A One-Year-Old and Two Dogs

This was originally written on Friday, May 22, 2009:

I am so annoyed with Bella and Cosmo right now. (Here we are in our better days)Until the summer of 2007 they were as perfect as I could ever hope two dogs to be. (At that time we'd had Bella for over 2 years and Cosmo for 1.5 years.) Then, shortly before we moved into our new house, Cosmo began to bark aggressively at strangers. After we moved and I became pregnant, Bella began doing that as well. Until then they'd hardly ever barked at all! They began to disrespect me for the first time by ignoring me and not obeying me when I'd tell them to stop. Putting them in their kennel didn't work, giving them positive reinforcement when they did well didn't work, holding them didn't work, using the leash didn't work, and even spanking once didn't work (although since I'm against spanking kids it doesn't make sense for me to spank animals, either).So, I asked for the Dog Whisper books that Christmas but didn't get a chance to read them because I was in my second trimester of pregnancy and that's when I started reading and preparing for childbirth. Since then, they have good moments and bad moments. Our neighbors see the bad moments (i.e. the barking still, although Bella will at least stop when I tell her now, however the only thing that works for Cosmo is using the sound collar) so that is embarrassing but at least with me on a daily basis inside our house and with Logan they'd generally be on good behavior.So, imagine my horror when last week I was sitting in my chair and Bella was on it, too, and Logan came up to us and touched her. That's all he did - TOUCH - and Bella freaked out! She growled and snarled at him and then chomped down on his hand, leaving bite marks! Logan screamed and I flew out of my seat, so upset at Bella that I picked her up and threw her to the next room. I couldn't believe she had done that! It's always been obvious that she doesn't trust Logan -- she's never played with him like Cosmo does (Cosmo is his "friend," he runs to Logan's room when Logan wakes up from a nap, wrestles with him, etc.), in fact all Logan has to do is look at Bella and she gets out of the way. But she's never been mean to him! When he is confined in his carseat she will give him a kiss like she did when he was a newborn, and she acts excited to see him when he's been away. So we never thought we had to worry about her hurting him!!! But now I'm going to have to be on guard. :(Then today I decided to drop the dogs off to PetSmart grooming because we're going to Iowa tomorrow and I didn't have time to give them a bath. They don't need haircuts because they went to our regular groomer last month, Amber, who they have been going to since August 2005 (Bella was 6.5 months old). Amber has always loved her, calls her her little angel, Bella gets so happy & excited when she sees Amber, there's never been the slightest problem. But we always have to make an appt. with Amber like a month in advance so I knew there was no way I was going to get them in today. So Joe dropped the dogs off at PetSmart this morning. Three hours later I received a phone call from the groomer saying that she'd been able to give Cosmo the bath & brush but Bella was too agressive and they were only able to rinse her off. Apparently she was biting and snaping and growling and peeing everywhere and was trying to attack them!!! I was like, "What? I've never known her to act like that in the 4 years we've had her!" She explained that dogs get very attached to the person who grooms them, especially if it's been the same person for four years, and so Bella didn't like the change. Still, I was shocked!!!When I came to pick them up, I put the dogs in the back of the cart because I had Logan in the front of the cart and then as I was pushing it away, Bella jumped out! I reached to get her and this chaos knocked over a huge display!!! By this time I was fighting back tears, I'm sure the groomer saw. She said it was okay, they got it. I apologized and went to the check-out line because that's where you pay, so then I asked if I give the tip to them and they said "no," I'd have to go back to the groomer. By then I was just like, whatever. So the lady didn't get a tip for Cosmo (at least he was the only one I had to pay for).Thankfully Logan was being wonderful through this whole ordeal, just sitting peacefully. So I put him in his carseat and the dogs in the backseat with him. Mistake. After I'd started driving, Bella hurled herself to the front seat and then Cosmo jumped on top of Logan! I was like, what the heck is wrong with you guys?! In my rearview mirror I see Cosmo climbing all over Logan and Logan starts crying because Cosmo is scratching his face all up! So I pulled over to the side of the road. By this time I couldn't hold back the tears and I so I grabbed Logan and made sure he was okay, kissing his left side of his face that is all scratched up. I so badly wanted to just open the door and let the dogs out and then drive away, but we were right by the highway and so there was a part of me that knew I'd regret if something bad happened to them. So instead I called Joe, hoping it would calm me down. After that I could put Logan back in the carseat and I was so firm with the dogs they knew I was mad at both of them and didn't move from the passenger's side on the way back home. It's sad that they used to be my world and since Logan they definitely aren't the most important things to me anymore, so on the one hand I feel bad for them because they used to have my undivided attention 110% and now they see me taking Logan for walks but I can't take three little beings when I'm by myself, and I know things like that probably make them sad, but I also think something has happened as they age because their bad moments started before I got pregnant and a month or two before we moved. I guess I should get out those Dog Whisper books to read now. Because the couple across the street just took their yorkiepoo to the shelter after it bit the woman (they'd had their dog for several years, too). I was shocked they would do that (Bella bit me once at our old house but I didn't consider giving her away, she was my firstborn - my first dog ever - the dog I had dreamed about having for 25 years, she & I have always been so close, had such a strong bond). . .so I don't want to have to do that, too.