Saturday 18 April 2009

When the Dog Bites, When the Deal Dies

When I'm feeling sad... Forget Julie Andrews, I take a Valium.

Jake bit me for the first, and I hope the last time, about a month ago now. I was trying to dry him off after his walk. I stepped backwards, and I may have stepped on his tail or leg. He went for me quite viciously. Luckily, I had my coat on or he would have ripped flesh. Two weeks later he did the same thing to hubby as he was trying to load him into the car.

I've been on the phone to the animal behaviourist, of course. We've stopped taking him in the car temporarily so we can break the negative cycle (and save our clothes and ourselves). But he continues to growl at least twice a day. I'd rather have growling than biting, but I'd rather have none of this at all. We are persevering because we know it would be next to impossible to rehome Jake. And I don't want to put him down.

Our plan to buy a publishing business crashed and burned yesterday. The owner sprang a surprise demand of £70,000 more for the business on Wednesday. I feel he wasn't being forthcoming because he knew for a month that he wanted more for the business but at no point came right out and said so. We also discovered he'd fiddled his books. The last set of accounts we saw had the business in the red by £30,000. Then he sent us his final accounts. Lo and behold, that £30,000 in arrears was gone or rather, "redistributed." How creative! So we were very uncomfortable about all this. Hubby sent an email to one of the employees to finish up a conversation we'd had with her on Wednesday. She forwarded it to the owner, who sent us an email saying this was no way to do business and he never wanted to hear from us again.

So, that's that! You live and learn. And take a Valium (or a quarter of one, in my case) when it gets really bad. Shall I go on about the other bad things in my life?

Nah. I'll leave you with this: I met Fire Byrd for lunch on Thursday and left, as I told her, feeling wrapped up in a warm blanket of friendship. Spread the love, everybody. We all need some.

17 comments:

MikeH said...

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but it sounds like you were lucky to be shut of that publishing business. Good to have friends in a time like that.

-Ann said...

I'm also sorry to hear about all this but hope that it all works out for you in the long term. Sending my best wishes to Jake - I hope you can work through his issues.

Fred said...

Glad you backed out while you still could. Sorry it didn't work out, though.

I hope Jake calms down. Maybe he's the one who needs the Valium.

DogLover said...

Actually, though it's a pity you didn't succeed in buying a business, it's just as well you didn't buy that one! Clearly something very fishy about it!

You can't be too careful, there are a lot of crooks about, especially now.

Fire Byrd said...

The frienship is entirely mutual. You are such a wise and wonderful person to spend time with, even when your troubled. And we have a lot of charity shops to hit so lets do it real soon!
xx

Anonymous said...

There was something distinctly dodgy about the business if the owner was cooking the books.

Perhaps it was just as well that you didn't get it.

Disappointing though,

GG

Expat mum said...

Ooh, sounds like you had a lucky escape if you ask me.

Exmoorjane said...

Eeek, Jake needs sorting as a matter of urgency. Asbo did that when he was younger and our 'dog man' was over in a flash (literally within the hour) with a rash of tough measures - he never bit or snarled again....Asbo, not dog man.
Sorry to hear about your publishing venture but, as the others have said, doesn't sound like the right one for sure...now i'm dying to know which company it was!!

Flowerpot said...

Sorry to hear about that but you're well shot of that business - what a crook. And I do hope you sort things out with Jake. As one dog lover to another, I konw how much he means to you.

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

mikeH: Yeah, I think we're fortunate not have gone further down the road with him.

-Ann: Thank you. And Jake thanks you too.

Fred: I keep waiting for someone to prescribe it for him. Or me.

DogLover: Nothing like a recession to expose all the crooks ala Madoff, et al.

Not Waving: Yes, and I felt really down for a couple of days. But things are looking up.

ExpatMum: Just shows you can't judge a book by its cover.

ExmoorJane: Jake's got issues that we're trying to sort out. They're all related to his surgeries last year. If he were a vicious dog, it would be one thing. But he's not. He's a scared dog.
You wouldn't know the company if I told you. It's fairly obscure.

Flowerpot: He does mean a lot to us. We've been through a lot with him too.

MBNAD woman said...

You are well rid of that business ... sounds sneaky in the extreme. Poor old you having a tough time with Jake, as well. Cmon over to madagain and have a smile.

Anonymous said...

Blimey, good that you got out of that one then. Could have been a nightmare if you had gone through with the deal.

And not brilliant about Jake. But perhaps with some therapy he might come out of it. Do you think it's just a phase?

CJ xx

The Vintage Kitten said...

Sounds like a lucky escape if the owner was diddling the books.

We got a Jack Russell puppy from the cat and dog shelter a few months ago and he is wild. He chases and barks at everything. We are trying to teach him to calm down unsuccesfully, thankfully he hasnt bitten anyone.

I had a chuckle at your previous post as I am a Geordie and my accent has been mistaken as being Scottish on several occasions, I dont know why???

laurie said...

oh, man, wakeup, this is tough news to swallow, i'm sure. it's good you found out the truth about the business, but i'm sure that doens't mean it wasn't a crushing disappointment anyway.

something will come along that's better. something has to!

and jake: yikes. what did the animal behaviorist say? sometimes with these skittish dogs it's two steps forward, one step back. didn't you say earlier that he has severe hip problems? i bet when you were toweling him it hurt, and he lashed out.

i suspect he might be in more pain than people initially thought. poor guy. but man, he just can't go around biting people. all the best of luck with him.

laurie said...

(i don't remember what drug you said jake was on for his pain. boscoe is on 25 mg of tramadol twice a day and it seems to work very well.)

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

MBNAD woman: I went over and I did smile.

CJ: I fear Jake may have been marked for life by this surgery. But we are trying.

Vintage Kitten: Love your picture. Didn't Scotland have part of Newcastle at some point or other? Jack Russels do bark a lot, like all terriers. It's been bred into them, I'm afraid.

Laurie: Jake has been on Tramadol, but it didn't seem to make any difference. We're going back to see the pain specialist next month, and maybe she'll have something else -- for him or for us. Yeah, it sucked about the business thing falling through. We've got another we're moving on, though. It's not without its hassles, though.

Sparx said...

I'm really sorry the opportunity went belly up but it sounds like a really good thing that it did - who knows what else he was hiding. Blessings to you all.