Sad news

Dog Barney had to go back to the Anti-Cruelty Society. Barney had displayed some aggression from the moment we brought him home. This aggression escalated yesterday when Kim and Malachy were trying to eat some chicken nuggets and Barney jumped on the kitchen table and stole them from Malachy's hand! He would not obey Kim's command to get down or stop. He then frightened Malachy and Kim by getting down very low in an attack position and bearing his teeth while growling at them. Barney had bitten all of us at least once at this point (never breaking the skin but hard enough that we knew he could if he wanted too). Luckily Barney started rolling on the ground and growling so Kim managed to sneak her and Malachy out of the room and called my Dad for reinforcement.

While we ALL wanted to give Barney a chance (especially Kim who is strong pet lover) we thought it would be unwise to keep an aggressive dog around our baby and unfair to leave Kim alone with Malachy and the dog when she didn't feel safe. Mark is feeling particularly sad about the loss today. Also, Malachy has gone into the bedroom where Barneys bed was and says "doggy?" it breaks my heart. I had left a message for the behavior specialist at the A.C.S. and I had to hang up before breaking into tears. We are all so disappointed and which Barney the best. I hope sometime in the near future we will be able to find a dog that better suits our family. We are thinking a smaller dog like a min. schnauzer or schipperke. Also please pray that the Anti-Cruelty society would find a home better suited for Barney!