Say Goodbye to Bounder

Many of you who have followed Bounder's crazy antics will be as grieved as I am today. The poor little guy has made terrific progress in some areas, but he has not been able to conquer his fears, and has developed an unpredictable, escalating biting behavior. Sadly, the American Belgian Malinois Rescue Committee has decided that because of this, he is dangerous to me and to others who come into our household, and they have decided that he must be put down.

After watching him with Ray and Elaine during their visit, and talking at length with people who know more about the breed than I do, I am forced to agree that poor Bounder can't be trusted anymore. Unfortunately, the popularity of this breed with law enforcement has led to many of these dogs being trained with inappropriately harsh methods, which can turn them vicious. Now that Bounder is "comfortable" (relative term) in my house, he is starting to revert to whatever was done to him in his prison guard training. He may have even been trained to bite aggressively on purpose.

I understand that this is a huge liability issue for the ABMC--if I or one of my household was seriously injured by Bounder, they would be on the hook. Bill also brought up the fact that they are also concerned with the breed's reputation--they have to cull the rejects, lest the breed itself develop a reputation like the pit bull has.

While he continues to be very affectionate with me, Bounder has been stepping up his aggressive behaviors in the past week. It's almost as if once he got a "taste" of Ray, he feels free to bite everyone, including me. This cannot be tolerated; it's just too dangerous.

The AMBC tells me I did everything I could and gave Bounder perhaps the only loving, stable home he had in his short life, but I'm not so sure. Part of me thinks I could have staved this development off, if I were more experienced. But I also have to be pragmatic and realize that this too is part of the fostering process. It's just sad that it had to be my first foster care.

On the plus side, AMBC is sending me Ozzy, also known as Rory next week. This malinois male is about 7-8 years old, very laid-back. He was rescued from a starvation situation when he was down to 36 pounds. He has been living in Wisconsin for the past four months, and has fattened up to 55 pounds now. Rory just needs to recover his muscle mass, have humans who love him and have a safe place for him to live a good dog life. This I can do. He is considered to be "hard to place" because of his age. He has no outstanding health or behavior problems, and AMBC is thrilled that I said I'd take him. They say that everyone who has come in contact with this guy just adores him.

So today will be a sad day. Bill is due home on Monday or Tuesday and we will do the dog thing together with a new foster.