Canine Reboot for Sorayah

It can’t be JUST THAT SIMPLE….

Two years ago my family and I moved to Florida with our 1 year old Great Dane / English Mastiff Cross, Sorayah. When we moved here she lacked some of the manners I would like her to have she jumped on visitors and even us household members at times. With time and stern correction, combined with her growing older, the undesired behavior ceased. The only thing left was to be sure she was going to stay on track with house training. After nearly 3 months in the new house we were convinced that she was indeed COMPLETELY housebroken. As a result we put her crate in storage and she was left to roam in the house with my mom’s dog, a 109lb German Shepherd/Bloodhound Cross.

All was well, or so we thought. After a short time, new neighbors moved in. On a few different occasions we witnessed the new neighbor children teasing our dogs running sticks up and down the fence, poking at them, yelling at them! I spoke with the parents and put an end to it! Not too long after that I decided I would take Sorayah to the park and we would go on a long walk on a cool morning. Upon arriving to the park, Sorayah exhibited very aggressive/protective behavior.
So much so, that I turned around and went home because parents of playing children and other visitors were terrified. the fear was shown in every person there, me included! I had never witnessed this type of behavior from Sorayah. She was the dog that had many days accompanied me to work in an office happily greeting many visitors and passers-by.

Time went on we never returned to the park, and eventually we found a rental home that would allow Sorayah. We moved out to our own place and left Sorayah’s crate in the shed. Over time we noticed more and more of a change in Sorayah, she would bark excessively and aggressively at visitors to our home, chased our close neighbor into the laundry room (only accessible outdoors) and stood outside the door preventing her from exiting, she would chase my children around my home and it appeared she was trying to prevent them from running and playing (if they raised their voices she would pinch the back of their arms) she began to jump on strangers and at one point attacked a small dog that entered our yard (no injuries involved but she had him pinned to the ground and lets just say she wasn’t welcoming him with a friendly hello!).

Frantic and at my wit’s end, with this behavior, I didn’t know where else to turn so I called Gisele (The Dog Liberator). Having met her when I worked for a local Veterinary Clinic, I explained to Gisele, what was going on and the behaviors she was exhibiting. Our conversation lasted well over an hour and Gisele would ask me “Think back what happened? What caused the change in her behavior?” Naturally, my mind was going back to the neighbor children teasing her. We spoke a little more and for the One Thousandth Five Hundred and Seventy Fifth time Gisele mentioned a crate. Apparently, it took me One Thousand Five Hundred and Seventy Five times hearing the word crate for that Light bulb to come on in my mind! That was it! THE CRATE! This behavior all started after we took her crate and put it in storage!!! No way it’s that easy, No way this is the root of all these problems that almost caused me to re-home my dog!

So I immediately put her back in a crate. All along saying no way this is going to change ANYTHING! Days went by and she seemed to LIVE in this crate not by force but by choice when she wasn’t playing or outside she was laying in her crate, with the door open. So I asked my children to flail and scream and run in circles in the living room, this is the time when she would have typically gotten up and pinched their arms to make them stop, we got you guessed it NOTHING! She raised her head looked at them, watched them running and playing and never even acted as if she wanted to get up and stop them. It wasn’t her problem anymore she had her own space now and they weren’t misbehaving in her space. More time lapsed and we had visitors and handymen in and out of the house we crated her and she would bark as they entered the home we asked for silence and we got silence!

Just last week I dog sat my mom’s smaller female dog while she was out of town. Expecting a ruckus when she entered our home Sorayah was interested she was intrigued, but no aggression. That dog just like the kids wasn’t in her space she didn’t mind her being there! They spent 4 days with their cages touching and spending some quality time together. They ate side by side, nose to nose, this is a dog that was aggressive toward other dogs regarding her food.

With the much needed, and much appreciated help of Gisele, The dog liberator, and a trusty crate, I am well on my way to having my friendly massive dog back!

Much to our disbelief, we realized, it was JUST THAT SIMPLE!