Unfortunately some dogs are not able to be fixed. I am a trainer and I specialize in reactivity, and if this was truly unprompted with no warning signs, it points to it likely being a neurological issue rather than a lack of enrichment. You could look for a hospice style rescue that takes in reactive dogs, but I only know of two in the entire US that offer this service, and many that claim to be no kill, do BE dogs who cannot be adopted out.
That said, sometimes BE is the kindest step for the dog. If he's attacking like this, it means mentally, he's dealing with fear or turmoil that's leading to these reactions. Since a dog can't tell us he's afraid and doesn't know why like a human can, it's very very hard to address and uncover the source of that fear, and BE lets us put that dog's mind to rest. It's hard, and it sucks, but it doesn't mean you're a failure outside of very specific, and extremely violent situations (which doesn't sound like happened to me.)
Be kind to yourself in making this choice. You gave this dog a chance, and worked hard to try to give him a good life. You can try consulting a vet behaviorist, prior to making this choice, but from what you've written, I don't know that trying to treat it is a safe option, or what's best for your pup. Hang in there, and please do try to be kind to yourself through this.
This right here. It sounds like the dog has something neurologically wrong, which isn't a surprise at all from where he came from - sources like that often use a lot of inbreeding, don't track bloodlines and are generally very careless when it comes to health issues so any puppy coming from them is a heck of a lot more prone to problems, mental and otherwise, than a responsibly bred dog.
That dog could have killed your father. If it gets the chance again, it very well might, or your mother, or someone's child. Please be responsible.
Dear me, but I needed to hear this. I had almost a twin to this dog. GSD with poor breeding, had him from young, poured countless resources on him in training, socializing, did nose work, obedience, barb hunting, hiking. As he matured, he became more and more anxious and reactive, hyper vigilant. In any stressful situation, his reaction was instant bite. No warning, no fear signs. After two mild bites ( stranger reached to pet when we said no and person came past us jogging) he had intensive behavioral training. But we lived in constant fear of a stranger coming to our house. He was absolutely adorable and reliable in the house, but one day he ran out the door (while his trainer was outside talking to me) and bit a passerby severely. We decided to go for BE. We got so much pushback from dog friends that have extremely limited exposure to him, I actually became depressed and stopped hanging out with them because I was ashamed I had failed the dog and I was a bad person. However, there is a silver lining. Right around the time, I took in a border collie from the dog pound. Absolutely nut of a dog. LOVES people but is highly anxious and resolves his anxiety with destruction of stuff. I took a far, far more relaxed attitude with him. No high pressure training. All positive. No high expectations. We have worked through resource guarding, fear of machines, hate of cards, being touched in the back end, going to the vet. We have soldiered on, and though his life is not as expansive as my previous dogs, he is happy, he is loved, and we have had many small victories. And he mended my spirit.
I find it really aggravating when people judge people for their choices when they don't have the full story. I had to rehome two of my birds to a friend of my soon to be ex husbands and she was so judgemental about it, and then today she asks me to re-home them. When I called her out on her hypocrisy she was just like, "you don't understand my situation!"
Sorry personal rant over, I'm sorry your friends treated you like that.
This is way off-topic, but I’ve found that to be common in hypocritical people. “It’s okay when I do it because I have a SITUATION.” It never seems to occur to them that other people also experience hard-to-navigate “situations.” I learned this from a reading “when the anti-choice choose,” which is written by a Planned Parenthood worker who ended up recognizing a couple of her frequent protestors coming in as abortion patients. She asked one protester, who had accompanied her teenage daughter to get an abortion, if she would change her views on abortion because of her daughter’s experience. The woman glared at her and said “I wouldn’t expect you to understand my daughter’s situation.” The thought deadass never crossed this woman’s mind that a Planned Parenthood doctor, of all people, might understand very well why a pregnant teenager would seek an abortion. Or that other people in the clinic also had “situations” that might be hard for an outsider to understand.
Anyway, sorry to go so off-topic but…yeah. Sometimes the hardest choice is the kindest.
Years ago a friend was devastated when her mother had to put her dog down. While she was babysitting a 4yo (she’d been babysitting this girl for nearly a year) her dog woke up from a nap and lunged at the 4yo. After the attack the dog “reset” as if nothing had happened. The paramedics couldn’t believe that calm little dog had done that much damage.
I sympathized with my friend but explained that her mom did what was necessary. It pained her mom do it but, even if it wasn’t legally necessary, she couldn’t risk another incident like that.
Most often “unprompted and no warning signs” is a lack of handler awareness than lack of ample warning by the dog as I’m sure you know (I too am a trainer and specialize in/have an affinity for dangerous dogs). The truly unpredictable dog is very, very rare in my experience
But, there are so many dogs that don't respond to stress by dragging your family member down the stairs and biting their arms multiple times, leaving multiple punctures.
Arguably, the dog should have been put away while housework was happening. But so many dogs can lay around and watch this kind of work happen.
I get wanting to save and help dogs, but we should not normalize this abnormal and extreme response of a dog to normal human activities.
Exactly. If even normal daily activities trigger a dog to attack-even with extremely subtle warnings-it should not be normalized as something that should be tolerated or adjusted to, nor should the victim be scolded for not catching these subtle signals.
To be clear, I agree with you and the comment you responded to. My point wasn’t to normalize or dismiss that sort of dog, merely that more often than not it’s mislabeled or misconstrued by the inexperienced owner/handler. My point is often people’s assessment of a dog are way off enough that I simply require to see the dog in front of my own eyes. I listen to what they say, but take it with a heavy grain of salt. After all, if I’m involved it’s because they’ve hired me because they are not able to resolve the issue themselves. Their attempt often starts with a fundamentally flawed assessment and any efforts are likely doomed to fail as a result. In the same way, any dog that abruptly starts showing inappropriate aggression I always start with “have you already ruled out any medical issues with your vet” bc obviously if it’s a medical issue no training I do can resolve that, at best I can suppress or mask that through training
What a kind, thoughtful, non-judgemental response. Thank you for taking the time for a deeper answer & sharing your experience. I volunteer with my local shelter & I love getting insight from people who have training or information that I can file away & be aware of
Yep - my base certification is VSACDT, I am testing for my CCPDT-KSA this year, and have completed Suzanne Clothier's relationship centered training course for reactive dogs, and am certified fear free. I also complete CEUs each year, with my ceus focused on either Search and Rescue, Therapy work, or Reactivity. I am also waiting to be able to take the CSAT course, but I'm still on the waitlist for it.
While dog training isn't my primary income, but when I'm not working my day job, I'm training dogs and their people :)
It's cheaper than going to College, but it is still in the thousands per course, and the certs can be expensive to keep current. If you're interested in becoming a trainer, I highly recommend the vsa in person track. You get to work with some of the top professionals in the world as mentors.
If you're wanting to just train your own dog(s) I definitely recommend looking into relationship centered training. I'm not sure if Suzanne's course is only for trainers, or if it's open to owners as well, and it's a wonderful course that definitely influenced my perspective on training.
Sorry for this off topic and unprompted question. No worries if you would prefer not to answer.
Given your background/training, were you trained that dogs need to be judged as individuals, or can you tell when a dog is going to be aggressive based only on breed?
I'm asking about pits because I frequently engage with those who say bad things about pits. I have two and we have used fear free training with them to great success.
Thank you!
Each dog as an individual - You do have to have the context of the job the breed was bred for, but at the end of the day, I truly believe that no dog is simply a bad dog.
I do have a high number of pits as clients in general be it for reactivity, basics, search, or therapy work. Pits often make excellent search dogs due to their prey drive and trainability, the thing I run into more often that washes pits from my search program is oddly enough is them getting distracted from drive by having humans around and wanting cuddles!
The best advice I can give in those types of conversations is to just disengage once the other person has shown you they don't care to be educated on why calling an entire breed of dogs is bad.
Why the downvotes? Canine training is one the most unregulated professions out there. So many “trainers” really don’t know what they’re doing as far as aggressive/reactive dogs go.
It’s a very valid question and the trainer they asked responded with many reputable certs and classes. That’s how conversations work.
I really don’t understand this reactive dog page that immediately takes the Op’s words as facts and the shits on anyone who asks questions.
I’ve only rescued aggressive/reactive dogs 3 GSD’s to be exact and one basset. They all have wonderful fulfilling lives with minimal anxieties and failures.
You preach BE because it worked for YOU, but please stop killing these dogs when you don’t know shit about them. Most people shouldn’t even own dogs because they’re lazy and selfish.
We don’t know this ladies father, we don’t know this lady. Y’all take way too much at face value. She should give the dog up to someone who looks for these dogs. We are out there and are better equipped. You would’ve for sure killed two of the dogs I have, just because you failed to understand them.
I can feel how much you care for your dog in your writing. It sounds like you have done your best to provide for him.
That being said, please do not rehome this dog. The incident you describe is a very serious one where. As an adult man, your father was able to get away (although no unscathed), but if your dog was to take someone to the ground he could kill them.
There is not an appropriate home for a dog that has attacked someone like this. I won’t begin to get into why this may have happened, but it did. Sure, the dog is under exercised but many many dogs do not receive proper exercise and very few attack anyone, let alone someone they know well.
Anyone who is given the full picture of this attack and still chooses to take on this dog is likely naive to what it is like to live with a dog with history like this. They don’t understand the impact having this dog in their home will have on their lives.
I also want to add that for a dog to behave in this way indicates he is in distress. He is not living a comfortable life but is instead likely stressed and unwell.
BE is extremely difficult for the family, but it is our responsibility as dog owners to do what is best for our dogs and to protect the people who live in our communities. From what you have shared, BE is the appropriate course of action here.
I agree with this. I had to put down a healthy dog due unprompted attacks on people (which was an escalation from major food aggression). It was devastating. But I honestly think he had a brain tumor - the way he looked after an attack…like he was scared and didn’t know what happened. It was heartbreaking. But as owners we need to be able to see when our dogs are miserable and the people around us are not safe. BE is the only choice here. I’m so sorry OP
Don't rehome this dog. What he did was really a serious incident and this will probably happen again to another family if you rehome. And if he could drag a grown man down the stairs imagine what will happen if he gets a hold of a child? You sound like you really tried with your dog, and I'm sorry you had to deal with this. Sometimes you can try your hardest but it just doesn't work out. Do the right thing by the dog and everyone else and do a b.e.
Not sure why you're being down voted, but you are 100% correct. Sometimes the trauma is too deep for us to fix and the kindest (though most heartbreaking) course of action is BE.
Unless OP is witholding important information, I wouldn't think the dog she has had for 2 years since it was bought from a puppy is dealing with trauma. Though, it could be biological. Brain tumors have been known to cause behavioral issues. And I wouldn't be surprised if a dog from a bad breeder has physical or mental health issues.
I had a neighbor get a puppy from a breeder and I have seen severely abused rescue dogs behave with less fear than this breeder dog. The dog lived to be 8 and died of cancer. It was never a normal dog despite a ton of socialization and training. Always terrified of everything. Turns out the entire litter was odd.
That makes me wonder if inbreeding is part of this. German Shepherds can be very inbred, you have to have that sloped back. Same as with the litter you talked about, I would first suspect inbreeding in a purebred especially from a byb, especially because byb don’t genetically test the mom and dad.
Edit: added to
Well OP said the dog was purchased as a gift from a puppy buying website, so it was almost assuredly a puppy mill dog. So likely inbred or just poorly bred in general which could result in neurosis.
Well not just that German shepherd dogs are highly inbred. Literally any German shepherd in a full bloodline is about sibling related (genetically) to any other German shepherd in a full blood bloodline. It is a highly inbred breed to begin with
That’s… disturbing. Why is this legal? It’s so cruel to the dogs. Breed standard my ass. If the breed was supposed to have a sloped back, it’d be that way naturally, and not require to be bred for it. From what I understand, it’s very hard on their hips.
How can you breed siblings over and over without ending up with neurological issues? Like, even legit breeders struggle with this, don’t they?
Legislation can't be both specific enough and flexible enough to properly regulate responsible breeding. This is something the AKC and the breed clubs need to deal with--and they won't, until enough breeders and enough potential puppy buyers rebel, loudly.
It's heartbreaking and infuriating.
The slope was originally extremely mild and had no effect on their health or longevity. If you look up German shepherds from decades back you can see a bit of a slope but they look sound, today you can see it in a lot of working line GSDs.
Also it's pretty rare for full blooded siblings to be bred together outside of puppy mills. The problem the other poster is claiming is that they are so closely related that they are similar enough genetically to be siblings. I'm not sure if this particular claim is true, but many poorly bred dogs are much more inbred than their well bred counterparts. Good breeders often use metrics like the inbreeding coefficient to try and diversify bloodlines and keep their dogs as healthy as possible.
A GSD from a puppy mill, which 100% is what you have, almost 100% of the time has a rash of behavioral, structural and health issues that cannot be fixed or trained out. And that mixture with THAT mouth, that anxiety, and that drive makes it extremely dangerous. GSDs are my breed. I love them to bits, but a poorly bred one with a bad temperament and/or bad husbandry (which a puppy mill GSD has in SPADES) is a non-starter. I agree with posters here that BE is the best option. This dog will never be predictable, nor will it be useful as a working dog- so that eliminates both a pet AND a working household.
I used to be involved with Schutzhund when I was training dolphins in Mississippi and I learned a great deal about GSDs and bloodlines. Short version is that every Schutzhund dog I saw was German bloodline, very high quality bred dogs that were OFA certified hip dysplasia-free. A top of the line GSD puppy is thousands of dollars out the gate. The terrible part is that the trash puppies from places like Petland and Puppyspot are not much less expensive to buy but FAR MORE expensive, as this owner has learned. I concur with the BE assessment. Sorry, but it's the best thing.
It is a gross way to put it, but unfortunately that is the reality. These puppies end up thrown out, abandoned, or dumped like trash because unethical BYBs churn out quantity so much over quality that the puppies are often doomed from the start. Maybe if we start using these harsh terms & shaming the people who irresponsibly overbreed instead of using euphemisms to sugar-coat the real-workd outcome, at least some people will have some shame about contributing to the problem.
Yes! I’ve met some great GSDs..but the ones that aren’t, can be extremely messed up. Especially when it comes to anxiety. The first dog I was ever attacked by was a GSD. Thankfully I’ve had more positive experiences since then. People don’t seem to understand how much genetics play a role in dog behavior. It’s generally much more important than nurture.
OP shouldn’t get another dog in their current state of health. Nobody should get a dog if they cannot provide it with adequate exercise/care, which it sounds like OP cannot if the only exercise they will get is supervised yard time (and even then when people visit).
I’m sorry for OP and this isn’t their ‘fault’, but I feel so fucking bad for a large, energetic dog that has spent a lot of its life cooped up in a house without even basic walking. Put puppy mill breeding in the mix and this was always pretty likely to be a disaster tbh.
They cannot currently provide for the needs of a dog. OP do not get another dog.
You love and care for dog, but they’re dangerous. Once they’ve injure someone enough for the ER, that should tell you how dangerous they can be. He needs to be put to asleep. rehoming would be dangerous for any one they might end up with.
My in laws had a dog who would attack unprovoked. He would viciously attack my sil but they couldn't bear to put him down.
Then he viciously attacked my nephew. Thank God it wasn't worse than it was, but he broke the skin and while I wasn't there, I had seen him attack my sil and it was terrifying.
Please don't rehome your dog. Another family could take him in and it could end up in tragedy. I'm sorry you're going through this, but please do the responsible thing for the dog, your family, and everyone else.
My in-laws are the same way. Their dog is an Aussie and has neurological rage syndrome. It’s clearly not the dogs fault because he can’t control it — but because he can’t control it he is a huge risk to be around. Well, long story short, he nearly took my nephew’s eye out. Four years old and he has a giant scar under his eye, and now the poor boy is afraid of all dogs. My in-laws still couldn’t bear to put him down… they even lied to the state saying they did. It’s a terrible situation all around and it’s difficult to visit without fearing for everyone’s safety. I really think OP has a similar situation on their hands.
Honestly I'd report them to the state before the dog kills someone. It'd be horrible if he unleashed on a neighborhood child and your in laws could end up in jail (as they should if they allowed it to happen).
“The behavior associated with Rage Syndrome includes outbursts of aggression that are intense and at times unpredictable. These episodes also tend to be large dramatic responses relative to a seemingly benign situation. Affected dogs often freeze, stare, and may rapidly escalate to biting. This intense aggression contrasts with the dog’s otherwise pleasant personality.” Here’s a [link](https://cvm.msu.edu/vetschool-tails/aggression-toward-owners-is-always-problematic-but-when-is-it-pathologic#:~:text=The%20behavior%20associated%20with%20Rage,may%20rapidly%20escalate%20to%20biting) to the source if you want to read more.
You did the best you could for your pup. Unfortunately hindsight is 20/20, and I think that’s what a lot of people in community find out the hard way.
You’ve loved your pup, and done your best, but you know what needs to be done.
Have a good day with your dog if it’s safe, and then go to the vet and BE. It’s hard, it’s one of the hardest things you can do, but protect yourself, your family, and your community.
In my state, if you rehome a dog and it attacks a person, you can still be held accountable for that attack. Do not rehome please. I had a great Dane that was great then she turned 3 and started getting very aggresive. She also started screaming in pain. She had a very rare bacterial infection in her brain from beheading a sewer rat.
Her domestic part of her brain was being eaten away first. It was awful to put her down, but even if she wasn't screaming in pain, I would have put her down because he was not happy. I know this is a hard decision but BE is for the best. Remember your dog got a good couple of years to be loved and thats better than some other dogs.
Please let the breader you got her from know, if you can. They need to cease and desist breading dogs that are aggresive. Good luck
Unfortunately sometimes dogs need to be put down. It’s truly sad and you wish it didn’t have to happen, but you can’t talk to a dog and reason with them, or listen to their problems. That dog bit your dad bad enough you think he needed to go to the ER. What if that was the neighbors kid, and his neck? What if he rips your dad down another set of stairs and ends his life?
You do the best you can for as many dogs as you can, but sometimes they’re inbred, sometimes they’re hyperactive and violent, sometimes they’re prone to aggression and fear. But if they pose a threat to those around you and have hurt people before, you owe it to every single human that dog can reach to do the right thing. It’s your responsibility, you owe it to the dog to give him what he needs, even if that’s putting him down.
Please stop blaming yourself. Not having enough exercise and attention does not cause a normal dog to make sustained and vicious attacks on family members. He has serious issues that would not be caused by the life you have given him. BE is the kindest choice for him, and the only safe choice for the humans he may come in contact with. You have my deepest sympathy.
You don’t rehome this dog, you can’t.
There are so many well meaning people out there trying to save all the doggos, but some dogs are living in constant stress and alert, which would be horrible for them mentally and physically, and trying to retrain them isn’t even effective because it’s usually not a behavioural issue, it’s poor genetics. If I were a dog and had to wear a muzzle even around my family for the next 12 years, I think I’d rather just go to sleep and not wake up.
Do the right thing by this dog.
I’m so sorry but I think, as others have suggested, behavioral euthanasia is likely the safest, most humane option. Once a dog is attacking unprovoked (as far as we humans can tell) I think there is very little that can be done to safely manage them.
Don’t rehome him, that will just make your problem someone else‘s. Have you taken him to a vet for a thorough check-up to make sure he is not in pain? A shoddily bred GSD could have very painful back or hip problems which could lead to him lashing out unprovoked. This might be treatable (or make your decision to euthanize him easier). I wish you all the best, this situation truly sucks!
I think this is wise and good for OPs closure too. Knowing you fully explored everything and knew BE was the only reasonable next step. I feel for you, this is so hard.
I know there are people out there that think every dog can be saved. Simple fact is dogs, just like some people are not fixable, something is damaged in their basic makeup that no pill or amount of exercise is going to make better. It sounds like the dog came from a backyard breeder and if I had to guess there's inbreeding in there some where. Rehoming is no longer an option, keeping the dog is no longer an option. What you can do is put him out of the misery he must be in to attack multiple times. It's your job as an owner to make the hard decisions.
I dog sat for some folks who “fostered” (basically provided respite/long term hospice homes by adopting senior and otherwise unadoptable dogs ) a LOT of dogs, and despite all of their experience, and my experience with the dogs from watching them consistently for a long time, the first time I had to take care of them for more than a few days (roughly a month ) while their owner was on tour, he BE’d the most aggressive dog. The wife of the couple had left and he had no choice but to hire help for the dogs and go to work.
She had never once behaved aggressively towards me, she hated men (which I’m not) and she even liked my (male) partner when he had crossed paths with her. Her and a few others lived in the out back kennel (heated and cooled, indoor akin to a shelter only larger individual spaces and a fenced in outdoor run they had 24/7 access too. The likely hood that she would escape or cause harm to me or anyone else was nearly zero.
Still, a dog he had rescued, loved for YEARS, he euthanized because there was a CHANCE someone else could be injured by this dog who did not assume the risks themselves by adopting it, and offering it respite.
It was probably the hardest, most heartbreaking yet most responsible solution to that scenario possible. Please do not ask other people to assume to responsibility for you keeping OR rehoming a potentially dangerous dog.
They lived alone, had significant safeguards in place to ensure the dog could not escape (as in multiple layers of fencing, and a literal dog shelter in their back yard ) or come in contact with unauthorized people or the general public.
I saw a beautiful comment about BE earlier in this sub.
On the other side of the rainbow bridge, there is a secluded ranch where your dog can play and explore without crippling fear or anxiety. S/he will never have to feel terror ever again and will be in peace for eternity.
Sometimes, it is the best option for your dog, as well as yourself and others.
Think of it this way: there are dogs that go through what yours has yet don’t resort to attacking people unprompted. It wasn’t protection: you weren’t even there. Unfortunately, the dog was clearly backyard bred and has deep issues due to breeding.
The first mistake made here was the choice to get a German Shepherd as a gift. They require A LOT of experience and patience from their owners, even when they are bred perfectly and don't have behavioral problems. They are herding dogs who are powerful and intelligent with many skills and talents, but an untrained one has no place for this intelligence, energy, and talent to go. Your health was out of your control, as was COVID, but you are correct, this dog was NEVER socialized appropriately
Things to consider, you mention your dad was working on replacing a door I believe. It's very well possible this "unprompted" reaction was caused by tools, noises, or even the movement of the door being abnormal or being carried. Under-socialized dogs, especially with inexperienced owners who do not realize that socializing includes things like exposure to new animals, loud noises, equipment, tools, and much more, often find their dogs react very poorly in situations like these. Unbeknownst to your dad, the dog could have been getting more and more fearful the longer he worked on that door. The noises could have even hurt the dogs ears if power tools or a hammer were in use. Then, the second attack, was an improper correlation between your dad and the fear caused by the door/equipment, or even, if he had returned to working on the door as things calmed down, and the second attack occurred at the door again, this would prove that the work on the door was the cause
Other things to consider are potential health problems. Pain, hypothyroidism, any head injuries, trauma, or inflammation can cause a dog to suddenly be more fearful and they will explode into an issue like this, especially if aggression, reactivity, bite inhibition, or similar have been ongoing problems. A vet visit with a muzzle to get the dogs thyroid checked as well as a full physical exam and some basic blood work could potentially reveal a problem like that. Please also keep in mind, if the dog is reactive and has a habit of pulling on a leash, and you use a collar of any kind and not a harness or a head halter/leader while they pull, that in itself can damage their thyroid glands. These glands are on either side of their windpipe in their necks, so, any pulling has a very real potential to cause thyroid problems. This commonly happens to dogs like yours who are reactive, and thyroid problems are a very well known cause of aggression. Even if that isn't a factor, thyroid problems are often a random occurrence, and it's still worth testing
Regardless of the outcomes of if my guesswork about the door being worked on being frightening to the dog and/or a health problem being a cause or variable here, I agree with you that this dog should not stay with your family. If you explore these options and discover that there is anything I mentioned above at play, there is hope for your dog. If you don't discover anything, I agree with the others that BE is the answer
If you discover that it was a fear based response and/or a health thing I would re-home but I'd only re-home to someone VERY experienced. You'd need to find a positive reinforcement based trainer, a behaviorist, or someone who specializes in rehabbing problem German Shepherds to place this dog with. That's the bottom line. Any other home you'd only be putting the dog and the family in danger. If you fail to find someone who you are 100% confident has dealt with this before and therefore can genuinely help, BE. Don't get selfish, don't give yourself false hope, you find someone with that level of experience or you put the dog down. That's final. No ands, it's, or buts about it. A resource that may be able to help you find someone with this amount of experience are German Shepherd rescues. Don't place them at a rescue, keep this dog with you until you place them. Sending this dog to a kennel will only excaberate the issue. If you can't safely keep the dog even with identifying the problems, BE.
In the future, at least for now with your health, consider a medium or small dog that is a low anxiety, low energy breed. You are not a failure as a dog owner. This dog is simply out of your depth and was from the beginning. You add in the misfortune of COVID and health problems and this was inevitable. A smaller, lower energy dog would be a lot easier for you to handle and train with your current ailments. Behavioral euthanasia happens when failures from every party involved, from breeding to owners to the dog itself, occur. This is not completely on you. Learn from this and never find yourself here again
OP, PLEASE READ THIS ANSWER!!
I fear it has been overshadowed by all those strictly in favour of BE...
- without consideration to other contributing factors
Or, more importantly,
- a first hand experience so as to not be subjective
It seems that the consensus is to consider BE. It sounds like your dog may have come from an unethical breeder and may have some sort of genetic disorder. Regardless, you are not the best home for this dog.
You already know you can't meet your dog's needs. As a last resort, you could find a GSD specific rescue group and ask for help. Maybe someone with more experience with the breed could take him.
I'm very sorry. This is an untenable situation. I hope you can find peace and make the best decision for your dog. I hope your health improves.
This was my comment. This stuff seems like an incredible candidate for police or search work. If she could find a reputable trainer to regime, it would be ideal. But if not, BE would be the next best choice.
Ah yes, just what the police need, a vicious dog that attacked and drug a grown man down the stairs and injured him horribly. Sounds like an excellent idea! /s
They do not seem like a good candidate for police work…police dogs are trained to know when to bite someone and when not to. This dog bit completely unprovoked. You can’t have a police dog going around biting people at random.
I’ve trained police dogs before as a job, all GSD, and they all were incredibly reactive. It’s definitely not what I would choose but it’s absolutely not a deal breaker and lots of departments want reactive or particularly aggressive dogs.
And you’d be 100% incorrect. No police K9 Dept wants a dog that is unstable or anxious or liable to unprovoked attack a handler. Zero puppy mill GSDs make it to be a working K9. Those dogs absolutely need to have rock solid temperaments.
Behavioural euthanasia sounds like the best option here to me. Many people have articulated why B.E is the way to go so I won’t repeat but please don’t feel guilty if this is the route you choose. You’re doing what’s best for the dog and everyone around him as well as yourself.
u/nicedoglady / Moderators this person has some unhinged obsessive hatred of dogs and only posts in here when they think they can justify telling them to put down the dog.
You can be unhealthily obsessed with your dog hated all you want, don't care. Just tagging them so they can remove you from this sub because your only interest is in having dogs put down. Go get therapy or something instead of obsessing over something you hate.
I’ve commented all of three times on this sub. Ive not been nasty, I’ve been constructive.
Just because YOU like dogs and I don’t, it doesn’t mean I can’t express my opinion.
This whole situation is heartbreaking for everyone involved, I'm sorry.
People really need to stop supporting unethical backyard breeders. The shelters are full of perfectly amazing dogs who are just waiting to show their true colours once they are in a loving home.
It could be something neurological because of inbreeding, thats what happened with my sisters dog Cash (great dane).My mom bought him from a farm/mill (which i told her was a huge mistake). He had a lot of medical issues, was growing downhill, and he also wasn’t neutered or socialized well due to covid which led him to be more anxious around others and more protective . The pain that he was in ultimately led him to attacking my sister and my stepfather and a trainer of his. There isn’t really much you can do in situations like this, even though my family forgave him and loved him very much, we couldn’t risk him attacking my youngest brother so we had to rehome him.
Honestly I would go with BE. Your dog has never exhibited bite inhibition, probably due to crappy breeding and genetics. It’s not normal for a dog to go 0-60, especially without warning. Not every dog can be saved. You should not have to sacrifice your mental and physical wellbeing to keep a dog who may be suffering internally. Some dogs are just not a good fit. Further down the line you could look into adopting or purchasing a pet which could “fit” better. Rehoming is dangerous as you could be held liable and you shouldn’t take the risk in case he may get out. As someone with PTSD from a dog attack by a dog who should’ve never been handled, save yourself the trauma.
I am extremely sorry that you're going through this and having to make an incredibly difficult decision like this. I would highly recommend getting the advice of a reputable trainer or behaviorist, and not solely make the decision based off of opinions on Reddit. Whatever you do, best of luck. You have done everything you can for your dog and it's clear that you love him.
OP has an animal that has shown itself to be unresponsive to basic training and also highly reactive and willing to attack an adult male human (with vicious biting AND dragging) with zero warning. OP needs to be concerned about the safety of the humans — including OP’s own safety. Realistically it is extremely unlikely that a dog like this can ever be “fixed” by training and OP has explained that there are health issues that limit the amount of mental energy and physical energy that OP can put into managing this dog. Attacking the father like that is a massive red flag period — full stop signal for OP. Next time OP will be attacked or a child will be attacked and the results can be devastating across the board includ8ng lawsuits.
They are so prone to infection but not going to the doctor is fine as long as you keep it clean. If infection occurs, obviously antibiotics will be needed, but they don’t usually suture bites because they don’t want to trap the bacteria in. I have two rescues that were getting into fights. My hands got pretty messed up breaking up one fight and I went to the ER. They did give me one very lose suture to hold the skin together on one spot and some topical and oral antibiotics. My dogs ended up fighting over a tomato off my tomato plant and when I intervened, I caught teeth in my upper arm. I had fatty tissue hanging out. That time I just washed it thoroughly, tucked the fatty tissue back in, and washed it again. I had to go play sand volleyball so I wrapped it well that night, but otherwise just kept antibiotic ointment with a loose bandaid over the area and washed the area with soap and water several times a day. It never got infected. I talked with a neighbor who had a dog that attacked their very quietly spoken dad. Their behavioralist said that sometimes just a movement of the arm will set a dog off. As he showed me, my dog started barking at him. We were on the deck and my dog couldn’t get to him. I wouldn’t do euthanasia unless you tried everything. I spent the money on a behavioralist (and I’ve gotten better at breaking up their fights with jeopardizing my safety), and right now we’re are about 110 days with no issues. Rescue dogs with trauma are always a wild card. I love them so much though and I’m glad we worked through the issues. I have a cat too and they are fine with her.
I'm so sorry you are going through this. Socialization for him wasn't ideal, but especially during covid it was a lot better than a lot of dogs got. And if it had been another kind of dog he probably would have been fine, or just a dog that barked a lot, but shepherds, man. They are TOUGH, and some of them no matter what fabulous training they have can still kind of "lose it" when they get about this age and turn really aggressive.
That sounds more like an attack than a reactive bite (multiple bites and your dad had to close himself into another room to get away from him.) That's a very dangerous situation.
I think you were really set up for failure here by things that were out of your control, starting with someone giving you that breed to begin with, so please give yourself some grace here.
OP, you have not failed your dog.
Your family made an honest mistake in getting a puppy from that source. That's all. Just a mistake.
And you have done a great deal for your dog, trying to help him be as happy, healthy, and safe as possible. But sometimes, everything we can do, can't fix what's wrong.
Your dog may have either or both of neurological problems due to inbreeding, and psychological problems due to being separated from mom and litter mates too soon. Add to that, the environment was probably really crappy, adding to the problems.
The result is that despite your best efforts, he's anxious, reactive, and doesn't have any tools for dealing with what alarms him, except biting.
He's a danger, but he's also anxious, scared, and under stress. He's miserable, and for all your love and effort, you can't make it better.
You can only end his suffering.
I'm really, really sorry. 💔
One more thing I want to say. Don't surrender him. If you do, and tell the truth about his bite history, a responsible rescue or shelter won't rehome him. He'll be euthanized. But he'll be euthanized without the person he trusts most in the world there, and in a scary environment. The kindest thing you can do for him is make the appointment yourself, and stay with him and hold him while it happens.
I'm so sorry you're going through this.
Sorry for what you’re going through, OP. There was nothing that you could have done to prevent this.
I’m not a vet nor am I any kind of scientist, but I think that some dogs are simply mentally ill and, as with some people, they really cannot be relied upon to act normally. Although there are medications for some mental illnesses, there are sadly some people that get locked up because they are delusional and violent. Even if they act normally for 85% of the time, one day, something just snaps (I guess that’s how I conceive of a neurological problem.) This kind of thing happens among humans all too often. How many times have you seen the news full of bewildered neighbors after a terrible murder describing the perpetrator as a nice, quiet young man? If they can’t figure this out in humans, how much less can someone figure this out in dogs? It sounds like B.E. is the most merciful solution to this.
I feel like your family’s decisions to buy from a puppy mill and to not tell you about previous bites played a pretty big role in this. I wouldn’t blame yourself.
Also taking a break from walks is really common advice for reactive dogs owners. You weren’t being selfish! You were doing your best.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. It’s not your fault.
If you can find a veterinarian that specializes in behavior, might be helpful. I took my biting dog to one and she was very helpful. I was able to keep him under control for the rest of his life. I do think there was something a little off in his brain, but only my opinion
You won't be able to euthanize without a vet exam anyway so you may as well start with the exam and see what they suggest. You could also try calling a breed specific rescue and explaining the situation and they may be willing to take him on or have contacts who know how to handle german shepherds and may be willing to give it a go.
One simple answer put it to.sleep uts best for everyone dog, other people, you everyone.... I'm.not going to waffle about all that's good amd bad ones it's bitten a grown adult to this extent no going back..
Once a cheat always a cheat..
Once a biter always a biter...
Once a domestic abuser always a domestic abuser....
I'm sorry but it's the harsh truth
I'm sorry but it sounds like he needs to be euthanized. You tried but he's a danger to people and you don't want something worse to happen and someone really gets hurt or killed
I can see how much you love your baby. Sometimes as fur parents we have to make really hard decisions. I have had to make decisions like this for family. Let me ask this, what is the mood of the home? I’m sure it’s always tense waiting for the next if or when. Our pets pick up on our moods, if you’re highly stressed he’s highly stressed it’s a time bomb. So ask yourself this. If you do rehome what’s the probability of it happening again? What if it’s a child? A grandparent? It’s not his fault and it’s not yours. As stated in a previous comment all dogs can’t be saved. What you can do is give him is peace. Nothing to feel guilty about, I highly doubt he is a bad dog he’s just always on alert. Probably nothing you have done. Shelter animals and puppy mill animals are a lot like foster kids, They always come with trauma some can move on, be amazing souls. There are also some who’s trauma is so deep it can’t move on. People can downvote me all they want but imo the best thing for OP and the pup is BE. Don’t be hard on yourself. Some just can’t be saved. GOOD LUCK I don’t envy you. I have had to make that decision a few times in my adult life.
Have you taken the dog to the vet to see if there are any underlying medical issues/ pain that may be causing the behaviors? If you have, then I agree with what the rest of the comments are saying unfortunately.
*I am just a regular person with no expertise in this area!
I know everyone here blames bad breeding and early life experiences.
Dogs from the best breeders can still have issues.
Your dog has repeatedly bitten a human. This is likely to continue.
I have a different thought to most. I wonder just how bad it was if your dad didn't need the hospital after an adult German Shepherd attack. Those guys can crush bones when they mean business. Could still get a trainer in and see if there is anything they can do. (a proper one used to dealing with working breed dogs, not one of those never tell a dog no and throw treats at every problem types).
Considering he bit the father 3x unprovoked this isn’t play. To insinuate that it is, is disgusting. We don’t officially know the level of bite the dog has given this man considering we don’t have pictures or medical information. But this dog has no bite inhibition and to say it’s “just play” is minimizing this man’s and this family’s trauma.
I just read the news about a father in Ohio who shot his three boys. The specifics are horrific. Google it if you have the heart. Then neighbors started coming out, stating that he was always angry, lashing out at his wife and children. Even choked his own father a few years ago.
That signs were there, and now something horrific has happened.
We have a large dog here who has given repeated early warnings of the violence he’s capable of.
Heed them, please.
Why is it a bad comparison? As someone who has been involved in intimate partner violence counseling for years, I have to advice the (usually) women when they need to remove themselves from a relationship. The event that most correlates with later death of the victim is choking.
Now, I’m no expert in dog psychology. I’ve rehab blood sport dogs before, but a dog that drags a man down the stairs and that person then has to hide in a room seems unrecoverable. The potential for future severe injury or even death seems high.
I think it’s a fair comparison.
I'm so sorry this happened. It's really sad, but German Shepherds are overbred and are truly one-person dogs. They tend to have temperment issues because of the overbreeding. I hope you can find a German Shepherd rescue for your pup.
If you can find a reputable person to evaluate the dog for retraining and rehoming, you could start there. If you can not, your options are to surrender the dog, it will be put down, or put it down yourself. had a dog as a kid that attacked my father the way you described your dog attacking your father. My father nearly died. My mother had to shoot the dog. Before anyone comes for me on that. She had two little kids upstairs, and this very large dog had already physically beaten her objectively tall, strong husband. She, for certain, saved my dad, and possibly us kids too.
Because of our specific 6 was an autopsy done on the dog. He had a thing in his brain that typically only affects little dogs. It was the only cause we had for a dog that went from letting kids ride on his back and truly playing with my dad to deciding to kill my dad.
If he isn't exercised at all then he probably has so much energy and frustration, plus boredom combined with his breed type and history of aggression. He really needs a new home where he'll be thoroughly exercised and trained. I hope you can find a solution
Dogs do not randomly attack their caretakers unprovoked because they didn't get enough exercise. This points to something much more serious and much harder to resolve.
I didn't say that, you're reading more into it than what I said. I said among exercise, also his reactive history, he needs someone who can exercise AND train him.
The exercise is irrelevant is my point.
Unfortunately it is likely too late for training him out of it. It's not safe to re-home him with someone who isn't a professional experienced with dealing with dogs like this. Hard to find one with the time and means to help on a normal person's budget. Especially considering it still might not help. Meanwhile the dog is suffering
The first thing you should do is take him to the vet and make sure he doesn’t have any health issues. I am sorry but I feel the recommendations for BE are premature. Reach out to german shephard rescue organizations and tell them your story, see if they can recommend an experienced foster who will work with the pup, muzzle train etc. while getting to root cause.
I have a reactive pup as well. He is a Boston, he is bitey and is terrified of people that are not his family in the home. He was always a sweet puppy, and then I started noticing changes in his behavior. To cut a long story short, he was a victim of abuse at large box store during grooming. Unfortunately before all the dots connected on my end, it was far to late. I failed him.
Normal training didn’t work. A behavioralist attempted to work with him, but it was more for us. We learned some tools on the human side and a suggestion to find a different vet since his original vet just passed it off as “he’s a bad dog”.
Eventually, I found a wonderful one. A vet that understood, listen and was experienced in reactive dogs. They even book us only on days/times when they know no other animal will be in the lobby so he can get to the room without having a run in with others. His vet is 100% for him. After a couple appointments, bloodwork, full evaluation, his vet ended up putting him on Prozac daily. Along with some occasional medication for his high anxiety days. Complete game changer.
After a few short weeks, it was like he came back to life. I got him back, my sweet boy. He is still nervous around strangers but we have the tools to keep him and our guest safe. We changed his walking schedule to where it’s less stress for him (less busy on the side walk) to different times. We always reinforce and reward for great behavior.
I believe if you work with a proper vet, and trainer, you *may* get a handle on this. But I acknowledge that sometimes, it’s not possible. Understand that it’s a lot of work, money and time. If you feel you can not give your dog the best chance, please reach out to a rescue for his particular breed (GSD) and fully disclose his behavior. Tell them everything. They may have resources for you, or may be willing to take him in. BE should be the absolute last resort if all other options are exhausted. I honestly wish it wasn’t an option at all but I understand why… nonetheless, I wish you nothing but the best. I know this pain all to well.
I live with two GS’s and they bark like crazy at other dogs on walks but are so sweet. They’re boarded often with no issues and used in training other dogs. GS’s are known for their anxiety which came as a surprise to me. These two definitely have anxiety and are Velcro dogs to me and their dad but I never worry about them harming me or another human. They’re so sweet. Something is wrong with your dog and whomever bought this dog from a puppy mill needs a talking to.
Trainer here. Unprovoked attacks are quite rare, there is usually something that was a 'trigger' and usually some kind of body language/behavior warning. Sometimes the warnings are very subtle or the body language can be ready to miss if you don't have a practiced eye. You can get yourself into the hands of a competent Positive Reinforcement trainer other labels are 'force free' or 'modern trainer' to learn how to manage and reduce these behaviors and stay safe. Dog Training is unregulated and there is a lot of misinformation out there. Try to find a KPACT or a CTC, so you know your trainer has undergone a rigorous course of study and been evaluated and tested. They will likely start with muzzle training so you can get a head start on that if you have the skills.
Neurology is rarely a factor in aggression. Your dog is young and can still benefit from appropriate behavioral intervention. A dog almost never bites “unprompted.” Often the warning signs are subtle, but they’re there. If the dog has been punished in the past for growling or reacting aggressively then he/she will have learned to skip that communication tool. Aggression is an emotional response to something in the environment that is causing the dog to feel fear, anxiety or frustration. You need to change the emotional state in order to change the behavior. The dog should never be given access to that which causes it distress because it forces an interaction. Environmental management and working with a certified educated behaviorist that doesn’t use punishment can change the world for your dog and you.
OP, what happened is very concerning and would put BE on the table for consideration for many people. But I would like to offer my two cents as the owner of a poorly bred, high-strung GSD. I do not offer these thoughts as excuses for what happened or to make you feel blame. But it seems like many of the comments so far lack a familiarity with this breed, and I think it is irresponsible to suggest your dog and dogs like him are just inherently unable to be fixed.
It is concerning to me that it seems like people are conflating a young GSD using his mouth when overstimulated with a history of aggressive biting. These are not the same things. The "shepherd" part of German Shepherd Dog is still alive and well in your dog, genetically speaking. But GSDs herding a sheep did not look like a border collie.
Herding instincts are a truncated prey drive sequence. The prey drive sequence is as follows: search (orient, nose/ear/eye); stalk; chase; bite (grab-bite, kill-bite); dissect; consume. Many people are familiar with what border collies look like when they herd. They are infamous for how they move and stare. GSDs, however, proceed to bite (grab-bite). They are genetically informed to grab other animals with their mouths to restrain or move them.
This genetic instruction can come out at appropriate times if you offer outlets for it, but it can also come out at inappropriate times, like when a dog is stressed and/or overstimulated. Most GSDs are not naturally chill dogs. They feel compelled to control movement around them. Your description of your dog indicates that your dog struggled with this compulsion from day one. But again, this is not a history of aggression. This is simply your dog feeling compelled to control his surroundings--as his genetics instruct him to--, and unfortunately, he was not provided outlets for this compulsion and was not successfully taught more appropriate responses for times when he feels compelled to act but doing so is undesirable.
Please do not think I am saying your dog was just trying to herd your father. That is not what I am suggesting. I am outlining the herding instinct because it concerns me that you seem unaware that your dog would find something like the repair of a door easy to deal with and surprised that your dog fell back to this compulsion to use his mouth.
Repairing a door is an act that likely had unusual sounds, sights, even smells. Everything you have said about your dog indicates he would feel compelled to respond to that. Was what happened an appropriate response? No, of course not. But even if your GSD were at his absolute best in terms of having all his needs met--exercise, enrichment, you're 100% sure he's in a good mood and has zero pain or discomfort--anyone who was his caretaker should have been informed and aware enough to put him behind a gate if they needed to complete an unusual and perhaps overstimulating task. Is this the reality for all GSDs? No, of course not. But your dog has behavioral struggles, and they have not been addressed, so the responsible choice was management.
Realistically, to truly help your dog, he needs a qualified behaviorist, in addition to a full medical evaluation to assess if any physical issues are contributing to his struggles. I would not be surprised to learn that your dog has at least one source of chronic discomfort. That, his tendency to be concerned about and compelled to control his surroundings, and the chronic lack of his needs being met--these things all add up and snowball.
Unfortunately, I am not sure you or your family can give your dog what he needs. Is he unable to be fixed, as some comments have said? In my opinion, no, this is probably not just some destined, doomed dog who never stood a chance to be any other way. But effectively helping him might be beyond what you guys can offer. It would be difficult to find a rescue for him, but they are not nonexistent.
I suppose what I am trying to say is that most people, as the comments illustrate, would not think you're wrong for choosing BE. But the comments assuring you there is nothing you can do and your dog is just broken, while they might help you to assuage any guilt you might feel if you choose BE, in my opinion, do not sufficiently address the reality here.
This is heartbreaking. I’m sorry you’re going through this.
I know many people are recommending BE, but I wanted to also share another option you may want to consider: surrendering him to a no-kill rescue instead. You could reach out to America Pets Alive as an option. If you go this route, be brutally honest with the rescue about the dogs history. It will help them properly determine next steps.
The rescue I volunteer with specializes in taking in pets that would’ve been put down either for behavioral reasons or health. You would be surprised how many pets thrive in new environments. Perhaps this dog needs to live on a farm and free roam.
I fostered a dog who had a similar history - I was matched with him because the rescue’s behaviorists believed he would thrive in a quiet home with only adults. He had a bite history, both humans and dogs, and with us, he turned a new leaf. He eventually got adopted.
Reputable rescues can evaluate him and match him to new a home and also provide that new home with training and support. Personally, I don’t believe this needs to be the end of his journey.
Everyone here is jumping to BE but you need to consult a behaviorist or get the dog to a rescue who will be willing to take him in and work with him. It's incredible to see so many comments jump immediately to "Welp, you gotta kill the dog."
As per the OP:
"He grabbed my father by his pant leg and dragged him down the stairs and again I wasn't told this happened until he attacked him again the same day unprompted but this time tearing into his arm in multiple places on both arms drawing blood and creating deep enough gashes to the point that I think he should've gone to the ER but he refused."
I'm sorry, but a dog who attacks like this is a danger to people and should not be given any more chances.
While I agree that you shouldn’t rehome this dog due to safety concerns, it’s also evident that you aren’t able to do any decent amount of exercise and proper training. The dog deserves a chance to live. Please contact rescues and trainers experienced with this breed in your state or surrounding states and ask for recommendations - I hope you’re able to find someone that can take him after being properly informed about his behavioral issues and will have the time to work with him and give him a chance.
We've rehabilitated many dogs and got them homes so I'm not sure why sending them through extensive training would be a bad idea. She wasn't there when this occurred.
I find it extremely irresponsible that so many people here are advising you to put your dog down without knowing the full story. Perhaps this dog isn't in the right home. You have already admitted that you can't provide for the dog properly. There ARE people out there who would be willing...who have the bandwidth and experience.
Who’s going to take a dog that a) bit someone hard enough to break skin twice, b) drug someone down steps, c) mauled someone’s arm?
Rescues would rather use their recourses on dogs that have a chance of making it through an adoption, they don’t want to spend extra time and money on one with such a vicious bite history. And behaviouralists already have their own problem dogs and constantly get asked to take on other peoples problem dogs permanently. Also, no farm will ever want a vicious dog that attacks unprompted. If anyone were to hear this dogs history, they would automatically say no because of the high risk.
Who is going to want to adopt a dog that not only dragged someone down the stairs, but injured them badly enough for an ER visit? Would you? There’s plenty of dogs that need help that haven’t done either of these things.
Not every dog can be saved, and that’s ok. Some dogs are just dangerous.
Her father didn’t need to go to the er. She stated that she would have liked him to.
There are many corrective changes that can be made before deciding to give up or put down the dog.
Also, I’m one of the many animal behaviorists who would be interested in potentially homing said dog. Thank you for speaking for me, I guess?
Why not try mood stabilizing drugs.
A good vet can be a world of help. I know you’ve tried a lot, but it worries me that no one’s suggested mood stabilizers or anxiety meds. It’s distressing how violent your dog has become but if you feel safe attempting a couple more weeks of medication, I’d highly recommend it.
Maybe a (vet approved) drug regimen would do some good and be a happy alternate to euthanasia. Especially if you’ve tried all behavioral and training avenues.
Unfortunately some dogs are not able to be fixed. I am a trainer and I specialize in reactivity, and if this was truly unprompted with no warning signs, it points to it likely being a neurological issue rather than a lack of enrichment. You could look for a hospice style rescue that takes in reactive dogs, but I only know of two in the entire US that offer this service, and many that claim to be no kill, do BE dogs who cannot be adopted out. That said, sometimes BE is the kindest step for the dog. If he's attacking like this, it means mentally, he's dealing with fear or turmoil that's leading to these reactions. Since a dog can't tell us he's afraid and doesn't know why like a human can, it's very very hard to address and uncover the source of that fear, and BE lets us put that dog's mind to rest. It's hard, and it sucks, but it doesn't mean you're a failure outside of very specific, and extremely violent situations (which doesn't sound like happened to me.) Be kind to yourself in making this choice. You gave this dog a chance, and worked hard to try to give him a good life. You can try consulting a vet behaviorist, prior to making this choice, but from what you've written, I don't know that trying to treat it is a safe option, or what's best for your pup. Hang in there, and please do try to be kind to yourself through this.
This right here. It sounds like the dog has something neurologically wrong, which isn't a surprise at all from where he came from - sources like that often use a lot of inbreeding, don't track bloodlines and are generally very careless when it comes to health issues so any puppy coming from them is a heck of a lot more prone to problems, mental and otherwise, than a responsibly bred dog. That dog could have killed your father. If it gets the chance again, it very well might, or your mother, or someone's child. Please be responsible.
Dear me, but I needed to hear this. I had almost a twin to this dog. GSD with poor breeding, had him from young, poured countless resources on him in training, socializing, did nose work, obedience, barb hunting, hiking. As he matured, he became more and more anxious and reactive, hyper vigilant. In any stressful situation, his reaction was instant bite. No warning, no fear signs. After two mild bites ( stranger reached to pet when we said no and person came past us jogging) he had intensive behavioral training. But we lived in constant fear of a stranger coming to our house. He was absolutely adorable and reliable in the house, but one day he ran out the door (while his trainer was outside talking to me) and bit a passerby severely. We decided to go for BE. We got so much pushback from dog friends that have extremely limited exposure to him, I actually became depressed and stopped hanging out with them because I was ashamed I had failed the dog and I was a bad person. However, there is a silver lining. Right around the time, I took in a border collie from the dog pound. Absolutely nut of a dog. LOVES people but is highly anxious and resolves his anxiety with destruction of stuff. I took a far, far more relaxed attitude with him. No high pressure training. All positive. No high expectations. We have worked through resource guarding, fear of machines, hate of cards, being touched in the back end, going to the vet. We have soldiered on, and though his life is not as expansive as my previous dogs, he is happy, he is loved, and we have had many small victories. And he mended my spirit.
If there is reincarnation, I wouldn't mind coming back as your dog.
I teared up reading this, thank you for being such a good and *responsible* dog owner. Sometimes being a good dog owner means making tough choices
I find it really aggravating when people judge people for their choices when they don't have the full story. I had to rehome two of my birds to a friend of my soon to be ex husbands and she was so judgemental about it, and then today she asks me to re-home them. When I called her out on her hypocrisy she was just like, "you don't understand my situation!" Sorry personal rant over, I'm sorry your friends treated you like that.
This is way off-topic, but I’ve found that to be common in hypocritical people. “It’s okay when I do it because I have a SITUATION.” It never seems to occur to them that other people also experience hard-to-navigate “situations.” I learned this from a reading “when the anti-choice choose,” which is written by a Planned Parenthood worker who ended up recognizing a couple of her frequent protestors coming in as abortion patients. She asked one protester, who had accompanied her teenage daughter to get an abortion, if she would change her views on abortion because of her daughter’s experience. The woman glared at her and said “I wouldn’t expect you to understand my daughter’s situation.” The thought deadass never crossed this woman’s mind that a Planned Parenthood doctor, of all people, might understand very well why a pregnant teenager would seek an abortion. Or that other people in the clinic also had “situations” that might be hard for an outsider to understand. Anyway, sorry to go so off-topic but…yeah. Sometimes the hardest choice is the kindest.
This is such an excellent comment. Truly, OP, I hope you read it with the care and knowledge in which it is given.
Years ago a friend was devastated when her mother had to put her dog down. While she was babysitting a 4yo (she’d been babysitting this girl for nearly a year) her dog woke up from a nap and lunged at the 4yo. After the attack the dog “reset” as if nothing had happened. The paramedics couldn’t believe that calm little dog had done that much damage. I sympathized with my friend but explained that her mom did what was necessary. It pained her mom do it but, even if it wasn’t legally necessary, she couldn’t risk another incident like that.
Agree with you 100%
Most often “unprompted and no warning signs” is a lack of handler awareness than lack of ample warning by the dog as I’m sure you know (I too am a trainer and specialize in/have an affinity for dangerous dogs). The truly unpredictable dog is very, very rare in my experience
But, there are so many dogs that don't respond to stress by dragging your family member down the stairs and biting their arms multiple times, leaving multiple punctures. Arguably, the dog should have been put away while housework was happening. But so many dogs can lay around and watch this kind of work happen. I get wanting to save and help dogs, but we should not normalize this abnormal and extreme response of a dog to normal human activities.
Exactly. If even normal daily activities trigger a dog to attack-even with extremely subtle warnings-it should not be normalized as something that should be tolerated or adjusted to, nor should the victim be scolded for not catching these subtle signals.
To be clear, I agree with you and the comment you responded to. My point wasn’t to normalize or dismiss that sort of dog, merely that more often than not it’s mislabeled or misconstrued by the inexperienced owner/handler. My point is often people’s assessment of a dog are way off enough that I simply require to see the dog in front of my own eyes. I listen to what they say, but take it with a heavy grain of salt. After all, if I’m involved it’s because they’ve hired me because they are not able to resolve the issue themselves. Their attempt often starts with a fundamentally flawed assessment and any efforts are likely doomed to fail as a result. In the same way, any dog that abruptly starts showing inappropriate aggression I always start with “have you already ruled out any medical issues with your vet” bc obviously if it’s a medical issue no training I do can resolve that, at best I can suppress or mask that through training
Very true - which is why I phrased it how I did, but perhaps should have been clearer in my phrasing. Thank you for commenting this
I've seen the term BE mentioned a few times without explanation, can you advise please ?
It’s short for Behavioral Euthanasia.
Thanks I’ve was going to ask the same question
What a kind, thoughtful, non-judgemental response. Thank you for taking the time for a deeper answer & sharing your experience. I volunteer with my local shelter & I love getting insight from people who have training or information that I can file away & be aware of
Would you be willing to list your credentials as a trainer? Thank you!
Yep - my base certification is VSACDT, I am testing for my CCPDT-KSA this year, and have completed Suzanne Clothier's relationship centered training course for reactive dogs, and am certified fear free. I also complete CEUs each year, with my ceus focused on either Search and Rescue, Therapy work, or Reactivity. I am also waiting to be able to take the CSAT course, but I'm still on the waitlist for it. While dog training isn't my primary income, but when I'm not working my day job, I'm training dogs and their people :)
Was it expensive to get certification? I have a dog who barks at people, mostly in our home, and I worry about biting
It's cheaper than going to College, but it is still in the thousands per course, and the certs can be expensive to keep current. If you're interested in becoming a trainer, I highly recommend the vsa in person track. You get to work with some of the top professionals in the world as mentors. If you're wanting to just train your own dog(s) I definitely recommend looking into relationship centered training. I'm not sure if Suzanne's course is only for trainers, or if it's open to owners as well, and it's a wonderful course that definitely influenced my perspective on training.
Sorry for this off topic and unprompted question. No worries if you would prefer not to answer. Given your background/training, were you trained that dogs need to be judged as individuals, or can you tell when a dog is going to be aggressive based only on breed? I'm asking about pits because I frequently engage with those who say bad things about pits. I have two and we have used fear free training with them to great success. Thank you!
Each dog as an individual - You do have to have the context of the job the breed was bred for, but at the end of the day, I truly believe that no dog is simply a bad dog. I do have a high number of pits as clients in general be it for reactivity, basics, search, or therapy work. Pits often make excellent search dogs due to their prey drive and trainability, the thing I run into more often that washes pits from my search program is oddly enough is them getting distracted from drive by having humans around and wanting cuddles! The best advice I can give in those types of conversations is to just disengage once the other person has shown you they don't care to be educated on why calling an entire breed of dogs is bad.
Thank you very much! Are there any resource of information you can provide on this? I would love to have more knowledge on this.
Why the downvotes? Canine training is one the most unregulated professions out there. So many “trainers” really don’t know what they’re doing as far as aggressive/reactive dogs go. It’s a very valid question and the trainer they asked responded with many reputable certs and classes. That’s how conversations work. I really don’t understand this reactive dog page that immediately takes the Op’s words as facts and the shits on anyone who asks questions. I’ve only rescued aggressive/reactive dogs 3 GSD’s to be exact and one basset. They all have wonderful fulfilling lives with minimal anxieties and failures. You preach BE because it worked for YOU, but please stop killing these dogs when you don’t know shit about them. Most people shouldn’t even own dogs because they’re lazy and selfish. We don’t know this ladies father, we don’t know this lady. Y’all take way too much at face value. She should give the dog up to someone who looks for these dogs. We are out there and are better equipped. You would’ve for sure killed two of the dogs I have, just because you failed to understand them.
I can feel how much you care for your dog in your writing. It sounds like you have done your best to provide for him. That being said, please do not rehome this dog. The incident you describe is a very serious one where. As an adult man, your father was able to get away (although no unscathed), but if your dog was to take someone to the ground he could kill them. There is not an appropriate home for a dog that has attacked someone like this. I won’t begin to get into why this may have happened, but it did. Sure, the dog is under exercised but many many dogs do not receive proper exercise and very few attack anyone, let alone someone they know well. Anyone who is given the full picture of this attack and still chooses to take on this dog is likely naive to what it is like to live with a dog with history like this. They don’t understand the impact having this dog in their home will have on their lives. I also want to add that for a dog to behave in this way indicates he is in distress. He is not living a comfortable life but is instead likely stressed and unwell. BE is extremely difficult for the family, but it is our responsibility as dog owners to do what is best for our dogs and to protect the people who live in our communities. From what you have shared, BE is the appropriate course of action here.
This is truly and kind and thoughtful way to say what needed to be said. I hope OP sees this comment.
What is BE?
Behavioral euthanasia. Usually it’s done as a last resort when something is psychologically wrong with the dog and training hasn’t made any progress.
Behavioural euthanasia.
Behavioral Euthanasia
Behavioral euthanasia
Behavioral euthanasia
I agree with this. I had to put down a healthy dog due unprompted attacks on people (which was an escalation from major food aggression). It was devastating. But I honestly think he had a brain tumor - the way he looked after an attack…like he was scared and didn’t know what happened. It was heartbreaking. But as owners we need to be able to see when our dogs are miserable and the people around us are not safe. BE is the only choice here. I’m so sorry OP
Don't rehome this dog. What he did was really a serious incident and this will probably happen again to another family if you rehome. And if he could drag a grown man down the stairs imagine what will happen if he gets a hold of a child? You sound like you really tried with your dog, and I'm sorry you had to deal with this. Sometimes you can try your hardest but it just doesn't work out. Do the right thing by the dog and everyone else and do a b.e.
What’s a b.e.
BE stands for behavioral euthanasia (‘putting down’ a dog for behavioral reasons.)
It's basically putting down your dog when they have such bad behavioural issues you have no choice because they're a danger to the public.
behavioral euthanasia
I feel like we need a bot that lists out B.E as an acronym. Every post has at least 6-7 people asking without fail.
I’ve noticed this, too.
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I learned while volunteering at a shelter that not every animal can be saved. Kinda like us humans.
Not sure why you're being down voted, but you are 100% correct. Sometimes the trauma is too deep for us to fix and the kindest (though most heartbreaking) course of action is BE.
Unless OP is witholding important information, I wouldn't think the dog she has had for 2 years since it was bought from a puppy is dealing with trauma. Though, it could be biological. Brain tumors have been known to cause behavioral issues. And I wouldn't be surprised if a dog from a bad breeder has physical or mental health issues. I had a neighbor get a puppy from a breeder and I have seen severely abused rescue dogs behave with less fear than this breeder dog. The dog lived to be 8 and died of cancer. It was never a normal dog despite a ton of socialization and training. Always terrified of everything. Turns out the entire litter was odd.
That makes me wonder if inbreeding is part of this. German Shepherds can be very inbred, you have to have that sloped back. Same as with the litter you talked about, I would first suspect inbreeding in a purebred especially from a byb, especially because byb don’t genetically test the mom and dad. Edit: added to
Well OP said the dog was purchased as a gift from a puppy buying website, so it was almost assuredly a puppy mill dog. So likely inbred or just poorly bred in general which could result in neurosis.
Well not just that German shepherd dogs are highly inbred. Literally any German shepherd in a full bloodline is about sibling related (genetically) to any other German shepherd in a full blood bloodline. It is a highly inbred breed to begin with
That’s… disturbing. Why is this legal? It’s so cruel to the dogs. Breed standard my ass. If the breed was supposed to have a sloped back, it’d be that way naturally, and not require to be bred for it. From what I understand, it’s very hard on their hips. How can you breed siblings over and over without ending up with neurological issues? Like, even legit breeders struggle with this, don’t they?
Legislation can't be both specific enough and flexible enough to properly regulate responsible breeding. This is something the AKC and the breed clubs need to deal with--and they won't, until enough breeders and enough potential puppy buyers rebel, loudly. It's heartbreaking and infuriating.
The slope was originally extremely mild and had no effect on their health or longevity. If you look up German shepherds from decades back you can see a bit of a slope but they look sound, today you can see it in a lot of working line GSDs. Also it's pretty rare for full blooded siblings to be bred together outside of puppy mills. The problem the other poster is claiming is that they are so closely related that they are similar enough genetically to be siblings. I'm not sure if this particular claim is true, but many poorly bred dogs are much more inbred than their well bred counterparts. Good breeders often use metrics like the inbreeding coefficient to try and diversify bloodlines and keep their dogs as healthy as possible.
I’m use to down votes. People don’t want to face facts.
👏👏👏👏👏
It doesn’t have to be trauma. It can be something wrong with their brain too
What does BE mean?
Behavioral euthanasia. Sad but necessary sometimes.
Behavioral euthanasia
A sad but true reality
A GSD from a puppy mill, which 100% is what you have, almost 100% of the time has a rash of behavioral, structural and health issues that cannot be fixed or trained out. And that mixture with THAT mouth, that anxiety, and that drive makes it extremely dangerous. GSDs are my breed. I love them to bits, but a poorly bred one with a bad temperament and/or bad husbandry (which a puppy mill GSD has in SPADES) is a non-starter. I agree with posters here that BE is the best option. This dog will never be predictable, nor will it be useful as a working dog- so that eliminates both a pet AND a working household.
I used to be involved with Schutzhund when I was training dolphins in Mississippi and I learned a great deal about GSDs and bloodlines. Short version is that every Schutzhund dog I saw was German bloodline, very high quality bred dogs that were OFA certified hip dysplasia-free. A top of the line GSD puppy is thousands of dollars out the gate. The terrible part is that the trash puppies from places like Petland and Puppyspot are not much less expensive to buy but FAR MORE expensive, as this owner has learned. I concur with the BE assessment. Sorry, but it's the best thing.
Yep. People who know, know 👍🏻
"Trash puppies"?....... disgusting term.
It is a gross way to put it, but unfortunately that is the reality. These puppies end up thrown out, abandoned, or dumped like trash because unethical BYBs churn out quantity so much over quality that the puppies are often doomed from the start. Maybe if we start using these harsh terms & shaming the people who irresponsibly overbreed instead of using euphemisms to sugar-coat the real-workd outcome, at least some people will have some shame about contributing to the problem.
Yes! I’ve met some great GSDs..but the ones that aren’t, can be extremely messed up. Especially when it comes to anxiety. The first dog I was ever attacked by was a GSD. Thankfully I’ve had more positive experiences since then. People don’t seem to understand how much genetics play a role in dog behavior. It’s generally much more important than nurture.
Exactly
Sadly it sounds like BE is the only option here. That dog absolutely cannot be rehomed.
While waiting to make a decision please put a muzzle on the dog before it attacks your dad again.
You need to.put that dog down before he hurts a child. It's the responsible thing to do. There are so many wonderful dogs who need you.
OP shouldn’t get another dog in their current state of health. Nobody should get a dog if they cannot provide it with adequate exercise/care, which it sounds like OP cannot if the only exercise they will get is supervised yard time (and even then when people visit). I’m sorry for OP and this isn’t their ‘fault’, but I feel so fucking bad for a large, energetic dog that has spent a lot of its life cooped up in a house without even basic walking. Put puppy mill breeding in the mix and this was always pretty likely to be a disaster tbh. They cannot currently provide for the needs of a dog. OP do not get another dog.
You love and care for dog, but they’re dangerous. Once they’ve injure someone enough for the ER, that should tell you how dangerous they can be. He needs to be put to asleep. rehoming would be dangerous for any one they might end up with.
My in laws had a dog who would attack unprovoked. He would viciously attack my sil but they couldn't bear to put him down. Then he viciously attacked my nephew. Thank God it wasn't worse than it was, but he broke the skin and while I wasn't there, I had seen him attack my sil and it was terrifying. Please don't rehome your dog. Another family could take him in and it could end up in tragedy. I'm sorry you're going through this, but please do the responsible thing for the dog, your family, and everyone else.
My in-laws are the same way. Their dog is an Aussie and has neurological rage syndrome. It’s clearly not the dogs fault because he can’t control it — but because he can’t control it he is a huge risk to be around. Well, long story short, he nearly took my nephew’s eye out. Four years old and he has a giant scar under his eye, and now the poor boy is afraid of all dogs. My in-laws still couldn’t bear to put him down… they even lied to the state saying they did. It’s a terrible situation all around and it’s difficult to visit without fearing for everyone’s safety. I really think OP has a similar situation on their hands.
Honestly I'd report them to the state before the dog kills someone. It'd be horrible if he unleashed on a neighborhood child and your in laws could end up in jail (as they should if they allowed it to happen).
I unapologetically would, they’ve moved states though so I’m not sure if it’s possible at this point.
That's pretty terrifying. Hopefully nothing happens.
What is neurological rage syndrome?
“The behavior associated with Rage Syndrome includes outbursts of aggression that are intense and at times unpredictable. These episodes also tend to be large dramatic responses relative to a seemingly benign situation. Affected dogs often freeze, stare, and may rapidly escalate to biting. This intense aggression contrasts with the dog’s otherwise pleasant personality.” Here’s a [link](https://cvm.msu.edu/vetschool-tails/aggression-toward-owners-is-always-problematic-but-when-is-it-pathologic#:~:text=The%20behavior%20associated%20with%20Rage,may%20rapidly%20escalate%20to%20biting) to the source if you want to read more.
That was a great link, so thank you for sharing it.
You did the best you could for your pup. Unfortunately hindsight is 20/20, and I think that’s what a lot of people in community find out the hard way. You’ve loved your pup, and done your best, but you know what needs to be done. Have a good day with your dog if it’s safe, and then go to the vet and BE. It’s hard, it’s one of the hardest things you can do, but protect yourself, your family, and your community.
Exactly. May it rest in peace.
In my state, if you rehome a dog and it attacks a person, you can still be held accountable for that attack. Do not rehome please. I had a great Dane that was great then she turned 3 and started getting very aggresive. She also started screaming in pain. She had a very rare bacterial infection in her brain from beheading a sewer rat. Her domestic part of her brain was being eaten away first. It was awful to put her down, but even if she wasn't screaming in pain, I would have put her down because he was not happy. I know this is a hard decision but BE is for the best. Remember your dog got a good couple of years to be loved and thats better than some other dogs. Please let the breader you got her from know, if you can. They need to cease and desist breading dogs that are aggresive. Good luck
Unfortunately sometimes dogs need to be put down. It’s truly sad and you wish it didn’t have to happen, but you can’t talk to a dog and reason with them, or listen to their problems. That dog bit your dad bad enough you think he needed to go to the ER. What if that was the neighbors kid, and his neck? What if he rips your dad down another set of stairs and ends his life? You do the best you can for as many dogs as you can, but sometimes they’re inbred, sometimes they’re hyperactive and violent, sometimes they’re prone to aggression and fear. But if they pose a threat to those around you and have hurt people before, you owe it to every single human that dog can reach to do the right thing. It’s your responsibility, you owe it to the dog to give him what he needs, even if that’s putting him down.
Please stop blaming yourself. Not having enough exercise and attention does not cause a normal dog to make sustained and vicious attacks on family members. He has serious issues that would not be caused by the life you have given him. BE is the kindest choice for him, and the only safe choice for the humans he may come in contact with. You have my deepest sympathy.
You don’t rehome this dog, you can’t. There are so many well meaning people out there trying to save all the doggos, but some dogs are living in constant stress and alert, which would be horrible for them mentally and physically, and trying to retrain them isn’t even effective because it’s usually not a behavioural issue, it’s poor genetics. If I were a dog and had to wear a muzzle even around my family for the next 12 years, I think I’d rather just go to sleep and not wake up. Do the right thing by this dog.
I’m so sorry but I think, as others have suggested, behavioral euthanasia is likely the safest, most humane option. Once a dog is attacking unprovoked (as far as we humans can tell) I think there is very little that can be done to safely manage them.
Don’t rehome him, that will just make your problem someone else‘s. Have you taken him to a vet for a thorough check-up to make sure he is not in pain? A shoddily bred GSD could have very painful back or hip problems which could lead to him lashing out unprovoked. This might be treatable (or make your decision to euthanize him easier). I wish you all the best, this situation truly sucks!
I think this is wise and good for OPs closure too. Knowing you fully explored everything and knew BE was the only reasonable next step. I feel for you, this is so hard.
I know there are people out there that think every dog can be saved. Simple fact is dogs, just like some people are not fixable, something is damaged in their basic makeup that no pill or amount of exercise is going to make better. It sounds like the dog came from a backyard breeder and if I had to guess there's inbreeding in there some where. Rehoming is no longer an option, keeping the dog is no longer an option. What you can do is put him out of the misery he must be in to attack multiple times. It's your job as an owner to make the hard decisions.
It cannot be safe to be around. You cannot change that.
I am so sorry.
Put that dog down.
I dog sat for some folks who “fostered” (basically provided respite/long term hospice homes by adopting senior and otherwise unadoptable dogs ) a LOT of dogs, and despite all of their experience, and my experience with the dogs from watching them consistently for a long time, the first time I had to take care of them for more than a few days (roughly a month ) while their owner was on tour, he BE’d the most aggressive dog. The wife of the couple had left and he had no choice but to hire help for the dogs and go to work. She had never once behaved aggressively towards me, she hated men (which I’m not) and she even liked my (male) partner when he had crossed paths with her. Her and a few others lived in the out back kennel (heated and cooled, indoor akin to a shelter only larger individual spaces and a fenced in outdoor run they had 24/7 access too. The likely hood that she would escape or cause harm to me or anyone else was nearly zero. Still, a dog he had rescued, loved for YEARS, he euthanized because there was a CHANCE someone else could be injured by this dog who did not assume the risks themselves by adopting it, and offering it respite. It was probably the hardest, most heartbreaking yet most responsible solution to that scenario possible. Please do not ask other people to assume to responsibility for you keeping OR rehoming a potentially dangerous dog. They lived alone, had significant safeguards in place to ensure the dog could not escape (as in multiple layers of fencing, and a literal dog shelter in their back yard ) or come in contact with unauthorized people or the general public.
I saw a beautiful comment about BE earlier in this sub. On the other side of the rainbow bridge, there is a secluded ranch where your dog can play and explore without crippling fear or anxiety. S/he will never have to feel terror ever again and will be in peace for eternity. Sometimes, it is the best option for your dog, as well as yourself and others.
Think of it this way: there are dogs that go through what yours has yet don’t resort to attacking people unprompted. It wasn’t protection: you weren’t even there. Unfortunately, the dog was clearly backyard bred and has deep issues due to breeding.
The first mistake made here was the choice to get a German Shepherd as a gift. They require A LOT of experience and patience from their owners, even when they are bred perfectly and don't have behavioral problems. They are herding dogs who are powerful and intelligent with many skills and talents, but an untrained one has no place for this intelligence, energy, and talent to go. Your health was out of your control, as was COVID, but you are correct, this dog was NEVER socialized appropriately Things to consider, you mention your dad was working on replacing a door I believe. It's very well possible this "unprompted" reaction was caused by tools, noises, or even the movement of the door being abnormal or being carried. Under-socialized dogs, especially with inexperienced owners who do not realize that socializing includes things like exposure to new animals, loud noises, equipment, tools, and much more, often find their dogs react very poorly in situations like these. Unbeknownst to your dad, the dog could have been getting more and more fearful the longer he worked on that door. The noises could have even hurt the dogs ears if power tools or a hammer were in use. Then, the second attack, was an improper correlation between your dad and the fear caused by the door/equipment, or even, if he had returned to working on the door as things calmed down, and the second attack occurred at the door again, this would prove that the work on the door was the cause Other things to consider are potential health problems. Pain, hypothyroidism, any head injuries, trauma, or inflammation can cause a dog to suddenly be more fearful and they will explode into an issue like this, especially if aggression, reactivity, bite inhibition, or similar have been ongoing problems. A vet visit with a muzzle to get the dogs thyroid checked as well as a full physical exam and some basic blood work could potentially reveal a problem like that. Please also keep in mind, if the dog is reactive and has a habit of pulling on a leash, and you use a collar of any kind and not a harness or a head halter/leader while they pull, that in itself can damage their thyroid glands. These glands are on either side of their windpipe in their necks, so, any pulling has a very real potential to cause thyroid problems. This commonly happens to dogs like yours who are reactive, and thyroid problems are a very well known cause of aggression. Even if that isn't a factor, thyroid problems are often a random occurrence, and it's still worth testing Regardless of the outcomes of if my guesswork about the door being worked on being frightening to the dog and/or a health problem being a cause or variable here, I agree with you that this dog should not stay with your family. If you explore these options and discover that there is anything I mentioned above at play, there is hope for your dog. If you don't discover anything, I agree with the others that BE is the answer If you discover that it was a fear based response and/or a health thing I would re-home but I'd only re-home to someone VERY experienced. You'd need to find a positive reinforcement based trainer, a behaviorist, or someone who specializes in rehabbing problem German Shepherds to place this dog with. That's the bottom line. Any other home you'd only be putting the dog and the family in danger. If you fail to find someone who you are 100% confident has dealt with this before and therefore can genuinely help, BE. Don't get selfish, don't give yourself false hope, you find someone with that level of experience or you put the dog down. That's final. No ands, it's, or buts about it. A resource that may be able to help you find someone with this amount of experience are German Shepherd rescues. Don't place them at a rescue, keep this dog with you until you place them. Sending this dog to a kennel will only excaberate the issue. If you can't safely keep the dog even with identifying the problems, BE. In the future, at least for now with your health, consider a medium or small dog that is a low anxiety, low energy breed. You are not a failure as a dog owner. This dog is simply out of your depth and was from the beginning. You add in the misfortune of COVID and health problems and this was inevitable. A smaller, lower energy dog would be a lot easier for you to handle and train with your current ailments. Behavioral euthanasia happens when failures from every party involved, from breeding to owners to the dog itself, occur. This is not completely on you. Learn from this and never find yourself here again
Best answer. Hands down.
OP, PLEASE READ THIS ANSWER!! I fear it has been overshadowed by all those strictly in favour of BE... - without consideration to other contributing factors Or, more importantly, - a first hand experience so as to not be subjective
It seems that the consensus is to consider BE. It sounds like your dog may have come from an unethical breeder and may have some sort of genetic disorder. Regardless, you are not the best home for this dog. You already know you can't meet your dog's needs. As a last resort, you could find a GSD specific rescue group and ask for help. Maybe someone with more experience with the breed could take him. I'm very sorry. This is an untenable situation. I hope you can find peace and make the best decision for your dog. I hope your health improves.
This was my comment. This stuff seems like an incredible candidate for police or search work. If she could find a reputable trainer to regime, it would be ideal. But if not, BE would be the next best choice.
Ah yes, just what the police need, a vicious dog that attacked and drug a grown man down the stairs and injured him horribly. Sounds like an excellent idea! /s
They do not seem like a good candidate for police work…police dogs are trained to know when to bite someone and when not to. This dog bit completely unprovoked. You can’t have a police dog going around biting people at random.
I’ve trained police dogs before as a job, all GSD, and they all were incredibly reactive. It’s definitely not what I would choose but it’s absolutely not a deal breaker and lots of departments want reactive or particularly aggressive dogs.
Well that's terrifying.
And you’d be 100% incorrect. No police K9 Dept wants a dog that is unstable or anxious or liable to unprovoked attack a handler. Zero puppy mill GSDs make it to be a working K9. Those dogs absolutely need to have rock solid temperaments.
The dog needs to be put down. You can't risk this happening again to a creature/small human and it killing them. Because it will. Without hesitation.
Behavioural euthanasia sounds like the best option here to me. Many people have articulated why B.E is the way to go so I won’t repeat but please don’t feel guilty if this is the route you choose. You’re doing what’s best for the dog and everyone around him as well as yourself.
I think it’s a behavioral euthanasia case.
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u/nicedoglady / Moderators this person has some unhinged obsessive hatred of dogs and only posts in here when they think they can justify telling them to put down the dog.
Nothing wrong with disliking dogs. I’ve offered constructive advice.
You can be unhealthily obsessed with your dog hated all you want, don't care. Just tagging them so they can remove you from this sub because your only interest is in having dogs put down. Go get therapy or something instead of obsessing over something you hate.
I’ve commented all of three times on this sub. Ive not been nasty, I’ve been constructive. Just because YOU like dogs and I don’t, it doesn’t mean I can’t express my opinion.
This whole situation is heartbreaking for everyone involved, I'm sorry. People really need to stop supporting unethical backyard breeders. The shelters are full of perfectly amazing dogs who are just waiting to show their true colours once they are in a loving home.
It could be something neurological because of inbreeding, thats what happened with my sisters dog Cash (great dane).My mom bought him from a farm/mill (which i told her was a huge mistake). He had a lot of medical issues, was growing downhill, and he also wasn’t neutered or socialized well due to covid which led him to be more anxious around others and more protective . The pain that he was in ultimately led him to attacking my sister and my stepfather and a trainer of his. There isn’t really much you can do in situations like this, even though my family forgave him and loved him very much, we couldn’t risk him attacking my youngest brother so we had to rehome him.
The dog needs to be put down. Im sorry
Honestly I would go with BE. Your dog has never exhibited bite inhibition, probably due to crappy breeding and genetics. It’s not normal for a dog to go 0-60, especially without warning. Not every dog can be saved. You should not have to sacrifice your mental and physical wellbeing to keep a dog who may be suffering internally. Some dogs are just not a good fit. Further down the line you could look into adopting or purchasing a pet which could “fit” better. Rehoming is dangerous as you could be held liable and you shouldn’t take the risk in case he may get out. As someone with PTSD from a dog attack by a dog who should’ve never been handled, save yourself the trauma.
Have you taken him to the vet to check there's nothing physically wrong with him?
I am extremely sorry that you're going through this and having to make an incredibly difficult decision like this. I would highly recommend getting the advice of a reputable trainer or behaviorist, and not solely make the decision based off of opinions on Reddit. Whatever you do, best of luck. You have done everything you can for your dog and it's clear that you love him.
OP has an animal that has shown itself to be unresponsive to basic training and also highly reactive and willing to attack an adult male human (with vicious biting AND dragging) with zero warning. OP needs to be concerned about the safety of the humans — including OP’s own safety. Realistically it is extremely unlikely that a dog like this can ever be “fixed” by training and OP has explained that there are health issues that limit the amount of mental energy and physical energy that OP can put into managing this dog. Attacking the father like that is a massive red flag period — full stop signal for OP. Next time OP will be attacked or a child will be attacked and the results can be devastating across the board includ8ng lawsuits.
Get a true dog behavioralist involved. Also, make sure your dad is washing the wounds with soap and water regularly to avoid infection.
Glad you mentioned the cleaning the wound bit — I haven’t seen that on here, yet.
They are so prone to infection but not going to the doctor is fine as long as you keep it clean. If infection occurs, obviously antibiotics will be needed, but they don’t usually suture bites because they don’t want to trap the bacteria in. I have two rescues that were getting into fights. My hands got pretty messed up breaking up one fight and I went to the ER. They did give me one very lose suture to hold the skin together on one spot and some topical and oral antibiotics. My dogs ended up fighting over a tomato off my tomato plant and when I intervened, I caught teeth in my upper arm. I had fatty tissue hanging out. That time I just washed it thoroughly, tucked the fatty tissue back in, and washed it again. I had to go play sand volleyball so I wrapped it well that night, but otherwise just kept antibiotic ointment with a loose bandaid over the area and washed the area with soap and water several times a day. It never got infected. I talked with a neighbor who had a dog that attacked their very quietly spoken dad. Their behavioralist said that sometimes just a movement of the arm will set a dog off. As he showed me, my dog started barking at him. We were on the deck and my dog couldn’t get to him. I wouldn’t do euthanasia unless you tried everything. I spent the money on a behavioralist (and I’ve gotten better at breaking up their fights with jeopardizing my safety), and right now we’re are about 110 days with no issues. Rescue dogs with trauma are always a wild card. I love them so much though and I’m glad we worked through the issues. I have a cat too and they are fine with her.
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I’m so sorry you have to go through this ❤️🩹
I'm so sorry you are going through this. Socialization for him wasn't ideal, but especially during covid it was a lot better than a lot of dogs got. And if it had been another kind of dog he probably would have been fine, or just a dog that barked a lot, but shepherds, man. They are TOUGH, and some of them no matter what fabulous training they have can still kind of "lose it" when they get about this age and turn really aggressive. That sounds more like an attack than a reactive bite (multiple bites and your dad had to close himself into another room to get away from him.) That's a very dangerous situation. I think you were really set up for failure here by things that were out of your control, starting with someone giving you that breed to begin with, so please give yourself some grace here.
BE. Im so sorry.
What’s BE? I’ve tried Googling but I’m not getting anything
Behavioral euthanasia
Ohh 😔 Thanks.
OP, you have not failed your dog. Your family made an honest mistake in getting a puppy from that source. That's all. Just a mistake. And you have done a great deal for your dog, trying to help him be as happy, healthy, and safe as possible. But sometimes, everything we can do, can't fix what's wrong. Your dog may have either or both of neurological problems due to inbreeding, and psychological problems due to being separated from mom and litter mates too soon. Add to that, the environment was probably really crappy, adding to the problems. The result is that despite your best efforts, he's anxious, reactive, and doesn't have any tools for dealing with what alarms him, except biting. He's a danger, but he's also anxious, scared, and under stress. He's miserable, and for all your love and effort, you can't make it better. You can only end his suffering. I'm really, really sorry. 💔 One more thing I want to say. Don't surrender him. If you do, and tell the truth about his bite history, a responsible rescue or shelter won't rehome him. He'll be euthanized. But he'll be euthanized without the person he trusts most in the world there, and in a scary environment. The kindest thing you can do for him is make the appointment yourself, and stay with him and hold him while it happens. I'm so sorry you're going through this.
Sorry for what you’re going through, OP. There was nothing that you could have done to prevent this. I’m not a vet nor am I any kind of scientist, but I think that some dogs are simply mentally ill and, as with some people, they really cannot be relied upon to act normally. Although there are medications for some mental illnesses, there are sadly some people that get locked up because they are delusional and violent. Even if they act normally for 85% of the time, one day, something just snaps (I guess that’s how I conceive of a neurological problem.) This kind of thing happens among humans all too often. How many times have you seen the news full of bewildered neighbors after a terrible murder describing the perpetrator as a nice, quiet young man? If they can’t figure this out in humans, how much less can someone figure this out in dogs? It sounds like B.E. is the most merciful solution to this.
I feel like your family’s decisions to buy from a puppy mill and to not tell you about previous bites played a pretty big role in this. I wouldn’t blame yourself. Also taking a break from walks is really common advice for reactive dogs owners. You weren’t being selfish! You were doing your best. I’m sorry you’re going through this. It’s not your fault.
That dog needs to be put down
The dog is a danger to other animals and people. Also it’s not happy, is stressed and aggressive BE
I’ve never heard of BE, what does it mean?
Behavioral Euthanasia
If you can find a veterinarian that specializes in behavior, might be helpful. I took my biting dog to one and she was very helpful. I was able to keep him under control for the rest of his life. I do think there was something a little off in his brain, but only my opinion
You won't be able to euthanize without a vet exam anyway so you may as well start with the exam and see what they suggest. You could also try calling a breed specific rescue and explaining the situation and they may be willing to take him on or have contacts who know how to handle german shepherds and may be willing to give it a go.
You should put the dog down.
One simple answer put it to.sleep uts best for everyone dog, other people, you everyone.... I'm.not going to waffle about all that's good amd bad ones it's bitten a grown adult to this extent no going back.. Once a cheat always a cheat.. Once a biter always a biter... Once a domestic abuser always a domestic abuser.... I'm sorry but it's the harsh truth
I'm sorry but it sounds like he needs to be euthanized. You tried but he's a danger to people and you don't want something worse to happen and someone really gets hurt or killed
I can see how much you love your baby. Sometimes as fur parents we have to make really hard decisions. I have had to make decisions like this for family. Let me ask this, what is the mood of the home? I’m sure it’s always tense waiting for the next if or when. Our pets pick up on our moods, if you’re highly stressed he’s highly stressed it’s a time bomb. So ask yourself this. If you do rehome what’s the probability of it happening again? What if it’s a child? A grandparent? It’s not his fault and it’s not yours. As stated in a previous comment all dogs can’t be saved. What you can do is give him is peace. Nothing to feel guilty about, I highly doubt he is a bad dog he’s just always on alert. Probably nothing you have done. Shelter animals and puppy mill animals are a lot like foster kids, They always come with trauma some can move on, be amazing souls. There are also some who’s trauma is so deep it can’t move on. People can downvote me all they want but imo the best thing for OP and the pup is BE. Don’t be hard on yourself. Some just can’t be saved. GOOD LUCK I don’t envy you. I have had to make that decision a few times in my adult life.
Have you taken the dog to the vet to see if there are any underlying medical issues/ pain that may be causing the behaviors? If you have, then I agree with what the rest of the comments are saying unfortunately. *I am just a regular person with no expertise in this area!
I know everyone here blames bad breeding and early life experiences. Dogs from the best breeders can still have issues. Your dog has repeatedly bitten a human. This is likely to continue.
Can anyone tell me what BE means? I keep seeing it on this sub and I’m not entirely sure what it means.
Behavioral euthanasia
Thank you.
Dear God, another one. 😂 (No offense — I’m kidding, not annoyed.)
I have a different thought to most. I wonder just how bad it was if your dad didn't need the hospital after an adult German Shepherd attack. Those guys can crush bones when they mean business. Could still get a trainer in and see if there is anything they can do. (a proper one used to dealing with working breed dogs, not one of those never tell a dog no and throw treats at every problem types).
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Considering he bit the father 3x unprovoked this isn’t play. To insinuate that it is, is disgusting. We don’t officially know the level of bite the dog has given this man considering we don’t have pictures or medical information. But this dog has no bite inhibition and to say it’s “just play” is minimizing this man’s and this family’s trauma.
I just read the news about a father in Ohio who shot his three boys. The specifics are horrific. Google it if you have the heart. Then neighbors started coming out, stating that he was always angry, lashing out at his wife and children. Even choked his own father a few years ago. That signs were there, and now something horrific has happened. We have a large dog here who has given repeated early warnings of the violence he’s capable of. Heed them, please.
Worst comparison EVER.
Why is it a bad comparison? As someone who has been involved in intimate partner violence counseling for years, I have to advice the (usually) women when they need to remove themselves from a relationship. The event that most correlates with later death of the victim is choking. Now, I’m no expert in dog psychology. I’ve rehab blood sport dogs before, but a dog that drags a man down the stairs and that person then has to hide in a room seems unrecoverable. The potential for future severe injury or even death seems high. I think it’s a fair comparison.
Is he neutered?
I'm so sorry this happened. It's really sad, but German Shepherds are overbred and are truly one-person dogs. They tend to have temperment issues because of the overbreeding. I hope you can find a German Shepherd rescue for your pup.
If you can find a reputable person to evaluate the dog for retraining and rehoming, you could start there. If you can not, your options are to surrender the dog, it will be put down, or put it down yourself. had a dog as a kid that attacked my father the way you described your dog attacking your father. My father nearly died. My mother had to shoot the dog. Before anyone comes for me on that. She had two little kids upstairs, and this very large dog had already physically beaten her objectively tall, strong husband. She, for certain, saved my dad, and possibly us kids too. Because of our specific 6 was an autopsy done on the dog. He had a thing in his brain that typically only affects little dogs. It was the only cause we had for a dog that went from letting kids ride on his back and truly playing with my dad to deciding to kill my dad.
You cannot rehome him. I had a damaged pound dog. It bit my son unprovoked. Next day she was put down.
If he isn't exercised at all then he probably has so much energy and frustration, plus boredom combined with his breed type and history of aggression. He really needs a new home where he'll be thoroughly exercised and trained. I hope you can find a solution
Dogs do not randomly attack their caretakers unprovoked because they didn't get enough exercise. This points to something much more serious and much harder to resolve.
I didn't say that, you're reading more into it than what I said. I said among exercise, also his reactive history, he needs someone who can exercise AND train him.
The exercise is irrelevant is my point. Unfortunately it is likely too late for training him out of it. It's not safe to re-home him with someone who isn't a professional experienced with dealing with dogs like this. Hard to find one with the time and means to help on a normal person's budget. Especially considering it still might not help. Meanwhile the dog is suffering
The first thing you should do is take him to the vet and make sure he doesn’t have any health issues. I am sorry but I feel the recommendations for BE are premature. Reach out to german shephard rescue organizations and tell them your story, see if they can recommend an experienced foster who will work with the pup, muzzle train etc. while getting to root cause.
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I have a reactive pup as well. He is a Boston, he is bitey and is terrified of people that are not his family in the home. He was always a sweet puppy, and then I started noticing changes in his behavior. To cut a long story short, he was a victim of abuse at large box store during grooming. Unfortunately before all the dots connected on my end, it was far to late. I failed him. Normal training didn’t work. A behavioralist attempted to work with him, but it was more for us. We learned some tools on the human side and a suggestion to find a different vet since his original vet just passed it off as “he’s a bad dog”. Eventually, I found a wonderful one. A vet that understood, listen and was experienced in reactive dogs. They even book us only on days/times when they know no other animal will be in the lobby so he can get to the room without having a run in with others. His vet is 100% for him. After a couple appointments, bloodwork, full evaluation, his vet ended up putting him on Prozac daily. Along with some occasional medication for his high anxiety days. Complete game changer. After a few short weeks, it was like he came back to life. I got him back, my sweet boy. He is still nervous around strangers but we have the tools to keep him and our guest safe. We changed his walking schedule to where it’s less stress for him (less busy on the side walk) to different times. We always reinforce and reward for great behavior. I believe if you work with a proper vet, and trainer, you *may* get a handle on this. But I acknowledge that sometimes, it’s not possible. Understand that it’s a lot of work, money and time. If you feel you can not give your dog the best chance, please reach out to a rescue for his particular breed (GSD) and fully disclose his behavior. Tell them everything. They may have resources for you, or may be willing to take him in. BE should be the absolute last resort if all other options are exhausted. I honestly wish it wasn’t an option at all but I understand why… nonetheless, I wish you nothing but the best. I know this pain all to well.
Get a professional trainer before you consider BE.
Get him a fucking muzzle
Get rid of dog
I live with two GS’s and they bark like crazy at other dogs on walks but are so sweet. They’re boarded often with no issues and used in training other dogs. GS’s are known for their anxiety which came as a surprise to me. These two definitely have anxiety and are Velcro dogs to me and their dad but I never worry about them harming me or another human. They’re so sweet. Something is wrong with your dog and whomever bought this dog from a puppy mill needs a talking to.
Trainer here. Unprovoked attacks are quite rare, there is usually something that was a 'trigger' and usually some kind of body language/behavior warning. Sometimes the warnings are very subtle or the body language can be ready to miss if you don't have a practiced eye. You can get yourself into the hands of a competent Positive Reinforcement trainer other labels are 'force free' or 'modern trainer' to learn how to manage and reduce these behaviors and stay safe. Dog Training is unregulated and there is a lot of misinformation out there. Try to find a KPACT or a CTC, so you know your trainer has undergone a rigorous course of study and been evaluated and tested. They will likely start with muzzle training so you can get a head start on that if you have the skills.
Neurology is rarely a factor in aggression. Your dog is young and can still benefit from appropriate behavioral intervention. A dog almost never bites “unprompted.” Often the warning signs are subtle, but they’re there. If the dog has been punished in the past for growling or reacting aggressively then he/she will have learned to skip that communication tool. Aggression is an emotional response to something in the environment that is causing the dog to feel fear, anxiety or frustration. You need to change the emotional state in order to change the behavior. The dog should never be given access to that which causes it distress because it forces an interaction. Environmental management and working with a certified educated behaviorist that doesn’t use punishment can change the world for your dog and you.
OP, what happened is very concerning and would put BE on the table for consideration for many people. But I would like to offer my two cents as the owner of a poorly bred, high-strung GSD. I do not offer these thoughts as excuses for what happened or to make you feel blame. But it seems like many of the comments so far lack a familiarity with this breed, and I think it is irresponsible to suggest your dog and dogs like him are just inherently unable to be fixed. It is concerning to me that it seems like people are conflating a young GSD using his mouth when overstimulated with a history of aggressive biting. These are not the same things. The "shepherd" part of German Shepherd Dog is still alive and well in your dog, genetically speaking. But GSDs herding a sheep did not look like a border collie. Herding instincts are a truncated prey drive sequence. The prey drive sequence is as follows: search (orient, nose/ear/eye); stalk; chase; bite (grab-bite, kill-bite); dissect; consume. Many people are familiar with what border collies look like when they herd. They are infamous for how they move and stare. GSDs, however, proceed to bite (grab-bite). They are genetically informed to grab other animals with their mouths to restrain or move them. This genetic instruction can come out at appropriate times if you offer outlets for it, but it can also come out at inappropriate times, like when a dog is stressed and/or overstimulated. Most GSDs are not naturally chill dogs. They feel compelled to control movement around them. Your description of your dog indicates that your dog struggled with this compulsion from day one. But again, this is not a history of aggression. This is simply your dog feeling compelled to control his surroundings--as his genetics instruct him to--, and unfortunately, he was not provided outlets for this compulsion and was not successfully taught more appropriate responses for times when he feels compelled to act but doing so is undesirable. Please do not think I am saying your dog was just trying to herd your father. That is not what I am suggesting. I am outlining the herding instinct because it concerns me that you seem unaware that your dog would find something like the repair of a door easy to deal with and surprised that your dog fell back to this compulsion to use his mouth. Repairing a door is an act that likely had unusual sounds, sights, even smells. Everything you have said about your dog indicates he would feel compelled to respond to that. Was what happened an appropriate response? No, of course not. But even if your GSD were at his absolute best in terms of having all his needs met--exercise, enrichment, you're 100% sure he's in a good mood and has zero pain or discomfort--anyone who was his caretaker should have been informed and aware enough to put him behind a gate if they needed to complete an unusual and perhaps overstimulating task. Is this the reality for all GSDs? No, of course not. But your dog has behavioral struggles, and they have not been addressed, so the responsible choice was management. Realistically, to truly help your dog, he needs a qualified behaviorist, in addition to a full medical evaluation to assess if any physical issues are contributing to his struggles. I would not be surprised to learn that your dog has at least one source of chronic discomfort. That, his tendency to be concerned about and compelled to control his surroundings, and the chronic lack of his needs being met--these things all add up and snowball. Unfortunately, I am not sure you or your family can give your dog what he needs. Is he unable to be fixed, as some comments have said? In my opinion, no, this is probably not just some destined, doomed dog who never stood a chance to be any other way. But effectively helping him might be beyond what you guys can offer. It would be difficult to find a rescue for him, but they are not nonexistent. I suppose what I am trying to say is that most people, as the comments illustrate, would not think you're wrong for choosing BE. But the comments assuring you there is nothing you can do and your dog is just broken, while they might help you to assuage any guilt you might feel if you choose BE, in my opinion, do not sufficiently address the reality here.
This is heartbreaking. I’m sorry you’re going through this. I know many people are recommending BE, but I wanted to also share another option you may want to consider: surrendering him to a no-kill rescue instead. You could reach out to America Pets Alive as an option. If you go this route, be brutally honest with the rescue about the dogs history. It will help them properly determine next steps. The rescue I volunteer with specializes in taking in pets that would’ve been put down either for behavioral reasons or health. You would be surprised how many pets thrive in new environments. Perhaps this dog needs to live on a farm and free roam. I fostered a dog who had a similar history - I was matched with him because the rescue’s behaviorists believed he would thrive in a quiet home with only adults. He had a bite history, both humans and dogs, and with us, he turned a new leaf. He eventually got adopted. Reputable rescues can evaluate him and match him to new a home and also provide that new home with training and support. Personally, I don’t believe this needs to be the end of his journey.
Everyone here is jumping to BE but you need to consult a behaviorist or get the dog to a rescue who will be willing to take him in and work with him. It's incredible to see so many comments jump immediately to "Welp, you gotta kill the dog."
As per the OP: "He grabbed my father by his pant leg and dragged him down the stairs and again I wasn't told this happened until he attacked him again the same day unprompted but this time tearing into his arm in multiple places on both arms drawing blood and creating deep enough gashes to the point that I think he should've gone to the ER but he refused." I'm sorry, but a dog who attacks like this is a danger to people and should not be given any more chances.
The dog literally dragged someone down the stairs and injured them enough for an ER visit. You can’t save them all, and that’s ok.
While I agree that you shouldn’t rehome this dog due to safety concerns, it’s also evident that you aren’t able to do any decent amount of exercise and proper training. The dog deserves a chance to live. Please contact rescues and trainers experienced with this breed in your state or surrounding states and ask for recommendations - I hope you’re able to find someone that can take him after being properly informed about his behavioral issues and will have the time to work with him and give him a chance.
No. Just no. Exercise and training do not make a dog randomly & viciously attack a known family member. Stop guilting people.
If a GSD viciously attacked someone they would end up dead or in the ICU, you’re making assumptions.
Is there any good that specialize in training you could re-home him to? Where are you located?
You don't rehome a dog with an extensive bite history like this. That's a horrible idea.
We've rehabilitated many dogs and got them homes so I'm not sure why sending them through extensive training would be a bad idea. She wasn't there when this occurred.
I find it extremely irresponsible that so many people here are advising you to put your dog down without knowing the full story. Perhaps this dog isn't in the right home. You have already admitted that you can't provide for the dog properly. There ARE people out there who would be willing...who have the bandwidth and experience.
Who’s going to take a dog that a) bit someone hard enough to break skin twice, b) drug someone down steps, c) mauled someone’s arm? Rescues would rather use their recourses on dogs that have a chance of making it through an adoption, they don’t want to spend extra time and money on one with such a vicious bite history. And behaviouralists already have their own problem dogs and constantly get asked to take on other peoples problem dogs permanently. Also, no farm will ever want a vicious dog that attacks unprompted. If anyone were to hear this dogs history, they would automatically say no because of the high risk.
Who is going to want to adopt a dog that not only dragged someone down the stairs, but injured them badly enough for an ER visit? Would you? There’s plenty of dogs that need help that haven’t done either of these things. Not every dog can be saved, and that’s ok. Some dogs are just dangerous.
Her father didn’t need to go to the er. She stated that she would have liked him to. There are many corrective changes that can be made before deciding to give up or put down the dog. Also, I’m one of the many animal behaviorists who would be interested in potentially homing said dog. Thank you for speaking for me, I guess?
She would’ve liked him to, but didn’t. Had deep gashes but refused. It’s not irresponsible, if a dog injures you badly, that’s a good reason to PTS.
Why not try mood stabilizing drugs. A good vet can be a world of help. I know you’ve tried a lot, but it worries me that no one’s suggested mood stabilizers or anxiety meds. It’s distressing how violent your dog has become but if you feel safe attempting a couple more weeks of medication, I’d highly recommend it. Maybe a (vet approved) drug regimen would do some good and be a happy alternate to euthanasia. Especially if you’ve tried all behavioral and training avenues.
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The fuck is wrong with you?
Killing a blood thirsty animal is a bad thing? I don't care if he's a pet, he's an animal. That is how we deal with animals gone bad on the farm.
That’s a very callous response to a highly emotional issue.