Friday, July 11, 2008

She may look cute, but.....

Let's talk Maeve. She's quite the looker with her blond hair and big blue eyes, but don't let that fool you. I am having the hardest time with her right now.

First of all, she despises Zoe. She hates everything about that dog. She loves on and praises Mia, but shoves Zoe, hits her, and usually ends up yelling at her for something. The other night, she woke me up at 12:30am because Zoe was on her bed sleeping on her blankets and she didn't want her there. Ugh. Any ideas on how to get them to bond? I love on Zoe so much in front of Maeve and I hope that she gets the hint that she really isn't a horrible dog. She's just a hyper dog. Jen, any other ideas?

Maeve also goes into these crying fits and since she knows that we don't pay any attention to her when she's having a meltdown, she goes in her room, slams the doors, and screams louder. And let me tell you, it.is.so.fake. We all are on to her game. She comes out a few minutes later, walks around the house looking for attention, and if she doesn't get it, then she does the same thing all over again. Yeah, DRAMA QUEEN!

The other day, I taught a class at the gym and left the girls in the Kids' Club. When I was done teaching and picked them up, the first words out of Maeve's mouth were, "Mommy, I had to sit in time out." Ugh. Apparently, she and another little girl were running around and were told to stop and they didn't. I don't know if Maeve followed her or she followed Maeve. Whatever the case was, I had a LONG talk with Maeve at the gym and on the way home about how she needs to listen to the ladies there. She understood. Yesterday, when I took her to another gym, she yelled, "Mommy, I was nice!" when I picked her up. LOL!

The person that I feel sorry for the most in all of this is Kyra. That poor girl does everything in her power to try and help Maeve. She's like a "mother hen" to her and tries to teach her right from wrong. She explains to her how she should be a good girl because being nice is a lot more fun than being mean. I think that Maeve hears some of it, but a lot of Kyra's lectures go in one ear and out the other. LOL! I can tell that Kyra is completely frustrated with her too. At least I'm not alone. ;)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, consequences for Maeve when she's mean to Zoe, obviously. And you can't just ignore it all, otherwise you'll have a kid-agressive chihuahua on your hands.

Maybe it's time to have Maeve work with Zoe on authority things- find some easy tricks Maeve can teach Zoe, with treats as a reward: sit, shake, lie down, roll over... and let Maeve have her space at night, in her own bed, without having to share it. Let Zoe sleep with you or Kyra or in her own special space, but don't allow her to "take over" Maeve's bed as her own any more.

Maybe if Maeve wants Zoe to leave her alone, you can start removing Zoe from Maeve's presence and putting her in her crate or in another room, entertained with a chew toy.

Gomer does this thing where she squeals at all of the dogs and pats them hard and rapidly atop their heads. I'm trying to teach her that Grammy's dogs don't tolerate that and aren't used to it like her own dogs are, and we're trying to teach her NOT to do that as a reaction to puppy Bella's mouthing, and that it only makes it worse. She swatted at Mollie a couple of weeks ago and I saw that LOOK go into Mollie's eyes. That "goddamn this upstart puppy, I'll teach her some manners..." reaction and I very sternly told Gomer to STOP. NOW. and DO NOT TREAT ANY DOG THAT WAY. I kind of scared her, and hurt her feelings but I'll be damned if she's going to act like that and get herself bitten for it. What she does at her house with her own baby-proofed dog is one thing. She can't act like that around dogs that aren't accustomed to her. AND she's old enough that she knows better.

It could be sibling rivalry, it could be normal small child-active dog relations... whatever you decide to do, stay on top of it and stick to your guns.

It's hard, but you DO have to support, back up and stand behind your own dog when stuff like this happens, if you want that dog to have a chance of being trustworthy around children.

Evening walks with the whole family- dogs included, might also help. It would drain some of Zoe's energy and help Maeve see them as included in the family.

Anonymous said...

At the same time Zoe needs an outlet for her energy and an "off" switch. I'm sure she's still the same active puppy she was when I saw her in March. You have to admit that she's not laid back like Mia. She's not hereditarily prone to being a laid back lapdog. She's genetically hard-wired to be a young, active chihuahua. Playing with Mia, running around with the girls, zipping about the house and yard... that's not exercise for her. It isn't tiring her out. It's STIMULATING her.

It's possible that some of Maeve's issues are legitimate complaints. It could very well be that Zoe is more active than Maeve can tolerate at her young age. It's possible she feels jealous of whatever attention Zoe is getting.

It's definitely a situation that needs some structure and control. I don't think it's just going to eventually right itself, or that Zoe will grow out of it. You might find it helpful to teach Zoe a cue like "enough!" or "go lie down", and teach Maeve to instruct Zoe in same, so that she is able to get Zoe to leave her in peace when she wants it.

You may have to address it the way you would either of your girls- think putting toys away or potty training. Zoe should have times of day for activity, and times of calmness. You decide when you want her to be quietly entertaining herself somewhere, and start making those times of day and a location conducive to that desired behavior.

Zoe needs routine, not the freedom to run the house and bully all of you into whatever she wants.

Anonymous said...

Well... there's also always "a tired dog is a good dog..."