6.12.2012

A Lesson in Failure, and Hope

This isn't something I thought I'd make a whole post about on my blog, but it's been something that has weighed heavily on my mind lately. Melissa's post today, about really loving your pet, struck me. I have a dog, a 2 year old pure bread Miniature Schnauzer named Edith aka Edie (after Edie Sedgwick). I brought her home on April 27, 2010 when she was 7 weeks old, having bought her from a breeder. My reasons for getting her were good: I wanted a companion because my husband (then boyfriend) worked nights, and I LOVE Schnauzers, my first dog which is my family's pet (Mitzi, who is now 8) is a Schnauzer. When we chose Edie we absolutely adored her, she was über sweet and the leader of the litter. We interacted with her 3 times before bringing her home. She was a source of so much joy, and entertainment, and learning. I was so happy to have brought her into the little family we were forming.

Shortly after bringing her home we got married (May 7, 2010), and then found out we were expecting (May 12, 2010). I was glad to have her to practice my nurturing on during my pregnancy. Very early on in my pregnancy I had some complications very closely resembling miscarriage (that my intuition still tells me was Lorelei's twin). It had me depressed and pretty immobile for a few weeks. It also resulted in me being careful and absorbed in my pregnancy in ways that I think were detrimental to training and showing Edie enough attention.

Now, at 2, Edith is a little hard to deal with. She gets very keyed up going places on her leash and chokes herself. Her selective Schnauzer hearing makes it nearly impossible to teach her commands like "stay" or "quiet". She is slightly resentful of Lorelei, as she takes a lot of attention away from the dog, and gets grouchy at her for no good reason. The worst of it is her possessive, dominating behavior around other people and especially dogs. It's strange because up until February of this year she has lived with a total of three other dogs and several cats and never had a problem with any of them. Oh, and I almost forgot, we can't leave her at home when we go places because we live in an apartment and she throws awful noisy fits at home alone. We'd love to take her everywhere with us, but, she's noisy in the car, can't behave on the leash, and sometimes the weather permits.

We've talked about sending her to live with my parents and their two Schnauzers, we've talked about how living in a house with a yard would help, we hope getting her spayed soon will help, but I get a little hopeless sometimes. She's just very difficult.

Here's the thing: I know that at least 75% of her issues are MY fault. It makes me feel like crap. I don't want to give up on my dog because I love her, and I can't bear the thought of not having her around. When she's good she's great. She learns tricks well, she gets super excited when we wake up in the morning, she loves to cuddle, and when we least expect it she'll kiss or play with Lorelei. She has so much potential.

So Melissa's post about her Leary and loving your pets while they are here renewed me. It made me think of all the reason's I love my girl. I have new faith today to try everything in my power to make life better for and with her. I'm thankful for that. :)

Forgive the excess of pictures, I was excited to find that I had as many as I do of her!



Our Ring Bearer









Driving, on our first camping trip. :)
Going somewhere in the rattling Jeep with mom.

First Snow



Family Maternity Picture, I look ewww!

She wishes she was a cat.




Sitting Pretty

Getting her hair did!

Kisses

Sun Bathing

As I write this post...







No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...