I'm writing this with an extremely heavy heart.
We have a 5 year old golden retreiver/shepherd mix that we got from the pound when she was 6 months old. She had been picked up by the pound and they owner didn't come forward for 2 weeks while the pound advertised that she'd been found. When we went in to get her the original owner came forward and tried to exert his rights of ownership. The animal shelter had to go through a hearing to terminate his rights before we could get her.
When we brought her home it was immediately clear that she had been abused by a man. She hid under a chair for 3 days and for nearly 6 months my husband couldn't even raise his voice without her crouching and peeing. To this day she gets very aggressive toward men with deep voices and driving big, dark trucks.
This is the problem, over the years she has gotten more and more aggressive toward people. At first, the aggression was just toward other dogs that would enter the yard. She would chase them out and fight with them if they didn't leave. She still goes after dogs that come in the yard, but has learned to stop the chase if we say no. However, the aggression toward people seems to be getting worse. If she's outside with us and someone walks in the yard, she'll bark but is fine. The problem is when people come to the door. She goes insane and we don't dare open the door without someone having a hand on her collar. Once she sees the person and relaxes she's a calm as can be.
She's bitten twice. Once was when a friend came to the door and my daughter opened the door without letting me get ahold of Hunny. Hunny lunged out the door and jumped on the guy and bit his elbow, drawing blood but no serious wounds.
Tonight was the second event. Our neighbor came to the back sliding glass door with her dog (whom Hunny doesn't like) and after knocking gently the neighbor (a women) opened the door before I could get ahold of Hunny. Hunny grabbed the woman's hand, ripped her glove and bit her extremely hard. It drew blood and I think she's going to need stitches. (She wouldn't let me take her to the ER). She felt at fault, because she knew she shouldn't have opened the door, but that's still no excuse for the dog's behaviour.
Now we have to decide what to do. I don't know how to train this aggression, because it's always circumstantial. Other than the situations I describe, she's got the gentle personality of a golden retreiver. Children can climb all over her, I can leave her in the yard with our chickens, ducks, cats and other dogs and she never is aggressive toward them - overly protective is more like it.
I know I should have her put down, but she's such a sweet animal overall. It will break my 8 year old's heart (as well as mine) and will impact our older Boston, who's very close to Hunny.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I've thought about shock collar training, but with her past history, this could backfire, couldn't it? She also might interpret it as abuse.
We're all in tears tonight because we can't see any other options. And no, I wouldn't rehome her, because that would just be passing the issues on to someone else.
Please help
We have a 5 year old golden retreiver/shepherd mix that we got from the pound when she was 6 months old. She had been picked up by the pound and they owner didn't come forward for 2 weeks while the pound advertised that she'd been found. When we went in to get her the original owner came forward and tried to exert his rights of ownership. The animal shelter had to go through a hearing to terminate his rights before we could get her.
When we brought her home it was immediately clear that she had been abused by a man. She hid under a chair for 3 days and for nearly 6 months my husband couldn't even raise his voice without her crouching and peeing. To this day she gets very aggressive toward men with deep voices and driving big, dark trucks.
This is the problem, over the years she has gotten more and more aggressive toward people. At first, the aggression was just toward other dogs that would enter the yard. She would chase them out and fight with them if they didn't leave. She still goes after dogs that come in the yard, but has learned to stop the chase if we say no. However, the aggression toward people seems to be getting worse. If she's outside with us and someone walks in the yard, she'll bark but is fine. The problem is when people come to the door. She goes insane and we don't dare open the door without someone having a hand on her collar. Once she sees the person and relaxes she's a calm as can be.
She's bitten twice. Once was when a friend came to the door and my daughter opened the door without letting me get ahold of Hunny. Hunny lunged out the door and jumped on the guy and bit his elbow, drawing blood but no serious wounds.
Tonight was the second event. Our neighbor came to the back sliding glass door with her dog (whom Hunny doesn't like) and after knocking gently the neighbor (a women) opened the door before I could get ahold of Hunny. Hunny grabbed the woman's hand, ripped her glove and bit her extremely hard. It drew blood and I think she's going to need stitches. (She wouldn't let me take her to the ER). She felt at fault, because she knew she shouldn't have opened the door, but that's still no excuse for the dog's behaviour.
Now we have to decide what to do. I don't know how to train this aggression, because it's always circumstantial. Other than the situations I describe, she's got the gentle personality of a golden retreiver. Children can climb all over her, I can leave her in the yard with our chickens, ducks, cats and other dogs and she never is aggressive toward them - overly protective is more like it.
I know I should have her put down, but she's such a sweet animal overall. It will break my 8 year old's heart (as well as mine) and will impact our older Boston, who's very close to Hunny.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I've thought about shock collar training, but with her past history, this could backfire, couldn't it? She also might interpret it as abuse.
We're all in tears tonight because we can't see any other options. And no, I wouldn't rehome her, because that would just be passing the issues on to someone else.
Please help
