dog rants and worries

I think Lulu and Maya are getting really old.

I know they aren’t adjusting well to Lola. Lulu tries her best to stay away from her, Maya loves her but doesn’t understand that she is much bigger than Lo. To help give them and us time to relax, we put them outside daily for about 30 minutes to an hour each time (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, most days just once a day). They’re dogs, dogs should be fine outside for 10 minutes. Dogs should be fine outside for an hour.

Lulu and Maya are NOT fine outside for any longer than a couple minutes.
Maya freaks at the idea of setting foot in the grass and instead shits and pisses on the carport and then sits on the steps, pressing her body into the back door because she’s TERRIFIED of everything.
Lulu isn’t scared of grass, but after she’s done her business she sits on the steps and “asses” until she hurts herself. What is “assing” you ask? “Assing” is when Lulu sits down, puts her butt up against something, and then slightly jumps, (while barking) resulting in her butt rubbing up and down against whatever she’s sitting near. Normally she asses people – lately she’s begun assing the stairs outside – but she doesn’t just do it to scratch her butt, she does it until she’s pulled out fur and rubbed her skin raw and made it bleed – and then she keeps on. For every minute she’s outside, after she’s shit/pissed/eaten Maya’s poop/whatever, she’s assing – and she’s hurting herself.

But we need them to be outside sometimes! THEY’RE DOGS! They bark at the wind, they bark at passing cars, they bark at nothing – Lola needs naps that aren’t interrupted by barking and we need peace and quiet. They BOTH have some weird skin disorder (the vet thought it was nuts that 2 dogs of different breeds would have the same thing in the same house, but they do) that causes them to STINK, so we need them to go outside to try and keep our house from smelling like a stinky dog. Maya’s got some additional skin disorder and thyroid condition that’s causing her to lose her hair in patches and the furballs on the floor are horrible and gross and I just can’t clean fast enough. Lola needs playtime without them in the way (it’s not like we have a big house). Maya gets under foot CONSTANTLY (you can literally walk toward her and she will not move so you end up pushing her out of the way with your legs. It’s like she no longer understands that you can’t walk thru her big ass). So it’s either block them off in the kitchen or put them outside. Blocking them off in the kitchen all the time seems cruel, so we try and give them free time by putting them outside.

But with the way they act it’s like we can’t put them outside. IT’S OUTSIDE! It’s not the end of the world! Why is Maya scared of outside? Why does Lulu ass until she hurts herself? They’re old, but not THAT old! Lulu’s 8 ½ (9 in December) and Maya’s 7 – so they shouldn’t be senile just yet.

I really think it has to do with Lola. Really. I hate that, but they aren’t the same dogs now. I can’t fix that. Lola’s more important than they are and that’s the truth – but how can I keep them happy? I mean it seems to me that they’re miserable.
Is Lulu so starved for attention that she’d hurt herself? Is that why she’s doing that?
Is Maya so starved for attention that she feels the need to bark all the time b/c bad attention is better than no attention?
Is that what this is?
If so, I can’t help them. We love them, we give them attention, we feed them, but they’re dogs. Lola gets the attention, she will always win. Always.
So then the question becomes, how do we fix this? Should I try to find adoptive homes for them? Who wants to adopt a big, old, skittish mutt with a skin disorder and a thyroid disfunction? Who wants to adopt an old shih tzu with a skin disorder? Should I just not worry about it? Just let them do whatever they’re doing and put wound cream on Lulu’s butt when she hurts herself and give them the love and attention we can? And what if they feel that love and attention isn’t sufficient? They’ve had 6 and 7 years of nothing but love and attention directed at them – now that Lola’s here, she’s getting it all. Lulu I KNOW is jealous – Maya I think is jealous a bit, but not too bad b/c she likes Lola.

I just kinda don’t know what to do. I’m lost on it. Hell man, as terrible as this sounds, part of me has even wondered if we should just put them both down. I mean, if they’re so unhappy, and they have their medical issues, why not? I won’t, but it’s crossed my mind as one of those “should I” questions.

UGH!!!!

Lulu:


Maya: