part of dog owning is, it’s all your fault. There are no bad dogs, just bad owners. Yeah, that really helps this horrible, nawing guilt feeling I have that maybe I made a bad decision for Layla when I picked her up 8 months ago.
It’s possible that you took her to class when she was too young. Ella’s first class didn’t really “stick” because she was so young. But, her second class made a HUGE difference. Try it. I think you’ll find that it does work.
Have you read the dog whisperer (the book, not the TV show). I haven’t read it, but Cliff did and he highly recommends it. Don’t worry, Layla will grow out of her crazy puppy stage. Ella was the same way and look how great she is now (most of the time)!