Help!!hubby wants to put dog down!

[cyncyn]

I have a 6 year old shih tzu. She was never socialized with other dogs. She is also spoiled.We took care of my father in our home until his death. Right after his passing she started biting. She mangled my fingers good at one point. This was 2 years ago. It subsided and she would snap at us off and on when she didnt want to do something we wanted her to. My daughter got a puppy in november and all of a sudden my dog started playing with it. She seemed to be a pup again herself. ( daughter doesnt live at home). We thought great she needs a playmate so we also got a pup. Half maltese and half shih tzu. They play and we havent had many problems. When the older dog wants to be left alone or not bugged she would snap at the pup and the pup would back away. We have had the pup about 6 weeks. The last 2 days the older dog has been attacking her. This evening they played for a long time as good as could be. About 4 hours later she again attacked the pup and we had all we could do to get the pup away from her. Hubby wants to put the dog down. She has been my baby and i am so heartsick. We are expecting our first grandchild in august and I am afraid she may be mean to the baby. Can anyone please give me advice??? Or lead me in the right direction????
thanks so much!

 

[Sunnierhawk0]

Honestly,

Its a sad situation, a realtive of mine just put her ACD bitch down the same day she got done attacking her Rottweiler. She loved the dog, just as you love your dog. But is it worth having to fear for the puppies life? You said it was all you could do to get the puppy away from her, what about next time?

And if your having a new grandchild come into the world, and you know you wouldnt/couldn't trust the dog to be mean to the baby, you have your answer right there.

I hope you make the right decision for YOU. Good luck in this hard decision.
Ryan

 

[Zoom]

You can try to find a good postive behavioralist in your area to at least evaluate her, but honestly, if she's mangled your fingers, I wouldn't trust this dog within 10 feet of child.

It's totally up to you and I don't envy your position one bit.

 

[Jynx]

I agree with the above, but have you also thought of having a full vet check up? I've read sometimes dogs with thyroid probs can show signs of aggression, since it sounds like this didn't start happening until after your dad passed away, I'd assume something associating that,,but who knows,,it might be worth it to have a full blood panel done to rule out anything medical.

diane

 

[YorkieLover]

I wouldn't make any rash decisions yet, maybe you can instant message or private message doberluv, there is always excellent advice there. As for right now, my thought would be to limit their time together and watch for the signs, ie: prowling, there's a look in their eyes right before, circling, etc. We had issues with our youngest yorkie girl about a year ago going after our oldest yorkie guy (who is close to 11 now). It was almost always by the front door, it was like she owned it and if he came near it she was going after him. She would start by circling him, staring him down, etc. We always caught her before hand most of the time, but occassionally she would get ahold of him, it scared the crap out of all of us. We just learned to watch the signs, make sure she was separate from him when it came time to go outside. It seems really strange to me that she felt she owned the front door.

 

[OutlineACDs]

First of all take her in to your vet and run a full thyroid panel. Being hypothyroid CAN affect a dogs attitude, and my girl got snippy due to being hypothyroid.

Second, I would not give her a chance to attack the young dog again. The more often it happens the harder it will be to fix. Keep them separate.

Third seek out a POSITIVE behaviorist/trainer who can work with you. Two of my girls do not get along right now, but putting either one to sleep is out of the question. I have the means to keep them separated unless I am working with them. With a combination of managing the situation and using lots of positive reinforcement I hope to be able to have the dogs at least tolerate each other in the future. I promise you though, punishment, rough handling and ANY correction will only make it worse. Buy the book "Click to Calm" by Emma Parsons.

I would not allow this dog near the baby, which is totally doable, as this isnt your child. Correct? If you will only have the baby for a few hours at a time or whatever it will not be a big deal to confine this dog for a period of time.

Please keep us updated and also start NILIF as soon as possible. With BOTH dogs.

 

[mrsgrubby]

First of all take her in to your vet and run a full thyroid panel. Being hypothyroid CAN affect a dogs attitude, and my girl got snippy due to being hypothyroid.

Second, I would not give her a chance to attack the young dog again. The more often it happens the harder it will be to fix. Keep them separate.

Third seek out a POSITIVE behaviorist/trainer who can work with you. Two of my girls do not get along right now, but putting either one to sleep is out of the question. I have the means to keep them separated unless I am working with them. With a combination of managing the situation and using lots of positive reinforcement I hope to be able to have the dogs at least tolerate each other in the future. I promise you though, punishment, rough handling and ANY correction will only make it worse. Buy the book "Click to Calm" by Emma Parsons.

I would not allow this dog near the baby, which is totally doable, as this isnt your child. Correct? If you will only have the baby for a few hours at a time or whatever it will not be a big deal to confine this dog for a period of time.

Please keep us updated and also start NILIF as soon as possible. With BOTH dogs.

Great advice.

ACD is right, since this is a grandchild coming you should be able to keep your dog away from it. I have a sister who lives 4 houses away and we see each other every week several times, but I've never let my rottweiler around her toddlers, (not cuz she's mean, but she will knock them over). I've never had a problem keeping the kids and the dog seperate.

Click to calm is a great book, and I would visit the vet as well.

As far as the fight, what preceeded it? Did you give both dogs a treat?, food? was one sitting on your lap?

 

[cyncyn]

Update

Both dogs have been to the vet. However, vet did not run any blood tests. The first time the older dog bit was right after my father died. We were at my sisters and they have 2 large dogs and also there were several people. I picked her up to move her off the couch to my lap and that is when my fingers were mangled. Most of the time she snaps at you when you try to get her off a chair or to do anything she may not want to do. Such as go to her kennel when we are going to leave. As for biting the pup they were both on the bed and the pup just walked up to her. They watch tv with me before I kennel them for the night. Otherwise yes over a treat has happened. However the other night pup was laying by hubbys chair and older dog came near her she lifted her head and older dog grabbed her by the back. They both had shots the day before so not sure if older dog hurting or what. The vet has now told me to have older dog on leash. DO NOT allow her to be on any furniture!!! Show her I am boss. When she snaps at me for tell her off the furniture if she someone gets on....I am to kennel her for 10 min. I sure hope this works. She has never bit anyone but her own family. Vet said give it a month. Sigh , praying it works.

 

[Zoom]

Your vet was on the right track. I would also follow this up with making her earn all of her food for awhile; she must sit, lay down, etc. for anything she wants to eat.

I would be careful about using the crate as punishment though, this could backfire and turn your dog into a kennel-aggressive one. I would instead do 5 minutes in the bathroom or some such place. Dogs have a very short attention span and 10 minutes goes past the "now think what you did" to the "where is everyone and why am I in here?" stage.

Don't allow her near the pup for now, if you see her moving towards her, get up and stand in between them and then walk towards the older dog so she has to back away. This is called body blocking.