My dog is a rescue dog I got him two years ago when he was about six months old, he is now about three and a half.
The thing is he is has never liked children and has growled at them since I got him, but now he stepped it up and snapped at a kid, I am seriously considering euthanizing him.:no:
Would this be appropriate or is there other options? :grief:
He is a lab/collie mix, and he is neutered. I have took him to a trainer but they just told me to euthanize him, the vet said the same thing, I don’t want to do that I love him!
Question #1 is if he has to be around kids? If so, then you need to be very careful managing him (he is NEVER around kids without being on a leash, such that he can’t get up to them), and you need to work on conditioning him to be good around kids. If you have children in your home, that’s all but impossible, and re-homing is probably a better solution.
If you don’t have kids and he doesn’t HAVE to go out around kids, then euthanizing sounds pretty extreme. I would still work on conditioning him to be calm around kids, for when you are out in public. WHY does he growl/snap? Is it fear? That sounds like it may be the case (from your very limited description), and positive reinforcement training could go a long way toward helping that. Growling and snapping are warnings from a dog. He is saying he is not OK with the situation, one way or the other. It’s a good thing if he is trying to “verbalize” that, instead of just trying to attack. You have to be careful in punishing these behaviours, because you are punishing him for telling you he needs to be out of that situation, and will suppress his response until he is pushed over the edge.
Good luck to you.
I run a part-time day care at my house so he has to be around children alot.
He usually just growls/snaps out of the blue, like sometimes a kid can come up to him and he will behave OKAY other times he is all growly and snappy.
If a trainer’s only suggestion was “euthanize” for a dog who had no bite history, I’d be looking for another trainer. Perhaps a veterinary behaviorist. I don’t object to euthanizing dogs with certain aggression issues, but I’d want more input and a try at a valid training/possible medication plan first.
He is very good with adults, he just doesn’t like the loud behavior of kids, which I can’t have because Kids are around the house alot.
[QUOTE=8horsegirl;7235936]
I run a part-time day care at my house so he has to be around children alot.
He usually just growls/snaps out of the blue, like sometimes a kid can come up to him and he will behave OKAY other times he is all growly and snappy.[/QUOTE]
This sounds like a very difficult situation. You have a lot of kids around, and your dog is saying, with increasing volume “I don’t like these little people in my house!” You can confine him to solitary (which will not be enjoyable for him), stop doing daycare (which is probably not an option), or find him a new home. I think re-homing is probably a sound solution. Even with re-training, having a dog that isn’t 100% A-OK with kids around a lot of kids (and other people’s kids, at that), is a bad combo.
If you have a dog that you know has issues with children yet accept money to care for other people’s children in your house your liability is so high you might as well throw a loaded gun in the playpen. You could lose absolutely everything.
[QUOTE=CrowneDragon;7235943]
This sounds like a very difficult situation. You have a lot of kids around, and your dog is saying, with increasing volume “I don’t like these little people in my house!” You can confine him to solitary (which will not be enjoyable for him), stop doing daycare (which is probably not an option), or find him a new home. I think re-homing is probably a sound solution. Even with re-training, having a dog that isn’t 100% A-OK with kids around a lot of kids (and other people’s kids, at that), is a bad combo.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I could rehome him but that is a reliability, and keeping him is not an option either.
[QUOTE=8horsegirl;7235924]
Would this be appropriate or is there other options? :grief:[/QUOTE]
It depends.
I don’t think keeping him is an option unless you ensure that he is never around the kids you have coming over for daycare. I, for example, have a kennel in my washroom. I could be an extremist, but I would never, ever have any dog loose with kids I was providing daycare for. I might occasionally let the kids pet or give cookies to a very well mannered, leashed dog, but I would never have any dog running loose around kids in that situation. Why? Because I think that any dog could possibly bite or knock over a child. With other people’s kids, I try to mitigate the risk as much as possible and I would personally crate any dog in the washroom kennel with the door shut when I had the daycare kids over unless I could have the dog on a leash. This dog I would not even have around the kids on a leash, because of his history.
This dog has growled and snapped. I don’t know the specifics of what was going on when the incident(s) happened, but obviously this is a big risk. At the same time, I would personally be encouraged by the fact that he hasn’t actually bit. I think it shows some degree of bite inhibition, which is important. If you can’t keep him totally away from the kids 100% of the time, no room for error, then you need to either have him euthanized or re-home him. If a trainer has suggested euthanizing, then perhaps it is the way to go. People on the internet haven’t seen this dog and are likely not professionals (I know I am not) and have no way of evaluating what is going on here. Perhaps you should get a 2nd opinion from a different trainer before you do anything final. I do not think that you can rehabilitate him to the point of trusting him to be loose around kids, but he might do fine with someone who wouldn’t need him to be around kids, if you could find that sort of home. I would discuss the liability with the trainer if you do decide to go that route, and with an attorney as well. I would never rehome a dog with an aggression issue without full disclosure of the issue.
On the other hand, the fact that he has only growled and snapped would make me think that he may have good bite inhibition. Having him in the in-home daycare setting might have made him leery of kids rather than socialized with kids, especially if he had a bad experience when he was young.
I am sorry you are going through this.
I scheduled a visit with another trainer, I will update.
[QUOTE=8horsegirl;7236008]
I scheduled a visit with another trainer, I will update.[/QUOTE]
In any event, do not convince yourself that because he is okay some of the time it will be okay to have him around the kids. Keep him in an area that they absolutely cannot access. There is no room for error here.
If the trainer doesn’t work I will try to re-home him to a childless home, if that doesn’t work I will euthanize him.
[QUOTE=8horsegirl;7236013]
If the trainer doesn’t work I will try to re-home him to a childless home, if that doesn’t work I will euthanize him.[/QUOTE]
This is just a personal opinion, but I do not think that you will ever be able to train him to be around the daycare kids, because he doesn’t inherently like kids. It doesn’t sound like he is really a vicious dog, but once a dog has shown this behavior it means that one little slip and there could be a bad accident. I have trained my dog to come when I call him, but that doesn’t mean that once in a blue moon he doesn’t. You can probably train him to associate kids with food and to do better if you, for example, are walking him and come across a child from a distance. Actual interaction with kids is always, in my opinion, going to be a very bad idea because he the way kids behave probably scares him. He might get better, but he’ll never get to the point that he can be loose in your house with kids you have over for daycare. If you do euthanize him, I wouldn’t put get another dog and put him in that position either. I think it is too difficult to train the kids on acceptable behavior with the dog and too hard to take the time to build the dog’s confidence with the kids to work.
OP - SO sorry to hear that you are in this situation, and my heart goes out to you. I have a shep/chow mix that was very afraid of kids; fortunately her option was simply to go hide, and I have none at home. After many years, she is ok w/ quiet kids petting her; we skip the noisy ones.
The earlier posts re liability are critical for you to keep in mind while you work through your choices, so be SURE that you can keep the dog in a separate and secure area. Also if you post your location perhaps people here can recommend a foster group or rescue group that could help you rehome…
Thank you guys for being so understanding, I love my dog, and do not get me wrong I do not give up easily on animals.
Without knowing his past he could have had a very negative experience with a child and no amount of training is going to change him.
I would be VERY hesitant to keep such a dog on the same property as other peoples children. Just an incredible liability.
[QUOTE=Lynnwood;7236073]
I would be VERY hesitant to keep such a dog on the same property as other peoples children. Just an incredible liability.[/QUOTE]
I have to agree. My previous suggestion about seeking out another trainer was be typed before I saw the dog lives in a daycare home.
What about having him wear a muzzle when the kids are around? That way he can’t do anything.
Or, why not keep keep him apart from the kids when they are around, for safety and to lower his stress levels. Surely there is a way to do this, such as install an outdoor pen, or lock him in a room or crate him while the kids are there? (probably a crate in a locked room is the safest of the options…how hard would that be to do, especially as the kids are only there part time?
Rehoming to a home without kids is an option too. I think to euth a dog that has not bitten is extreme, but it is also silly and a potential for trouble to keep things as they are so think about what changes could be made to keep him apart during child care times or rehoming etc…
I don’t see retraining as an option, because nothing can guarantee 100% reliability, and with a history of any type of aggressive behavior you are not going to be able to keep this dog. I only see two options, rehoming to a home without children, and euthanizing. If you keep the dog, and anything happens to a child or anyone else in your home then you will lose everything, there could be lifelong damage to another person, and you will never forgive yourself.
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