I Knew She Would Be My Princess Someday!

As most of you know, it has been a big struggle with my blue merle Australian Shepherd, Sadie. When she was around 6 months of age she started showing aggressive behavior towards my other Aussie, Bailey. It escalated to fighting a few times a month, and it got so bad that I contemplated a dog owner's worst fear....having to give up my beloved pup. But I was determined to do whatever I could do to help Sadie and Bailey get along. I had a dog behaviorist come to my place and help me. She was diagnosed with "social dominance and protective behavior". She is very socially anxious, insecure and gets really nervous in certain situations, ex: when we have quite a few people over, she gets very uncomfortable and this can set off an attack.



The dog behaviorist gave me a lot of help and I spent a lot of time with Sadie, using positive reinforcement training. There were days when I couldn't open the garage door without Sadie attacking Bailey. There were days when Sadie and Bailey were playing nicely and she would get hurt and cry, she would attack Bailey. There were days that Bailey would just look at her wrong and she would attack Bailey. Anything could set Sadie off into a full on attack on Bailey. Bailey was becoming fearful of her, and I cried over what this was doing to Bailey. It was very traumatic for me to see Sadie attacking Bailey, the fights were so intense and I thought Sadie was going to kill Bailey.



I immediately started the list of steps to take that the behaviorist gave me. I rewarded Sadie with "high value" treats when she did something good, I went through doors before Sadie, I hand fed Sadie when I wanted her to eat, and the list went on and on. I eventually started to keep Bailey in the house and left Sadie in the garage, because I didn't know when an attack would happen and I couldn't stand seeing Bailey attacked. I had made some progress on the garage issue, but I was still trying to protect Bailey. I couldn't have Sadie and Bailey in the house together. Sadie was just not comfortable being in the house when Bailey was in there.



I kept treats in my car so when I came home and opened the garage door, Sadie would see me coming home as a good thing. She used to attack Bailey when I would open the garage door. Then the attacks started to happen less often. Although they still did happen, I had become so good at reading Sadie and knowing when she was going to attack, I could prevent it before she actually would attack.



Just when I thought she was getting better, she would relapse and attack Bailey a few times in a week. I lost it again. I never thought I would be able to get her to adapt to a household with another dog. (Sadie is fine with other dogs, she has never tried to attack any dog other then Bailey, but that is not to say she never would).



About a year ago, Sadie stopped attacking Bailey. I waited for a relapse. She would get the "look", but never attacked. Then sometime last fall, we started bringing Sadie back into the house. But only for a short amount of time at first. We extended her inside time little by little. I keep treats very close by at all times. We even started letting her stay in at night. Bailey sleeps in the guest room on the bed and Sadie sleeps in our bedroom on the floor.



They play together inside now too. Sadie still gets uncomfortable socially, but she is learning that a lot of people are okay. She really can only handle things in small doses. I do watch her closely at times, but I am learning to let go a little. The other day she gave Bailey the "look" and I immediately made her sit and pay attention to me, not Bailey. Once she gets rid of the "look", she gets a treat. I don't want to reward one of her "anxious" moments.



Sadie has become the world's sweetest Aussie. She craves attention and loves to be petted. Petting her between her eyes is very comforting to her. She is very demanding on when she wants to be petted, and I can't give in and pet her when she wants due to her "dominant" nature. I ignore her and the silly noises she makes when she is begging to be petted. I wait until I want to pet her, when she is done being so demanding. It can be so hard because she will rest her head on my lap and look at me with those sad puppy dog eyes, but I know I have to do it the right way.

I am very proud to say that Sadie has been attack free for about a year now!!! She has growled at Bailey and gives him the "look", but she has not attacked him (hopefully this doesn't jinx anything!) I have done so much to try and give her a chance to lead a "normal" dog life. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. But I feel that we are on the right track. It has a been a very long, stressful 3 years, but it has been so worth it to see results and to finally have the princess that I have always wanted!