I think i may have to give up on my dog has anyone given up a dog

[Allthesocksintheworld]

We have a nearly 2 year old dog. He is some sort of terrier mixed with other things dog small to medium sized. We got him when he was 16 weeks ish from someone who didnt want him and hadnt looked after him - he was ill when we got him. He had to spend time at the vets and was quite unwell but by the time he was around 6 months old he was physically healthy.

He is an amazing lovable dog as long as he in in the house with his family. If anyone so much as comes near him, he growls and barks and gets very anxious/ aggressive.

Since he was 6 months old we have been to various training sessions , we have had a dog behaviourist come to the house to work with him. He is muzzled while out, we have added an extra gate to the front door and we have a post box outside the front gate for post etc.

Today the post man came while he happened to be sunbathing in the garden not a problem normally as the post box is outside the gate and the gate is locked. Somehow im not sire how the latch on the gate totally failed and he got out and bit the postman. The whole thing lasted less than a minute the postman kicked him back in the gate and ran off before i could even get from the back door to the gate so i have no idea how serious the bite was or if it broke the skin. I just dont know.

ive been sitting here just crying and shaking for the past few hours im imagining the police turning up and arresting me im totally at a loss what to do.

i think i feel in my heart like i cant cope with this anymore i have tried so hard for the last 2 years with him, ive spent a fortune on trainers behaviourists and various other things and i have still failed.

my kids will be heartbroken but at the end of the day i am responsible for him biting people and i just cant seem to stop it just one stupid event like a lock not latching has meant someone has been hurt.

has anyone been in this situation and what do i do next?

@Allthesocksintheworld

im glad you're calming down a bit.

my first question is WTF did you come off your meds mud house move??? That's sounds like a very silly idea!!

as for doggo, you don't know he bit the postman! & doggo isn't going to fess up, so put it behind you.

I don't think that right now is a good time to be making Big Decisions!!

use this to have a think about what you need to put in place while the other gate is propped open & you are moving house (presumably you'll have people in & out etc). When are you moving? Do you have any friends or family that can look after him for a few days when you move? Or can you afford to book him in at a kennels. At the very least do you have a crate he can go in?

concentrate on the here & now to make everyone around you as safe as possible.
get you new house as safe/secure as you can.

get settled in there, then ring around some behaviourists & find a better one!!

try emailing Graeme from 'Dogs behaving badly' (watch all of the episodes in the meantime). It's not as easy as the episodes make it look but it does explain certain behaviours & how to change them.

don't cry, you'll get it sorted. He needs you & DD needs him x

Unfortunately I think a dog that ‘hates everyone else’ just simply can’t be left alone outside with no supervision. It’s easy to say oh the latch didn’t engage blah blah but at the end of the day you’re responsible for a dog you know has issues with strangers and presumably the garden is easily accessible if the postman walks alongside it. You never know when a kid might sit on the wall/poke their hands through and get bitten. Is it your fault? Not really, because they shouldn’t have poked their hands through, but your dog should be supervised since you know it has these issues.

At minimum I would be getting signs for the garden gates explaining ‘reactive dog do not approach/dangerous dog do not touch fence’ type of thing, and a bolt for the gate. Realistically I would be looking to not allow the dog to ‘sunbathe’ while I was unable/didn’t want to supervise.

june jubilee - tbh it all kind of happened at once i had been feeling quite unwell and my gp did some blood tests which showed my liver results were quite off. So he suggested reducing the dose and weaning off the fluoxitine as be seemed to think thats what was causing it. I had felt fine so i agreed .

then a week or two later we saw an amaing house to buy with the garden and away from main roads just like the behaviourist has suggested. We rent at the moment and on the off chance we applied for a mortgage we didnt think we would actually get it bit we did!

tbh i have felt fine coming off the tablets but maybe ive just been hiding it and this has been the last straw!

kanaloa i have just been looking at more gate locks for when we move the new house doesnt really have access apart from one little gate so it should be a bit easier to secure off plus im kind of thinking of creating a sort of run area in the garden with extra fencing around etc - that was our original plan anyway.

he has an “anxious dog” jacket he wears when we are out because people seem to think that offering their hand to him is a good idea - we do get funny looks but this has made it feel more worthwhile.

You're not a failure. There is obviously something not right with the dog. Have you taken him to the vet to see if there's a physical cause for his behaviour? Maybe you should also discuss what options are open to you with the vet.

Rehoming a puppy that has suffered abuse is one of the hardest things to do.

You sound like you've been amazing with him, a lot of people would have given up on him by now. I think you should see how he gets on in your new house before making any final decisions. Unfortunately he wouldn't be able to be rehomed and he would be PTS, unless you could find a non kill shelter.

Don’t ring the post office. If they contact you they will likely say they won’t deliver any more.
Get self closing hinges, a difference latch, an external postbox etc

my dog bit someone (got kicked and nipped the closest person), Police were great, advised muzzle when out etc but they could see I was responsible and I had put measures in place already to ensure it couldn't happen again so they went with no further action.
But I empathise as I was very upset and scared at the time.

More than 20 years ago, we took on an adult beagle/terrier cross. We were the third or fourth family to try to cope with him. He was lovable, but he had too many ingrained bad habits, including escaping and roaming. We tried all the resources available locally. But when he snapped at four or five 7-year-olds who had come to play with DC, nipping some and terrifying all of them, I gave up on him. A friend took him to the vet next morning. I cried over that decision more than over anything else that has happened to me except the death of my first husband. But I think it was probably the right thing to do.

It's a risk leaving a dog in the garden unsupervised, even if the gate is secure.
Also if your dog doesn't like strangers he's likely to feel anxious hearing (and perhaps seeing) people waking past.
Of course he can sunbathe in the garden but make sure you're there as well.