We have a 100lb Great Bernese that looks nearly identical to these pictures. She doesn't even bark. Ever. Bite people? Never in a million years.
Posted on 07/21/2020 6:24:09 AM PDT by BubbaBasher
I've had two dogs that I rescued 8 years ago. I started off with one but his separation anxiety was so bad I got the second one to keep him company. They were very attached to each other. Two weeks ago I had put the first one to sleep due to a severe medical issue.
The second one has bitten 5 people over the last 8 years only drawing blood of a vet assistant yesterday. The others were nips. He has snipped at several young children too. I have made many attempts to socialize him to no avail. He just gets left at home now to avoid any further issues. He is 9 years old. I have looked into getting him a companion but he has rejected the two candidates I was interested in. (fights and growls)
He is very gentle and affectionate to me and has two other humans and one dog that he likes. I have no doubt that he would have been put down long ago if someone else had adopted him.
After the bite yesterday I am considering putting him to sleep but I've never put down a dog that wasn't sick and I am highly conflicted. What's everyone's opinion?
“How does he do with puppies? Ordinarily, dogs have a different view of puppies.”
My first thought as well.
One of our dogs (raised from birth) has gone senile. (14 years old). While he was always “high spirited” he now bites.
We can’t pick him up, as we always have, without first muzzling him. We don’t dare take him to the groomer (lawsuit). We finally HAD to groom him. He was a MESS! He looked like one of those neglected dogs you see on TV.
We muzzled him. Both myself and my wife went to work on him to accomplish this fearful task as fast as possible.
We got a lot of him done (80% maybe), but not without BOTH of us suffering two deep, blood drawing holes in our hands. (remember he was muzzled, he got it off).
He is almost blind from an eye injury and old age. He is almost deaf from old age. He hears things, but has no idea what direction it comes from. He constantly gets in the face (like he is going to tear it off) of our other dog (his 1/2 brother). He goes off in the same way to imaginary dogs.
Otherwise, he seems healthy. He actually has become MORE affectionate (he never really was).
Should we put him down? Which dog? The one that fights and bites or the one that craves attention and loves being stroked?
Answer: As long as he is healthy and not dying, NEITHER dog. Even after he goes totally blind and deaf we will not put him down as long as he is still healthy.
Over the years we have HAD TO put down (I lost count, maybe 10) dogs. I weep uncontrollably each time, even though I know it is for THEIR best. They all were near DEATH anyway. Not inconvenient, not troublesome, but dying.
So, I suggest you take precautions with his behavior and love him as long as you can. Dogs give us “unconditional” love. We could learn from them.
I hate reading these post due to the fact my near 16 year old Jack Russell is starting to get close to the Rainbow Bridge,he’s doing good now but i know time is not my friend and it annoys the hell out of me.
I don’t view a dog who is likely to bite someone as “healthy”. They have severe issues of the mind. I’ve put down two dogs. One - which we raised from a puppy - who was just MEAN. Decided it was going to be her or the kids....
The other had an enlarged esophagus. It wasn’t going to kill him but it meant he barfed all the time. Daily. We put up with it for a year then put him down.
My theory? Lots of GREAT dogs die daily in shelters from lack of a home. Why should they die while a tormented or habitually barfing dog lives? Too many good dogs die for me to feel to bad about exchanging a dog with serious issues for one who would be a great pet.
A new owner of a rescue should not take the dog’s behavior around strangers for granted because the dog is pleasant with the person who is now feeding him. The dog that bit me was on an elastic leash in a townhome community where the front yards are small and the sidewalk narrow. The leash extended the entire depth of my yard, and like many jerk owners, the owner believrs others’ privately-owned lawns and tended gardens are dog toilets. I got bit standing in my own yard because the owner places her dog’s potty needs above the safety of her neighbors.
Such peoples’ priorities are based in receiving affection and loyalty, perhaps unavailable to them elsewhere in life, from their captive animal. This anthropomorphised love fantasy is more important to the dog fanatic than, in some cases, their own or others’ children; and they often cannot be reasoned with (the original poster at least is realizing his accountability now).
I’m sorry. That’s really sad. Looks like you have no better option than to have the poor dog put down, humanely, of course.
I haven’t had the issue, but a friend said he sent his dog away for a year to a kennel that was run on a farm and when the dog returned he was normal.
I don’t know what it is about, but he said the dog had to be distanced from him because he was basically to attached to him.
He said he either had to pay or put the dog down. If I had a friend that had a farm I would send my own because I saw how mellow his dog was. Mine is high strung but controllable.
“You may spend more money up front for an AKC registered dog. However, in the long run, you will tend to have less vet bills and behavior problems.”
That doesn’t come CLOSE to my experience!
Always a rough decision.....I would suggest what you would be thinking if this dog has just mauled an innocent child of person. You would be thinking why did I not spare this pain and suffering not to mention a devastating law suit and years of guilt....sorry but it’s just a dog!!!!!
I would never keep a dog that bites people. Period.
Dog are supposed to be enjoyable animals. When they cease that function they have to go.
Civilly, you can be sued.
Criminally, you can be jailed for a vicious animal.
We have a 100lb Great Bernese that looks nearly identical to these pictures. She doesn't even bark. Ever. Bite people? Never in a million years.
We had to do this. We adopted a mixed breed puppy at 12 weeks old, raised him with plenty of exercise and attention, all his shots and regular vet visits, and yet he bit several people of the course of his 4 years.
Always his bites would come unprovoked, with not even a growl or a baring of teeth preceding the bite. He just suddenly lunged.
When my daughter-in-law and grandson were moved to live close to us, we knew my grandson would be a frequent visitor, and with every visit we could never rest, never let our guard down. The dog seemed very tolerant of the child, but still flashed annoyance at times.
The last bite was bad. The dog had literally rolled on his back and was accepting a nice belly rub, and seemed really in a great mood. As I watched, he just suddenly bit our guest’s hand, very hard, drawing blood. When I grabbed him to take him away, he bit me and punctured my arm.
We discussed it at length with his vet. The vet explained it to me like this: “Some dogs are just mentally ill, like people can be. I could tell you that if you spent thousands on training, there’s a chance he’ll rehabilitate, but there are no 100% guarantees.”
Because I could not live with myself if the dog ever harmed my grandson or anyone else again, we made the incredibly painful decision to euthanize.
Sorry to say, you already know the right answer. Godspeed to you. Even now I am reliving the pain, but I do rest better knowing I did the right thing.
We grew up rural. When we got a dog after puppyhood, my father would give the dog food and let it munch a while and then slowly take the food from the dog, if it growled snapped or whatever it was history.
We had 14 dogs growing up, never had a biter or snapper
Yeah, that does make it harder. I worried about my Sunny at her last vet visit. But she handled it well. Thank God!
I grew up with small dogs. We had a rather expensive Cocker Spaniel. The dog had mental issues. We couldn’t keep it as it would bite for any reason. Parents gave it to a biker. Dog led a great little life riding bitch on a motorcycle.
I was a service tech for a public utility doing residential service.
Cocker Spaniels were biters
You need to put him down. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured.
We’ve had to put down two dogs due to aggressive behavior. The first (a Catahoula) bit our infant son across the face and came within 2mm of taking out an eye. The second (a Lab) bit multiple people (gardener, brother-in-law) and nearly killed a neighbor’s Chihuahua. There were many other near misses as well, including the time the dog busted through the front window screen and chased a tree guy down the street and the time he went after our pastor’s wife during a Bible study in our house. We waited too long to deal with the Lab since since he was great with the children and they’d grown very attached to him. But after he bit clean through my brother-in-law’s leg we had to face the fact that we’d put ourselves at great risk of a lawsuit by letting emotion govern our decision.
Make peace with the dog and do the right thing. It’s hard I know, but in the end it’s the right thing to do. You are on notice of the risk, which maximizes the legal jeopardy as well.
No worries, FMI.
sorry I meant FYI
If he’s biting people, you don’t have much of a choice. You gave him a good life for quite a few years. You have nothing to be ashamed of.
Any dog that bites a child is useless.
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