Pet care: Why does pup trust one pet parent but not the other?

First in a series.

Evie was a 5-year-old cattle dog when we met. Now she’s 7 but still a cattle dog. Vicky and Richard adopted her from a foster home when she was 2. Now they needed help. Evie was barking, chasing and sometimes snapping at Richard when he moved. He’s a good guy. He deserved better.

There was more unhappy history. Vicky worked from home and reported Evie being relatively calm — until 3 p.m. Like clockwork, this dog sat near the door, anxiously anticipating Richard’s arrival. The intense barking and jumping that greeted him daily had been rehearsed many hundreds of times. After about 15 minutes, the histrionics subsided. Evie then ran to her bed in Vicky’s home office. Richard could approach and safely pet this somewhat less wigged-out dog.

Even when the big guy was away, Evie wasn’t normal, moving about the house quickly and furtively as though a chupacabra lurked around each doorway. When Richard was home, Evie seldom rested and rarely slept, reacting to the slightest noise or movement. When Vicky and Richard watched TV on the couch, Evie always sat between them. On off-leash hikes, she circled them, often looking back at Richard (spawn of the devil). He wasn’t happy; Evie’s well-being suffered even more.

Their lives weren’t a complete wasteland. Like many of us of a certain age, Richard had a rather wonky back. When he lay on the living room floor to stretch and relax, Evie was transformed, suddenly smitten with her dog daddy. If he’d been a ferret, always horizontal, there might never have been a problem. Evie lived on the horns of a dilemma: Was the man in her life fun or scary? Maybe he was both.

Why was Evie so frightened of Richard while trusting of Vicky?

A) She’d been abused by a man in her previous home.

B) Despite his mild-mannered demeanor, Richard actually was the devil.

C) His typical male mannerisms were a fear trigger.

D) Evie was repulsed by Richard’s cologne.

Next week: Would Evie ever invite Richard to the father-daughter high school dance?

For help with behavior problems, you can sign up for a Zoom group conference at drjeffnichol.com

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