Coleman

(These pics were taken of Coleman when i was 9 months prego)

This is the first time I feel like I can talk about this...

A few weeks ago we had to make a difficult decision about our 9 year old schnauzer, Coleman. He is a sweet dog 75% of the time, but the other 25% he can be very aggressive, temperamental and unpredictable.

The past few years he has gotten more aggressive with his behavior-like biting my husband several times in the toosh when Randy was just bending over to pick up his shoes, and attacking my arm last year when I was trying to brush him. Since we have had Allie, his behavior has gotten even worse because he is having to share the attention and he has tried several times to snap at her or growl at her if she is crawling on the floor. It has made me nervous as Allie has gotten more mobile, because she wants to go everywhere and I am worried about Coleman's reaction. It was only a matter of time before he bit her-we knew it!

So, all this to say...we knew we couldn't have Coleman living with us anymore for the safety of our daughter. So, while we were in Hawaii we had a family we were going to give him away to. It was a sweet family that loved schnauzers and understand their territorial temperaments, plus they had no other pets or children(which Coleman has problems with both)...so they took him for a week and I thought that was the end of it. I was sad to see him go, but was glad to know he was with a family that would love him.

We'll after a week, the family called us to say that Coleman tried to attack the husband and they couldn't keep him...my heart sank because I almost immediately knew what we were going to have to do...he can't go to live with someone else, and they said Coleman wouldn't eat very much the week he was there- which happens anytime I am not around...so it was almost like we had just 2 options-he either has to live with me or not at all...and i knew he couldn't live with us anymore-it just wasn't safe. So, I called my vet and explained the whole situation- and I asked him if we should put Coleman to sleep? He agreed that is was probably the most humane thing to do because the aggressive behavior was just going to get worse as Coleman ages...I just bawled my eyes out as he said those words...I knew he was right. The vet also said that there is something wrong in Coleman's head with thw aggressive behavior that is like a disability- even though he didn't have a physical problem-that made sense to me...

So, Randy and Roger(Randy's dad) took him to the vet that day and the doctor put Coleman to sleep...it was the toughest decision I have had to make in a long time, but I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do. When Randy got home, we both just hugged and bawled our eyes out...we love Coleman and made a decision based on that love we had for him.

It has been almost a month since all of this, and I have definitely gone through a mourning process for Coleman, but at the same time I have had such a peace about everything- knowing that when Allie is crawling/walking around the house I am not worried about her safety- that has put us much more at ease. I am thankful for the 9 years we had together, and I thank the Lord for those years...

Anyways, this is the first time I have been able to even wrote about it without crying...thanks for reading...

Staci