First off, sorry abut the radio silence yesterday. After getting home from visiting the wife in the long-term care facility I was so tired I just went to sleep. I did end up getting seven hours of sleep though so it was beneficial.
So. As the subject line reads, Magdalena has struck again.
I was having lunch this afternoon, and as usual, I gave each of the dogs a bit of my apple. I always make sure they each get a piece, and that they are away from each other so here is no fighting over food.
Sirocco loves apple and eagerly grabs his piece and takes it as far away from the other dogs as he can so he can eat it. Major usually drops his piece on the floor and may or may not eat it. Magdalena licks the piece of apple before taking it gently and just holds on to it. Then she’ll drop it and watch over it until she’s ready to eat it.
Everything went as normal until Sirocco noticed that Magdalena hadn’t eaten her piece. He decided ‘waste not, want not’ was the best course of action so he went over to steal Magdalena’s bit. Most of the time this isn’t a problem. Either Magdalena will snatch up the bit and eat it, or she walks away from it, and then Sirocco will steal it.
Today, however, Sirocco ran over to grab her bit, thinking she wouldn’t do anything about it. Instead Magdalena got up, growled, and snapped at Sirocco. I’m guessing she connected because Sirocco started squealing and kept it up for thirty seconds or so. I grabbed the water bottle and sprayed Magdalena in the face and told her ‘No!’ then forced her away.
I checked over Sirocco but didn’t see any signs of a bite. He didn’t flinch or squeal as I ran my hands over him. Sirocco got up and ran to hide in a corner of the house behind the dog crate, where I or the other dogs couldn’t get him. He stayed back there most of the day. He wouldn’t even come out to eat dinner.
I went to get the wife from the long-term care facility for an evening out and brought her back home. We kept the other dogs in the backyard to let Sirocco have the opportunity to visit with the wife. He came out from behind the crate but he wouldn’t approach either of us. He wouldn’t even get near us for a treat.
He finally came over to her after about twenty minutes or so. She looked him over and couldn’t find any injuries either. It took another ten minutes or so for Sirocco to eat the treat.
We had to let the other dogs into the house so they could get some time with the wife so Sirocco went back to hiding.
This will be the third time Magdalena has gone after Sirocco. Three strikes and she’s out. We must seriously consider rehoming her. I am bonded with her, like I am with all or dogs. It will be painful to let her go. But we cannot have her attacking Sirocco and potentially permanently injuring him, or killing him.
I was opposed to getting her in the first place, but the wife went ahead and got her anyway. I knew if she did I would bond with the dog. Now that I have, it looks like we’ll have to let her go. This is a pain I don’t need.
There will be no more dogs after this if (most likely when) we get rid of Magdalena.
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