Sheba could've been a terrific dog, and was highly trainable, even if a little nervous at times. She was a very sweet dog and very protective of the kids and everything else, but especially of Chops. Yet every time we tried to train her, there was Chops, right in the middle of things, distracting her and, of course, not paying any attention to being trained himself! Nothing worked with him, that was for sure.
We got her a year after Chops, thinking that having a buddy would calm him down and maybe mellow him out, since he was pretty much wired for sound when he was a puppy. It worked to some extent, but poor Sheba seemed to get it in her head that she was his protector. Considering he was the ultimate Stupid Dog, he needed help from somewhere, and apparently Sheba elected herself to be that guardian.
Whenever anyone new came near him or past the house, she growled at them. If it was another dog, she went absolutely nuts barking and snarling. I don't think we actually realized that she was warning them away from Chops until after he died. Then things changed.
Sheba stopped barking at everything that moved. She relaxed, and seemed as if she was relieved to not have to constantly be on guard. She passed away several months ago, but during the time she wasn't looking after Chops for that last year or so of her life, she finally lost her nervousness and seemed content. Poor girl. Not that she took any nonsense off him when he was alive; she didn't and let him know who was boss, and he found out all too well who was in charge of the two of them.
Strange how animals decide things for themselves sometimes.
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