Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Project Playmate Aborted

Yep, you read the heading right. We terminated Project Playmate yesterday. Sounds bad? Yeah, well, it was like Chassard all over again.

I was on my way back from work when I got a call from mom that Javier bit her when she picked up Danny's chew toy. He snapped at dad a couple of days back also over a toy but didn't break skin, so we figured we'd monitor him and see how it goes. Mom said that there was a bit of blood and she just wanted to see the doc to get a tetenus shot just in case.

Mom has this habit of making a molehill out of a mountain. When I reached home, the back of her hand was scuffed with several teeth marks, and even though it had been over an hour since the bite, blood was still oozing out of her hand which was starting to swell.

Mom got an antibiotic shot on top of a course of strong antibiotics and was told to come back in a couple of days to check if it was healing or getting infected. As of this morning, it had swelled to the size of a golf ball.

I contacted Javier's owner and told her that it wasn't working out. She apologised but the best, best part was when she told me that Javier had bitten her and her mother before when they touched his toys or food. Ya, thanks for telling me now.

All the smses and phone calls where she gushes over over how cute his is and what a sweetie he is and she couldn't tell us that Javier has aggression issues? Seriously, I don't know how people can be so irresponsible to put their dog up for adoption and not brief the new owner on important things like behavioural problems and fleas. Oh yes, Javier had fleas and almost passed them to Danny. Just one of those details she forgot to mention even though she knows full well we have another dog.

Another little detail she left out was that Javier was behaving aggressively towards her new baby and that's why she had to give him up. Her reason previously was that she and her husband were going to travel more for work and they don't have time for him.

HONESTLY!!! That was a downright blatant lie!

The irony is that I was more concerned about how he would react to Danny. Danny, however, had a load of fun (except when it came to toys, which Javier would take from him) and I'm now quite confident that Danny doesn't have any social issues (except for his fetish for humping other dogs).

Through this, we also realised that naughty, noisy Danny is really quite a good-natured dog deep underneath it all.

That being said, Project Playmate is dead and won't be ressurected. Danny and his owners will have to contend with him being a bored, only dog.

Oh yes, in celebration of his reinstated status, Danny promptly tore open a packet of biscuits and helped himself to 3/4 of the contents.

That boy works fast.

8 comments:

jewlreya said...

Screw those people who put their dogs up for adoption w/o revealing the real problem why they are putting a dog up for adoption. *ANGRY

1 thing is, if the dog is really sweet, why is he/she up for adoption? I always ask myself that when I read stories about these adoptions with various (lousy) excuses from their owners.

Tsk tsk, it's a pity Danny couldn't have a playmate. But at least now you know Danny is a good boy with other dogs, he's just on the more cheeky side. Maybe when Vela and Volka are older, we can let them play together. ;)

Anonymous said...

sorry to hear about your mum being hurt. ... dont close that door on having a friend for Danny. maybe the right one will come along.... later

Angela said...

Hey Jewl, yes, after this I'm definately more cautious about adoptions. He seemed really good when he first came and then revealed all his rubbish after a while.

I really don't get the point of hiding the truth. We were definately going to find out sooner or later.

The play date sounds like a great idea! He's always had that humping habit. In puppy class, he was annoying all the other puppies. Didn't know where to hide my face!

Angela said...

Hi Lang, thanks for your concern. Mom's hand is looking a lot better today. After Chassard's incident last year we're definately more experienced with handling such wounds.

Well, if we do try out another friend for Danny, we'll probably go with a shelter. We didn't at first cos they mainly have big dogs, but I think the more reputable ones are honest about the dogs' behaviour and problems.

For now, I think I'll just make do with bringing Danny to the dog run to play.

jewlreya said...

LOL! My big boy doesn't dare to hump if I'm around. But he does it all the time when I'm not around. Now the little girl is humping (or rather jumping) on the big boy most of the time. Big boy uses his front paw to push her down all the time, so hilarious.

Angela said...

hahaha! Very cute! Sounds like Velda is having a lot of fun! :D

gerry said...

If u are lucky, u might come across something suitable at the shelters but some of them might need extra love and care cos they might have been abandoned or abused...
i can loan u russ (haha! my mom would love this idea) but he will have serious separation anxieties I think... :p

Angela said...

Thanks for offering russ, heh! We'll see how it goes. Mom is still keen to get another dog but we'll have to be very very careful about the next one, if any.

For now, just enjoying Danny as is, but he's back to bored and yelping. :P