Long story incoming. My family has always had dogs, for about the last 18 years. At most we've had 3 at once (and some cats) and over 18 years we've had 7 dogs, 2 cats, and a rat, all rescues. We tend to adopt hard cases and make it work. All to say we are no strangers to difficult personalities and working through problems.
We currently have a 13 year old rescue from the Caribbean who as of the last 18 months is arthritic and not terribly affectionate and a little grumpy. She hates when other dogs go near her because they usually bump her or want to play and she is sore. So she is snappy. She is on meds which help, but she is slowly declining.
About the same time, maybe 18 months ago, we rescued a 70 lb Shephard from a bad situation/kill shelter in Georgia. She was terribly untrained. Bolted, skittish, ran away multiple times (and came back eventually), chased everything, wasn't house broken, not crate trained, aggressive to everything including food, pets, strangers, etc. We worked on her intensively and she also went to 6 week boarding/intense training. She is now recall trained, perfectly house broken, crate trained, good with people, good with food, not destructive, etc. That said, she does not handle unfamiliar dogs well at all, and the trainers said she likely never will. She also (if we can't distract her) kills any small animal in the yard she can catch (mostly chipmonks and rabbits).
Finally we've introduced a 11 week old shephard puppy into the mix that our friends gave us, they just started breeding and wanted us to keep one. The 3 year old Shepard loves the puppy and it great with her. This is fairly irrelevant to the situation but I note it because the Shephard is good with this addition.
Things were actually quite good for the first 6-8 months. Unfortunately the shepherd and the Caribbean dog (CD) are having dangerous problems, for the last 8 months. The Shephard will bump into the CD accidently or playfully, who will snap at her. At which point the Shephard simply attacks and will absolutely not let up. We think she is trying to kill the CD. Breaking them up is nearly impossible. They've had 2 significant incidents in the last month and 4 incidents this year. The last but one incident sent me to the hospital for stitches and a dislocated shoulder trying to break it up. Last night while I was away on a work trip, at 2am, the Shephard bumped the CD, there was minor growling but nothing serious, and then the Shephard went insane and literally dragged the CD into the backyard violently shaking and latched on. The CD was dead weight, not fighting and just crying. This is all on a blink camera and its terrible. She is trying to kill her for sure.
We don't know what to do at this point. Well, we do. We think the Shephard needs to be put down. Animal control, taken away. Immediately. She is dangerous and likely an uncontrollable killer. We've been careful to manage and frankly lucky I think. My mental problem is she is incredibly sweet with us and our kids. She loves them and protects them, sleeps with them, etc. And they are very attached to her. So this is a horrible decision.
Not sure what I am looking for here, just some conversation and help with this I guess. I know what has to be done but looking for some helpful words.
We currently have a 13 year old rescue from the Caribbean who as of the last 18 months is arthritic and not terribly affectionate and a little grumpy. She hates when other dogs go near her because they usually bump her or want to play and she is sore. So she is snappy. She is on meds which help, but she is slowly declining.
About the same time, maybe 18 months ago, we rescued a 70 lb Shephard from a bad situation/kill shelter in Georgia. She was terribly untrained. Bolted, skittish, ran away multiple times (and came back eventually), chased everything, wasn't house broken, not crate trained, aggressive to everything including food, pets, strangers, etc. We worked on her intensively and she also went to 6 week boarding/intense training. She is now recall trained, perfectly house broken, crate trained, good with people, good with food, not destructive, etc. That said, she does not handle unfamiliar dogs well at all, and the trainers said she likely never will. She also (if we can't distract her) kills any small animal in the yard she can catch (mostly chipmonks and rabbits).
Finally we've introduced a 11 week old shephard puppy into the mix that our friends gave us, they just started breeding and wanted us to keep one. The 3 year old Shepard loves the puppy and it great with her. This is fairly irrelevant to the situation but I note it because the Shephard is good with this addition.
Things were actually quite good for the first 6-8 months. Unfortunately the shepherd and the Caribbean dog (CD) are having dangerous problems, for the last 8 months. The Shephard will bump into the CD accidently or playfully, who will snap at her. At which point the Shephard simply attacks and will absolutely not let up. We think she is trying to kill the CD. Breaking them up is nearly impossible. They've had 2 significant incidents in the last month and 4 incidents this year. The last but one incident sent me to the hospital for stitches and a dislocated shoulder trying to break it up. Last night while I was away on a work trip, at 2am, the Shephard bumped the CD, there was minor growling but nothing serious, and then the Shephard went insane and literally dragged the CD into the backyard violently shaking and latched on. The CD was dead weight, not fighting and just crying. This is all on a blink camera and its terrible. She is trying to kill her for sure.
We don't know what to do at this point. Well, we do. We think the Shephard needs to be put down. Animal control, taken away. Immediately. She is dangerous and likely an uncontrollable killer. We've been careful to manage and frankly lucky I think. My mental problem is she is incredibly sweet with us and our kids. She loves them and protects them, sleeps with them, etc. And they are very attached to her. So this is a horrible decision.
Not sure what I am looking for here, just some conversation and help with this I guess. I know what has to be done but looking for some helpful words.