Chrissy’s Transformation
by Syd Sullins
Just when we think we’ve seen it all, something occurs that makes us realize that we have so much more to learn! That’s the case with our beautiful Chrissy.
I recently received a call from a woman to ask for help. A street dog had given birth to nine puppies in her garage. Her husband wanted them out, but babies were only two days old. She asked us to take them before he put them out on the street.
I went to her house with a friend and when I walked into the garage, this beautiful dog charged at me and stood in front of me barking. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. But I help my ground and talked gently to her until she allowed me to slip a leash on her. I walked her to the car and my friend scooped up the nine babies.
We put mom and babies in the back of my SUV, but momma made it cleared she preferred to ride with me. We drove home with her head on my lap. Once at the Ranch, we put the family into a run and left for the day.
The next day it was as if a different dog was in that run. When we arrived at the Ranch, Chrissy immediately rushed out of her dog house and went full Cujo. She charged to the gate and snapped and snarled - all of us were terrified. We hoped this behavior would change when she became more comfortable with us, but unfortunately that didn’t happen Our staff would carefully slip a food bowl into her run and then quickly close the gate. She’d usually take the food bowl into her dog house to eat. Cleaning the run was also a challenge. One time, one of the pups escaped from the dog house and we needed to put her back in. Carolyn and two staff members armed up with brooms and a shovel to keep Chrissy at bay, entered the run and scooped up the pup and quickly put her back in the dog house. All the while trying to keep Chrissy away.
After two weeks and her behavior didn’t change, we knew something had to be done. The pups were growing and the dog house was too small for Chrissy, her babies and the food bowls she’d drug in there. We decided to sedate Chrissy, get the pups out and put them into foster. We successfully retrieved the pups out but then the question was what to do with Chrissy. We feared she would still be a danger to our staff and volunteers and that was a chance we didn’t want to take. Carolyn did some research and found that maternal aggression can often resolve itself after the pups are removed. But for all of us who had witnessed how scarily aggressive Chrissy had been, we weren’t convinced.
The next day we came in and Chrissy greeted us at her gate with a tail wag and she appeared to be smiling. We gingerly entered and Chrissy was nothing but love and affection. It was obvious she had missed having her human connection, but that instinct to protect those babies had just overwhelmed her. So now the pups are growing with a caring foster mom and Chrissy is just focusing on being a loving dog. She loves her walks and time with volunteers. She’s a beautiful girl - we think she’s part Grand Pyranesse. She taught us all that not dogs (or people) are cut out to be mothers - obviously this will be Chrissy’s last litter.