Goodbye Solomon

Last week was interesting to say the least.  I am not sure where to start with this whole story...because I have not written about it yet. 
When Solomon was around 5 months old (October 2010), he was happily eating a meal out of his feeding dish and I found a piece of his food on the floor, and threw it back in his bowl while he had his mouth in the dish.  He let out a low slow growl and it made me jump back.  I must have gotten in his personal space so never did it again.  Didn't think anything of it, had no issues whatsoever until Christmas time.  Dave's sister Lisa was helping out by wiping off Solomon's mouth after drinking a bowl full of water.  She must have gotten to wiping his mouth off too quickly after he finished drinking because when she came close to him with the towel, he snapped at her and bit her thigh.  That sent her into tears (we were so thankful he didn't get a child), and that behavior got him banned into the garage in his kennel the rest of the time family was here.  Sure didn't see that coming.  We had not noticed any aggression issues since that one time he growled at me in October so to see him act that way towards Lisa was a shock.  Maybe it was the addition of many people in the house that got him agitated.  He is a guard dog by nature so he was guarding his food and persoanl space.  Infuriated and sad about what had happened, we called our dog trainer who was full of advice, so after everybody had left the house after a few days, we tried some tactics she suggested to help him lessen his food aggression.  We should have thought ahead about the next time it happened (why is hindsight 20/20?) but Calvin got the next bite.  Calvin walked by him while he was eating out of a small bowl on the floor and Solomon chomped his arm.  No blood was drawn but Calvin was pretty upset, I was in tears, and Dave was super frustrated.  We immediately reacted by putting him in his cage in the garage and calming Calvin down.  We called the trainer, and she again had lots of advice and things to try, but at this point, we decided we'd had enough and wanted to explore options for getting rid of him.  The kids seemed heartbroken at the thought of getting rid of Solomon, so we thought...we'd just try ONE more time.  Did lots of research online, talked to a lot of people, vets, trainers, etc...and ended up going a different route with Solomon.  Got him a gentle leader collar, and found it to be magic.  Amazing.  Why we didn't try it earlier is crazy, I wish we had thought of it before since our old dog Abby responded to it so well.  Anyway...all seeemed to be going really well.  The gentle leader head collar created a calm, peaceful, obedient, responsive dog, and didn't pull anymore on walks.  We thought "hey! this is great! we have hope!" We started involving the dog more with family events that did not revolved around food.  We moved his feeding station to the deck outside so the danger was removed from family.  Dave started taking him downstairs to hang out with him in his office during work ... and he learned to calm down in his office and take naps on the floor, entertain himself by chewing on toys, bones, etc.  We were finally starting to see the light at the end of this long Solomon tunnel...and all the care Dave (well, mostly Dave but me sometimes) had put into the dog was seeming to pay off as we watched him grow, calm down, and respond very positively to our family.  We always kept the collar on his head, a leash on Dave at all times, he was never allowed around the kids unsupervised and never roamed the house alone.
One relaxing family night last week, Solomon was laying on the floor with Dave, and the kids were near him.  Solomon seemed happy, responsive, relaxed, submissive, and we were finally starting to enjoy him.  Solomon found some masking tape that was stuck to the floor near him (the kids stuck it there...) and he started to pick at the tape with his mouth, pulling up little pieces.  All of a sudden, he snapped, and Calvin's ear was his target.  Calvin started screaming, Dave tackled the dog, I grabbed Calvin, Solomon went to the garage kennel, and we figured out what happened.  We just thank the Lord it wasn't his eye or his face or something worse.  A little scratch behind his ear was bleeding but no damage was done.  Solomon must have considered the tape he was pulling at to be his thing and his personal space and nothing to be messed with, and physical contact with Calvin was enough to make him snap.  Calvin calmed down, and went to bed easily.
That was it...our mind were changed...and our mission quickly became "how to get rid of this dog as fast as possible."  It would be irresponsible of us to keep him, simply because he is a danger to our family.  His guarding space issue was a big enough deal that we couldn't put up with nor did we feel we had the time to dedicate to training him out of it.  Our dog trainer agreed that we should probably go that route as well.  She asked us to write up a paragraph about Solomon and she agreed to post his story on her dog trainers message board to see if anybody she was connected with knew anybody who would be willing to take him.  So we did.  And the next day, something came to me.  I felt a very strong leading to tell my friend Miriam about Solomon and ask her if she knew anybody who wanted him.  Now I know the Lord strongly prompted me to tell her.  I hadn't spoken with Miriam in months...and she came to my mind.  Probably because she was at our house the morning after Solomon arrived at our house when he was a little 30 pound puppy and she thought he was so beautiful.
She texted me back with a few questions and said she'd put the word out.  Two hours later, she texted me back and said "Travis' dad wants him." (Travis is her husband)
I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that text.  I told Dave and his eyebrows went up.  Amazing. We worked out a lot of details, exchanged lots more information to them about Solomon, and kept communicating.  We agreed on an adoption fee, they said they'd buy the big kennel from us too.  We had just bought it a couple weeks ago since he outgrew the other one.  She said Travis' parents definitely wanted him, and we set Saturday as the day we'd make the exchange.  Dave spoke with them Friday, and we agreed to take Solomon to them so we could show them what commands he knows and help them get him all set up.  They are in their 50s and own two other pitbull dogs (they're kept in cages and they only let the dogs out separately). 
The Lord just worked it out.  Solomon responded amazingly well to the new owners.   He seemed very happy, wagged his tail a lot, and let them pet him right away.  Dave set up the cage for them and Solomon got in, and laid down immediately.  The new owners are calm and have experience with dogs, so we know they'll be a great fit for Solomon.  He needs a calm leader, not someone who is stressed and busy. 
Miriam sent me a message later that day explaining how it was a big blessing to their family.  Travis must have known that his dad was going to want Solomon when he heard we were looking for a new home for him the day I texted her.  Travis knew that his dad's dream was to own a mastiff someday.  I didn't know this, but Travis and his dad apparently have a little strife in their relationship together...not sure what or regarding what, but this exchange with our dog entering their family was a bonding experience for father and son.  Father saw Travis as one who thought of him in a caring way, and provided a way for him to get the dog he had always wanted, and Miriam told me that a big part of their relationship had been restored today.  She said she had never seen Travis or his dad so happy together before.
SO...amazing.  God is good, and worked out that whole thing on HIS own.  Dave is elated, I am happy, the kids do not seem to care that Solomon is gone, and the new owners are happy.  I can only imagine that Solomon is happier too.  Now who is wiser?   We feel like we can breathe again.
Dave has been enjoying some uninterrupted time on the couch tonight listening to his favorite music and reading his favorite magazines, something he has not done for 5 months.  He also said he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and kids.  We could not agree more! We are a new family....goodbye Solomon!

Solomon is 5 months old...

...and he weighs 81 lbs. When I picked him up from the vet this morning (he was boarding while Dave was out of town for a night) they weighed him before we left. They have a big "step on" scale ~ much easier than us trying to weigh him at home. This is approximately HALF the size he will be at full size. We know Solomon's father is approx 165 lbs. Solomon has lost a few more teeth in the last couple weeks. We help him get them out if we notice a loose tooth by holding onto a towel and letting him bite it - and moving the towel side to side.

Solomon lost his first tooth

Our doggie is teething...this is a good thing! Once all his adult teeth come in he'll become less chewy. Dave found a white tooth in his water bowl this morning.
He also weighs 70 pounds. That is an enormous weight gain - he was only 35 lbs when we got him 2 months ago.

Solomon update

These first few days with Solomon have been more of a challenge than we anticipated. But its getting smoother each day. We hired the help of a professional dog trainer to give us the right tools to train Solomon. We are getting 6 sessions. She is really good at what she does, and we're already training him with the tools she gave us. She came yesterday for the first session and we hired a babysitter to get the older two kids out of the house so we could concentrate. We have "homework" to do. The best thing anybody (and us as a family) can do who walks in our house for the first time is to completely ignore the dog. That immediately "ranks" the person in the dog's mind as leader of the pack. In a dog's world they're always sizing up people to find out who's the leader and in nature, the leader always returns to their pack and ignores them. So that's a clue to anybody coming to visit - just ignore our "dog in training" and let us tell you how to introduce yourself to him. There's a lot more to it. We have learned to correct him with "ehh ehh" for no and "yes!" for praise instead of saying "no" to him, because we say no to our kids...and the dog needs different words to associate with his behavior. He's in his crate most of the day until he learns to tell us he needs to use the bathroom. We have a routine to help him learn his name, help him focus, help him walk on a leash, learn to sit, lay down, etc. It is all very basic and the homework training sessions we do with him should last 3-4 minutes max or he gets mental overload and too distracted. We really want our dog to be well behaved, this is a step in the right direction. Its hard to think we're making any progress because he's still a 3 month old puppy who still tries to chew on everything, but time will move on, he will grow, and become calmer. This is pretty much what he's doing all day:

Solomon, our new puppy

The dog has a new name: Solomon. He will soon look old, wise, and smart so we thought that would be appropriate. Plus, now Dave can't try convince me to name a kid that some day. :) He came home last night, and it is quite obvious he is not used to his new surroundings. He is having some accidents in the house but we've confined him to the tile floor in the kitchen when he isn't in his crate. The previous owners didn't crate-train him so this crate thing is new to him. He howled a little last night, Dave got up with him in the middle of the night to let him out, but he had already gone in his crate. *sigh* Solomon is absolutely adorable. He's a gentle puppy, playful, but he's not wild. He doesn't lick and doesn't bark much, and his coat is wonderfully soft and cuddly. The plan is to keep him in his crate most of the time so he learns that going outside is best. Our first night/morning with him was a little rough...but we know it is only going to get better as he gets older and gets more comfortable with his surroundings. Here's some pics!

Its time...

...for a new member of the family. The LaMarches are adopting a dog tomorrow! We are getting a male neopolitan mastiff puppy, 12 weeks old, already housebroken, and has been socialized well with children. We pick him up tomorrow evening and bring him home, the kids are REALLY excited! Will post pics soon.