To put him down or not?

[rollie]

Our BC mix (75% BC, 25% lab) recently bit my daughter in the face - 11+ stitches!
We are sick about it and are considering putting him down.
He is under the mandatory 10 day quarantine under law right now.

He bit another dog who stole his rawhide.
He snapped at a guest while his rawhide was nearby, but not in his mouth or being reached for by our guest.
He has displayed aggressive behavior (growl, snap) towards everyone in our family at some point - shushing him off the couch, getting something out of his mouth, etc.

My daughter was petting him and he was lifting his head up in what appeared to be appreciation.
As she leaned forward he quickly bit her without warning.

We walk him two times a day.
The first walk is usually around an hour or more - several miles of leash free walking.
The second walk varies from 20 - 60mn.

Several times a week he is around other dogs and plays hard.
Some times we work him extra hard by him running along side the snowmobile.

We are not wanting to take the risk that our beloved dog will bite one of us or someone else some day - especially since he went for the face and my 12 year old daughter will have a scar for the rest of her life.
What are our options?
Can we really trust training and a behaviorist to solve the problem for sure?
And we can't really afford to pump hundreds of dollars into training or behavior consultation.
Are there ranches that might be interested in a dog like this?

[joe]

Wow what a tough situation. the dog sounds like it is guarding. It's rawhide, the couch, everything. I don't have an answer as far as can the dog be trained out of the behavior. Possibly yes, but as a dog lover and parent I can tell you that dog would be out of my house. If you can find someone with no children and experience in rehabilitating the dog then that would be the way to go. That's just my feeling on this. There are others on here that have more experience with this issue then i do. The last dog I interacted with that had guarding issues actually bit me so I'm by far not the best at it.

[RuffMuttK9z]

Here is my take: There are tons and tons of perfectly good dogs being put down every single day in this country. While you could hire a veterinary behaviorist to help you out, you still have the concern of a child that has already been seriously injured by the dog in your household. You could pass the problem off to someone else, but how responsible would that be? If the dog ever bit someone in its new home, you'd still be at fault, especially if you fail to inform the new home of the dog's previous issues. No rescue group will take this dog and dumping him in a shelter will more than likely only result in euthanasia anyway, if not for behavior, then for space. I say euthanize. Let him go with some bit of dignity and not on a cold metal table with people he doesn't know only to be thrown onto the top of a pile of several others that have been euthanized. I would hate for your dog to become another dog bite statistic. We have enough of those already of all sorts of breeds, not just the ones people like to point fingers at. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh.

[Aquarius89]

Poor dog. It's sad it had to come to a child being bit in the face for you to seek out help, which should have been done when you first started having problems.

[rollie]

My initial instinct is to put him down as a responsible parent, dog owner, and citizen.
However, I just got off the phone with an Animal Control Officer who said that our 11month old dog likely acted out of food aggression and it is possible to get some training to address this and be confident in creating a safe pet. Wow, it is hard not to latch on (no pun intended) to some hope. No one wants to put this dog down. We love this dog. Even my daughter doesn't want to put him down.

Any thoughts?

[RuffMuttK9z]

It could have been a number of things, including resource and/or food guarding. Do you have any idea how to deal with that, though? Even with a good trainer, the responsibility falls on YOU. Are you willing to dedicate every waking hour to ensuring that this does not happen again? I know people who have lived with both dog aggressive and human (for whatever reason) aggressive dogs and MOST say they would never do it again. MOST end up slipping up and another incident happens. And these are experienced dog people.

The choice is ultimately yours. A face bite requiring 11 stitches, regardless of the reason, would earn ANY dog a death sentence in my house.

[muttlycrew]

My parents dog is food aggressive and has issues with guarding. She will guard a certain spot (this spot changes daily), toys, food, etc. She was an only dog for 6 years then they got other dogs. I have worked with them on this and they are in the "management" stage. They don't put her in those situations. Toys are put up (and brought out an specific times), there are no bones/raw hides unless they are all in crates (those items are removed as soon as the crate doors open), she is fed in a separate area. She has nipped at other dogs in the past, but none have ever broken the skin. She does a good job at giving off warnings, and since they watch her like a hawk in those situations, someone is quick to intervene before anything happens.

Granted, it is just my parents. There are no young kids in the house. If there were, this could be harder to manage. With a family, it is hard to get everyone on board to follow the SAME rules 152% of the time, 24/7. Like Debbie said, that one slip up could put you back in this same situation. I know for a fact that if their dog seriously bit/injured someone or another dog, they would have some serious thinking to do. But they have been pretty successful thus far living a "normal" life, but it takes a lot of work and they are constantly double checking to make sure nothing was forgotten or left out. They always have to be one step ahead, which I could see that being difficult if this was 10+ years ago when they had 3 kids running around.

The last incident was about 3 wks ago, when the petsitter dropped some kibble on the floor by accident. A mini fight broke out (luckily no one was harmed, human and canine), but let's just say the sitter won't be making that mistake again!

I hate to see any dog being put down, and I'm sure your family must be so heartbroken. My two cents on this is I would try training/seeking behaviorist, but the management stage isn't easy (especially for a family with children). But on the other hand, my parent's dog has never broken skin (on human or canine).

Good luck.

[kgunther]

I think you need to get an opinion from an expert who can actually meet you and your dog. People here will have ideas and opinions but without meeting you or the dog, it is hard to make a recommendation. I, pesonally, would not make a decision to put the dog down until I had at least consulted an expert face to face (not just over the phone).

I do wish you the best of luck with whatever decisions you make.

Kristy

[PSmitty]

^^What Kristy said. I would at least talk to a qualified vet behaviorist (not just a "trainer") and get some help and input. Then you can make an informed decision about what the next step is. It's obvious you all love the dog, and it may be manageable, or it may be too much, but at least if you get help, you won't have regrets that you didn't try. Best wishes to your family, I know this must be devastating.

[wyomingJoan]

First, I am very sorry you are going through this. What a tough situation.

A behaviorist is a good plan, but as was mentioned already, if you (and your whole family) are not willing to commit to it wholeheartedly, there is no use wasting the money. But if you as a family want to give your dog a chance, that is the best way to go. Either way, it will be a tough road and having been in a similar situation with a foster dog, I dont envy you those decisions.

As far as having someone else rehab the dog or finding a "farm" that wants the dog, I posted in the MISC section about that sort of thing just before reading this. I get a LOT of calls from people wanting me to take their biting dog. Oftentimes the bites are not even all that severe, but as a rescue I have to be very cautious about taking dogs with any sort of bite history, both because of ability to place the dog and because of liability. I dont think it is realistic to think that there will be someone out there who will fix your problem for you. I really am sorry, but that is truthful I believe. As far as finding a farm, farms dont want aggressive dogs either. In fact, many farm types are pretty old school and would be the first to take the dog out and shoot it if it showed aggression. Farms also often do not have fences and so have even less protection for visitors, and even the remotest farms have people who show up from time to time and dont want to be bitten. At this point, you are the ones that know and love your dog best. So, if someone is going to give your dog a chance, it probably has to be you. If you are willing to do that, kudos to you. If not, the kindest thing is probably to sit by your dogs side at the vet clinic and let him go peacefully.

Again, I am really sorry that you find yourself in this situation. I wish you and your family the best whichever way you go.

[RodeosMom]

What a sticky wicket. I wish I could offer some help. If I had little kids, I too would want this dog out of my house but wouldn't know what to do with him. I like to think I could rehab a dog like this, and I think I could, but it would require lots of one-on-one time, trust, and not only wouldn't work with another dog in the house, I would never want to put my CURRENT dog through that. I sense it would cause a lot of angst for everyone. I feel so sorry for this dog, though. Like you, I have a kid (RP) and she doesn't need that anxiety in her life. Is it REALLY THAT BAD? I pray you find someone special to love this dog. But I would understand if the best thing might be a painless goodbye. Poor soul, sounds like she never had a chance.

[acers4me]

What a heart renching situation!!
Sadly as one posted... many of the issues, behaviours are always present long before and find away of escalating into a horrible situation.
I do agree with others who posted on seeing, speaking with a behaviorualist first. our home having young kids who are extremely dog savy, in working with rescue and the fosters we take into our home with much unknown history .... there is always a risk. Being educated ,constant supervision, rules, boundries & trained helps.

I pray that you can find the answers you are seeking to help find the right path to take and know you are doing what is best for you, your family & your dog at that time.... and that it will be a suitable solution for all . KNowing you researched the options to make an informed & educated decision will i hope give you & your family peace of mind also.
I pray that your daughter is doing ok.... and i also wanted to say "hats off to her" for being open to wanting to give your dog a chance also. Many people who have never even expereinced such a horrible situation would slam that door shut without a second though.
I sadly also don't think there will be any rescue who could take the dog- as they too would need an expereinced foster /trainer to rehab... and once a dog has such a history.... not matter how it happenend, what the dog preceived as a threat or if it was no fault of the dog.... it now has a black marked... and most will stear clear.
I do pray there is an angel out there that can help with your dog as i hate to see any be euthanized.-Seeing dogs who were deemed as untrustworthy & unadoptable be turned around give me hope for all these lost & mis-understood souls.

[sky330711]

ok does sound awfull especially since he is aggressive, where i live you can pay for a dogtrainer to take the dog off your hands for a month where they train them as thourough training does work and puts the dog in thier place as bottom of the pack and they then mix with other dogs that the trainers are training. trust me he won't know what hit him when he's no longer top dog in a group full of other dogs. My dogs are not allowed on the couch or upstairs they can only go in the front room and the kitchen and they do know thier place, dont be afraid to shout and correct him properly in fear of making him worse all dogs must have an individual to fear, not in a bad way when i was a child my dog would listen to my mum wen she said out that dog was out with its tail between its legs if she heard our dog going in a room it shouldnt all she had to do was shout the dogs name and the dog would go back to her bed with her tail between her legs, however wen my mum payed her attention the dog would seem to apprecite her attention more than mine or anyone elses. Sounds like your dog thinks he runs the show and that needs to stop, My partner and ui would like children and i have been testing uor dogs to see what thier flaws are and I too am currently trying to work on my rotteiler as she has nipped my face wen ive kissed her whilst sleeping but didnt go through the skin, as you know that this behaviour can turn into a more devastating problem if not corrected.
all i can suggest is that you need to protect your daughter over the dog but if you place yourself in his shoes would you rather be put to sleep or live in a kennel instead of the home or be with someone else who hasn't got children who has more time to train the dog, very sorry and can sympathise with your situation it is a very hard decision

[sky330711]

with regards to food aggression our rottie displayed it so i was only feeding her from hand for a bit, and that worked however we gave her a ham bone once and she displayed the same behaviour so we took it off her for a minute or too then gave it back and eventually she has come to know that we are in control and if she is aggressive she doesnt get.

[Lisbon]

Really tough decision should have been made. Does anyone know what the decision was?
A friend if mine had a dog. And suddenly it started to bit the owner. An first they pitied it but when the accident repeated, they had to put him down. But here a child was involved... I'd choose a child safety.