| I second the statement made by WD, "no bad dogs, just bad owners" however, we were inexperienced with our first male. He came from a backyard breeder, a relative. Without launching into the whole story, it came down to this. If a dog starts out from birth like Zeke did, genetically unsound, there is only so much you can do.
We don't have kids, can't have them. This was our baby. We got Zeke from a relative who means well, but doesn't know anything about breeding. (Lesson learned). Zeke was the biggest of a litter of four. I know both of his brothers very well, and they too, have issues. Should they ever be in the wrong situation at the wrong time, I have no doubt in my mind they would bite. Especially the one with young kids owning him.
We spent every minute with Zeke from the time he got home, sacrificed all of our spare time, recreational time, and devoted everything to him. Granted, we did not know how to handle what happened to us, but no one could have given him more love and patience, and attempted a turnaround with him. Zeke had a bad experience in his puppy class at three months. At that point, he had a major attitude. We knew it and the instructor knew it.
After he was neutered at 6 months, things started getting worse for some reason (the neutering may or may not have affected the progressive situation). At this point, from bringing him home to six months, he really didn't have problems with people. Strangers were acceptable, he had more of an attitude with listening to us at that time. However, as I said, at about six months, things got worse. My husband was growing increasingly worried that they were not bonding. We couldn't understand why, as we had worked so hard with him. He could go for days and be good, but to give him a bath, he had to be muzzled, growled viciously the whole time. Took the muzzle off, bath done, new dog. He could turn on a dime and we found out when I asked my husband to bring him to a softball practice, thought he would enjoy a nice walk around the park while we worked out, then hubby and I would walk around with him some more.
A FRIENDLY FEMALE RELATIVE asked if she could pet him, she had dogs of her own, Lucky for us! She bent down to let him sniff her, and his nub was wagging, and he was licking the palm of her hand. She turned her hand over, to pet him on the head, and he snapped. If my husband had not been watching him the whole time, as he had grown increasingly wary of him, he would have taken her hand off no question. At that point, we didn't know if we should put him down, (based on everything else and this bite attempt) or give him some time to see if we could get past this.
Needless to say, the last month, I finally found someone willing to evaluate him. The only reason we kept on for another month is this behavioralist saw how dedicated we were to him, and he was listening to us at that point, but he was a fearful dog. He would not let anyone he did not know, near him. He had a close circle of family and friends who he never once, had a problem with. We gave it one more month, took hiim out everyday to the park, trying to desensitize him, doing everything we could so he could understand that people did not want to hurt him. He acted like an abused dog. He cringed and you could see the dread in his eyes and attitude towards new people.
The last straw and decision we had to make, came the night I took him to a softball tournament where my husband was playing.
It was a huge area with several fields, mostly used for soccer, and was spread out. We didn't even go in, we just waited out in a area by ourselves in the grass. As people approached on the sidewalk nearby, in groups, but still, probably 20 feet away at least, he freaked out. It took everything I had to hold him down, and after they passed, I left. My husband didn't even know we had been there. I called the behavioralist, and we all talked, we told her he did not seem to be getting better, in fact possibly worse. We put Zeke to rest that night. We should have done it sooner, as he could have hurt someone bad, and we would have spent the rest of our lives paying for it and regretting it.
Not many dogs turn out this way, but there ARE some who are genetically UNSOUND. Until you have been there and went through that hell, you will never know what it is like.
Like I said, we didn't handle everything "the right way" sometimes, but we loved that dog, never hurt him and gave him the best year of his life anyone could have. But what was inside him, hurt him too bad. He tried so hard, but he couldn't overcome it.
Check out these pictures, from six weeks (yes too soon) to two days before his last day- at the time, I couldn't see it, but now, I look back and see how much Zeke suffered. Not a day goes by I don't think of him, and ache for him, but knowing that we did the right thing, I can't be selfish and wish for that one more day.  |