we rescued a terrier mix from a stray shelter 2 years ago, when we got him home he was ball/toy possessive, food aggressive, male dog aggressive and hyper. since we have had him we flooded the garden with dog toys which helped a ton with his toy aggression, whereas before we couldnt go near his toys, he now, most of the time will let us pick them up. sometimes he does get over eager and will jump and snap at the ball/toy, but we just dont allow kids to play with him and warn adults.
his food aggression, he used to snarl and bolt his food as soon as he got close enough to it, we have gotten him used to our hands being near his food by feeding him a few biscuits at a time dropping them in by hand, so he now associates hands with more food. we still wont allow anyone to go near him when hes eating though.
he is super hyper a lot of the time, people say its like he is on speed! not too much of an issue for us though,but he gets kennel crazy within a very short space of time and had run his claws to the quick in his kennel.
he is extremely dog aggressive, mostly towards males, but sometimes he will take an instant dislike to bitches too, there seems to be no pattern to it. we also have a collie x ***** and they have no issues with each other.
he has nipped at younger children before, never cutting the skin, but leaving marks and its usually due to them picking up something resembling a ball etc. so ive made excuses for him (i know i shouldnt have) this morning, in front of me and my friend, my 4 and 5 year old and her 7 year old, he casually walked up to her 2 year old who was walking to her mum, hopped onto his back legs and bit her. he drew blood from her mouth. there was absolutely no provokation, she wasnt even talking, just walking slowly to her mum. this has terrified me, as he has nipped before, but never like this and in front of me. he just bit her, hopped back down, and carried on walking. the 2 year old immediately started screaming and there was blood coming from her mouth.
i shut the dog outside, and made sure the little one was ok, her mum said to ignore it-but i cant. i have a 4 and 5 year old, and all i keep thinking is ‘what if…’ yes they know what they can and cant do around him, but he was totally unprovoked today. if he was just 2-3 inches higher he could have blinded her. my husband and i have always said when a dog bites, its time to go, its not worth the risk.
he has been badly abused in the past, beatings, *** burns and scissor cuts to his tongue. due to his food aggression we also think starved. we talked to our vet, and they said as he has so many issues, they would be fine to euthanise. i feel awful but if i hand him over to rehoming, he could end up biting another child, even if he goes to an older home, they may still have visitors etc. if i give him to dogs trust, he will go kennel crazy again, which is highly unfair on him. my husband wants him euthanised, im in 2 minds, but also, if it had been my child, i would have kicked off and insisted the biting dog be put to sleep.
ok so he was put down at 6pm tonight, he went peacefully. he wasnt from a rescue centre where they are taken in, they only take in strays, so there was no history and they dont carry out checks,he was found walking the streets and taken there, 1 month later he went up for rehoming. we are all feeling the loss greatly. he was such a loved pet. at least his last 2 years were happy ones, lots of treats and no abuse. the abuse he had suffered was obvious to our vet, his tongue was cut with scissors, he had *** burns in his ears, and always had a strange hop as one of his back legs was a bit different. R.I.P. boy 
Ask your vet for a sodium pentathol injection.
You shouldnt feel bad… the dog is damaged dont let it damage a child… you’ve done your best but you cant risk it
sorry its time
I would have him euthanised. I have a large ***** dog and though she is part of my family if she ever so much as snarled at one of my children or someone elses I would be looking to rehome/have her put to sleep as its a risk you cannot take with children!
Im lucky my dog is as soft as soft can get BUT i never leave her alone and always put her away when visiting children come but as your dog has done this unprovoked it is VERY LIKELY to happen again, should it be in a provoked incident (children are children afterall) things could be so much worse!
Put the dog to sleep, I cant beleive they rehomed a food agressive dog within a family home anyway! even If you phoned the rescue at this point they would also put the dog to sleep
Im sorry, in my opinion I agree with you. Dogs are but are not more important than people. It is hard but what kind of life would the dog have being shut away constantly for fear of harming a person?
I agree with the answer above, too. Our beloved 11 year old golden snapped at my own daughter last summer. She took 2 stitches above the mouth. As gentle as he had been his entire life and as much as he had been around many children, dogs, people – we had to put him down. It was hard but also an important lesson for the children to learn that dogs are not more important than people and if they harm a person – they have to go.
Unfortunately, a dog with this many issues would probably be turned down for re homing.
As sad as it seems, i think the safest bet would be to have the dog put to sleep.
if he had bitten my child, I would want this done. Next time he might not stop at a bite.
I am sorry though, it must be hard because you clearly love the dog.
I’m sorry to hear of this. I wouldn’t know what to do if my dog turned out to be agressive in that way. he is quite agressive and loves kids but I’d be sad and worried if he did this. Recently a grandmother left her new born granddaughter in the room while she went to the kitchen to make lunch and she had a staffordshire hound and a jack russell terrier and the dogs tore the baby apart in what was thought to be a jealousy issue. Although she shouldn’t have left the child by herself or with dogs, it can happen any time. Dogs can attack at people for no reason. I would suggest that you watch over the dog’s behaviour from now on and if it continues you may need to take action
I would say not to be rude but that your not qualified to deal with a case like this and i wouldnt have him put to sleep i would send him to a foster home with someone who knows how to deal with all of his problems and who can work with him I’m sure he just needs a lot of work. Almost any dog can turn around. Look around your area and find someone trained to take care of these kindsa of cases and then look into a little bit.
this dog needs some serious training…and quick…if you can’t do that, find a mentor or trainer in your area to help. if you no longer want the dog then i would call some breed rescues and see if they are willing to take him in (making sure they know everything about him and his history)…he’s not necessarily too far gone, but i understand being afraid to have him around your kids (or any other people for that matter)…sounds too like he has a lot of energy…maybe he needs a job to do such as agility or a similar dog sport…euthanizing is an option, but i would only use it as a last resort.
Don’t feel bad about putting the dog to sleep. You have done your best but once a dog attacks anyone unprovoked, especially a child, it is the right thing to euthanise. I’m surprised the rescue centre allowed him to be rehomed with the behaviour he has shown, they are usually very strict with the dogs which are food/toy aggressive.
I **** to say it but i think he needs putting to sleep, you cannot blame your self for it though. You gave it your best shot and he is still agressive. Ideally though i would like to know who owned the dog before you and put them to sleep also, they are the one’s to blame and i wish they would face up to their actions, people like that make me sick. But regardless of his past, if your or anybody elses dog was to bit my two year old son i would be so angry i would kick the dog to death then the owner too if he was not prepared to deal with his animal himself. I do have strong feelings on dogs, I do like them in most cases but i **** when people have a violent dog just for the sake of it.
An aggressive dog should not be rehomed but euthanized. This is especially true of one that has a bite history. In fact most rescues will not take dogs with a bite history as the liability is too high. **** to say it but euthanasia might be the best thing for your situation because you have children. Your children and their friends are at risk here.
You knew this dog had issues. Dangerous issues. You should NEVER have had him near children, are you simple or something? What made you think a dog with this much damage could not pose a risk to children and or others?
You should have separated him from those he could scare/hurt, until his issues were dealt with. Even if you had done the right thing and put him through extensive training, he might still be like this, but now you’ll never know. You obviously were not the right person for him to go home with, and if I were you, I would go to the shelter or wherever you got him from and inform them to make a more evaluated opinion on the homes they send their dogs to.
Ever heard of a guy called Cesar Millan? I would look him up and read his books.
Sounds like your dog is the boss in your house and you need to make him understand that YOU and every other human in your household is pack leader and HE is at the bottom.
You really need to get into contact with a dog behavourist, they are pricey but they will get results (if they are good).
The biggest thing is, you need to make sure you don’t feel sorry for him because of whats happened to him in the past. Dogs live in the now, and will pick up on that feeling sorry for him energy and use it to be dominant over you!
Sounds to me like there are too many problems for you to deal with with this poor dog, but I would take away all his toys for the time being and be more calm and assertive with him. Meaning, no jumping on beds, sofa’s or chairs. No letting him go through the door before you. Long walks (about 2 hours a day) to drain all that energy and at the same time giving him exercise.
Speak to your vet and they will be able to reccomend a good behavourist.
I think it’s clear that the dog cannot be trusted and has MANY issues. The food and toy aggression could be worked with but it’s a little late now. The biting of children should NEVER have been tolerated and he should have been in serious training, but even that could be helped. I know this time the bite wasn’t physically serious/life threatening, but imo ANY unprovoked bite is a serious one. Any dog that will bite with minimal/no provocation is not a candidate for rehoming or adoption. The only options are to enroll in serious aggressive dog training (which may or may not work) or euthanize the dog. I know it is tempting to try and train the dog, but it will be excedingly difficult and time consuming and like I said, may or may not work. The thing with training a dog like that is, what’s on the other side of a failure? If the training doesn’t work you will know because he bit again. It’s your choice on whether or not you can live with that, but I/my family could not. My family adopted a 100LB+ dog that turned out to have food aggression, dominance issues, and NO bite inhibition, so we did the only responsible thing we could and had him euthanized. It was absolutely heartbreaking, but he was a danger to us, to other people, to our dogs and to neighborhood dogs and animals. Good luck with this very difficult decision, I’m very sorry you are in this position.
It’s time for the dog to be put down. It’s incredibly sad but you’ve gone waaaayyy above and beyond the call of duty in trying to help.
You said it yourself – its not worth the risk.
My sympathies x
Try traing the dog! You adopted a problem dog and you need to take the responsibilty that comes along with the fuzzy felling you got for adopting a shelter dog!
Sometimes when a dog has been badly treated, their aggressive personality doesn’t come out fully until they are in a better environment. It is hard to believe that a rescue would allow a dog with so many problems to be re-homed in a house with children.
No matter how much training he has, you will never be able to fully trust he wouldn’t attack another person. Sadly I think the dog should be euthanized.
He needs to be put down. I know you feel sorry for him and you’ve tried to deal with his problems, but you can’t keep him anymore.
It is terrible that he was abused by people—but that doesn’t mean he should be allowed to behave this way.
I have probably heard this story a thousand times. Sometimes there is a reason why a dog is given up to a shelter, and sometimes those reasons are valid. Good breeders consider proper temperament before anything else when planning a breeding, and not doing so is one of the primary problems with back yard breeders.
The cold hard reality is that while you are considering what to do with a dog that bites children probably 100 nice dogs will be put to sleep. I’ll let you decide which deserves to be saved.
You know in your heart the right thing to do, you just want other people to confirm it and people will agree with what you should do because it is the RIGHT thing to do.
There should be no more chances for this dog.
x
i didnt read the whole text, but i suggest-first- u neuter him.second, watch alot of cesar milans dog whisperer show , season 3 or 4, and u will learn so much.
its from my personal expiriance.
drain ur dogs extra energy, and solve the leader of the pack issue. dog must be last in place in family pack.
everyone that comes to your house is your guest, u invided him and u need to calm your dog in every of these situations be4 he goes into red zone. u need to predict these situations before he does it.
toys r yours, not his. ur just kind enough to share it with him.
stand on the ground and put the toy he is possesed with behind ur legs. as he goes to it block his path and make a noise to snap him out of it so he looks at you, not the toy. do this a couple of times, and be patient no mather how many times he tryes to go after a toy. u must be more stubborn then him.
stand in a dominant position and have a calm state of mind, dont be nervous or angry. dog will pick up the vibe and u just stand in front of toy and show your finger to point that he should go the other way.
ull be amazed how well ur dog is gonne be.
most dogs after one time lose interest for that toy even if you leave it alone – he will not go after it, he will just lie down (and if he sits or lies down,he is in calm state of mind u did a good job.
cesar milan deals with much more agresive cases and ussualy goes away after 1 hour with a solved case behind him.
he traines people how to adress to the dog and how to be a good pack leader where dog is a fallower.
in allmost every case cesar spends more time o teaching humans coz most of the time humans make first mistake.
just yesterday i watched season 4 episode 5. very good , you should watch it.
good luck.
for the sake of your children and the dog he needs to be destroyed.
At least you have tried your best and hats off to you for re homing him.
You have nothing to feel guilty about but as you said it could have been alot worse.
Let your husband take the dog to the vets,.
You have a very good friend there , dont know if i would have been so sympathetic.
I too have small children and as much as i love dogs, i would in your position hard as it is make the right decision to let the dog go.
sincere regards
I wouldn’t put him to sleep just yet. It could be that something about the child triggered something in his mind. He definitely needs a lot more training, and I would restrict the visits your children have with him, but I say give him another chance. Ask your vet about trainers in the area that can help you, and continue to work with him. It sounds like he trusts you a fair bit, which is a hard thing for any abused animal to do, and I would **** for you to give up on him now. Don’t let many new people visit him. Only people he’s met before, and is comfortable with. Too many strangers might make him panic.
In the end, it’s your choice, but I definitely say give him another chance.
Sometimes the only humane thing we can do is to hold the animal while he is put peacefully to sleep. Think of of it this way, you have given him a bit of heaven on earth during the few years that you have had him he just could not overcome what some (insert expletive here) did to him and you are not to blame for that it is time to send him to the rainbow bridge where he will wait for you to join him.
As far as im concerned, euthanize him !!! He is has bit your child, and if you keep him, you are not thinking of best interest for your children and there friends !!!
Having been bitten by my uncle’s dog as a child – causing a family rift lasting 10 years – I say the dog should be put down. The only alternative would be to find him a home where he will never ever be in contact with children, becuase if he’s done it once, he will do it again, and when he does you will know you are responsible.
Sorry.
You have to protect the kids. Your own, your friend’s, anyone who may come into contact with this animal. You know you can’t be everywhere at once. How could you live with yourself if this dangerous animal mauls or kills a child? Especially when you know it could happen.
I had a dog with a similar story and a similar situation. We loved that dog and it loved us fiercely. I knew the dog was fear aggressive due to its past circumstances, and we tried every training we could think of to get it over that hump. We were determined to save that dog. In then end it broke its lead while on a walk and bit a child on a bike. I felt like I had no choice. I cried like a baby as I held the dog while it was put to sleep. It still haunts me. But I knew it was the right thing to do and I knew we had made that dog’s life better and more comforting while it was with us. I could not have endured the pain of harming a child when I knew it could happen. I remember that as being one of the bitterest introductions to adulthood, when you do what you **** because you must.
hi.i think you have realy answered the question yourself.
you know deep down it would be the best thing to do.
my heart does go out to you,as you have tryed your very best in helping this dog,and obviously have become to love him very much the risk just cant be taken anymore.hope you will all be ok thinking of you at this very hard time.xxxxx
I would suggets he is never in the same space as any children and find a god dog behaviuos.