Hi there, HUGE essay ahead and I'm sorry about that...
I am the owner of three awesome dogs of varying sizes and temperaments at home -a sweet, friendly but slightly insecure male Kelpie, an adorable, funny little idiot of a staffy x girl, and an angry little chihuahua (well not angry, but a bit bossy).
Our extended family is pretty "dogged up", with my dogs having several regular dog visitors who are their best friends. Nobody ever starts a fight; they just run around and explore the backyard and hang out in their dog "cave" (they have all dug out a play den in the yard that we have allowed them to keep). At the end of the day, everybody happily snuggles up with one another and I've never noticed any tension between our dogs and any other visiting pooch. Keep in mind that all three of our dogs are rescue dogs, and so are many of their dog friends.
Recently, a dog came up on social media because he was about to be put down at a pound. He was an aus cattledog and looked adorable. Although they hadn't directly exposed him to other dogs, he didn't get fazed by them when they walked past his cage, and the ranger said he seemed like a nice dog. My partner and I agreed that we were in a position to temporarily foster an extra dog, so we contacted a local rescue and asked if they could arrange to have us foster this little guy.
We meet this guy and we were smitten - he was absolutely lovely. He walks well on lead and listens to us, and does what we say when we ask. He is also super affectionate. He seemed like just the perfect little dog.
When we first brought him home we took him for a walk with our kelpie. They were initially wary of one another, but were soon happy to walk alongside one another and sniff all the same things. One thing we noticed is that they tended to overmark each other - our kelpie often does this to our staffy, so we figured this dog was similar. When we got home our staffy (who LOVES dogs) was so happy and excited and sniffed him all over. We stopped that almost immediately, because he didn't look entirely happy about it and she can get a bit intense, and we figured everything was still new and scary for him.
We kept them separated overnight, then played with them in the morning. He didn't seem to "get" dog play - our staffy tried to tempt him to chase her with a toy in her mouth and he wasn't interested. I generally felt like both our kelpie and staffy were being reasonably friendly with him without being pushy, but there was just a disconnect there. We figured he was just not terribly socialised. My partner then started playing fetch with the dogs, which seemed to make him a lot more confident, because he was consistently the first one to get the ball (although I am pretty sure my dogs sort of let him - they are sweet like that with newcomers).
All of a sudden - without ANY warning, he runs up and ATTACKS our much smaller female staffy while she sat metres away on the grass. She wasn't even paying attention to him. My partner separated them pretty quickly and there were no marks. It did seem out of the blue, but he appeared to settle, and so we move along, much more wary of their interactions and intending to separate them.
When we got up to the deck, however, he attacked her again, pinning her to the floor. She was terrified and yelping. This time, however, our protective kelpie tries to get involved and it escalates, with the new dog JUMPING on his back and biting him repeatedly. I've seen dogs fight before (although never any of ours), but this just seemed SO much more vicious than anything I'd ever seen. After we had separated them, we inspected both dogs, and while my kelpie bit him in the face, he only superficially damaged him, whereas this dog seemed to bite down hard. There were several pretty deep puncture wounds down my boy's back and neck and we had to get him treated at the vet.
Since then we have kept them separate, but often only by a screen door. He doesn't seem to even care if the other dogs walk past. He doesn't growl or anything. He rarely even gives them a look. My dogs on the other hand, are petrified and seem to panic a bit when we go out to see the dog. When on walks together (but never close to one another), my kelpie won't keep his eyes off him, but this guy barely acknowledges him.
Anyway, this morning my partner accidentally didn't fully latch the screen door when he went to clean this dog's bowl, and my kelpie came out. I didn't witness this, but my partner said, completely unprovoked and without even a growl, the dog ran up and jumped on his back and started ferociously biting him again. This guy really seems to know how to fight, and he is so vicious, so my beautiful boy didn't really have a chance. My partner had to actually whack him with a dish over his head then pull him up by the neck, to have him let go. All of our dogs are even more traumatised than they were before. I really don't want to do this anymore.
The rescue group said they're completely filled up so there is no way anyone can really take this animal off us at this moment, and I don't really want to push it because it was my stupid idea to begin with (why did I get an untested dog!). I also don't really want him going to another foster family and mauling their dogs too. Given the nature of the attacks, I really don't know if there's any point where we can socialise him enough for him to be adoptable - but he is SO nice to people (adult people at least - I don't want to test him with kids). If he growled or generally acted fearful, I could probably be a bit more patient, but I can't seem to predict his attacks in the slightest - it honestly feels like he just wants to kill my dogs and has no interest in reasoning with them.
I also don't think the stress is fair on my dogs - they shouldn't have to feel terrified in their own home. This guy has gone and peed all over their sacred dog cave too, and they seem a bit sad about that. My female dog has started peeing several times whenever she is let out into the garden, which I can only presume is marking - she has NEVER marked before in her life. I am thinking of giving my dogs to my mum for a while so they can hang out with some of their friends and have some pleasant dog interactions in an environment where they won't feel like one or two doors is all that stands between them and getting mauled.
What should I do? Should I wait it out a few more weeks and hope that the rescue group can find another carer for him? I have a feeling it will be at least several months before anyone will be willing to take him, with his history. At the same time, I feel like he is so lovely to people that I'd hate to see him put down (which I'm sure would happen if I took him to a pound). I doubt anyone will want to take him off us given what he's done, but there's no way I'm releasing him to anyone else without complete transparency.
Can anyone lend me some advice?
I am the owner of three awesome dogs of varying sizes and temperaments at home -a sweet, friendly but slightly insecure male Kelpie, an adorable, funny little idiot of a staffy x girl, and an angry little chihuahua (well not angry, but a bit bossy).
Our extended family is pretty "dogged up", with my dogs having several regular dog visitors who are their best friends. Nobody ever starts a fight; they just run around and explore the backyard and hang out in their dog "cave" (they have all dug out a play den in the yard that we have allowed them to keep). At the end of the day, everybody happily snuggles up with one another and I've never noticed any tension between our dogs and any other visiting pooch. Keep in mind that all three of our dogs are rescue dogs, and so are many of their dog friends.
Recently, a dog came up on social media because he was about to be put down at a pound. He was an aus cattledog and looked adorable. Although they hadn't directly exposed him to other dogs, he didn't get fazed by them when they walked past his cage, and the ranger said he seemed like a nice dog. My partner and I agreed that we were in a position to temporarily foster an extra dog, so we contacted a local rescue and asked if they could arrange to have us foster this little guy.
We meet this guy and we were smitten - he was absolutely lovely. He walks well on lead and listens to us, and does what we say when we ask. He is also super affectionate. He seemed like just the perfect little dog.
When we first brought him home we took him for a walk with our kelpie. They were initially wary of one another, but were soon happy to walk alongside one another and sniff all the same things. One thing we noticed is that they tended to overmark each other - our kelpie often does this to our staffy, so we figured this dog was similar. When we got home our staffy (who LOVES dogs) was so happy and excited and sniffed him all over. We stopped that almost immediately, because he didn't look entirely happy about it and she can get a bit intense, and we figured everything was still new and scary for him.
We kept them separated overnight, then played with them in the morning. He didn't seem to "get" dog play - our staffy tried to tempt him to chase her with a toy in her mouth and he wasn't interested. I generally felt like both our kelpie and staffy were being reasonably friendly with him without being pushy, but there was just a disconnect there. We figured he was just not terribly socialised. My partner then started playing fetch with the dogs, which seemed to make him a lot more confident, because he was consistently the first one to get the ball (although I am pretty sure my dogs sort of let him - they are sweet like that with newcomers).
All of a sudden - without ANY warning, he runs up and ATTACKS our much smaller female staffy while she sat metres away on the grass. She wasn't even paying attention to him. My partner separated them pretty quickly and there were no marks. It did seem out of the blue, but he appeared to settle, and so we move along, much more wary of their interactions and intending to separate them.
When we got up to the deck, however, he attacked her again, pinning her to the floor. She was terrified and yelping. This time, however, our protective kelpie tries to get involved and it escalates, with the new dog JUMPING on his back and biting him repeatedly. I've seen dogs fight before (although never any of ours), but this just seemed SO much more vicious than anything I'd ever seen. After we had separated them, we inspected both dogs, and while my kelpie bit him in the face, he only superficially damaged him, whereas this dog seemed to bite down hard. There were several pretty deep puncture wounds down my boy's back and neck and we had to get him treated at the vet.
Since then we have kept them separate, but often only by a screen door. He doesn't seem to even care if the other dogs walk past. He doesn't growl or anything. He rarely even gives them a look. My dogs on the other hand, are petrified and seem to panic a bit when we go out to see the dog. When on walks together (but never close to one another), my kelpie won't keep his eyes off him, but this guy barely acknowledges him.
Anyway, this morning my partner accidentally didn't fully latch the screen door when he went to clean this dog's bowl, and my kelpie came out. I didn't witness this, but my partner said, completely unprovoked and without even a growl, the dog ran up and jumped on his back and started ferociously biting him again. This guy really seems to know how to fight, and he is so vicious, so my beautiful boy didn't really have a chance. My partner had to actually whack him with a dish over his head then pull him up by the neck, to have him let go. All of our dogs are even more traumatised than they were before. I really don't want to do this anymore.
The rescue group said they're completely filled up so there is no way anyone can really take this animal off us at this moment, and I don't really want to push it because it was my stupid idea to begin with (why did I get an untested dog!). I also don't really want him going to another foster family and mauling their dogs too. Given the nature of the attacks, I really don't know if there's any point where we can socialise him enough for him to be adoptable - but he is SO nice to people (adult people at least - I don't want to test him with kids). If he growled or generally acted fearful, I could probably be a bit more patient, but I can't seem to predict his attacks in the slightest - it honestly feels like he just wants to kill my dogs and has no interest in reasoning with them.
I also don't think the stress is fair on my dogs - they shouldn't have to feel terrified in their own home. This guy has gone and peed all over their sacred dog cave too, and they seem a bit sad about that. My female dog has started peeing several times whenever she is let out into the garden, which I can only presume is marking - she has NEVER marked before in her life. I am thinking of giving my dogs to my mum for a while so they can hang out with some of their friends and have some pleasant dog interactions in an environment where they won't feel like one or two doors is all that stands between them and getting mauled.
What should I do? Should I wait it out a few more weeks and hope that the rescue group can find another carer for him? I have a feeling it will be at least several months before anyone will be willing to take him, with his history. At the same time, I feel like he is so lovely to people that I'd hate to see him put down (which I'm sure would happen if I took him to a pound). I doubt anyone will want to take him off us given what he's done, but there's no way I'm releasing him to anyone else without complete transparency.
Can anyone lend me some advice?
. I feel like a horrible dog parent for having exposed them to a situation where they felt like they could trust our judgement, but they just got ruthlessly attacked. Might have to work on their confidence again after all this.
