Damn dog

[dropkickpa]

Bit Dropkid on the face. :nuke: Didn't break the skin, she's just bruised thank gawd, but it's bye-bye doggy now, this is the one thing I refuse to deal with. Shit, I hate this. I really hope the shelter can find her a good home, they should be able to, she really is a good dog. I think she would be much happier in a home with either no kids or those above age 12. Damn damn damn.

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. So sorry...

am with you on this one. You can't count on it to not happen again.

Poor DropKid :hug:

Poor Poochie, too :hug:

And :hug: for you for having to make this decision and go through this :hug:

[dropkickpa]

2. Thanks

It really is tough, ANYTHING else I could deal with - crapping/peeing in the house (which she doesn't do), eating anything that may even REMOTELY be considered edible (she does do this, including 2 leashes in the last 2 months), illness (she has allergies, but I would be willing to deal with any disease), anything but a bite to a child (to the FACE!!!).

I know many people who work at the shelter I am taking her to (it's where I got her, and I used to work there long ago), so I am fairly confidant they will be able to place her. This just sucks. And, of course, Dropkid is not happy, she loves the dumbass, bite and all. :cry:

[marzipanni]

3. Has the dog done anything like this before to anyone?

Was there anything, like food being present, that would have made the dog react that way?
When I was a kid I nuzzled up to my family's standard poodle, and since he was sleeping, it startled him. I was talking to him, and my mouth was opened a little, so he snapped his teeth toward me and nearly pierced my lower lip between his upper and lower canine tooth. I learned not to wake a dog that way! :eyes:

[dropkickpa]

9. No

But I have only had her a year. We did go through a phase where she showed some aggression (growling) towards Dropkid when we would hug etc. She does have serious aggression issues with other dogs. I did some behavioral work with her and we got past it, but apparantly not far enough.

Dropkid was sitting next to her on the floor petting her as she has a thousand times (not doing anything that would hurt/startle her) and Lila just snapped at her, letting out a growly bark at the same time. Very unexpected, and very unacceptable (if she'd been provoked it would be Dropkid I was mad at, I won't tolerate my kid doing that to an animal).

[marzipanni]

17. That's too bad. When I look at the local SPCA adoption website

(where I found our dog) there are many adoptable dogs with proviso that they go to families with older children. I like the fact that the dogs live in foster homes so their behavior can be assessed a little more realistically than if they were in a kennel with lots of dogs.
Our border collie-heeler, 5 years old, was getting ornery, "talking back" when we'd tell her to get off the bed, etc.. I went back to making her sit before she goes out the door, doing sit, stay training, etc. and she is much better now. I think she was forgetting who's the alpha dog. I have heard of other dogs having 'issues' with a child, maybe trying to establish that they are not the lowest in the pack.
My cousin was advised to have her son do the some of the training stuff, to establish his dominance.

[CC]

4. Glad my parents didn't get rid

of any of the dogs that bit my brother. Us girls would of had to make him wish he was dead. My brother was good at teasing the dog and was very sneaky about it and every dog we owned had to bite him at least once to get him to behave.


Edited to add- this was not a comment on what you need to do. It just brought back the memories of emergency room visits with my brother and how mad his sisters were at him for being mean to the dogs. Sorry that your son was bit and you have to give up your pet.

[dropkickpa]

14. Brothers!

I have one brother who was the same, even our rug of a dog golden when growing up snapped at him once.

Unfortunately this was unprovoked, which is what led me to the decision.

[CC]

18. Reading all the rest of the

info on your dog when you take her back I would suggest she go to a home with no kids or kids over 16. Even a 12 year might be a bit young for her. You might want to contact a lab rescue (if there is one near you) to take her. Around here the rescues seem to do a better job of listing the dogs good and bad traits and being careful who they match them up with.
BTW my brother grew up to be a good dog owner and quit teasing them around 14 or 15. He thought he was just playing and just couldn't read the signals when the dog was frustrated.

[MonkeyFunk]

5. That's very sad...

I'm so sorry to hear that, but I can't say I disagree with your decision.

[dropkickpa]

13. Thank you

it is tough.

[grasswire]

6. if you were rich you could call Cesar Millan

...because he makes house calls for "red zone" cases.

[dropkickpa]

10. I know!

But even then, I think my decision would be the same. WHen it comes to the kid or the dog, the kid is gonna be my main concern.

[WillParkinson]

7. Why did the dog bite the child?

Was it unprovoked?

How old is the child? How old is the dog?

Don't you have any friends who might take the dog so that it doesn't go through the separation anxiety?

[dropkickpa]

11. Unprovoked

Dropkid is 6, dog is perhaps 6 (she's a rescue). All of my friends either have dogs or kids, so none would be able to take her (she is very dog aggressive).

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I'm so sorry that you've had to make this decision, but I agree

with you completely. The dog maight be a wonderful pet for someone else, but you can't take the chance that he'll never do this again. You have to be able to trust the animals you bring into your home.

[dropkickpa]

12. Thanks

She would be a fantastic only dog for a grown-up/older children family, I just don't think she should be around smaller kids, she is a 55lb black lab (Dropkid is 43lbs), so I would be leery with her around anyone small from this point on.

[grasswire]

15. gee, isn't it unusual for a lab to be aggressive?

I thought they were perfect family dogs.

[dropkickpa]

16. I've actually run into quite a few

I think it's due in part to the rampant irresponsible inbreeding (breeding in and reinforing undesirable character traits). I do not know my dogs history, as she was a stray (she's about 6, I got her from the shelter a year ago), so who knows what she went through in her previous life. Maybe they had bad kids?

My family used to breed Golden Retrievers, and we were very careful to fully vet any females we studded our male out to before agreeing to service. Females were all 1.5-2 years old before we'd breed in part so we could make sure they were exemplary examples of the breed. Skittishness, insane high-energy, difficult to train, aggression of any sort, etc were all no-go's. Calm demeanor, trainability, cheerful disposition, and peaceful with other animals were all traits just as desirable as physical breed standards. I have seen more "ideal breed standard appearance" dogs that were total washouts personality-wise than you would believe. A great example of this is pit bull breeds (am staff and APBT), they should under no circumstances be people aggressive, they were NOT ever bred for that, but rampant overbreeding and irresponsible breeding have had a horribly negative impact on the breed as a whole.

One of the responsibilities breeders should shoulder is to not only breed for appearance, but for personality. Unfortunately, with the boom in breeding by not so knowlegable/responsible owners (sometimes in answer to popularity of breeds), people aren't being careful, they're just throwing two AKC paper dogs together and hoping for lots of pups. But the result is really a lot of substandard dogs. This is one reason we cleaved more towards hunting dog than show dog lines. A hunting dog has to have the personality traits, or they are not good hunters. We had a few show dog line breedings, but those females were fantastic examples of the breed, appearance and personality-wise. We did it for the betterment/maintainence of the breed, a true love of them. Several of our pups and grandpups have gone on to be therapy dogs, a fantastic result in our eyes. Some went on to show and place well, most went on to become spoiled and utterly adored family pets.