Today was a rough day for the Adcock house hold. I have never had to do something so emotionally difficult. We gave Bauer away. Bauer is our dachshund that I've had since August 2005. He was my baby and helped me get through many lonely nights up here in Kansas City by myself. So here is what happened.
Last night Eric was playing with him on the floor like they always do. For whatever reason, Bauer bit Eric. I guess maybe he felt defensive or vulnerable for whatever reason. He bit Eric on his nose. It was bad enough that we went to an Urgent Care center. He had to get a tetanus shot and prophylactic antibiotics. Luckily he did not need stitches.
This was kind of the last straw for Bauer and his biting. In the last year he has bitten four friends. One was a friend who Bauer has played with many times, and we even stayed with her when I had a busted pipe a year ago. He knew her and she loved him! He then bit Eric's co-worker who came over. He was just washing his hands in the bathroom and Bauer bit his leg. He has also started snapping at us when we try to discipline him or if he gets in trouble.
We had decided that he was for sure gone once we decide to have kids. Well after last night we decided it was time to go. It was the hardest decision and resulted in a TON of tears. I emailed about 15 rescue shelters between last night and this morning. The first response I got back was from a foster home based shelter. She agreed to take him regardless of the bite history. She was up in Polo, MO (about 90 minutes north of us). Eric and I drove up there this morning. Lets just say that was one of the most awkward car rides ever.
The shelter is HALO, Helping All Little Ones. They will board Bauer for a few weeks until he gets comfortable with his new care givers and realize they are the ones taking care of him. They will also start working with obedience training. Once they feel he is safe, he will move on to a foster home. Here they will really work on training until he is safe for adoption. Once he is safe for adoption he will be adopted out.
They feel that the aggression is based on the change in the house hold when I got married including a male and a dog. She thinks this is something that can be overcome with proper training. She will try to get him into a home that is a single person home or husband and wife without kids. They have had a dog with a similar story a few years back and after lots of training is doing great.
I'm so happy we were able to find a shelter instead of having to do the alternative. I really hope this works out for him as he was my baby. This is such a hard situation for me to be in. I miss him dearly and can't believe he's really gone.
