![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/ClaireWolfe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/NadiaElegant081306-450x337.jpg\" "\\"NadiaElegant081306\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n… is, to put it nakedly, mad as a hatter. Always has been.<\/p>\n
She came to me as a foster seven years ago. She was probably about a year old then, and in her short life she’d already had a litter of puppies, been in an accident that damaged a leg, and finally been abandoned in her backyard when her family moved away. (A neighbor noticed after she’d been untended for a week.)<\/p>\n
The first day I had her she busted out of a crate and tried to chew her way through a wall. I adopted her out with a special provision added to the contract saying that she was known to have separation anxiety and to be destructive and that the adopter use crate training and other means to work with the problem.<\/p>\n
The adopter didn’t. She brought Nadja back after a week, describing the dashboards gnawed, windows broken, and carpets destroyed. About $2,000 worth of damage, she said.<\/p>\n
I ended up keeping Nadja. When not being an engine of destruction, she was a blandly sweet girl. Eventually she became comfortable enough not to wreck the house as long as she had other dogs for company.<\/p>\n
But now she’s eight or nine, and since we moved into town, the “mad Nadja” has come forth again. This time it’s taking the form of fear-aggression toward neighbor’s dogs (among other problems). Walking around the neighborhood can be like having a Tasmanian devil on the end of the leash.<\/p>\n
Furrydoc has put her on clomipramine; it helps some. But as time goes on, Nadja seems able to override the calming effect of the medication. For now, she has good days and bad days — and there’s no guessing which will be which.<\/p>\n
To make things harder, the “selective deafness” she’s always had when it comes to doing what I want is rapidly turning into real deafness.<\/p>\n
Several times lately I’ve thought about asking Furrydoc to euthanize Nadja. Then I see her being her sweet, quiet self around the house and I feel like a complete sh*t for even thinking such thoughts. Still, the problems are getting worse and nothing is helping — not training, not conditioning, not even (in the long run) the meds.<\/p>\n
As I wrote this, a long email came from Doc, answering my question about how she knew when one of her huskies was losing her mind. It was a good email — warm and comforting and thoughtful. Real, sad voice-of-experience. But of course also inconclusive.<\/p>\n
I’ve had old, sick dogs euthanized before. And once at my request Furrydoc put down a foster dog, about Nadja’s age, who became violent. There never seems to be a right time, but it sure helps when the dog gives clear signs.<\/p>\n
Sometime — this year, next year, who knows? — I have to face the question: Do I put Nadja down what seems like way, way<\/i> too early and feel like the jerk of the universe, or do I wait and risk her doing something dangerous?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my dogs … the beautiful Nadja … … is, to put it nakedly, mad as a hatter. Always has been. She came to me as a foster seven years ago. She was probably about a year old then, and in her short life she’d already had a litter of puppies, been in an accident that damaged a leg, and finally been abandoned in her backyard when her family moved away. (A neighbor noticed after she’d been untended for a week.) The first day I had her she busted out of a crate and tried to chew her way…<\/p>\n