After a week of peroxide ear rinses and other home remedies, the nameless dog's ear is much better. Now, she still won't come to me but greets everyone else with enthusiasm. It is easy to understand why she hasn't bonded with me, given the procedures that cured her but must have scared her to no end. So, even if I was tempted to keep this dog, it is time to find her a new home. I started calling her Spreckles, not that it makes any difference.
As I was telling Ricky, a local acquaintance, when I came home all of my other dogs would run to greet me. "Oh, finally she's home. I'm so happy to see you!" they would say in their leaps and licking. This dog says, "Oh, crap, she's home let me go hide under the porch!" and is reluctant to come out, even when I'm feeding her.
I believe it's possible to train any animal, with time and consistency, but an animal that doesn't bond with you is a whole other story. Anyone who met my Coco would know that I stand behind that statement. When I got Coco, he was so aggressive and distrusting that he was described as Kudjo, the dog from the Steven King novel-then movie.
After a couple of years, he was an entirely different animal, though he never got completely normal he did become a good dog. It was particularly satisfying when I brought him to stay at a friends while I was traveling and she actually thought that she had never met him before. The main difference between these two dogs is that Coco and I were bonded before I ever started training him or did any minor medical procedures, and he wanted to be with me. This dog, well, she thinks she's been dog napped not rescued.
The thing of it is that even though I understand her behavior, it still hurts me that she is so frightened of me. In the fable of the lion with a thorn in his paw, he loves his rescuer but I guess that all changes when someone puts bubbles in your sore ear. At any rate, I think it is ridiculous of me to be bothered about this but I am. It appears that rescuing isn't all it's cracked up to be. I wonder...is it possible to trade an animal in for one that is more compatible?
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