Lucy is a bad dog and she will always be a bad dog. Why? Because she is a Jagdterrier, she is a fearful dog and because she has predatory drift. What is a Jagdterrier? It’s a little German hunting dog that is used to kill boar. These dogs are not meant to be pets; they are mean to be killing machines. Strike one against Lucy.
Lucy is a fearful dog. As I mentioned before, we (my roommate, Amanda and I) were her fifth owners. That means that after she left her irresponsible breeder, she went to a home that was unaware that they ended up with a killing machine instead of the delightful Yorkie mix that she was advertised as being. Unable to control her, she was sold to another owner who upon having the same problem, dumped her at a shelter. She was returned to the shelter. Our vet sees signs of abuse on the dog. Where that happened or how often no one will ever know but Lucy does have good cause to be fearful. Children scare her, most people scare her, and unexpected sounds scare her. If something wakes her up abruptly, Lucy goes on the attack. Strike two against Lucy.
Lucy has a condition called predatory drift. What is predatory drift? It’s when a dog crosses over that invisible line between play and kill. Their instinctual behavior overrides their learned behavior and in the case of Lucy who wasn’t meant to be a pet, that means she goes instinctual all of the time. Anything can trigger predatory drift in a dog like Lucy: if they are startled, if they get hurt, if an animal next to them displays fear. In our household, the source of constant prey is Poppy Petunia who has always been an extremely fearful dog. When we first got Poppy as a puppy, it would take us over an hour to get her around the block on a walk. She froze at every single sound. With a lot of patience Poppy finally became comfortable with most social situations. In fact, she’s pretty fearless at the dog park. Both Amanda and I forgot about Poppy’s fear until Lucy came into the house. Strike three against Lucy.
So why on earth would we keep a dog in our house that causes such mayhem? Because despite the fact that Lucy is a bad dog, she wants to be good. And if we put Lucy back into the adoption dog system, she would be put down and she doesn’t deserve that fate. Lucy has the gooiest eyes in the world. One look from those eyes could melt the hardest of hearts. She has the world’s cutest paws. They are like miniature teddy bear paws. Lucy loves to stomp through puddles. Lucy can do a full tour en l’air. For those of you not aware of my dance background, that is a full turning jump, which is quite impressive. Lucy makes play and running look like the best thing in the world. And lastly, despite the abuse that Poppy occasionally suffers under Lucy, when we separate them, Poppy cries for Lucy. It’s a warped relationship but it’s a close one.