Poll to help make a hard decision. Please offer your input. Pics

[stoopid]

I hope you find an answer. Strength to you both.

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

Personally he needs some intensive training; needs to learn that you are in charge and I put him on a feeding schedule, no more free choice feeding. A no kill shelter may not even accept a pit bull and open admission shelter may not be able to place a pit bull with a family.

Jim

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I think you should keep him and just work on his behavioral problems. Try penning, walking, training, bones etc. Also as another poster above said make sure everything is ok with him. At nine years old I would run a blood panel to make sure everything is still ok with him internally.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Let me start by saying that you are the one who has to make the decision, and you are the one who knows your dog best. I can only give you input based on a quick internet description. We had to euthanize our Aussie mix because he had degenerative epilepsy that was causing aggressive outbursts and attacks. He was a loving and well behaved dog when he wasn't having seizure activity, and it was the most heartbreaking thing I've had to do with a pet. Before we found out the cause though, we had people telling us that he thought he was dominant, that we needed to be alpha, that he was bored, that he needed a treadmill, that he needed a raw food diet, and so on. We knew this wasn't accurate for our dog, and it just made the whole process more painful. So, bottom line is, you have to do what you feel is right in the end.

The sudden behavior change is what I would focus on when speaking with a vet. To me, it does sound like he was used to paling around with mom, and is bored and stressed as a result. I would definitely try things like hiking or playing energy intensive games with him for a few weeks. If that doesn't have any effect at all, I think you would be better equipped to make a decision from there, as you would have more insight as to whether that seems to be the issue, a related issue, or not the issue at all. If he was showing aggression at all, my answer would be very different. But, it sounds like you have at least a bit of time (if making a pen in the mean time) to explore that route or any others that seem like they might apply to your situation. I would also be careful to not leave him alone in the pen for long ammounts of time, as that is likely to worsen the situation. Best of luck to you.

 

[CatUT]

Since I'm not a dog trainer and don't always know much where dog behavior is concerned, why don't you just give the attention that the dog seems to want? Maybe once he feels like he's getting enough, things will calm down. We had to put down our pit/lab just over a year ago. She was 12 and had had a stroke a year before that. We worried about our Husky/Shepherd as the older dog had practically raised her from when we got her at 6 weeks as an abandoned puppy. She already had some behavior issues that we worried terribly about becoming worse with the loss of her companion. Thankfully it didn't work out that way. We found that the Husky/Shepherd likes being the only dog. I think she thinks she's the alpha dog now. Most of her bad habits are gone and she's picked up a few of the great habits that the older dog did. She even alerts my husband when his blood sugar is off. All we did is pay more attention to her and let her have the privileges that the older dog had. She's been a happy dog every since.