She seemed to be responding appropriately to Napolion, which means showing mild interest and curiosity, and then getting bored. Perfect!
Until she tried to eat him.
Friday evening, she'd been doing well. The cat was telling us, "You guys! I know she doesn't like me! What do I gotta do to convince you?!" And then,
"Okay, fine. Hold my beer..."
They had a baby gate separating them, as a good idea in these initial days. Napolion slowly walked up to the gate, just as he should (no running!). Sierra had her eyes on him the whole time. Finally, she lunged/pounced and barked and growled in a not "okay with cats" way. I had her by the collar or she would've busted through that baby gate.
That was a good test. She failed.
We put her in her crate, and I was going about contacting our foster coordinator to see about having Sierra moved. Napolion was all, "Just in case you guys didn't see that..."
He came sidling up, all cocky, walking slowly passed the crate. Of course Sierra went all Cujo on him.
By Saturday afternoon, she had a new foster family. This family has two resident greyhounds and one foster they took in the same day we got Sierra. We all thought Sierra would be happy to be in a pack, to help with her separation anxiety.
Here they all are, after we made the introductions and hung around a bit to make sure she'd blend in.
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| Happy Happy Joy Joy |
Note that Sierra still had her muzzle on. The greys are used to wearing them as they wear them at the track when with the other dogs. It's customary to leave it on for a while in a new home. As we can see, the other dogs were comfortable having her around.
One thing we noticed when we got her, she didn't quite fit the image we had of the sleek, streamlined greyhound. Oh, she was sleek and streamlined and muscular, but not in an obviously greyhoundy kind of way.
This was more apparent to us as we spent time in that other home with the three other greys who were very streamlined and more of what we imagined. Sierra was downright stocky in comparison.
Yesterday, I got texts from our foster coordinator. Sierra is still crying and whining, even with all those dog friends. Worse, she attacked the other foster dog, Elf, the one lying on the floor in the foreground of the photo. Apparently, Sierra'd figured out the hierarchy and was looking to climb the ladder.
So, okay, she's got a few issues. She's to be moved again today. Our foster coordinator says she's a "puzzle".
Looking at her build, maybe it's "'roid rage"...
It's not helping with my guilt trip.
12 comments:
Wow Napolion got lucky, it's a good thing you passed Sierra on to the next foster, too bad she didn't fit in there either, aggression issues maybe?
I think it's her unpredictableness(?) that makes her a bit spooky. Napolion is finally getting his bearings back.
I couldn't live with one dog, let alone 4!! That's a brave family.
You shouldn't feel guilty at all, you did your best but sadly it sounds like Sierra has some issues fitting in with any family.
I'm so sorry it didn't work out, but Joey's right. You shouldn't feel guilty. Are you willing to try again? Or do you think others may have the same cat issues.
I'm sorry it didn't work out but you did all you could. Hopefully Sierra will find a wonderful forever home.
I hope Sierra finds a good home without other beasties. Good for you for taking her on in the first place.
I think she'll come around eventually, just needs the right environment to help get her there.
I've met a few people now who have multiple greyhounds - they're like potato chips, can't have just one!
We're willing to try again. Some of them get along just fine with cats, and I actually think Napolion would like to have a canine buddy. In the meantime, he's back to just picking fights with his cat fight club friends.
She's a good and smart dog otherwise. I think she'll get adopted pretty quickly!
She's a good pooch. If not for the cat, we might've ended up adopting her ourselves, but he had the final say :)
So I'm catching up with you backwards and I really should go back and read the back story on Sierra, but I've figured out just enough to realize you're fostering. (Or were.) Very cool!
Poor Sierra, though. I hope she can settle down and find a good home situation. Her build is a lot like my Lucy's. Her legs are longer, but she's got the barrel-chest. Lucy's got some Boxer in her, and I always assume that's where she got her build. Any chance Sierra's got some mixed breeding?
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