AIBU to think we need to have our dog PTS

[HastyPasty]

Our dog has just attacked his sixth dog in the last two years and I am so distraught but I don't think we can carry on like this!

For background we adopted our dog when an elderly family member passed away two years ago. She was a complete recluse and the dog had never left her house/ garden or been trained. Despite that he loved our kids and they him and although dog was elderly (12 at the time) we thought we could give him a good home.

During the first week with us he attacked my brothers dog very badly (at this point we hadn't taken him out for a walk as we were getting him used to things). It was awful, there was no warning, he saw my brothers dog and just went for her. We did a lot of reading and spoke to a dog charity for some advise and then started taking him out for short walks. Then we realised how aggressive he is to other dogs. He seems to want to kill them all, the second he sees one he will try to attack. So far he has attacked -

• My brothers dog
• A drunk strangers dog who decided to bring his dog over despite me screaming at him not to
• A small dog when he managed somehow to slip his harness and he nearly knocked the elderly owner over
• A neighbours dog when he got out of a window, how he managed that I don't know but neighbour is utterly traumatised
• Next doors dog when he actually dug a small tunnel under the fence to get to it (he had been doing this under a bush so neither of us noticed)

Then lastly, yesterday my adult child took the dog out and the dog managed to yank his lead out of his hand, escape and attack yet another dog.

It's honestly heartbreaking because my dog seems like the loveliest dog and we spend all our time together, but he is dangerous and so fast for an old boy.

Oh also since lock down he guards me. I think he got used to it being me and him during the day and hates the kids and DH being around and will growl and bark at them if they get too close to me when I am relaxing. He actually nearly went for DH the other day. This isn't constant, if I am up and about he's fine but if I'm laying on the sofa wathhing TV he starts.

Anyway I'm at a loss. DH is doing he usual let's wait and see (brilliant husband generally but does not do decisions like this and won't really discuss it) and I just would really appreciate other people's thoughts!

Oh PS I have tried a number of different muzzles and dog has managed to slip them all off in record time.

YANBU sadly dog is dangerous and needs to be PTS
YABU don't do it, try...

@sleepyhead1980

I would be worried that he could attack a toddler next time. I think you are right to be taking action BEFORE something happens unlike your husband who seems to want to wait until it does. Unfortunately you will never know what the do would have done but you will be able to rest easy knowing that no children were harmed either way.

It's worth noting that dog-directed aggression and Hunan-directed aggression are usually quite different.

However the bigger concern is that he seems to be declining into generalised aggression

Have you honestly not tried double leading him and muzzling him?

I won't go in to the details, but we had a young dog PTS that was like this after she attacked and killed my friend's dog. We'd done all sorts of training/behaviour stuff. It was absolutely the right thing to do.

@Veterinari and @TheoriginalLEM thank-you for defending me. I am actually crying now because it's devestating. If he could stay in I wouldn't even think about it, but the second one of the children opens a dorr or window he is always looking for a way out. He's so curious about what's out there. DH has said he will walk him for the next week or so (partly so he doesn't have to talk about this) so I will see the vet and ask if there is anything else. But I think I know its not a question of if he attacks another dog it's just when and although I don't think he would attack a human, he might if they got in his way.

@HastyPasty google "Losing Lulu" and you'll find a blog by a dog trainer about her experience of behaviour euthanasia ,
It might help you see that you are not alone and that this might be what's best for all involved parties including the dog.

I think that given he is starting to be reactive towards your children, you have to PTS, don't you? It is too late when he has attacked a child.

It sounds like he has come close to injuring an owner before, as well.

For a younger dog, I think there would be other suggestions, but at 14, he is probably set in his ways and also starting to decline cognitively, so training is less likely to help.

I know it is a really hard decision to make, but even a small dog could seriously hurt someone, and it sounds like he is a real escape artist, which limits your options a lot.

@Fieldofyellowflowers yes we have tried both of those.

@slavetothenhs I'm so sorry, that must have been so difficult for you, but thank you for sharing, I appreciate it!

I have wondered if maybe he's a bit senile. All those years sfhut inside cannot have been good for him and then his age as well.

I think a!l things considered his behaviour indicates an insecure unhappy dog. I'd book the vet and give him a last few days of being loved and spoiled and let him go.

You sound like you have done your best by him OP, I think PTS is the kindest thing all round.

Maybe post it on the dog board part of MN. Lots of informed advice and experience on there.

My advice- speak to a vet to rule out Illness or pain. The at least consider a behaviourist.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my long post and comment. It is difficult when DH won't talk about it, and I can't talk to adult child because I don't want them to blame themselves. Anyway I will come back later I keep crying and the children are up so I need to stop!

Sorry just realised you’ve seen the vet.

If it were just attacking dogs, I would say stop walking him. As your dh has said he’ll walk the dog next week, I would be encouraging him to walk late at night / early morning to avoid other dogs.

As others have said, a younger dog may be more trainable. What steps do you do when the dog reacts to your family members? That’s what I’d be focusing on in case there’s something fixable.

He needs PTS. It sounds like just a matter of time before it's a human he goes for, perhaps in the line of defending their own dog.

I agree with other posters that this dog should be PTS and as a dog lover I dont say that lightly. If it was my dog it would have been after the 2nd or third time. How could you live with yourself if next time he killed another dog, or injured a child knowing full well there was always a possibility it would happen. (Not meant to sound bitchy but a genuine how would you feel). Part of owning a pet is being responsible and if either of those things happened you would be majorly irresponsible. Thank you for trying with this poor dog to allow him some nicer final years!

You mention that you have a lovely big garden, and I think you need to confine him to it and the house so he doesn’t come into contact with any other dogs (there must be exercise options there). If he becomes more aggressive towards DH and the DC though, your hands may be tied.

If he's only 9 kg, could you use a waist walking belt to make sure he absolutely can't slip the lead?

I’m no dog expert but I’d agree there is some unhappiness and likely pain driving this
Think of it as a
Mercy

Yes you need to get him PTS. Otherwise he could kill someone elses pet and that's not fair just because you cant make the difficult decision. Your husband is being shit as well, wait and see....wait and see what? If he attacks a child? Actually kills a dog? Gets up to 10 attacks?

Oh OP I really feel for you xxx can ask what breed he is? If you did decide to go down the behaviourist route again make sure they have the correct qualifications as so many people claim to be dog trainers/behaviourists

www.apbc.org.uk/

www.asab.org/ccab-register

I have had experience of my 14 year old collie being dog reactive - We have managed to reduce his stress and anxiety with dog interaction through desensitisation and counter conditioning we also use a No dogs lead

www.friendlydogcollars.com/product-category/caution/

Also he is only going out for 10 min walks a day due to his age - how long do you exercise your dog for? Has pain been ruled out by vet?

Growling and barking are forms of communication and guarding behaviour can be worked on

Whichever path you choose please understand that you have given your boy the best life and chance you could - sometimes the hardest decision to make is knowing when to say goodbye xx

Op, this is such a hard decision to make, so no wonder you’re upset trying to make the decision.
This was me some years ago, although unbelievably the much loved pet was a giant cat. He was adopted from a rescue and for a few years, a really lovely boy and a bit of a neighbourhood character .

He did have form for breaking into houses and doing some quite anti-social things that he’d never have done in his own house, such as weeing in a neighbour’s bed, climbing on kitchen work tops and stealing food, attempting to steal hamsters from a cage, etc.
He then started fighting though. Brutal, fight to the death kind of fights. He’d been neutered, the vet tried various calming remedies but nothing worked. Our vet bills were mounting; he was constantly covered in cuts and would come home dripping blood on furniture and beds. Several of our neighbours were keeping their cats in because of him injuring their cats.
If we tried keeping him in he would just yowl and batter at the doors. He was enormous and very strong for a cat, so could do real damage if he tried. I was terrified of having to try to move him and he would sometimes insist on sitting on me and then scratch or bite for no reason.
My DD’s (at the time primary school aged) friends were all terrified of him and I had become quite scared of him myself. To get him to the vet’s was a major operation, involving multiple people wearing protective clothing!
We (stupidly at the time, I now realise) agreed to take on a puppy (not small, had already been trained etc) and the puppy was known to be good with dogs.
The cat beat the puppy to a pulp repeatedly. 10 years on, the now dog is still petrified of cats.
The final straw came when my DD had a trip to A&E for a bite from the cat, a neighbour’s much loved cat was mauled yet again (so badly that a local police officer who was passing actually told me off and said I needed to do something about him as he was a notorious public nuisance) and he tried to attack me for daring to walk past him in the house, all in the same week.
It was too much and I asked the vet to PTS. I was traumatised and felt like the worst person ever.
I refused to rehome him because all that was doing was shifting the problem elsewhere.
I was actually convinced that he had something going on that had caused a personality change but I’ll never know.
I felt so much guilt; still do. Often think my judgement may have been swayed by the arrival of the puppy. Deep down, I know we were all terrified of that cat though and all of our visitors were very wary of him and it does make me wonder if there was a reason it was abandoned in the first place ( was left at the rescue in bag ).
What I’m trying to say is that sometimes you can only do your best but one pet doesn’t trump the rights of other pets or people. If he is a potential risk to your family and a known risk to other pets, it’s just not fair and you need to PTS. Maybe don’t think about your own pain but instead the pain of the owners of the pets he has attacked. That’s what helped me make my decision to PTS; I had a pet that was negatively impacting others outside of my household and I had no right to inflict that on people.
Sending you a big hug because I’ve been you and I know how upsetting this is

I don’t think you really have a choice

You say he is happy at home and gets lots of fuss and love. Have a last day where he is fussed over and then do the right thing, no more stress or anxiety or pain It’s being kind

Our old JRT had to go to the vet to be PTS as he got more and more snappy/unpredictable and eventually he went for my brother. When we took him for investigation he had s brain tumour. It was incurable and we knew it was time before he did someone/someone's pet real damage.

My worry would be that with his increasing guarding behaviour of you and growling that you said he has started towards the children that he may attack them. You said there is no warning to his attacks so this could be the same one day towards a human.

I couldn’t take that risk. He’s had a good life with you but safety has to come first.

It's sheer luck the police aren't involved. Or anyone pressing charges.
We had an aggressive ddog but she didn't actually 'get' any other ddogs. She had a muzzle.
At one point I took in a relatives ddog and he was similarly anti social. He had training and a new home(by a good rescue) . Bit a dc, had an emotional breakdown and was pts by the rescue place. Life was just too much for him they said. Unless you can keep your ddog on your own property he needs letting go for his own mh imo.
I am not judging op. I carry guilt and it was 4 years ago we lost Oscar..