DH and I live on acreage. Our property is fully fenced and cross-fenced for animals.
Three months ago, someone dumped a German Shepherd on the highway next to our house. He was malnourished, and nobody claimed him. We have all the animals we can handle, so keeping him wasn’t an option for us. My dad has owned several German Shepherds throughout my life, and offered to take him. They became fast friends, and the dog has been a great companion for my dad since my mom passed away last month.
My dad came to visit us yesterday. This is monumental, as it is the first time my dad has left his city in 11 years (he was a full-time caregiver for my mom during that time). He brought the dog, which we assumed would be no big deal, since we housed him previously for 3 weeks before my dad took him, and things were fine. We have two dogs, and the three got along well before, and seem to be getting along well this time too.
However…DH and my dad went into town today, and left all three dogs in the yard. When they returned home about an hour later, my dad’s dog had broken down our garage door. The doorjamb is completely splintered and the solid wood door is off its hinges. Turns out, this is how the dog acts at home, too, to the point my dad has to get a sitter if he needs to leave. The dog simply cannot handle being separated from my dad.
After the door incident, DH was working on our crops and observed my dad’s dog trying to tear through some of our deer fencing. My dad was in the house at the time, so I’m not sure why the dog would try to escape – it would put him farther away from my dad, not closer. The dog was with our two dogs, and had not been outside longer than 10-15 minutes. My dog is trained in agility, and we have lots of things for the dogs to do outside – he shouldn’t have been bored. The dog didn’t exhibit any of this behavior when we first rescued him.
My dad is supposed to be staying with us until Monday, but I’m a little nervous about how it’s going to go. We had a couple activities planned that weren’t dog-friendly, and we can’t skip them. I had assumed it would be fine to leave my dad’s dog with ours while we were gone (for a few hours on two occasions), but it’s looking like that may not be the case…I can’t imagine asking my dad to go home early, though. Maybe sedate the dog? I’m not sure what his problem is…any ideas on how to make it through the weekend? The damage is one issue, but the safety of all our animals is paramount to me.