When do you know enough is enough?

[akidomaster]

I have posted on here before and I am sorry for this long read. But when do you decide enough is enough and that you are not the adequate person for the situation. I have a year old old Aussie. I love him to death, he is the sweetest loyal little buddy and great in the apartment with my bf and I. But I have been working on reactivity training since I got him at 8 weeks old. He has always had something off about him, like something in his brain isn’t wired right.
He’s always been afraid of people and now his escalations are within seconds and at random. He has always been scared and barked at people coming in the house so I started greeting outside getting people to ignore him, throw treats, we’ve been doing this for 7 months now. He’s been on clomicalm for 2 months, working on desensitization to both dogs and people as If he sees a dog his excitability level goes through the roof from frustration and I have gotten bruises on my legs from bites at being a barrier.
we have been going to reactive dog classes for a few months. I have worked with now 2 vet behaviourists.
I thought we were making real progress on the people side but last night he felt our friend was a threat and if I hadn’t had him on a leash he would have bitten him. He stalked him in our apartment and tried to lunge and bite again, so I removed him from the situation.
He has one level 4 bite to another dog that was previously his friend (he got startled by something and chose to go after my friends dog, and this was an attempt to injure) he punctured the other dogs snout (he was only 7 months old at the time and we were just on a walk).
He has bitten my partners dad when he got scared and tried to again but I intervened.
I have done behavioural modification, we’re about to start a second medication because clearly the first isn’t working. I have only ever done R+ training, we’ve done 2 different puppy classes both of which we couldn’t continue due to his reactivity. We are now in a reactive dog class that seemed to be going better.
I don’t know what to do anymore, we are starting to muzzle train him because he can’t be trusted.
I have worked on resource guarding, desensitization to his triggers, slow socialization but when he snaps he attempts to bite anything in arms reach.
I travel a lot for work and sitters all planned out who have now all backed out because of his issues. Our neighbors hate us because some days are fine but some days they can’t be in the hallway with us.
I live in the city in an apartment, he gets 2, 1 hour walks a day, runs on a farm on the weekends, I can’t do dog sports with him because of his reactivity and I’m just at my wits end.
My mental health is shot, im in my mid 20s and I don’t know what to do anymore, I’ve hired 3 different trainers and probably put in ~4K in private training for no improvement on his predictability and this is all for a puppy who’s been spoiled his whole life. I also live in a city with a one bite rule… which he’s already done. I can’t keep living like this with our worlds getting smaller and smaller.

 

[akidomaster]

I am a very active person, I run, hike, bike, Daily and was ready for a working breed and what that entails and meeting his needs. We tried to start herding lessons but the trainer said his prey drive is likely to high to train out and he may be a danger to the animals he’s meant to herd.

 

[cathyj]

@akidomaster My Aussie also has very high prey drive - it isn't just exercise, it's meeting their genetic needs to chase bite and bark, and to train.

Herding breeds have been selectively bred to use their teeth and voice to force animals much bigger than them to do what they want. Training a structure game of tug, flirt pole games... and they need to be trained - otherwise their genetic pre-disposition can come out in very bad ways.

We built an agility course in our back yard, just to give him an outlet for his need to be trained in a high energy way.

And two trainers told his previous owners that he needed to be euthanized due to his "aggression " and prey drive - but it was just that his genetic needs weren't being met.

He's a great boy now, best dog I could ever ask for....

 

[akidomaster]

@cathyj Hi we do flirt pole all the time at the park on long line, I play scent games with him daily, he gets sniffy walks, food puzzles, lick mats, and like I said goes to the farm every weekend with me. I wanted to teach him to work animals but a professional trainer told me this might not be possible with his temperament. Dog sports - agility specifically and barn hunt were what I was looking forward to most but this is just not possible and has never been possible do to his severe aversion to people and lack of impulse and frustration control with dogs. I’m sorry, I couldn’t include everything in my long post which is why I’m not sure what to do. I grew up w border collies and working dogs I’ve just never had a puppy with a temperament like this before.

 

[cathyj]

@akidomaster What trainers have you worked with in your area? Big part of that helped us was working with a very good trainer with a track record of success working with dogs like mine - he was so aggressive that they could no longer keep then on their home...

Trainer helped us identify what this dog needed and honestly saved this dog's life. They have trainer that may be in your area

 

[akidomaster]

@cathyj I have been working with one who is specialized in herding breeds for the past ~3 months completely R+, prior to that when he was still small I had another who tried to help with desensitization to people, learning tools for engage/disengage and tried to help me get him over his people fear. I have a vet behaviourist now who was recommended to me by the current trainer. So we are continuing to do behavioural modification for frustration and impulse control. It’s the fact that he has always been fear aggressive towards people (since 8weeks) that’s makes me worry. I love him so much and I feel terrible and like I’ve failed him.

 

[cathyj]

@akidomaster Sounds so much like our Aussie - he was so fear reactive that his owners couldn't walk him anymore - he would just explode is he even saw anyone. This coupled with severe resource guarding and an almost pathological need to defend his people and home left him in a constant state of terror / stress.

When we met him, they had to have him in a boarding facility over an hour from their home. He had bit multiple guests, and then "nipped" their young child over resource guarding a toy. No kennel near them would take him in during to his over the top aggression.

When we saw him, he spent at least 20 minutes flipping out and explaining in no uncertain terms that he fully intended to eat us, no matter how far away we were. We saw some indications that it was fear related and not just blind aggression so we had a trainer who helped us with our lab/mini Aussie mix meet him to find out if he thought the dog could be saved.

Later that week he met us, the dog and the owners got an evaluation, and was confident there was a path forward so we adopted him and it was tons of work, but he's now basically a normal dog. Before he would freak out at any dog he saw, but now he happily plays with our lab mix.

He no longer resource guards anything and has pretty much zero leash reactivity.

I don't know your dog obviously, but from my experience, and others I know who have gone through similar challenges I strongly believe most of these dogs can be helped. They can live happy, low stress lives of you can find a way to crack their individual code and give them what they need.

I just recently met a young couple with a highly reactive Aussie who just moved into our neighborhood - and I gave them the contact for the trainer I worked with, and they are making huge progress...there is hope! It can get better!

 

[romo]

@cathyj Your dog’s behaviors sound a lot like my dog’s current behaviors. I would be interested in finding out about trainers if you have any recommendations! I’m in San Diego area so hopefully there’s someone around me that can help with that.

 

[cathyj]

@akidomaster Honestly, it sounds like the best thing for you and your dog is to list him on rescueme.org and find him a new home.

Aussies are not good apartment dogs, and often require owners with the space, time and love of training that meets their genetic needs

That site is where I adopted my Aussie from - and too often (in my opinion) we blame something being off genetically or in their heads when it is just not a good situation for a high energy herding dog that instinctively wants to chase, bite and bark.

My guy was a terrible fit for his previous owners, who were good people, but just not the right people for this dog. And this resulted in him being highly reactive and dangerous.

He is now a normally happy dog who gets his genetic needs met, and tons of belly rubs.

Just my opinion, but I hear so often about these dogs having issues in apartments, and when they have the right space and training, the issues may go away.

 

[akidomaster]

@cathyj Thank you for the suggestion for the website