Aggressive Dog + Little Kids

[Anonymous]

And please do your research on dog training and socialization before you get another dog.

You have done as much damage to this animal as the previous owner.

[Anonymous]

NP. Y'all are being a bit strong. OP said that the dog has "attacked" her and her DH, but it's not clear how she is using the word. She is not being neglectful or cruel or to her dog or her children. She has been trying to address the issues and is now deciding what her next step is.

OP, if you haven't spent a long time on the Pets forum, you may not realize that it leans anti-dog and more strongly anti-dog-owner. Now you know.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the helpful responses.

My husband and I talked (and cried) about it for several hours last night before bed. He is on board with getting rid of the dog whichever way is best.

We are 100% sure we are not keeping him.
We are 100% sure we are not rehoming him to just any regular person.

We have looked into rescues specifically for aggressive dogs. My husband is going to contact a few of them today and explain the situation. Depending on what they say, we will have a plan and take care of this one way or the other this week or early next week.

My kids are not in any danger. The way the house is set up and how they are separated, there is absolutely no way they can get to each other. My husband is the only one who handles the dog. I go near him twice a day to feed him and my husband takes care of the rest.

He had stopped his aggressive behavior for the most part for a long time, so we thought it would be fine once he got used to the kids. Obviously this isn't what any of us wanted in any way.

My husband pointed out that the dog hasn't been acting right over the past couple weeks. As I said, my husband is the only one who handles/takes care of him, so I hadn't noticed. He may be sick and euthanizing him might be the best option for that reason too. It's my understanding that purebred dogs have more health issues than mixed breed dogs, and I would assume it would be even worse in inbred dogs.

[Anonymous]

I would check his thyroid levels, full panel, not just T4 before putting him down. Hypothyroidism is easy to treat. Give him one more chance.

[Anonymous]

You said in an earlier post that anything you do will be the wrong thing.

Euthanizing this dog is not the wrong thing. It is the right thing to do. No question. I'm sorry that it feels hard and it feels wrong, but it is actually right. You cannot risk this dog biting you, your husband, your kids, or anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would check his thyroid levels, full panel, not just T4 before putting him down. Hypothyroidism is easy to treat. Give him one more chance.

Ignore this poster OP.

Crazy lovers of aggressive dogs should not be listened to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the helpful responses.

My husband and I talked (and cried) about it for several hours last night before bed. He is on board with getting rid of the dog whichever way is best.

We are 100% sure we are not keeping him.
We are 100% sure we are not rehoming him to just any regular person.

We have looked into rescues specifically for aggressive dogs. My husband is going to contact a few of them today and explain the situation. Depending on what they say, we will have a plan and take care of this one way or the other this week or early next week.

My kids are not in any danger. The way the house is set up and how they are separated, there is absolutely no way they can get to each other. My husband is the only one who handles the dog. I go near him twice a day to feed him and my husband takes care of the rest.

He had stopped his aggressive behavior for the most part for a long time, so we thought it would be fine once he got used to the kids. Obviously this isn't what any of us wanted in any way.

My husband pointed out that the dog hasn't been acting right over the past couple weeks. As I said, my husband is the only one who handles/takes care of him, so I hadn't noticed. He may be sick and euthanizing him might be the best option for that reason too. It's my understanding that purebred dogs have more health issues than mixed breed dogs, and I would assume it would be even worse in inbred dogs.

This shows you don't know the first thing about dogs. Most dogs are inbred, OP. To have the same dog mentioned in the family tree several times is common, for those that have family trees, and most of them are not aggressive and aren't sick by 7! The way you check to see if a line has genetic defects is that you choose a breeder who tests their dogs for all known diseases and enters the info in a database called CHIC:
http://www.caninehealthinfo.org/chicinfo.html

"He may be sick". Well, there's a profession called veterinary medicine that can check that for you. Or are you saying the dog is so aggressive that no vet can go near him?

[Anonymous]

We had to euthanize our dog and he wasn't anywhere near as aggressive. I'm so sorry OP. One of the hardest things I've ever done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You said in an earlier post that anything you do will be the wrong thing.

Euthanizing this dog is not the wrong thing. It is the right thing to do. No question. I'm sorry that it feels hard and it feels wrong, but it is actually right. You cannot risk this dog biting you, your husband, your kids, or anyone else.

Thank you so much for this. I know you're right, it has just taken me a while to accept it. I feel so guilty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the helpful responses.

My husband and I talked (and cried) about it for several hours last night before bed. He is on board with getting rid of the dog whichever way is best.

We are 100% sure we are not keeping him.
We are 100% sure we are not rehoming him to just any regular person.

We have looked into rescues specifically for aggressive dogs. My husband is going to contact a few of them today and explain the situation. Depending on what they say, we will have a plan and take care of this one way or the other this week or early next week.

My kids are not in any danger. The way the house is set up and how they are separated, there is absolutely no way they can get to each other. My husband is the only one who handles the dog. I go near him twice a day to feed him and my husband takes care of the rest.

He had stopped his aggressive behavior for the most part for a long time, so we thought it would be fine once he got used to the kids. Obviously this isn't what any of us wanted in any way.

My husband pointed out that the dog hasn't been acting right over the past couple weeks. As I said, my husband is the only one who handles/takes care of him, so I hadn't noticed. He may be sick and euthanizing him might be the best option for that reason too. It's my understanding that purebred dogs have more health issues than mixed breed dogs, and I would assume it would be even worse in inbred dogs.

This shows you don't know the first thing about dogs. Most dogs are inbred, OP. To have the same dog mentioned in the family tree several times is common, for those that have family trees, and most of them are not aggressive and aren't sick by 7! The way you check to see if a line has genetic defects is that you choose a breeder who tests their dogs for all known diseases and enters the info in a database called CHIC:
http://www.caninehealthinfo.org/chicinfo.html

"He may be sick". Well, there's a profession called veterinary medicine that can check that for you. Or are you saying the dog is so aggressive that no vet can go near him?

Yep, you're right. I had never had a dog before this one. I admit I don't know much about dog.

I don't know if it's true that most dogs are inbred, but I do know that when I first took this dog to the vet and showed him his papers, he said it was a problem and would most likely cause health and behavioral issues. The dog has the same grandfather on both sides. I don't know anything about breeding dogs so I don't know how close is too close, but a vet I have known since I was a little girl and trust said it was an issue and I believe him. The family member I took him from was planning on breeding him and the vet said that should not be done under any circumstances because of the double grandfather thing. This breeder did not test their dogs and didn't enter anything into the database. Again, it was my family member who bought him, so I had no control over where he came from.

We do think he might be sick, yes, but sick or not, this is a huge problem because it has been going on for so long. We would never be able to trust him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the helpful responses.

My husband and I talked (and cried) about it for several hours last night before bed. He is on board with getting rid of the dog whichever way is best.

We are 100% sure we are not keeping him.
We are 100% sure we are not rehoming him to just any regular person.

We have looked into rescues specifically for aggressive dogs. My husband is going to contact a few of them today and explain the situation. Depending on what they say, we will have a plan and take care of this one way or the other this week or early next week.

My kids are not in any danger. The way the house is set up and how they are separated, there is absolutely no way they can get to each other. My husband is the only one who handles the dog. I go near him twice a day to feed him and my husband takes care of the rest.

He had stopped his aggressive behavior for the most part for a long time, so we thought it would be fine once he got used to the kids. Obviously this isn't what any of us wanted in any way.

My husband pointed out that the dog hasn't been acting right over the past couple weeks. As I said, my husband is the only one who handles/takes care of him, so I hadn't noticed. He may be sick and euthanizing him might be the best option for that reason too. It's my understanding that purebred dogs have more health issues than mixed breed dogs, and I would assume it would be even worse in inbred dogs.

This shows you don't know the first thing about dogs. Most dogs are inbred, OP. To have the same dog mentioned in the family tree several times is common, for those that have family trees, and most of them are not aggressive and aren't sick by 7! The way you check to see if a line has genetic defects is that you choose a breeder who tests their dogs for all known diseases and enters the info in a database called CHIC:
http://www.caninehealthinfo.org/chicinfo.html

"He may be sick". Well, there's a profession called veterinary medicine that can check that for you. Or are you saying the dog is so aggressive that no vet can go near him?

Yep, you're right. I had never had a dog before this one. I admit I don't know much about dog.

I don't know if it's true that most dogs are inbred, but I do know that when I first took this dog to the vet and showed him his papers, he said it was a problem and would most likely cause health and behavioral issues. The dog has the same grandfather on both sides. I don't know anything about breeding dogs so I don't know how close is too close, but a vet I have known since I was a little girl and trust said it was an issue and I believe him. The family member I took him from was planning on breeding him and the vet said that should not be done under any circumstances because of the double grandfather thing. This breeder did not test their dogs and didn't enter anything into the database. Again, it was my family member who bought him, so I had no control over where he came from.

We do think he might be sick, yes, but sick or not, this is a huge problem because it has been going on for so long. We would never be able to trust him.

Yeah. The vet is wrong. It happens. Take it from a geneticist. In humans, of course, it would be a different story.

[Anonymous]

OP, I rehomed a dog that was aggressive towards my child and I have no regrets about that. Even I think you should euthanize this dog.

I only rehomed my dog because I knew he would be happy in a child free home. We'd adopted him when he was around 2 years old (so the critical socialization period had passed) and he had so many issues. But we finally got him to a point where he could function and honestly, he was very loving with DH and I so long as we kept his environment well controlled. But when we had a child, that all went out the window and he because miserable, self injurious, and aggressive. We tried for months to acclimate him, train him, desensitize him, to no avail. So we worked with a breed specific rescue and rehomed him to a child free, quiet home with retirees. I say all this to show that I'm not a person that thinks a dog who hates kids should always be euthanized.

But your dog is miserable. He's aggressive to everyone, including you and DH, and has apparently always been this way (yes there may be some recent illness making it worse but he's apparently always been aggressive from what you've said here). Putting him down would be the right thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I rehomed a dog that was aggressive towards my child and I have no regrets about that. Even I think you should euthanize this dog.

I only rehomed my dog because I knew he would be happy in a child free home. We'd adopted him when he was around 2 years old (so the critical socialization period had passed) and he had so many issues. But we finally got him to a point where he could function and honestly, he was very loving with DH and I so long as we kept his environment well controlled. But when we had a child, that all went out the window and he because miserable, self injurious, and aggressive. We tried for months to acclimate him, train him, desensitize him, to no avail. So we worked with a breed specific rescue and rehomed him to a child free, quiet home with retirees. I say all this to show that I'm not a person that thinks a dog who hates kids should always be euthanized.

But your dog is miserable. He's aggressive to everyone, including you and DH, and has apparently always been this way (yes there may be some recent illness making it worse but he's apparently always been aggressive from what you've said here). Putting him down would be the right thing to do.

Thanks for your response.

I wanted to clarify that I'm not trying to make excuses for him regarding the possibility of him being sick. I guess I'm trying to convince myself that euthanizing him would be best for more reason than one.

[Anonymous]

You say that way your house is set up makes it impossible for the dog to be near the kids. This is a red flag for me. Do you have the dog primarily cornered off in one area of your house? If this is a large or active breed, that could be a major source of the aggression right there. It sounds like the dog is penned up like a caged animal and fed twice a day until your DH comes home and, what, walks him once or twice?

I don’t mean to pile on, OP. But you seem very inexperienced with dogs and it is unfair to your dog, and dangerous for your children. I’m not in any way saying that the Dog’s aggression is your fault, but you definitely don’t have the knowledge or experience to handle it (although I doubt anyone could handle aggression at this level).

Good luck to you. I’m sorry you have to deal with this. The dog needs to be put down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You say that way your house is set up makes it impossible for the dog to be near the kids. This is a red flag for me. Do you have the dog primarily cornered off in one area of your house? If this is a large or active breed, that could be a major source of the aggression right there. It sounds like the dog is penned up like a caged animal and fed twice a day until your DH comes home and, what, walks him once or twice?

I don’t mean to pile on, OP. But you seem very inexperienced with dogs and it is unfair to your dog, and dangerous for your children. I’m not in any way saying that the Dog’s aggression is your fault, but you definitely don’t have the knowledge or experience to handle it (although I doubt anyone could handle aggression at this level).

Good luck to you. I’m sorry you have to deal with this. The dog needs to be put down

I basically stay upstairs during the day with the kids. We have stairs in the living room and kitchen. We are upstairs most of the day and come down to the kitchen when necessary. We are able to go outside from the door in the kitchen when we need outside time. The dog stays downstairs. We have gates at the top and bottom of the stairs in the living room and then in front of the kitchen/living room door as an extra layer of safety. He is crated evenings/nights so we can eat as a family in the dining room and have TV time. So kids and I have the top floor and kitchen, dog has ground floor except the kitchen.

DH works from home 4 days a week (downstairs) and only goes in to his office once a week. He normally walks the dog three times a day and lets him out in the yard for a short bit of time. I agree he should be outside more. He used to be out a lot more often and for longer but would dig out from under the fence. This was even after he was neutered. He also started hating walks. We used to do 30-45 minute walks. About 3 years ago, he would start jumping on DH and snarling after about 10-15 minutes until he brought him in. Now he won't do more than 10 minutes.