tlcwrites
Mama Doe
I managed to stroke Rivergrace today. 
The background...
River and her sister Morningstar were adopted from Support Adoption... They had been surrendered, not by P@H as ex-shop stock, but for digging and jumping over a low fence. :shock: They had already been neutered to make them more adoptable but hadn't had any bites for 6 months - until I came along. They were apparently surrendered at 2.5, so they're probably 3.5 by now.
But there's more: we got them home and BOTH sisters started exhibiting fear aggression. They'd bite and grunt and lunge. We couldn't really touch them, and as they'd been spayed, it wasn't hormones.
River and Morning had a serious falling out, I didn't - and don't - know what over, but it happened. I separated them, bonding Morning into my group and adopting Takumi ("Little Bit"), who bonded with River. Thankfully.
Now, since Morning's been in the quad, her fear aggression has calmed down. Yes, she'll still lunge occasionally, and grunt to, but she's a lot better than she was.
River, meanwhile, has always been left to her own devices by necessity. She'll even grunt at food if it lands wrong in her run. Or Little Bit if he surprises her. We can make a fuss of Little Bit but it does nothing to deter River's behaviour.
Today...
There's a big bunch of dandelions growing right in front of River and Takumi's hutch. (A double-storey 6ft attach to a 6x8ft run. Want to make it bigger eventually!)
I was putting hay in their lower hay rack and both River and Takumi came out for a munch. Now, don't get me wrong, River was grunting at me. However, she also let me give her noserubs and stroke along her body whilst she was eating the dandelions. When she'd had enough of me, she turned tail and went straight back inside.
It's not much, but I'll take it. A little progress after about 6 months is better than nothing at all.
The background...
River and her sister Morningstar were adopted from Support Adoption... They had been surrendered, not by P@H as ex-shop stock, but for digging and jumping over a low fence. :shock: They had already been neutered to make them more adoptable but hadn't had any bites for 6 months - until I came along. They were apparently surrendered at 2.5, so they're probably 3.5 by now.
But there's more: we got them home and BOTH sisters started exhibiting fear aggression. They'd bite and grunt and lunge. We couldn't really touch them, and as they'd been spayed, it wasn't hormones.
River and Morning had a serious falling out, I didn't - and don't - know what over, but it happened. I separated them, bonding Morning into my group and adopting Takumi ("Little Bit"), who bonded with River. Thankfully.
Now, since Morning's been in the quad, her fear aggression has calmed down. Yes, she'll still lunge occasionally, and grunt to, but she's a lot better than she was.
River, meanwhile, has always been left to her own devices by necessity. She'll even grunt at food if it lands wrong in her run. Or Little Bit if he surprises her. We can make a fuss of Little Bit but it does nothing to deter River's behaviour.
Today...
There's a big bunch of dandelions growing right in front of River and Takumi's hutch. (A double-storey 6ft attach to a 6x8ft run. Want to make it bigger eventually!)
I was putting hay in their lower hay rack and both River and Takumi came out for a munch. Now, don't get me wrong, River was grunting at me. However, she also let me give her noserubs and stroke along her body whilst she was eating the dandelions. When she'd had enough of me, she turned tail and went straight back inside.
It's not much, but I'll take it.
A little progress after about 6 months is better than nothing at all.
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