At a loss as to what to do with my dog...

[rileyandfredsmom]

We have a dog we adopted when he was 1 year old. He is now 6 1/2 years old and we don't know what to do with him. Let me explain, he is very unpredictable.

Shortly after we got him he attacked one of our cats, fortunately, my DH was there and the situation did not get out of hand, no one required medical attention. He subsequently bit at this cat 2 more times and we decided to get with a behaviourist to get his behaviour under control. He was trained to be the lowest dog in our pack with the cats above him. So much so that I could put his food out and a cat could come up and start eating it and he would back off until the cat had finished.

He is also a car/bicycle chaser. One day, I was out walking him and a child on a bike sped up to us and then slammed on his brakes within reach of my dog. The dog jumped up and bit the child on the thigh. He broke the skin, tore the child's shorts. Fortunately for us, the mother was there and took some of the responsibility for her child approaching a strange dog in the way that he did. She didn't sue us or make us put the dog to sleep...we were very lucky. Now, when I walk him, he has to be muzzled....I will not go through that nightmare again. No matter what we or the behaviourist have done, we have not been able to break him of this behaviour.

We have been going along fairly well of late, until last night. We always watch the cats very carefully when they are around Charlie. While we were watching TV last night, I noticed one of our cats was loving on Charlie's head and noticed that Charlie was getting very tense so I called the cat's name and started to get up but it was too late, in the blink of an eye, Charlie went after the cat. He did get ahold of him but when when DH started yelling Charlie let go (DH is the pack leader and Charlie respects that at least). No damage was done to the cat....Charlie immediately went into a submissive posture and was kenneled up for the remainder of the night.

I am now debating what to do with Charlie. His aggressivness is very unpredictable...the cats love on him all the time, we can't figure out why it sets him off only sometimes. His inability to be around children is frustrating because it makes taking him out in public very difficult. He has been aggressive with my DH on occasion as well but that has pretty much been eliminated. He has never been aggressive with me but I'm scared of what he might do in the future. If I knew his triggers that would be one thing but they aren't consistent (other than the bikes).

I contacted the rescue when these first signs of aggression came out but they wouldn't take him back and wanted me to foster him until they had had a chance to evaluate him to decide whether he was adoptable or if they would have to put him to sleep. We decided to work with the behaviourist before going that route. Now, we are 5 years later and still having some of the same problems. I don't want to give him to a rescue because I am afraid they would adopt him out again without telling people about his problems and even if they did, someone might think "Oh, he's a good boy, I'm sure his other people just didn't work with him" and then put him in a situation where he fails. At times, I feel like my only choice is to euthanize him. We have worked on this problem for 5 years and I still can't trust him. Keeping the dog and cats seperate is not an option, I have a small home and they all live inside with us, it just isn't feasible.

I don't know what to do at this point. I've worried and cried about this all night and thought maybe some of you ladies could give me some different points of view. He is a sweet, loving dog, other than this....that is what makes it all the more difficult of a decision.

Thank you!

[greenbunny]

It sounds like you've tried a number of the suggested remedies for his aggression. Do you have a way of learning more about his history? That might help you determine his triggers more effectively. For example, a dog who's been abused by being beaten with a broom may freak out when they see anything shaped like that.

Also, have you considered behavior medication?

[fuzzy]

Well, I'm wondering a couple of things:

1) Does Charlie have doggie friends and, if so, how does he behave around them?
2) Is private re-homing an option? There may be some people how disagree with me, but...we (me and my parents) have introduced lots of dogs and cats and there are some dogs that just can *not* live with cats. Be it aggression or their prey drive, it just doesn't work.

[Sue]

Can you elaborate more on his aggression issues? IMO, cat aggression isn't a reason to euth a dog and the bike incident sounds like he was startled.

[jajacobsen]

Gosh it sounds like you have gone through a lot with your dog and I applaud you for the effort.

I think your dog does have issues, but not uinsurmountable. I would talk to a vet about an anti-anxiety medication, which may lesson the stress/tension with the cats. I would also see if you coudl work some with a dog behaviorist, specifically addressing thsi issue.

As far as teh bicycle incident, I agree it sounds somewhat isolated. That said, I have two big, bouncy dogs and people can be uncomfortable around them, so their mornign walk, when they are most likely to be super energetic, occurs at 6-6.30am, simply because their are few people out and about at that time. I thnk that maybe you'll have to be alert to avoid areas where kids might do things that woudl scare your dog. Honestly, I think the dog thought he was being attacked. Thank goodness the parent was reasonable.

[jesvet]

I would at least talk to a rescue before euthanizing. Cat aggression is a lot easier to deal with than people aggression IMO. Rehoming with a family that doesn't have cats. Happens all the time. If you go the rehoming route.

[jesvet]

There may be some people how disagree with me, but...we (me and my parents) have introduced lots of dogs and cats and there are some dogs that just can *not* live with cats. Be it aggression or their prey drive, it just doesn't work.

This has been my experience as well. If they see them as prey...it is very difficult to control.

[colleenjoy]

I'm sorry you are having problems, obviously you aer a good doggie mom, you just want what's best for your dog.

I agree with what everyone has said about possible finding a home without cats. I work with a rescue for german shorthaired pointers. 90% of our dogs have to go to homes without cats. it's just in their nature to have a very high prey drive for small animals. we never could have cats in our home.

what kind of dog is Charlie? it might just be in his nature to have a high prey drive, and with the work you have done with the behaviorist charlie has been able to suppress it up to this point. i think you should avoid having charlie in the same room as the cats, even supervised.

please look into finding a cat free home, i know it's not the easiest thing to do, but there are lots of cat free homes.

any reputable rescue will not adopt out an animal without being open about any issues it may have. check on petfinder.com to find rescue groups in your area.

good luck, I hope things work out for you and charlie (and your cats).

[Peppy]

I would go with one of two options:
1.) If you haven't worked with the behaviorist recently, I would contact them again. He might need a primer, or maybe some additional training. I would also look into mediciation, as a pp suggested.

2.) I would contact the rescue you adopted Charlie from. I suspect that, like most rescues, they have a policy that the dog needs to be returned to them if you can't keep it. I understand your fear that they won't tell a new home about his problems, although I do think that a good rescue wouldn't do this, particularly because they don't want the dog to continue to come back into their system. So that you have more control over the situation, I would also offer to foster Charlie until they find a new home for him. If a new home is found, I would ask that I talk to the potential owners before relinquishing Charlie to them. I know that the rescue I work with would not have a problem with this.

Good luck!