advice needed asap.

Person_one

Dear god please do not listen to that vet nurse! Do you realise how little training/education they get? She is not qualified to make that kind of condemning statement and is talking rubbish anyway.

I'm on my phone at the moment so I can 't write the detailed reply I want to but I hope kylyr or fosterdog or someone equally knowledgeable will be along soon and will give you some hope and some advice.

Person_one

Hang in there. X

mellymoo74

Person_one wrote: »

Dear god please do not listen to that vet nurse! Do you realise how little training/education they get? She is not qualified to make that kind of condemning statement and is talking rubbish anyway.

I'm on my phone at the moment so I can 't write the detailed reply I want to but I hope kylyr or fosterdog or someone equally knowledgeable will be along soon and will give you some hope and some advice.

Really do t listen. One of mine is snappy going off that nurses advice shed end up PTS there are lots of things you can do I distract and use look at me to help keep snappy out of the way of other dogs.
Dont pqnic there will be other people who know more on soon.

neveranymoney

Right, everyone has calmed a bit, we all are worth tuppence and have very sore heads! Muzzle had been purchased, he is not its greatest fan but hey ho. I have to be brutally honest and say, I am not as confident as I was around him and I am watching him like a hawk around my son, this is not a positive atmosphere for anyone and as the vet rightly said to me, this will be life for the next 10 to 12 years.

I am tormented,by thoughts of the other dog and its family and I am asking myself is he truly safe around us? If only I could back and get husband to cross the road, gone home another way or bloody gone home earlier. My daughter starts an important year of school tomorrow my son the next day and all the gubbins that that entails needs sorted.

dandelionclock30

I'd take it back to the rescue, never mind paying for behaviourists etc. You wont be able to keep it muzzelled all the time. I wouldnt want to have to pay for loads of vet bills from other dog owners etc. Also what if it attacks a child next? You cant be worrying about it with your family. You dont want be sat in A and E after one of your children has been savaged. Your family has to come first surely not the dog.
Theres plenty of dogs available that dont do this, I'd get one of them not put up with the worry/hassel of this dog. You have nothing feel guilty about.The dogs not suitable for your household, end of story.

catkins

neveranymoney wrote: »

our options are to keep and muzzle him, whilst working though it or re home him. Please do not judge me for the next couple of paragraphs as I am being bluntly honest here and can barely see to type properly.

One of the vet nurses said that basically it is this particular dogs nature, they have 3 to 4 cases of this and worse every week and it is ultimately an animal. The other nurse said that if I could afford a good behaviourist, which I just cannot at this minute in time to keep Scamp but if not, re home him as NOTHING makes this type of behaviour except able and the children are the priority

I am certainly no dog expert but I don't understand the vet nurse's comment about "this particular dog's nature". What breed is your dog? I really do not think any one breed of dog can be said to be vicious or dog reactive and I think it is wrong that the nurse said this. Also is she really qualified to make comments about your children being your priority? Of course they are but just because a dog is reactive to other dogs it doesn't mean for one second that they will be aggressive to people. As I said in my previous post, my previous dog changed from a dog that loved all other dogs big and small after he was attacked but he NEVER EVER showed the slightest bit of aggression with people. He loved adults and children and being a big hairy thing children were drawn to him and ask to stroke him. I never had a second's hesitation.

My nieces were young and they would comb his fur, plait it, put it a ponytail, pigtails etc. He just lay there and let them do it.

I fully understand your fear at the moment of him but if he were only dog reactive there are ways of dealing with it. No, it's not always easy but it can be done. Muzzling the dog, avoiding other dogs if possible by crossing the road, turning round etc. I got expert at all that. Don't let other people allow their dogs to come to yours or bother him in any way.

What exactly did the vet say? Was any mention made at all of thyroid problems? That can cause a dog to suddenly become aggressive to other dogs.

catkins

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

I'd take it back to the rescue, never mind paying for behaviourists etc. You wont be able to keep it muzzelled all the time. I wouldnt want to have to pay for loads of vet bills from other dog owners etc. Also what if it attacks a child next? You cant be worrying about it with your family.
Theres plenty of dogs available that dont do this, I'd get one of them not put up with the worry/hassel of this dog. You have nothing feel guilty about.The dogs not suitable for your household, end of story.

The dog may well not need a behaviourist. It could have been a one off. Even if not, it can be handled and of course a dog can be muzzled when taken out every time. If it is muzzled it won't be able to hurt another dog so why would the OP be looking at paying lots of vet's bills? You are just scaremongering.

The OP has no reason to believe the dog is likely to show aggression to any of the family. There are lots and lots of dog reactive dogs (I had one and I know quite a few other people that have had or have one) and none of them have ever shown any aggression to people.

neveranymoney

I did mention thyroid and blood tests but he was largely dismissive as his temp was checked and he let the vet have a fair old hoak at him, bum, paws, down his throat, heart etc. He is a terrier mix, a bit like a tan Eddie from Frazier, mixed with a boarder terrier. Whilst the vet did comment on how he let the vet prod or poke at him without the slightest sign of aggression, he did conversationally comment on the fact that his surgery have never had a problem with staffys and humans and that he could list a hundred other dogs that they do, they all know that they aren't a great breed with other dogs and they know to make sure any staffies they have are always secured before they bring other dogs out, just to be safe. He definitely was veering on the side of sending him back to the rescue and even offered to ring them for me before we left the surgery but I was in too much of a state at the time to make a decision.

kelly17687

We had a problem with our rescue dog a few years ago, not with being aggressive to other dogs, more to people, growling at certain people and he also snapped a couple of times at my dad. It was a totally stressful time for my mum and dad (and me and my sister also). My mum considered taking him back to the rescue place but couldn't bare the thought of it. It was tough for a wee while but now he's fine. We didn't take him to a behaviour specialist, nothing of the sort, just made sure he knew we trusted him and he got back to normal. This was about 6 years ago and we've never had any other issue with him. I'm so glad we didn't give up on him! If you say your dog has never been like this before just try and persevere with the muzzle until you feel you can trust him again. It would be a shame for you to lose him if this was just a one off incident.

elliesmemory1

What breed is he? I agree with not taking any notice of the vet nurse. They are not trained in behaviour and only see frighted or ill animals so really dont take notice of what she said.

Make sure you get the right muzzle, you want the basket type that he can drink through and pant. Do NOT get the tight fabric type that clamp his mouth shut. They are not suitable for anything other than brief use for vet vists etc.

Does your insurance cover behavioural expences?
Some do. Just because your dog is dog agressive does not mean he would bite a person.
Dogs on leads can often be denfensive and as the woman came up to you with her dog with out asking if it was ok it is partly her fault
However if you are not able to get a good behaviourist and are not able to work with him to overcome it, it may well be the best thing for him to go back to rescue.