Drew

It's obvious that you are a responsible owner who tried to do the right thing which resulted in a tragedy. I can't imagine the loss.

With this said I have a folder with a number of emamils from people whose dogs have killed one of their pack members. This kind of thing happens more than one would think.

Unfortunatley its a result of a lack of supervision (from your fathers standpoint - and I am not blaming him here - he was not prepared for this) and a change in the living enviornment of these two dogs. Both issues were the trigger for this.

Just for others to understand - the dogs should be crated when they are left alone or with a new person - even if it's a family member. The family member needs to 100% understand that they are not to let the dogs out together. They come out of the crates one at a time. If the family member does not 100% agree to follow directions find someone else.

Thank you everyone for responding to my post.

It's wonderful to be around folks who "get it" when it comes to these things. Needless to say it's been a long week. After running the "woulda,coulda,shoulda" scenarios over in my head 100 times. I decided yesterday to break my time table and discussing the situation with my employer, I had my car serviced today and sent a trusted co-worker on the 700 mile trip to pick Amber up and bring her to her new home. While I don't have the largest house currently my employer has been very supportive and has agreed to allow me to bring my shepherd to work with me!

This is the best way I can come up with for she and I too catch up after a 6 month separation and hopefully that will give me time to evaluate her and with any luck I can get her enrolled in a DayCare/Training facility a block from work. Not in a rush to do that beings I can have her at work with ME but I also don’t want her to not be used to being around other dogs.

Again I appreciate the support!!!

I would be incredibly hesistant to put her in a doggy day care type situation even under the best of circumstances.

With the recent incident I would be even more wary of putting her in a situation where something bad could happen.

 Quote: Drew_Archer

... to evaluate her and with any luck I can get her enrolled in a DayCare/Training facility a block from work. ....

This would not even be on my list of maybes. Ever.

And I say that in the most supportive way I can.

 Quote: Ed Frawley

.... Just for others to understand - the dogs should be crated when they are left alone or with a new person - even if it's a family member. The family member needs to 100% understand that they are not to let the dogs out together. They come out of the crates one at a time. If the family member does not 100% agree to follow directions find someone else.

This does not in any way allow for the typical doggy day care. Ever.

The dog can be around other dogs exactly (and ONLY) the way many on this board want our dogs around other dogs: absolutely under our control and with a goal of a casually indifferent POV from our dogs towards the other dogs.

Drew,

How sad for you and your father. No one knows what happened to trigger the incident so don't dwell on it. As difficult as it is to do; you need to not let this color your relationship with Amber. She won't feel remorse and doesn't know she did anything wrong but she does need you to be the strong leader and bonded friend you have always been to her.

I am happy she is joining you but remember it will be an adjustment for both of you. Take it slow; really slow, no need to get ahead of yourself with worrying about her getting used to dogs; if she has been socialized it is not going to disappear.

You've handled her perfectly in the past and if you pick up where you left off; I don't see why you can't expect the same good behavior you remember.

I'd like to thank you for posting. I am sure, that could not have been easy for you. But in doing so; you very well may have saved someone else the pain you are going through.

Best of luck and keep us posted.

Hey Gang,
Your advice is appreciated very, very much and I should have clarified my post I guess (my earlier post was interupted by an incoming phone call). I'm not interested in immediately placing her in a day care facility. I got some references from the local GSD rescue in my area and after filling him in on what happened, he recommended this facility to me as a possibility for her as they also specialize in behavioral evaluations (and they aren't bashful with their prices either, ahem...) and not just a drop-off service.

As I mentioned I am VERY fortunate to work in an office environment where she can be with me without restrictions and she and I can 'catch up'?

The only reason the "Day care" popped up right now was on the advice of the GSD Rescue director to have her evaluated in a controlled environment by professionals. He did not feel a vet evaluation was going to help much.

Is it your thoughts that it's "too soon" or do I get her back up on the horse? I'm even questioning myself on how to interact with her when she arrives tomorrow night. This is scary territory and I'm trying to get over that before she gets home, I don't want to send her the wrong vibe. I apologize if I'm coming across as a babbling idiot.

The bottom line is, I've had to relocate from a Country environment to a metropolitan environment for the time being because of my job. I'm driving my real estate agent crazy right now waiting for the right place for Amber and I to come along but thats another story. For now this all means Amber and I will be taking our evening walks in an area that has more dogs around than she is used too and I do not want her to become Anti-Social. I'm going as far as researching Muzzles via the Leerburg store as well which I see alot of dogs wearing around town anyway.

I'm really trying to be diligent and do what is necessary for Amber to be happy. I'm a 40yr old grown man and after this experience I am scared to death of doing wrong by her (as well as anyone else she's comes in contact with)the thought of her being labeled as anti-social/troublesome is difficult to even think about.

Thank you all again,

I would definitely spend a lot of time with her before placing her in a doggy daycare. I would be hesitant of it for the reasons that have already been mentioned.

I guess, my thought - I really think you're doing right by her, and I know how scary it is for you now - I really, really do get that - and you don't want her to be lablled anti-social or troublesome, and you want other people to appreciate what a wonderful dog she is - but in my experience - you will have to balance that with being careful of her and recognizing that she may pose a threat to other dogs.

Which doesn't mean she's a bad dog by any means. But in my experience, it is better to take those precautions than to risk anything happening again. And I think a doggy daycare, if they keep the dogs together, and being people who aren't you acting as pack leader - I think that's a huge risk. I know you know how hard loss can from losing your one dog and you don't need me to tell you that, but since you don't know what happened - take it slow. No matter what, she's your girl, but take it slow.

It took awhile, even though I'd had her for 6 or 8 months, to process that my girl could be a sweet suck who wants her belly rubbed but also be a dog that enjoys attacking and trying to kill (we've had the one incident since I've had her but I've been told by experienced trainers that she is likely an experienced killer). It's not easy to reconcile those things. AND I'm NOT saying your dog is; we really don't know what happened; I'm just trying to say I would err on the side of caution and be very very cautious about sending her to doggy daycare. And in terms of your concern about interacting with her - I would say, post-attack, it took me a few months to interact normally with Teagan again - and I still have moments where I have an 'augh!' reaction but I'm comfortable handling her - it was hard for me because I found what happened earth shattering and she spent a week ebullient and thrilled with life. It was hard to see that. But - I focused on how much I loved her, and I really did come to realize that she was the same dog I had before the attack - but that now I had to be aware of another layer of her.

And it is hard about other people's reactions to. Teagan wears a police fighting muzzle because it is so solid outside of the house, and she looks, as our vet said, like Hannibal Lector. People react to that. I had to learn to ignore them. I had to learn to let go of my shame, my shame of me and of her. And learn to say to myself, if someone has a problem with her - well, I can understand that, but she's my girl and she's the best girl I could ever have. Regardless of what they think. (Here's a pic of us out on a walk today, so you can see what I mean about her muzzle: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2750573&l=9d33c865d7&id=630190844

You will learn to move past this. It is a process, definitely. I'm sorry it's so hard. And I'm sorry if my post is rambling. It is hard, and I would be careful with your girl, but she's still the dog you love. That's my quick synopsis I guess (and I should probably go to bed now )

From your description it sounds like it might be a good place ot get some hands on help and evaluation.

But I would want to be there for everything and do whatever I felt necessary to not put her in a situation to have something else bad happen.

My two boys have recently gotten into a couple of very serious fights. I am lucky that they haven't done any real or lasting damage to each other, and lucky that the small bite one of them accidentally gave me while I was breaking up a fight wasn't any worse than it was.

Watching my sweet boys tear into each other was the scariest and one of the most upsetting things that I have ever experienced.

To be honest my first thought was that I wasn't going to be able to keep him, all of a sudden I felt fear towards my dog, and it was a horrible feeling. I was hurt and angry and freaked out to the extreme.

But when I look at his face he is still my sweet boy, still my good dog who is getting better all the time, still the goofy difficult dog that I love so much.

I just have to take precautions so he is not be able to get at Loki, or any other dog besides my female who he is fine with.

I didn't have to change the way I felt about him, only the way I manage him in order to keep him and my other male safe.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Drew_Archer

... to evaluate her and with any luck I can get her enrolled in a DayCare/Training facility a block from work. ....

This would not even be on my list of maybes. Ever.

And I say that in the most supportive way I can.

I absolutely 100% agree with Connie. This dog is NOT a candidate for doggy day care, not now, not ever. Think about the repercussions if your dog were to attack another person's dog. I would NEVER EVER put my dogs in a position where they had to make a decision about other dogs. If I am not there and supervising, they aren't around other dogs....not even dogs in my own family pack.

You've already had the worst case scenario happen, to think it couldn't happen again is kidding yourself.

I don't want to be harsh but this is a very serious issue.

some of the replies you may receive on this forum come from dog owners who don't have experience on this level of aggression , so I'm going to remind the members of this forum to please refrain from giving advice on threads where you really may not be the best source of information.

Let's all remember that a dog died. This is not a topic for the average pet owner to be doling out advice on.