One year ago today, this beauty entered our lives. She is smart as a whip, funny, kind and caring.
Thank you, Roman Gottfried, for helping me, help her. You have taught me how to bring out the best in Elle. You taught me that dogs have ethics and how to recognize them. You taught me how to learn her language and how to communicate with her. From you, I learned how to train her using holistic and positive methods. We thank you.
Now, I need to learn how to get her to stay still so I can get a photo. She hates having her picture taken LOL- Sally Greene -
Elle’s Story
Elle was born on a farm. She was taken to a kill-shelter at 3.5 months old because she was killing and eating the chickens on the farm.
A shelter in Peoria, Illinois rescued her from there.
Our dog at that time was an elderly GP mix named Lily. Lily was at the end of her life because of arthritis and could no longer get up or even stand without assistance. She lost control of her bladder and bowels. We had used everything available, including CBD dog treats, but she was failing fast. We knew we wanted to rescue right away, so when I began looking for another dog. We finally had no choice but to put Lily to sleep. A few days after, I found Elle. We had wanted a Great Pyrenees that was at least 2 and the rescue at first said she was about 2 years old.
How it all started
I received a FACEBOOK message with the following:
“Long story short, we immediately fell in love with her. My co-owner, George, rented a car and drove 8 hours to pick her up. That's when we found out she was only about 4 months old.
We were already in love with her and so he brought her home. She was very underweight and her coat wasn't good. She peed constantly where Lily used to pee in the kitchen. She did ok in the crate at bedtime if I kept it near me. We have pheromone spray from our vet and kept it sprayed in her crate bedding, toys and us.
This was Memorial Day weekend, so we had to wait to take her to the vet. When we did, we found out she had not been fully wormed, had a serious bladder infection and Giardia. The vet had us start her on Pro Plan because her coat was so bad, and of course flea med and heartworm meds.
To summarize this far: possibly early separation from her mom and siblings, because the farm she was at had no idea she needed long-term training to be an LGD. She was not properly nourished or loved by them. The kill shelter was obviously very stressful. Then there was the long ride to the rescue and the stress of being crated a lot with another dog. She bonded to that dog but we didn't know that or we would have taken it, too. We found this out a few weeks ago. So, more loss. She had all this sickness, was undernourished and when we adopted her, it was another long trip to us. It was a fun ride, broken up into many stops to potty and play, but still stressful. Then the adjustment to an environment that smelled of another dog, but where was that dog? She wasn't used to cats. There was a rabbit that she couldn't eat.
She becomes very ill during her treatment for her sicknesses because of medicine side effects. We couldn't exercise any place but our yard for weeks because of the Giardia.
So much stress and change!!
To end: when I saw that chart, I realized that she was acting out because to her, it was time to have to leave again.
This was the post about two string trauma trigger.
It shows how a emotional overload can trigger a behavior and reactivity.
She did not trust that she was here to stay.
We were bonded to her and she to us, but she had never been allowed to stay in a loved place before!
We are ready to implement what you suggest. Also we need to re-introduce the crate with your suggestions on how to help her learn to like it.
For me, I want a dog who feels safe and loved and I want her to be the most well-rounded personality I can help her to be. I have never had a puppy before and she is super smart, great personality and loves people, esp. children. She loves us to sit outside and people watch. She stays calm and doesn't bark at anyone who goes by. I wonder if eventually she could be an emotional support dog or therapy dog.”