I'm doing the right thing aren't I?

[Binkyridesagain]

I am in bits. I have a staffy cross, 9 years old. She has lived with us for 18 months, she came with history but we were not fully aware until she lived with us for a while.

She has little or no understanding of human interation and would often misinterpret movement and my DH has been on the receiving end of a few nip from her. This though had pretty much stopped, watching her body language, helped us to teach her that she didn't need to respond that way and giving her a calm loving home has helped also.
However things have changed, I don't understand why and I don't feel she can live with us anymore and sadly I feel she can't be rehomed.

in the past month she has bitten my DS on his face (not pierced the skin), my other dog and today a puppy that has lived with us for the past 10 days. There is no warning from her, she goes straight from calm dog to bite.

I have asked DH to take her to the vets tomorrow to have her PTS, as I feel that I have to accept I have done all I can and whatever her previous owners did to her that damage can't be fixed. Most of the time she is a gentle, loving loyal dog but I don't know when she will strike and I am now finding myself saying becareful all the time.

It is the responsible thing to do isn't it? I would love to have a new home for her but I fear that one that could give her what she needs is unlikely to happen and that the best outcome for her would be to be PTS, knowing that at least her last 18 months were filled with love, happiness and comfort.

I don't know if I can reply, I'm findng this extremely difficult, I feel like I have failed her.

I'm not quite sure why you took a puppy into a household where an existing dog has behavioural problems? Any element of anxiety will be made worse by a huge change like that. Can the puppy go back?

In terms of whether it's right to have a her PTS, that's not a question I can answer without knowing a lot more about the circumstances of her aggressive episodes. The answer might be yes, she's learned behaviour that is dangerous and the risk is too great. But equally it might be that some simple changes to the situation will ensure safety and improve her welfare.

She is older, has had bad experiences and she is living with a puppy, a child and owners who are afraid of her. At least give her a chance to be rehomed there may be someone out there with a quiet home that will suit her perhaps she is stressed. Please at least try the local rescues before pts as she may just need a quieter home.

Have you taken her to the vets to rule out anything which might be causing her pain? I read something similar and it turned out that the dog needed teeth removing, they'd been causing her pain which made her bite/nip with any obvious reason, but was solved with a medical checkup.

Apologies if you've done this already - a very difficult decision obviously.

Nobody can reasonably give an opinion based on what you have written because you have not explained what you have done to try and sort her out ,all you say is ' I have done all I can ' . Apart from nipping your DH she has only according to your post bitten other dogs ( I'm not including the thing with your son because IMO if it was a proper intentional bite it would have broken the skin ) ,perhaps she's just not comfortable with other dogs .

Agree with everyone else. Give her a chance to be rehomed if you're not coping definitely-she may just be not suited to your home/situation.And dogs can change if they're in the correct environment-I've done it myself and I've seen others do it.
And what happened when she snapped at your son?I'm not saying 'bit' because as Flora said, if she intended to bite she would have done worse-was she playing?Was she provoked or stressed (note I DON'T mean it was anybody's fault, just based on her behavioral issues)!

Maybe she can't live with children and other dogs. It does sound like there is a lot going on that might be stressing her out, especially with the new puppy. Check with no kill rescues to see if she could be rehomed (if it's not too late.)