Alegria does not mean Joy anymore

OK, so.....I got a dog a few years ago for my mother.  Animals are great companions for older people, and my mother has always been partial to dogs.  In fact, she has always treated her dogs BETTER than she treated her kids....not that she doesn't love us, but she doesn't coddle us.  She does coddle her dogs.....they can do NO WRONG!

So I researched the best dog to get.  I am allergic, so had to be an non allergenic dog.  Had to be a small dog, as we have a small home and yard.  Had to be an easy to care for dog, because I knew I would not put the time in to take care of a high maintenance dog, had to be a dog good with children, a dog bred to be a companion dog....and the dog that came up on the top of every list with those qualities was a Havanese.

Now this breed came to the US from Cuba, Havana, thus the name.  There are not a lot of these dogs in the US, and they are NOT CHEAP!  But I found a breeder in Houston, so a few years ago got the dog for my mothers birthday....my mother was ecstatic.  We named her Alegria, as it means Joy in spanish, and Sarah danced a beautiful dance to Alegria when she was in High School, and I have some wonderful shoes from a brand called Alegria.....we call her Allie.

Now she is non allergenic, I can pet her all I want and not get all congested or sneezy.  Good thing, because she insists on being petted a lot.  This picture is her usual greeting to anyone she meets for the first time, or when she wants you to love on her.  And she is a small dog.....BUT everything else on the list....not so much.

Easy to care for????? Because she is non allergenic, she has hair not fur, so she needs to be groomed at least twice a month.  Her hair gets matted when it gets too long, so she has to get shaved down every quarter or so.  But she doesn't shed so that is a good thing!  She is ok with children, but a little hyper....doesn't understand why a 2 year old doesn't want to pet her constantly, and she INSISTS on being acknowledged whenever someone comes to the house.

She HATES trucks, of all kinds, but especially UPS, Fed Ex and the Mail Truck...she goes CRAZY when they drive by....of course I order a lot from Amazon, so they come to the house A LOT!  It is awful how awful she is about them....can't figure it out, but she only needs to hear a truck drive by the house and she will go crazy for about 15 minutes.  Also, about 7 pm every night, she has a melt down for about 1/2 hour where she will run in circles in the living room as fast as she can, barking.  Weird.

She does cute things too....like she will go under the couch and bark quietly, playing hide and seek.  Wanting us to find her.  Very cute.  She is also very smart.  You can tell her to go get her giraffe, and she will find her giraffe toy and bring it to you!  But her favorite thing to play with is any kind of paper, books in particular, my mothers glasses, and the TV remote controls!  They have to be kept out of her way or she will grab them and run!

Now usually she will run half way up the stairs, and my mother used to chase her, climbing up the stairs to retrieve a used kleenex!  Would drive me crazy!  I finally had to threaten to get rid of the dog if she kept climbing up the stairs!  Funny thing is, I think Allie understood the threat, because now she goes crazy anytime my mother approaches the stairs!

The reason I am posting about Allie today is that my mother keeps feeding her from her plate....And Allie is very protective of any food she is given.  So when my mother then reaches for her to make sure she got the food that she just gave her, the dog thinks she is trying to take it away and nips at her.  Now if it was me (which of course it never would be as I would NEVER feed the dog from my plate), but if it was, it would be ok, but because my mothers skin is like rice paper, the slightest scratch can become a HUGE thing.  She has had big gashes on her forearm, hand and now the tip of her finger.  So this is now the third time the dog has drawn blood with my mother, and I am at a loss what to do.

The thing is, the dog is just being a dog....not being vicious....and if my mother would just keep her hands away from her while she is eating it would be no problem, but it is.  My mother denies ever feeding her, even when she is holding a piece of food in her outstretched hand toward the dog, and she doesn't remember how she ever gets injured.......and she would HATE me if I got rid of the dog, because the dog is her life!  Soooooooo, any suggestions?