[Mad Ogre]

I am forced to deal with an unpleasant situation.
The little Heeler "Pepper" has become a major liabilty. She has started to snarl and bite and the kids wont play with her any more. She is now barking constantly too...
She's snapped at 2 of my boys and almost blinded our cat.
She's so inbred and retarded there is little chance if any normal high Heeler intellect in her. She's the stupidest dang thing I've ever seen and if we didn't keep such an eye on her she would have been hit by a truck on more than one occasion. In fact, she seems to be getting more and more "stupid" by the day.
She's still young, but the snarly snapping thing shes doing has me very concerned.
I'm about to take her out and shoot her, because a snap now could turn into a nasty bite later.

Should I give her to the pound or just put her down? Kinda like selling a gun that jams a lot, I don't want her to snap at some other kid if she gets adopted.
I've spent way too many hours/days trying to train her and she still can't manage "Sit".

 

[Fernando Coelho]

If it were me, I would take the dog to a vet and have him (or her) examine it and if needed, run bloodwork. There is a slim chance that something external is causing the dog to act that way. You could also be right in that the dog is suffering from inbreeding. The vet would be able to give you some guidance with what may or may not be wrong with the dog. If after that your only option is to put the dog down, then at least you know you did everything you could.

 

[BigMike]

Heeler Dog Rescue

There are "rescue" groups for just about every breed of dog. They generally know a _lot_ about their breeds, and what may be wrong with them.

If the dog is _physically_ healthy, and your vet can't help, check out
"Heeler Dog Rescue" on Google. I got 11,500 hits in 0.41 seconds. Hopefully, there is a viable option or two in the first 11 or 12.

 

[BigMike]

Australian Cattle Dog FAQ

It seems heelers are types of Australian Cattle Dogs.

Here's an ACD FAQ:

http://members.cox.net/markabbott/ACDfa ... chor134553

 

[Mad Ogre]

Hmmm... Mad Ogre hasn't been angry enough?
Every day... something new.

Actually I've done that. The dog is seriously retarded...
Oh, and every time I do that, she shoots fecal and urine all over the place. Of course, she does that if you look at her. Most unpleasant.

 

[Mad Ogre]

I put her down today.
After dinner I went out to give the dogs some water and to throw a tennis ball around with them...
She had decided to chew her hind foot off.
I had been out with the dogs earlier and she was fine... acted normally at least for her. Was probably like a half hour and in the mean time she chewed her foot completely off.
I've never seen that before.
I heard about foxes in fur traps doing it, but not a dog. She wasnt' trapped or caught up in anything... she was just sitting there gnawing on the stump that had used have a foot attached. Not whimping in pain or licking it better... she was eating it.
She had been fed twice today so she was not starving. Purina Dog Chow according to feeding instructions.
I didn't see anything else I could do. I put her in a box and took her up into the mountains where she liked to chase rabbits and put her down as humanely as possible. She was acting very strange. Like she was stoned. Not rabid. Not fevered.

Ranger is fine... he's not sick or acting strange. But I think I might have to take him in and get him checked out.

EDIT: Ranger checked out fine... No diseases or anything. Not even a flea or worm. He's a little lean though and I am told I need to fatten him up abit going into winter.

 

[Harbinger]

VERY bizarre. Never heard of anything like that.
Good news that Ranger is fine, and even better news that Pepper didn't hurt anyone, other than herself.

 

[SLCDave]

I hope your kids are taking it well, having lost the 2 of them so recently. It sounds as though you did the right thing.

 

[Mad Ogre]

Yeah, they are okay... They knew Pepper was "sick". Severe retardation for inbreeding did this. I am still disturbed everytime I think about walking outside and seeing her like that. It was insane. I have never seen or heard anything like that in a dog.
But the boys never saw that part of it... So they are okay.

We had another puppy just before Pepper. A little mut we named Badger that I picked up when I came out of Wal-Mart and a kid was giving it away. Badger drowned himself in a 5 gallon bucket. The kids were torn up about that one. They cried for days. They loved Badger so much. One evening when I decided to watch some TV... I watch maybe 2 hours a week of TV... there was a credit card commercial about a dog named Badger. Fricken made my eyes water!

Ranger is okay about it too now. He used to go over to where Pepper used to lay in the shade and sniff around and give a little whimper, but that has already stopped. I think he knew she was not right.
Deveni said "no more puppies". And she is probably right. At lest not until the spring when I will be able to devote time to get into training it.
2 days ago we discovered a new pet that the boys have taken to... a little white kitten with grey spots. Cute little thing. Koda has taken to being protective of it and has even been feeding it birds and mice from the fields. Or at least offering them to her.
Koda offered us a bird yesterday... a live one. He caught it and brought it in through a window and let it go in the house. I don't even know what kind of bird it was. About the size of a Starling, but yellow breasted with a long downward curving beak. Had to catch it with a laundry basket... chasing it all around the dang house like some Sit-Com skit.
Who needs TV?