A New Problem

Well, we have a problem.

A few weeks ago, we were all sitting and watching TV, surprise, while Moose was playing on the floor. The dogs were trying to sleep at our feet. Moose was trying to play with the dogs.

Do you see where this is going?

Moose was climbing all over Sophie, our 70 lb. Weimereiner, and she was dealing with it, like several of you have seen her do. All of a sudden she leaned over towards where he was laying/hugging her, and growled and snapped her teeth, like a warning bite in the air, right by his sweet little fat arm.

Both Cory and I sprung into action, me grabbing Moose and Cory spanking Sophie. She squealed and ran off to hide in our bedroom.

We just sat there in stunned silence for a few moments and tried to discuss it rationally. She was just having a bad day, Moose always plays with her, it was no big deal right? She did not bite him, she only snapped at him.

I was not really okay with it, but we decided to wait and see if anything else happened. We would keep an eye on them, and make sure that Moose didn't climb on them anymore.

About two weeks ago, I was home alone with the girls and Moose, Cory was at work. Sophie was laying at my feet, and Moose came up to me at the couch, and stepped up on her to get on the couch with me. I didn't move fast enough to get him off of her, and she growled and snapped towards him again. I yelled and pulled Moose up on the couch, and shoved her away with all my might and she turned and snapped at ME. (I think she thought I was still Moose, she was turned away) It all happened so fast.

I yelled and shoved her out into the hallway towards the bedroom, swearing and yelling at her.

So currently, we are keeping them separated. When Moose is up and awake, we typically block off the kitchen and living room, making a L-shaped baby zone. We just keep the girls in the hallway. I hate leaving them out of the action where we are, but I can't take any more chances. I can't be there every second, I have to be able to trust that Moose will be okay if I am not there, and I can't when the girls are in there.

This is absolutely killing me, because Sophie has "chosen" me as her favorite, and I hate seeing her out in the hallway, but I don't know what else to do. I really don't want to give her away, though we did check with anther friend of ours who has another Weimereiner, but he didn't want Sophie because she was fixed.

When Moose is napping or asleep for the night, we take the gates down, and they have free reign to follow me around and such. I figure we only have about a year or so before Moose understands not to mess with the dogs like he does now, right?

I am really pretty sure that Sophie did not mean to bite either of us, I think it was just a warning snap. So I think we would be fine in the future when Moose learns how to treat the dogs.

I am sure everyone's warning bells are going off, what does everyone think? Is this a good plan? Does anyone have any good advice?