inaweoftruth
New member
My dog has seemed less and less like himself as of recent. He’s constantly on edge when he’s not asleep, which is actually pretty often these days. He went from cooperating at training sessions to ignoring HIGH VALUE treats. He growls when certain people in the house pass him while he’s lying down.
Tonight when my stepdad got home, the dog ran up to greet him as always, wagging his tail. He always jumps up onto him (paws on the chest) like he’s giving a hug. He’s always done this with a select few people. And then, we hear a low growl. He’s growled like this a few times before in this situation, but it’s not a regular thing. Mostly when people pet him, he goes very still.
Either way, odd considering the dog was the one who came up to him. Dog gets down. Stepdad focused on something else. A few seconds pass and the dog lunges and bites stepdad’s hand with a loud bark.
If it was just me in the house, I would keep working with him with his trainer. He’s done level 0 bites before while resource guarding. But there was no resource to guard, and this broke skin- just no blood.
I want to keep him but am left with no choice because I don’t own the house and my parents demand he leaves— this was their last straw. I can’t guarantee the safety of others, especially the face-level kids. And above all, he’s just been miserable for a long while. He’s had behavioral issues since he was 9 weeks old.
I’m just not sure what my next steps are. Shelters don’t typically take dogs with bite histories and I have no one to have him stay with temporarily. I don’t want to jump to euthanasia.
I just know he can’t safely stay here and deserves a stress free life. No idea what to do when I wake up tomorrow.
I’m so heartbroken. I love this dog and we’ve worked so hard together. I’m so afraid of him having to suffer over something that he has no control over.
Tonight when my stepdad got home, the dog ran up to greet him as always, wagging his tail. He always jumps up onto him (paws on the chest) like he’s giving a hug. He’s always done this with a select few people. And then, we hear a low growl. He’s growled like this a few times before in this situation, but it’s not a regular thing. Mostly when people pet him, he goes very still.
Either way, odd considering the dog was the one who came up to him. Dog gets down. Stepdad focused on something else. A few seconds pass and the dog lunges and bites stepdad’s hand with a loud bark.
If it was just me in the house, I would keep working with him with his trainer. He’s done level 0 bites before while resource guarding. But there was no resource to guard, and this broke skin- just no blood.
I want to keep him but am left with no choice because I don’t own the house and my parents demand he leaves— this was their last straw. I can’t guarantee the safety of others, especially the face-level kids. And above all, he’s just been miserable for a long while. He’s had behavioral issues since he was 9 weeks old.
I’m just not sure what my next steps are. Shelters don’t typically take dogs with bite histories and I have no one to have him stay with temporarily. I don’t want to jump to euthanasia.
I just know he can’t safely stay here and deserves a stress free life. No idea what to do when I wake up tomorrow.
I’m so heartbroken. I love this dog and we’ve worked so hard together. I’m so afraid of him having to suffer over something that he has no control over.