Rammy
Herd Master
I say give her another chance. You reached into her safe place and she was protecting her space. I had a dog bite me I rescued. We we playing and he bite me in the face. I realized after that I had pushed too far. My feelings were more hurt than my injury. He was remoresful after.
Kept him til he died. It was Cosmo. We have to remember they are dogs. Dogs see us as another dog, not that we are a human. Yes, I probably would of done the same thing you did, and Ive had several dogs that have been aggessive towards me. But I worked with them and they overcame thier fear and trust issues.
One dog I rescued, Ruby, would literally attack me just putting on her leash. I knew from the way she behaved it was from abuse from the former owner. One day I grabbed her by the throat when she was biting me and said, " Here's how it works in my house. Your nice to me, Im nice to you. You bite me, I strangle you." After that, no more problems. Once I gained her trust, I would play rough with her so she understood that it was ok to play rough and she wouldnt be punished. Im sure others wont agree with how I did it, but it worked for me.
Being a groomer, I work with alot if dogs who are fearful, downright aggressive, or just a$$holes. You learn to "read" a dog and I can sense whether ir not the dog is really just afraid, or just testing me to see what they can get away with. Some have figured out if they carry on like an idiot, the person, normally thier owner, will stop. Im not thier owner. I dont stop.
Now if its a case where the pet may injure themselves if I kept going, I stop and call the owner. Many cases has been just figuring out what they will let me do and work with them to gain more and more trust.
I think in Sophies case, you should let yourself calm down first, then evaluate your options. In Cosmos case, I wanted to give him back at first. Once I got over the hurt feelings, I realized my mistake.
Kept him til he died. It was Cosmo. We have to remember they are dogs. Dogs see us as another dog, not that we are a human. Yes, I probably would of done the same thing you did, and Ive had several dogs that have been aggessive towards me. But I worked with them and they overcame thier fear and trust issues.
One dog I rescued, Ruby, would literally attack me just putting on her leash. I knew from the way she behaved it was from abuse from the former owner. One day I grabbed her by the throat when she was biting me and said, " Here's how it works in my house. Your nice to me, Im nice to you. You bite me, I strangle you." After that, no more problems. Once I gained her trust, I would play rough with her so she understood that it was ok to play rough and she wouldnt be punished. Im sure others wont agree with how I did it, but it worked for me.
Being a groomer, I work with alot if dogs who are fearful, downright aggressive, or just a$$holes. You learn to "read" a dog and I can sense whether ir not the dog is really just afraid, or just testing me to see what they can get away with. Some have figured out if they carry on like an idiot, the person, normally thier owner, will stop. Im not thier owner. I dont stop.
Now if its a case where the pet may injure themselves if I kept going, I stop and call the owner. Many cases has been just figuring out what they will let me do and work with them to gain more and more trust.
I think in Sophies case, you should let yourself calm down first, then evaluate your options. In Cosmos case, I wanted to give him back at first. Once I got over the hurt feelings, I realized my mistake.
There is nothing I can add. I am glad you were able to step back, and able to listen to others ideas on the subject. I don't have the answers. Maybe this is the point where she learns to respect you, and you can respect her too while working out a Mutually beneficial relationship.
