To re-home our dog

[Centipedeswellies]

We are an animal loving family. We have 2 cats, a horse, 2 alpaca, hens and a dog. We have had previous dogs. Our current dog, a springer is well trained, well loved. I'm home a lot as we run holiday lets on our land and I have another business where I can be around. We have 2 preschool and one primary school age child.

I've always rescued animals from here, there and everywhere. Only the dog and horse were bought, everyone else arrived by hen rescue, cats protection, neighbours, rehoming groups etc. I love animals and don't give up.

However.... Our springer is 6, We walk him loads, he's well stimulated, he's well trained. But he is very reactive. He bit my wife a year ago when she tried to move him out of the sitting room, she just reached for his collar. He had previously growled and snapped but not bitten. He's been on anxiety medication since he was 2 or 3. We noticed he wouldn't settle, growled when approached if he wasn't happy and snapped if you tried to take of his towelling coat etc. he has to be sedated for vaccinations and it takes multiple vets to even get near him. He bit me too about 6 months ago when I tried to get him out from under the table. Tonight I was playing with him and he suddenly, growled then lunged to bite, he backed off and then lunged again.

We have 4 year old twins and a 6 year old. My mum instinct says that the dog can't stay as I would never forgive myself if he hurts our children. However, it goes against every grain in my body.

Can I ask why no one is suggesting muzzle and separate?
So muzzle in large family groups which might cause anxiety, and at other times try to give the dog some time with one family member to rest

Who is going to want to take on your dog? You don’t want it because it bites and it’s been a family member of yours for a long time so presume you love it. No one is going to say when looking for a new dog “oh, you literally bite the hand that feeds you, absolutely what I’m looking for”. Sadly it will be put to sleep.

I voted YABU because you've kept this animal in your home with your small children for this long! Really irresponsible and dangerous and I don't care how much of an animal lover you are 🙄 no-one is going to want to take on an unpredictable dog that bites, the dog needs to be put to sleep.

I would find and have a chat with a decent animal behaviourist. Also a rescue that specialises in his breed.I don’t realistically think you can keep him but hopefully they can help with the transition period.

He might be more relaxed in a quiet environment with just a single person or a couple, and as the only animal in the household.

And don’t beat yourself up about it. Ñ

Forget the behaviourist etc. Your priority is 3 young children. Yes, the dog may be in pain, or etc, but that doesn't trump the safety of your kids. He needs leave your home one way or the other. And in all honesty, it sounds like PTS may be kinder for this dog, unless you can find a breed specific rescue who are really willing to put in some time.

I would! I’d absolutely take on a dog with that history. Because in my experience it virtually always is as a response to pain. Dogs have very few ways of being able to communicate with us especially as a high percentage of dog owners don’t read dog well. A full and thorough vet visit would be my first step. A full gait analysis to assess for lameness and pain issues. The OP said it is walked a lot = a dog not getting enough rest and healing time. Something like 80% of dogs over 8 have diagnosable arthritic changes and many of those will be living with chronic pain.
How many times have you snapped at someone when you have been hurt or stressed in your life? It doesn’t mean you are going to murder someone as a result does it!!

I completely understand why you’ve wanted to put off any action. I think you should keep PTS in mind as a last resort, but there are other things you can try first. Most importantly out in what safeguards you can to avoid another but incident. A vet appointment, with sedation, to investigate any physical cause (pain, injury etc) can be done fairly soon. If you have a vet that will come to you that might help. Have a look at breed specific rescues or small local ones.

I have previously had to have our dog put to sleep due to quality of life. They had similar issues that your dog currently has. They also had significant medical issues that caused huge amounts of pain. Have you had tests, trays ect to rule out pain?

Something we were waiting on was a specific vet behaviourist that you need to be referred to via your vet. They have gained further qualifications and can help with medication and training. They are very expensive but our insurance would have covered the costs.

I think it is a sad state of affairs when animals need to be euthanized due to behaviour difficulties. It is just the way the world is currently and it is better that they have had all the help you can provide to try and improve their difficulties and then making the decision to end their life before things become unbearable for all of you. Our dog was given sedatives before we arrived and then further medication to keep them calm, we say with them on the floor in the vets. The staff only soent tthe time they needed to in the room to make things less stresful for our dog.

I feel for you OP it is the hardest position to be in but remember all the things you have done to improve things for your dog.

Our big dog got snappy at 5, turned out after a vet visit he’s struggling with hip issues, he’s walking fine nothing visible we coukd see, he’s on pain medication now and seems like a different dog.

in your case I’d be seperating from the children asap as you’d never forgot yourself, maybe a soft muzzle and then vet visit and a long think about what’s next.

The PTS option was something we faced if we hadn’t found pain or any other reasons.

Either find a behaviourist to work with you and the dog or put him to sleep. I wouldn’t be rehoming him, for his own sake as much as anyone else’s. Rehoming is stressful on the dog, and unless the home is very experienced and knowledgeable on dog behaviour, it will likely happen again, and he’ll end up PTS. So if you’re not going down the behaviourist route, just PTS and save the dog the stress.

My spaniel is 9 years old now and is behaving really well but we've previously had issues with him being snappy and reactive.He guarded one family member exclusively and had a really strong startle reflex ie: if one of the children ran up the hall and raced through a door he would be terrified and growled at them.Cage training and not allowing him on the sofa changed his behaviour remarkably.
I had a few talks with spaniel trainer/owners who may have had 10-15 of them at a time and they basically worked their dogs really hard throughout the day.They did recognise a tendency for them to be irritable if tired but regarded a tired/ cross spaniel on a family sofa at night as foolish.Mine has never been a working dog but I did learn a lot from them.
It's a tough decision to make and if you need to re-home I'd do it through a specialist charity.

Those people already have dogs. You’re highly unlikely to find one of them in the short window that they have capacity for an extra dog. A dog with a bite history will be euthanised basically on arrival at most rescues.

I had a very reactive dog who saw my DD as part of the pack and tried to dominate her. It came to a head one night when she bit her (thankfully she missed and it was a passing grab more than a bite, but the intention was there) so the dog had to go, I’d been talking about it for a while and felt incredibly guilty that I hadn’t acted sooner. Your children are more important and I say this as someone who has shown dogs since I was tiny, and have never had to rehome before.

I've read your op again and some of the occasions when your dog has bitten don't really surprise me.Trying to take a dog out from under a table is going to be stressful, there must be a reason for him to want to be in there.Taking him by the collar to get him out of the room is also stressful.My spaniel loves to shred newspapers, toilet roll, kitchen roll etc.
When we catch him doing it he's distracted, never pulled or taken away from it. The mention of a treat or a run outside works instantly to distract him.Ive no doubt he'd growl if we tried to drag him away by the collar.

Just for info, Spaniel Aid list dogs available for adoption and they mention whether they have a bite history. If you read the reasons, they’re quite similar and specific. A child free and experienced/prepared home could well be found. spanielaid.co.uk/available-dogs/

See your vet and check for pain. I'm an experienced springer owner, DH even more so than me as he's had them since childhood. Neither of us have ever come across an aggressive one, without there being an underlying issue, and that was only once and was quickly addressed by the vet and sorted. The breed is utterly bonkers but they typically don't have an aggressive bone in their bodies.

That said, I wouldn't hesitate to euthanise a dog that bites. I love dogs, but I'm OK with being hard-headed if I need to be.

The dogs not vicious, it's scared/anxious. The dog doesn't want to bite anyone. They bite out of fear to protect themselves.

does the dog have a brain tumour?
have you had any trainers?
springer spaniels are very popular. I would rehome to someone without children.

I've been there and it was so, so difficult. We have an anxious rescue and she bit my dad as well as going for my husband numerous times (and definitely would have bitten if he hadn't reacted so quickly). She guarded me obsessively and wouldn't 'allow' either of them near me. We had a thorough vet check up but he couldn't find any signs of pain or illness. We enlisted the help of a behaviourist and followed her suggestions to the letter. But nothing was making much difference.

Like you, our biggest fear was that she would bite one of the children. We were in talks with the rescue about surrendering her and I cried buckets; I felt absolutely sick about it. We tried anti anxiety meds as a last resort and, 9 months on, she's like a different dog. I know you said you've tried medication and it hasn't worked. Is there a different medication, or could you increase the dose? My dog has gabapentin 3x a day and reconcile in the evenings. She's around 20kg. I'm not sure of the drug strength but could check. For the first week or 2 she was really out of it, sleeping loads and a bit wobbly. But she's an absolute dream now. We've put a lot of time and effort into training her too but we couldn't have done it without the drugs.

If you do persevere with medication, obviously ensure your children are totally safe in the meantime (for example we couldn't crate our dog at night as she would continuously howl and throw herself against the door, but she would allow us to put her harness on and tether her so that she could sleep on her bed in our room but not get at anyone if she panicked).

If that fails then you really do need to rehome him sadly. I agree that it should be possible to find a child free experienced home prepared to give him a chance.

Good luck.

Agree with @DramaAlpaca. my dog is half springer spaniel and my neighbour has one. They are not an aggressive dog breed by any means. Also you don't drag a dog from their collar

If this dog can't be happy with you with lots of walks, in a countryside setting with people who love him you have to face up to the fact he won't be happy anywhere. He can't be removed with a bite history. If you managed to get a rescue to take him, which is very unlikely with a bite history, he'd just be stuck in a kennel all of the time. In this case I honestly think gently PTS is the last next option. Your dog is anxious and reactive and he has bitten your wife and tried to bite you.

Agreed with many previous who have suggested speaking to Spaniel Aid, be entirely honest with them, they will take dogs with bite history and have fosters and homes that will take such dogs and can manage it in a far safer manner than trying to in a home with kids and so much else going on. If you've not had a visit to the vet to check for pain / illness then could try that first, but speak to SA soon as you can as they are very busy and there may be a wait before they can take him.

I think unfortunately you need to get the dog put down. Re-homing is just passing the problem on. It’s not the solution it just makes you feel a little better. It’s dangerous and needs to be dealt with

I have worked in welfare for a UK charity as a rehoming officer and as with most similar organisations we had a 'find a forever home' policy, BUT in an instance like this, where you are clearly experienced and loving animal owners, you must put your children first, and I would be considering putting the dog to sleep. There are clearly many issues going on and my gut feeling is that he would not find a happy forever home. You could maybe have a chat with Spaniel Aid, or a breed rescue but please keep your children safe. I still bear the scars from being bitten in the face by one dog I fostered, and that was a tiny breed.

I don’t think you’ve mentioned if you’ve tried a behaviourist? Or what the vet said other than the dog is on anti anxiety meds? Could he have any chronic pain?

Third this. I was in a very similar situation to you very recently. We saw a vet-behaviourist and it wasn’t reactivity - it was chronic pain. The situations you describe sound like it could be this too. Please have this investigated before PTS. We’re still working through it but at least we understand what’s going on and can make informed decisions going forwards.