Advice please - aggressive dog

[Bacardi101]

Hi please any advice is welcome! I have aChihuahua puppy crossed with a Russian toy who is now 6 months old. He is a lovely boy most of the time but has recently become super aggressive towards my children age 7 and 5, he loves the 5yr old but not so much my other DC.
He is off to the vet in the morning to check for any illness as this has been sudden and he has drawn blood not on my daughter but another adult visitor to my home (they were told to not touch him but this was ignored)
If he was a bigger dog he would have been PTS by now and I really don’t want to re-home him but my daughter is now understandably nervous of him!
We have a cat in the house who he is fine with but generally has been hard to train.
Thank you and please no judgement I’m at the end of my tether!
Just to not to drop feed I work from home and he is walked every day isn’t off his food but has been sick today and yesterday.

*drip feed

Get professional help in rl.

This will not go away without .

When at your vet get a referral to a qualified behaviourist

Good luck

If a vet check is all clear, then ask your vet for a referral to a behaviourist.

This isn't something you should try and deal with without the help of an expert. Best of luck!

Thank you both for the replies will speak to the vet about it in the morning!

Your pup is still young so don't write him off just yet - they can be little shits at that age

Agree that dogs can be arseholes! I think small dogs can get very jealous and some breeds are 1 person dogs. My dog has taken against small children and now barks at them for no reason. I don't think she gets what they are. Have your kids picked her up loads? Tried to dress her up? Generally irritated her? If your kids are brave enough get them to do some really basic training with lots of treats. Probably good to think about a trainer/behaviorist though.

Chihuahuas are noted as being a breed prone to aggression (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159108001147 ) and a lot will depend on the parents - some lines are aggressive, some sociable. Did you see both parents? They’re definitely dogs that don’t think they’re small and should be respected accordingly.
Russian Toys are generally cheerful and sociable, but they’re descended from ratters and are bright, clever dogs that need more exercise than most small dogs. It’s a potentially combustible mix - clever, high energy terrier-type crossed with an genetic-aggressive Chihuahua bloodline could be a bad combination.

The girls are very good with him generally, they have never dressed him up ect as I made sure we had a chat first about respecting him and the fact he is an animal and not a toy but of course like most kids they are noisy and loud. He is never touched when he’s eating or when he is very tired and he likes his own space then. And ok that makes sense the vet check this morning went well nothing wrong medically even though he did try and bite the vet!

You need professional help from a properly qualified behaviourist. I say properly qualified because the industry is totally unregulated, and literally anyone can call themselves a behaviourist or trainer.

APBC and CCAB are considered the gold standard qualifications. If your insurance covers behaviour (e.g. PetPlan does) then you'll likely be able to claim back the fees (and the fees usually aren't as high as people assume).
www.apbc.org.uk/find-an-apbc-member/
www.asab.org/ccab-register