My mother delt with this very thing several years with a Potcake Dog she adopted from the Turk’s And Caicos SPCA. He was a dog of unknown breeding, and he and his siblings were rescued from behind a dumpster. He came home ill with vomitting and diarehea, and spent almost a week in the vet hospital, being tested for pretty much everything. He had an ear infection, and bounced back from the initial illness rather quickly.
We had an older Golden Retriever at the time that wasn’t afraid to put Mojito in his place when his puppy play got too rough. As a puppy he never displayed any outward aggression, but was standoffish with strangers. He was neutered at six months. After he turned one, the aggression began. He snapped at my step-grandma when she was handing my mom something, but at the time we just chalked it up to him reacting to her quick, nervous movements. Some time later he bit an older man who came onto the property, which required stitches.
He ended up biting two other people over the years, but never displayed any aggression to the family. He was smart as hell, but anti social, and would rather be on his own then with the family. If someone he didn’t know came over, he would be locked in a room upstairs. He just couldn’t be trusted, and my mom didn’t want for him to live in a muzzle. He was good with other dogs, he just played rough.
He loved his family, but dealing with his aggression and protectivness was very stressful. He ended up being euthinized at 5.
