I may be putting Buddy down...

[herefordlovinglady]

I am sorry you are having to deal with this. You know in your heart what the right thing to do is.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I agree with Rin, try a session with a behaviourist first, then go with that
I did the same thing AFTER my new dog bit me and drew blood. I returned him to the no-kill shelter I got him from after I told them he was dog-aggressive. If I had said person-aggressive, they would have put him to sleep. He got adopted by the shelter manager

 

[duckluck]

You got my vote for putting him down. I worked too long out in the field in neighborhoods all around Chicagoland here to make a reply that is objective or in favor of a biting dog. I know I might get hate mail from the dog lovers on the board, but that is something I can live with. Other people or animals may not be able to live, literally, with a biter, especially a known biter.

If it makes you feel any better, there are plenty of dogs out there in need of rescue that aren't known biters. You could always give one of them a chance instead of the one you already know to be a liability. Many biters can be trainable but at what cost, is always the question. I personally wouldn't put up with the dog I have here now biting any animal here, much less a person. I have too many more valuable animals here and too many loved guests to allow it. Good luck to you!

 

[breezy]

I work with extremely aggressive dogs for a living. It is my professional opinion that not all dogs can or should be saved. This is the harsh truth of rescue work. I believe that a humane euthanasia of this dog would be the best thing. Sending this dog to shelter is only passing the problem on and truly is not fair to the animal.I dont know what the laws are where you live but here the liability for a biting dog would stay with you so if you were to pass this dog on to someone else knowing full wee there was a bite history. and the dog bit someone under new ownership then YOU are liable not the new owner because you knew the dog had a bite history. This is a serious liability issue and you stand to lose a lot financially if the dog nails someone more seriously. It is a hard decision and a gut wrenching one . You have my sympathies for the position you are in .
Best wishes

 

[Brindlebtch]

Quote:
Do you realize you could have been responsible for a child being disfigured for LIFE? That was a very irresponsible thing to do. You were very lucky.

 

[bumpershoot]

This type of situation is always hard. You are going to have to look into your heart and make a decision that none of the rest of us are going to have to live with.

As you are soliciting opinions, I will offer up my thoughts. As the owner of dogs that fought, I chose to split my house up into individual sections that only the dogs that lived there got, ie, one set of dogs got the front of the house and another got the back. There were TWO doors between the sets. When dogs were being exercised EVERYONE knew who was out and where all the other dogs were. When we had company the dogs split time with the company. When we had stay over company dogs slept in crates and were out in turns. Sounds hard on the dogs, yes? It's even harder on the humans. You ALWAYS have to know where everyone is and if they have had their needs met for the day. Not just food and water, but exercise, training and companionship. You don't go on vacation under these circumstances unless you can find help that can, worse case, break up a dog fight. You will also need an emergency plan. What are you going to do if the house burns or there is a natural disaster of some sort? How are you going to move dogs at the same time, under stressful circumstances, that don't get along? I personally had a huge Ford van that had crates permanently installed, but I was also showing dogs at the time.

Now on to the part that really bugs me. Dogs that bite humans because they are afraid. You don't like being bit. You company is definitely going to take a grim view of a blood and flesh donation. It is inevitable that someone at sometime is going to make this dog afraid and its going to bite them. You cannot control everything and if you had had the ability to train the dog or find a good dog trainer, that should have been done BEFORE the dog became a known biter. This dog is now a known liability. Your house insurance is going to drop you like a hot potato if they ever find out or, heaven forbid, you get sued. If you take this dog to a no-kill shelter you are going to find that they are going to ask you if it's a biter. Yes it is. Guess what? If you turn the dog into the shelter it's going to cycle the poor thing to a kill shelter where it will be put down. Conversely, if you lie and say no and the dog bites someone the shelter is going to put the dog down and come back to have a conversation with you about why you lied. So, rather than being put down with someone who cares, its going to be shuffled, frightened and confused and then put down. Ugly? Yes. Heartbreaking? Absolutely. But consider, would it be more or less ugly and heartbreaking to have to deal with the consequences of this dog seriously injuring a human? Taking on a dog that has been abused or has "issues" takes skills. A dog that is a known biter takes LOTS of skills and liability insurance.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Sadly we are in the same position as bumpershoot. We have one dog that is very dog aggressive but has always been good with humans, thank goodness. 2 dogs loose, 1 dog crated. 1 dog loose, 2 dogs crated.

The rest of the aggressive dog's litter was put down for uncontrollable aggression because the owners didn't know what to do. We were at least able to make our dog people friendly, but we are ALWAYS very careful with her. It is very stressful and almost impossible to have overnight guests because you can't trust them to close doors or make sure the other dogs are crated and everything is safe with the same care we do. We had two fights the last time my sister stayed with us, so guess who isn't coming to visit again for a very long time?

 

[jerseygirl1]

No - I would not have been liable

My error for not adding all that I knew about the dog

The dog had been returned before me for biting someone else - the shelter manager knew that - I have nothing to be sorry for

If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all - What you wrote was uncalled for

This is a forum, - not everyone writes a 20 page history on every topic - I kept it short - The subject I was writing about was about getting a behaviourist to evaluate the dog, not the history of how the dog had been abused for 7 years then tossed on the side of the road and sat in a shelter for 6 months, bit someone, was returned and adopted by me. Then, bit me, was eavluated, determined to be so deeply scarred for rehabilitation that I spoke to the shelter manager who said asked me to return him since he was her favorite and kept in touch with us. She, in turn, adopted said dog.

Happy?

 

[Rin]

I never said send him to a pound without informing them or even one that didn't know how to handle the situation. I even specifically said to ask them first. Again, some no-kill shelters have trained professionals. Hence JUST ASKING around. It never hurts to ask. Also, I wonder how the heck person A could be responsible by signing over a dog to person B(the pound) if person B then turns around adopting out to person C - why exactly would that come back to person A who no longer even has any legal rights over the dog anymore? I have yet to find a pound that doesn't have you sign over custody and all legal rights to the animal when you bring it in. Just a thought.

That said though, death might be kinder. I just want to make sure you feel you thought of everything first. Rehabilitation/pounds that deal with that sort of thing weren't being suggested when they should have been. Especially if rehabilitating him yourself was out of the question. I didn't have the time to do so with Bear, that is why he's no longer with me. I tried for three months but he was simply too much for me.

 

[Cara]

If he is acting that way, he is not happy. Whether it's due to anger or fear or whatever is irrelevant. A dog that exhibits such behaviour is disturbed. I understand the difficulty in making the decision, I love dogs dearly and wouldn't take such a decision lightly. I agree with previous posters, there are worse things than death, and I believe living in a constant state of aggression is one of those things.