Dog- need advice.

[MROO]

So I have a Lab and Great Pyrenees mix. He is 3 years old and is neutered. He never had agression towards other animals till we moved to our new piece of land a year or so ago.
Since moving here he has killed alot of things. Our chickens free ranged and then one day we came home to half the flock about 10 dead. We stopped that by keeping them in the coop, but he got through the neighbors fence and killed all theirs too.
After that we completely fenced our property in nonclimb 6 foot wire and nothing is around the fence for him to use to get out.
Well that was the beginning. He killed all the rabbits on the property which was fine since they were pests.Then some stray cats I think 3 so far which came into the property.
Now here is my biggest issue he has now killed 4 dogs. All of them have came into our property and into his allowed zone from his collar. We have him centered in the property with a shock zone collar to prevent him escaping the property on top of a very secure fence. He is not allowed to be close to any of the perimeter fencing by like 25 feet.
This past week was his latest victim and I have been aruging with my husband for a week on how to handle this situation.
Despite the fencing and zone collar he is still killing things.
We have a small child with another on the way and I am worried this aggressive behavior may transfer to kids too.

I feel like he has done enough to be euthanized. Please help! Give some advice or reassure us that this is the right decision.

It sounds like your "older child" is young - toddler or at least below school aged. I'm sure he or she has friends and/or cousins of around the same age, or will at some point. So you and your husband have a serious question to ask. One that requires a brutally honest assessment and answer. If our child and another youngster squabble over a toy or rough-house in a game, can you trust your dog's response? Even though he has yet to show aggression to a person and would not likely harm "his" family, ever, can you honestly trust him with other children, especially if he honestly thinks he's defending his own?

I am the last person to advocate putting a dog down, but I'm the first to defend the safety of a child. Think hard on this one. I don't envy you the decision, or even the discussion, but you need to honestly address the possibility. Only you know the answer, but it may well be time or this dog to move on ... one way or another.

 

[hillbilly91]

A dog that defends its territory with that degree of violence is not a dog that is safe to have around. You can't blame the dog, but you can decide that euthanasia is the best option. By that, I mean you don't treat the dog like something evil, you treat it like an animal with a quirk of some sort that makes it particularly dangerous. No blame, no anger, just logic.

We have no fence up but i can tell you now our 125lb and 110lb cane corsos will eat your tail up if your not supposed to be here animal or person but they have never harmed our kids. Sadie is now 8yrs old and Sydney is 3yrs old. Never had a issue. Don't blame a dog for human ignorance or human negligence

 

[TheOgdensmenagerie]

Did I read here that he recently made a 'sudden move' towards your toddler? That's just not acceptable, regardless of anything else he's done.
Also, owning a dog who works to kill any animal he meets is a huge liability; how much have you already paid out in damages? Heartbreak over pets killed? Do you still have farm/ homeowner's insurance, or been canceled?
Apparently your yard isn't escape proof either, as he's been out there doing serious damage to others.
This isn't a good story, and can't have a good ending.
I agree that euthanasia is the best (only) option here.
Mary

I think you misread a bit. Once he got out since then we have made every effort to prevent that and he has not left the yard except tied in our truck or trailered out with us. We put up property fence and shock zone collar. We have been very lucky that the animals that were killed were strays. We checked all our neighbors and none owned the dogs. We live out here a ways and people feel it's a great area to dump unwanted pets and pests like raccoons.

 

[TheOgdensmenagerie]

It sounds like your "older child" is young - toddler or at least below school aged. I'm sure he or she has friends and/or cousins of around the same age, or will at some point. So you and your husband have a serious question to ask. One that requires a brutally honest assessment and answer. If our child and another youngster squabble over a toy or rough-house in a game, can you trust your dog's response? Even though he has yet to show aggression to a person and would not likely harm "his" family, ever, can you honestly trust him with other children, especially if he honestly thinks he's defending his own?

I am the last person to advocate putting a dog down, but I'm the first to defend the safety of a child. Think hard on this one. I don't envy you the decision, or even the discussion, but you need to honestly address the possibility. Only you know the answer, but it may well be time or this dog to move on ... one way or another.

I said we have a Small child, not "older child". Lol She is 3 with a sibling on the way. We don't allow the dog around other children when they are around. He is put up in the pen during that time. I do not trust him around other children and have recently questioned him around our own. He is never left alone with our child that is for sure.
It's a crappy decision but I think my husband is finally convinced it's the right one. I have been on that page for a while now unfortunately.

 

[ShannonR]

The next question is ... would YOU take this dog? I seriously doubt anyone ( except maybe a dog fighting ring) would take a gamble on him.

Perhaps silver warrior cares so much about this animal's life that (s)he will pay all of the expenses to have this dog shipped off on a one way trip to the dog Whisperer or something.

 

[Fishkeeper]

If you're afraid to have him around your children, this is 100% the right decision. It's not worth the risk. Besides that- the life of one dog vs the lives of who knows how many other dogs, cats, and chickens? No contest.
(and by the way- the so-called Dog Whisperer is a dog abuser working off of faulty logic based on misconceptions about wolves- not even misconceptions about dogs. He intimidates dogs into behaving. None of his methods are trustworthy.)

 

[MROO]

I think you misread a bit. Once he got out since then we have made every effort to prevent that and he has not left the yard except tied in our truck or trailered out with us. We put up property fence and shock zone collar. We have been very lucky that the animals that were killed were strays. We checked all our neighbors and none owned the dogs. We live out here a ways and people feel it's a great area to dump unwanted pets and pests like raccoons.

Don't you love it whe people think it's better to dump a dog "out in the country where they can find a good home" instead of responsibly taking them somewhere they can be safe while someone tries to rehome them? And people call critters "dumb animals." The animals aren't always the "dumb" ones!

 

[TheOgdensmenagerie]

Don't you love it whe people think it's better to dump a dog "out in the country where they can find a good home" instead of responsibly taking them somewhere they can be safe while someone tries to rehome them? And people call critters "dumb animals." The animals aren't always the "dumb" ones!

Yes it bothers me so much to see all these animals dumped around here!!
So many puppies it's surprising. I feel bad for them all. the animal shelter knows us all on first name basis due to us few neighbors calling for them to come pick up all the dumped animals.

 

[hillbilly91]

So many of yal are quick to judge this situation when nothing human related has happened. It's in the dogs breed to protect.

 

[centrarchid]

I think you need to be getting help from someone with expertise on dogs and able to asses the dogs behavior first hand. We people of the internet either lack the expertise (I am among those having expertise even though have had a good 15 dogs in my life) or unable to make on the ground assessments.