I don't think I can do this anymore

[Jinglemyalanbells]

Can't believe it has come to this.we have worked so hard with our rescue over the last two months but today I am broken. I am sobbing. It has been the day from hell. I think I must be the sh*test dog owner ever.
She is scared of everything, people in and outside of house, dogs, cars, walks. Ok we have been doing as much as we can. I'm a SAHM with a toddler so do training things mainly at home. She goes to pup classes ( she's only 6 months old for gods sake) but whatever has happened to her previously has made a big impact.
Today, friends came over to play with my dd1.two four year old running around, very scared so she hides in her crate. Ok, I kept telling her no when she growled and barked at them, prob. Wrong but we have tried everything else over the last few times friends have been over.
Then she actually lunged, in her crate at my friends dd. hate to think what might have happened if she was loose.
After an afternoon of constant growling and snapping in crate, my friend goes home.
All calm again and happy. Few hours later my dd starts playing with her, and yes, she was a bit close to her face, dog just lunged and snapped at her cheek, and drew blood. Apparently my dd went to stroke her.
Don't know what to do, she has got worse since we ve had her not better,
Tell me I'm shit please and I don't deserve her. I shouted at her

Thanks for all your support. Gymmummy, beautifully put. That is exactly it. Have contacted the behaviourist and left a message. I hope she gets back to me soon.

In the mean time, any tips to help her deal with family visits over christmas. I will def. be putting a crate upstairs away for when she needs time out. But feel a bit sorry for her having to be alone up there while we're downstairs having fun! For the best though.

Don't feel bad for her - she will prefer it! We tend to take it in turns for one of us to pop up and see SpicyDog when people are over, every hour or so. We don't disturb her in the crate but we go in the room. sometimes she stays in the crate but she usually comes out all waggy for a bit of fuss before going back in. Sometimes these days she even graces us with a quick visit downstairs to greet everyone before disappearing

So partridge, I take it you leave her crate door and the room door open so she cane come and go? Wasn't sure whether to close her in her crate or not? If crate door is closed should the room door be open?

Remember as well that two months is nothing, I think three and you know more about what you have then what needs to change. In the mean time I would keep everything pretty calm. For example guests dont need to meet her or could be around but asked to literally ignore, no eye contact or stroking etc

Yes we leave the crate door open and the room doesn't actually have a door but an arch type thing. So she can come and go but usually chooses to stay in there. She is an adult though so I don't have to worry about chewing etc.

Just to add to the very useful advice so far...vitamin B seems to help some dogs through the fear stage (there is a suggestion that growth spurts lead to vitamin deficiencies which in turn make dogs more reactive to stimuli, hence more fearful), and DAP colars and difusers are also helpful for some fearful/nervous dogs.

Do I need to buy doggy vit. B or could I get human vits?

Any vitamin will do they are all the same, but talk to your vet about the quantity you need depending on the dog's size.

We have a fear aggressive dog. We now crate him in our bedroom with a Kong toy whenever we have people over he doesn't know. The kids are not allowed to go in when he's in the crate so it really is a place he can stay calm.

However, he is completely unaggressive with us. If he's not confronted by people he doesn't know, he's the happiest little dog. If he was aggressive towards my children, that would be a deal breaker for me.

I forgot to say, when we have guests over for a long time, he goes in the crate initially, and then we bring him out on leash and tell everybody to ignore him. Then he can relax and just sit with us. If we have a party, and there's a lot of moving around, he stays in his crate throughout, with DH and I taking it in turns to check on him.

Thanks cat,
Ours is very friendly and loving with us too, just not sure what happened that day. She has never snapped at my dd before ( or any of us for that matter). My dd was leaning into her crate after a very stressful day and she just snapped. What I didn't see was whether it was meant to be an air snap but my dd kept leaning in and got caught or whether she actually meant to get her :(
Behaviourist coming in new year.