EEK! So I was contacted by a lady about a week ago who told me she had an intact female Standard Poodle who she was looking to get rid of. I asked her the usual questions, including how long she was giving the dog. She told me till the end of this weekend. I was like...ah crap. Nobody wants an intact female except for bad reasons. So this was a lost cause before it had even started. Long story short, the dog is coming to my house for the time being.

I AM FREAKING OUT!

Sheba is already a bitch, and I am going to give myself an asthma attack worrying about TWO intact bitches..

Does anyone have any advice?? I know it is going to be REALLY rough going for the first couple weeks, but what can I do to make it even a little bit better? Get the Spoo fixed ASAP is the first thing that comes to my mind..but anything else? Should I take Sheba with me to pick this girl up?

EEK!!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Good luck! Do you still have Ares or did he find a home?

LOL I still have Ares as well... It will be an interesting couple of weeks.

I have a couple people interested, but I'm not rushing it; he deserves the best.

I'm not sure I would take Sheba with you on the way to pick up the Spoo. They may get into a scuffle in the car and you won't like that while driving. Is there any way at ALL that the owner can spare at MAX one hour of her time? Have her take the spoo to the dog park and you can take Sheba there (if you think Sheba will be the only one that will have a hard time accepting the spoo). If Sheba's in heat, don't take her to the dog park please lol.

You can also walk all of them immediately when you get home with the spoo. It's a bonding moment for all of you. I would be very careful with toys/bones right now. Let us know how it goes!

Okay, so the little girl is here. She is severely under socialized with people and every noise makes her jump. She is like every other Standard Poodle I have met and she is protective. She has latched on to me stronger than any dog before has, and it honestly breaks my heart .

So, advice time.

Sheba went after her twice trying to "guard" me from her. How do I put a stop to this and how do I fix this?? She did this with Ares too, but I thought we had broken her of this. Every time she did it, I broke it up, gave Sheba a "fear of god" warning, and put her in her kennel. The second time had Luna (spoo) so scared, she wouldn't come out of her kennel for a good 30 minutes. HELP!

Other then that, things have been very smooth sailing. When they first met, they both wanted to play with each other and the whole pack did a pack walk and things went wonderful. Once we were inside, there was a little posturing from both girls, but nothing bad. They played and they both set some boundaries with each other, and took turns "mounting" each other. So I guess I had jinxed it thinking that things were going to be okay between the two of them lol..

All the toys are put up as are all of the food bowls. Sheba has been guarding the water bowl as well.. I've been trying to redirect her and give her a verbal correction, but she just goes right back to staring down Luna every time she wanted to get a drink. I had to put Sheba on the other side of the baby gate so ALL three dogs could get a drink... help there too lol??

Here is one video of their interactions BEFORE Sheba went after her both times.



And another

VintageJeans wrote:

I'm not sure I would take Sheba with you on the way to pick up the Spoo.  They may get into a scuffle in the car and you won't like that while driving.  Is there any way at ALL that the owner can spare at MAX one hour of her time?  Have her take the spoo to the dog park and you can take Sheba there (if you think Sheba will be the only one that will have a hard time accepting the spoo).  If Sheba's in heat, don't take her to the dog park please lol.

Totally forgot to reply to this. Yeah, no. That "owner" couldn't have been more excited to get rid of her. She smelled like cat pee, has the WORST flea infestation I have ever seen, and is a scared, scared dog. She is way under socialized, and is just very reactive right now. I had to avoid ANY eye contact for the first hour, and I had to crouch down and turn to the side (total submissive body language) before she would even approach me without barking her head off. Since then, she has been inseperable with me, much to the dismay of Sheba . If Chris leaves (even for a couple minutes) she barks her head off at him like she doesn't remember who he is. It's very strange. We took her to a self grooming place right away and the amount of poop, mud, dirt, paint (YES, paint), and FLEAS that came off this poor girl was amazing. Gave her a lather, rinse, repeat bath. She did pretty well with it, considering. I will have to shave her whole body so her hair can grow back and her scabs can heal. Which is a TOTAL bummer because she is a silver phantom and SO beautiful.

Just breaks my heart. There must be a Standard Poodle miller somewhere in Iowa; Prancer came from Iowa as well . 

I don't have any advice but Sheba's actions and noises she makes are just like Kay's! Off topic i know.  

And i'm glad you got her away from that "owner."

LOL @ :30 secs in the video, Kennedy's like, "Yeah, okay, whatever" and walks off lol.

Sheba is definitely showing some dominance. Putting paws on Luna's shoulder and bumping Luna away with her butt when Luna tries to put her paw on Sheba. Juneau does the "grab at the scruff" thing and throws Maddie to the ground sometimes, but it's puppy play. I think Sheba is trying to initiate play at that point.

Okay now to your comment.

GRRR @ the owner! Poor Luna! Do you know how old Luna is? Any vet records? Are you fostering her yourself or are you going to contact a Poodle Rescue and foster through them? You will get more publicity that way with a bigger chance of adopting her out.

Paint?!?!?! Omg! Thank goodness you gave her a bath. You are safe to shave her (which you already mentioned). My Grandma breeds poodles for a hobby, but they're toy poodles. They're still the same mentality though. Poodles are VERY smart and have very good memories. It will definitely take her a while to settle in your home. She was probably kept in a kennel all day. I'm not sure how she would smell like cat piss. If you have any poodle-related questions, let me know and I will ask my Gma and reply back to you.

You probably already know this, but I would give her a capstar pill to kill the fleas IMMEDIATELY so they don't spread to your apt. They can spread to other apts too, so be careful.

If she still smells, try giving her a bath with Pet Silk Shampoo & Conditioner. There is also a serum you can buy. It smells really good. It's kinda on the expensive side. I got a discount when I bought mine because I got it at a dog show. Okay anyways...

The first few days will be rough. Everyone is still trying to get along and mesh. The first day I got Maddie, she attacked Juneau for a ball (each of them had one!) and the second time was when Juneau got close to the bag of dog food that I had just bought (Maddie was guarding it, but I didn't catch the sign before it was too late).

How is Luna doing today? Is Sheba still guarding the water bowl? Is Luna still by your side, much to Sheba's dismay? Things won't change instantly, unfortunately. Just be sure to give Sheba some attention too. She might feel left out. I would still keep misdirecting Sheba verbally about the water bowl and how close Luna is to you.

I know this may sound wrong, but I'm glad Luna hid in her kennel (I'm not condoning what Sheba did!). It means she has found a sanctuary in the house that is a safe place for her. I see a lot of dogs that have a negative correlation with the kennel, so you got lucky with that one. Do you crate her during the day (while you're away)?

It will probably take her a while to stop barking at your hubby when he comes inside. She is still learning who everyone is. I'm taking it as a sign that a male figure has possibly abused her. Just try to misdirect her and tell her that it's okay and she doesn't have to bark.

I really hope I helped a little bit and keep us updated!! And as always, thank you for saving her.