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im sorry but putting a dog to sleep should be a LAST resort, in terms of the first incident the woman stuck her face neer the face of a large strange (and maturing) dog...NOT his fault she made the wrong move.
Oh please; three bites equals three strikes the dog is out.
OP put it down before it gets the chance to really hurt or kill someone.
In my county it 2 bite dog put down! This dog went after 3 people! Tough choice but OP made the best choice. Why wait till someone badly mauled or killed or law suit.
I would like to know what the breeders said. Maybe Update on that OP??
Vet gave us some sort of anxiety medication (Zoloft maybe) Behaviourilist spent about two plus hours with him. She said he has extreme anxiety and he lacks the normal focus on pleasing humans because he is so anxious. She said that the only reason we have not had problems earlier is that he was apparently well treated and given lots of attention. She said never take him out un-muzzled and make certain he cannot get outside without a leash and a muzzle. Even family members have to be careful with him.
He has always been very sweet with everyone, but dumber thn dumb and difficult to train. He is not a cuddly dog except with a few people becasue he will not sit still long enough to be petted much. He never seemed to understand when he had been bad. Just did not seem to care. He always seems to love everyone and runs around to greet tham and try to get petted (for a few seconds). Except now he will have to stay in his room and his run. No matter what we do, we will not take him out or allow him amongst guests without a muzzle on.
She gave us another anti-anxiety medication to give him and said that we can try the two medications and she can work with him, but if there is no improvement in six weeks, we should put him down. She seemed to think it unlikely that the medication and treatment or training (whatever a behaviouralist does) will work. She is not very optimistic. She feels it will be a bad idea to give him to anyone else, because he could kill someone if the anxiety is not controlled.
Apparently the anxiety issue is heriditary.
Now we have to decide whether we spend $1000 or so on meds and visits and probably have to put him down anyway, or just put him down (but probably feel like we failed to give him a chance).
Recently when I was out mowing the grass near his run, he came charging over barking meanly and ran right into the fence growling and barking. As soon as I let him smell my hand and petted him, he was fine. Same thing when he attacked ht egirl, He knocked her down bit her arm and then backed off. He did nto seem sorry, he was not upset or snapping at her, or at least did nto seem to be (I swept him up and stuck him back in his room and closed the door, so there was not a lot of time to observe his behaviour.).
Personally, I never liked him much, nor did my older daughters and one son. However our youngest son and one other daughter are pretty attached to him as is my wife. The behaviouralist said the reason no one likes him much is because he is so anxious that he lacks normal dog attributes that people love. She said he is incapable of bonding to humans. Probably the person who liked him the most is the girl he attacked. He is sweet and more or less behaves well. He likes to be petted for a few seconds, but it is hard to pet him because he is always trying to smell or like your hand and will nto hold his head still, then he runs off. He always always carries something around in his mouth and eventually tears it apart. He is really not that different form our other mastiff except that he seems hyper and incredibly stupid. (Plus the new biting people thing).
It bothers me because the girl he went after is 19. She is small, but still basically an adult. My youngest son is 12 and small for his age. If the dog went after him, it could be a lot worse than minor cuts and bruises. On the other hand, if that dog loves anyone, it is my son.
I think we wll also contact the breeder and suggest that she re-consider breeding any more puppies from those parents. Since it has been more than a year, I dout there is any liklihood of getting money back from the breeder.
We cannot help but wonder if there was something we did wrong to make him this way, but the behaviouralist said no. Our other mastiff is not like this (although she will go after other dogs, that is probably because a pit bull attacked her as a puppy, she is always fine with people - she is 9).
If anyone has any suggestions, please make them. This is a very unpleasant situation.
I can't help but think he's very frustrated and expressing it in this way. I recently watched an episode on Cesar Milan where a family was having trouble with their lab. He had become aggressive in his kennel and around his food. As I recall the solution was a matter of trust, leadership and exercise.
Is your dog able to get any exercise to speak of? If he likes to carry something in his mouth, isn't that a good idea? Maybe a rubber kong that he can't tear up? I have one that needs to have a ball or something in her mouth when she gets excited - I tell her to go find her toy.
I really don't like the idea of using pharmaceuticals on your dog. Seems to me, that's just a way to avoid dealing with the real problem.
The behavioralist showed us the 12 or so stages of anxiety/aggressoin in dogs. She pointed out that when he was just sitting being petted, he was at the 10 or 11th stage. At all times he was exibiting very high levels of anxiety/aggression (massive shedding, tracking, hair standing up, etcetera). Although he was being good, he was in a constant state of panic/attack.
We tried the meds and worked with the behaviorialist for a while. However we realized that he could never ever be trusted. Even if he seemed to get better, is an attack just waiting to happen at any moment? We could no longer take him for walks, when we had people over (which is frequent) we had a lock him in his crate. Then what happens if we mess up once a month or even a year from now and he gets out?
He was very good with people for two years. Super difficult to train and not that likable, but always friendly to people and to other dogs. These attacks just came out of nowhere. No provokation, not build up no signs he would just suddenly launch at someone. Plus he seemed to be getting worse. More and more anxious.
We decided to put him down today. We are all very sad. Although he was not that likeable becuase he gcould not engage ith humans due to his anxiety, he was still part of our family for two years. He made it easier to deal with by trying to bite everyone at the clinic.
I'm so very sorry. I believe you did the right thing. You looked at every avenue, but he was a danger to others, and probably a very unhappy dog. Putting a dog down is always hard, and I think it must be doubly so when the problem is behavioral and not physical. I hope you are going to contact his breeder with this information.
Rest in peace, Enli. You don't have to deal with your demons anymore.
You worked harder than most people would have to fix the problem and to give the dog a chance. You made the right call, in the end. I'm sorry that you were placed in the position of having to do this.
Very sorry, and I know this was a difficult decision to make - we always feel like we've failed, but the truth is that some dogs (like some people) just aren't wired quite right. Or it's possible he was very ill with some unknown malady.
We will light a candle for Enli to help him on his way. Thank you for giving this every effort in the world - peace to you.
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