Xena grew up in a loving environment and was raised as a cherish family pet. At about 10 months old, she started to develop all kind of health defects including skin problems, muscular pain, intolerance to cold, weight gain, and even what appears to be seizures. The vets were puzzled, and despite many tests (including Thyroid gland), nothing wrong was found. I suspected she had inherited defective genes from a strong inbreeding line.

Xena had always been an hyper and intense little dog, but her behavior started to deteriorate even more as she reached a a year old. She became more and more excited when she was triggered by external stimulus. She developed compulsive behaviors, and intense crisis of excitement.

She also became completely unpredictable with the other female in the house (both spayed). Although Xena was less than half her size, she would attack Peaches with no warning signs, and with the obvious intention of killing her. This behavior was expected from a dog with this kind of genetic background, so we handled it as best as we could, keeping them separated at all time.

What was not expected though, was her behavior with people... She started to growl at everyone in the family, including my husband's two young children. She also demonstrated inexplicable and pretty serious aggressive behavior towards strangers.... She could not control herself under certain circumstances, and was becoming extremely unstable. We could not trust her anymore and realized that we had a serious problem in our hands.

We worked very hard to correct her behavior, but despite all our efforts, the situation was only getting worse. We had to face that euthanasia was probably the best solution. It was very difficult because Xena was often a real adorable little dog. The whole situation caused us lots of despair, and I spent many nights crying over this.

With two young kids in her environment and the risks involved for everyone, my husband finally took the very painful decision to have her euthanised. He was with her until she closed her eyes and crossed the bridge...

Xena was a great friend. She was a lot of fun, and very affectionate. She was loved very much, and is still missed a lot. Sadly, she had defective genes that could not be repaired despite all our love for her. It was not her fault... Xena was the victim of unscrupulous breeding done with emphasis on fighting abilities instead of health, good disposition and stable temperament.

My husband and I now have a full house of happy PetBulls, all rescued from difficult situations and great with people and kids... But we have never forgotten Xena, our warrior princess....