Desperate - considering putting my dog to sleep

[Biker_Babe]

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Hello, I'm posting on here because I need some advice from others who love their dogs as much as me and have maybe been in a similar situation.

Basically I had one dog, Jasper and a year ago adopted my second dog, Sunja, from the rescue centre I volunteer at. She's a German Shepherd/Collie and about 4 years old. She'd had a fight in the kennels and was adopted but the family brought her back because she went for their cat. I naively (stupidly?) thought that a good home would calm her down so adopted her as fell madly in love.

She was fine at first, I could even let her off the lead. Fast forward a year and we have her muzzled and on a harness and two leads on walks. She rears up and goes insane if anyone/thing goes past. She's pulled me over once and almost a few times. Everyone we know has stopped coming to our house - all our friends bar one couple who aren't fazed by her and she's not as bad with, but everyone else (to varying degrees) including family.

If there's a knock at the door she goes ballistic and I can't even get to the door sometimes. When the visitor comes in she jumps up, barking and snapping. Once they come in and for the rest of the visit, she doesn't leave them alone, constantly snapping at and butting them. She's bitten a few people - nothing serious but she's left marks and bruises. We started muzzling her when visitors come but then she just butts them, again leaving marks. We also can't take her to anyone's house so if we visit family we have to leave her with the dog sitter (who looks after both my dogs all day every day while we're at work and walks them a lot).

We have tried: one-to-one training, using different harnesses, muzzles, haltis; treats; training collars; Adaptil; crating; positive reinforcement; meeting people outside the house so we come in together; shutting her in another room; stroking her whilst guests are here; different foods; distraction techniques; visitors coming in with treats...pretty much everything we can think of.

But she's just gotten worse. Before Christmas we called in another behaviourist - a couple. We had four sessions with them, and throughout every session Sunja was the worst she's ever been - really going for the guy and knocking into him, butting him, barking and jumping. In the final session they broached the subject of putting her down - I burst into tears and admitted I'd considered it.

Now I've admitted it to myself I can't stop crying at the thought of it but I don't know what else to do. My nerves are shot and even though she is a DREAM when it's just me and my partner at home, I'm starting to feel trapped by her and quite depressed actually.

I'm sorry for the long post and thank you to anyone who's still reading!

Any advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. She is absolutely fine at the dog sitter's house - never barks, jumps, snaps or anything. The behaviourists were baffled by her!

 

[gypsysmum2]

My first question is - were the behaviourists from either COAPE or the APBC? If not then I would try again with one that is. I am very surprised that they had no plan to try before they suggested that you put your dog to sleep.

The job of a behaviourist is to find out why a dog is behaving in the way that it is. The behaviour can only be addressed once that reason has been discovered. It is very interesting that your dog behaves differently at the dog sitters house. There should be lots of delving into why this is.

As her life is in danger and people's safety is in danger it is very important that you get properly qualified help.

The commonest cause of aggression is fear. A dog feels threatened by something and so the fight/flight kicks in. If they are unable to flee then they have no option but to invoke the the "fight" response. Humans would use their powers of reasoning to deal with the fearful situation. Dogs do not have this ability. If they use the "fight" option and it works (they survive the situation) then they will use it again

 

[gypsysmum2]

Oops!

Sorry it sent my message before I had quite finished

Have you tried a change of diet? There is one on the market aimed at helping dogs to calm there behaviour. It would be best used in conjunction with behaviour advice. The COAPE .behaviourists are all using it with a great deal of success. It calms and improves a dog's mental well being. It is best used with a behaviour modification programme.

You have been working so hard and trying so many things to address her problems that it would be a shame to give up; now. There are no guarantees that one of the organisations mentioned would be able to help as they can only, at the end of the day, work with you and offer advice and on going support. It would be up to you to be able to implement all the advice given. This would be a huge commitment for you. Only you will know if you can offer it.

 

[Biker_Babe]

Gypsysmum2 thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I don't know if the behaviourists were accredited by those companies, but I've checked their websites and will look for a registered person in my area.

I also like the idea of changing her diet and will look into this also.

I'm not ready to give up on her yet, I will try and try again as I have done, to resolve the problem.

Thank you again x

 

[marygreene13]

What area are you in? I know a dog trainer that got a german shepherd cross, who was really hard work and wanted to guard and protect everyone, so he actually trained him to become a guard dog. So whenever the door would go and he got up to bark etc he'd be getting praise and he used that to gain more control over and direct the guarding behaviour. He is a lovely well mannered dog now! It sounds like your dog could be hard work as it is two very intelligent breeds! I used to have a very fearful aggressive collie we rescued from Ireland, it took her a really long time to settle and realise we weren't going to hurt her, but she got there in the end it just took a lot of perseverance and time (around 4 years!)! Good luck I'm sure your dog will get there!