[Velma And Charlie]

Hello,

This is my first post here, and I never thought it would be of this nature. I have a six month old rottweiler puppy named Charlie. He is one of four dogs in my house. I also have a Boxer, and my roommate and I each have one Chihuahua. I have always loved dogs of all kinds and have never discriminated against any breed - of course I heard all kinds of things about Rottweilers, but I've always believed the behavior of the dog is a reflection on the owner, not the breed. Now I've come to realize that there are good and bad mannered dogs in EVERY breed.

I brought Charlie home when he was 4 months old. There were two puppies left in his litter, and he was the bigger of the two. A really cute, roly poly chubby little guy that just stole my heart. The family that had them had a little girl who is just three, and I watched them play together. I was convinced he was a dog with a stable personality. Then I got him home.

The initial problem was something I thought I could work around, and work with. Food aggression - I hear it's quite common. At first, feeding Charlie separately from everyone else was no big deal. And if that would be the solution to the problem, it would be something I could certainly deal with. But it's grown into something much worse. As my roommate put it "I've never known a dog that is so selfish." He wants EVERYTHING for himself, whether it's his or not. If Charlie is standing by Pasdar's (my Boxer's) empty food bowl, and Pasdar happens by, Charlie goes after him. Charlie likes to jump into the bathtub and try to lick water from the faucet. If Pasdar comes into the bathroom when Charlie is in there, he barks, snarls, and runs him off. So I started keeping my bathroom door closed. Charlie discovered that my roommate also has a bathroom with a bathtub in it. There is a baby gate up that we put up to keep Pasdar out of her bedroom, and Pasdar has always respected that boundary. It means nothing to Charlie. He jumps right over it, terrifying my roommate's cat (although she kind of deserves it, she's scared of her shadow) and going into her bathroom. Last week when I went to pull Charlie out of her bathtub, as I lifted him out, he swung around at me and put one of his teeth halfway through my thumb. Took quite a while for the bleeding to stop.

Now I feel like I'm facing a brick wall I don't know how to get around it. Pasdar and Charlie run and play, but it's gotten to the point where Charlie will take a hold of Pasdar's leg, or some other part of his body, and growl and snarl until Pasdar has to cry for help and I have to separate them. When I first brought him home, it was a lot of rowdy playing. I know the difference between rough dog play, and crossing the line to where someone can get hurt. It seems every time they play now, Charlie is crossing that line.

This afternoon we went to give them new toys, one for each of them. It doesn't matter that they both get one, Charlie wants whatever Pasdar gets, and he won't share anything with anyone. As a result, all the toys seem to belong to Charlie. Only about an hour ago, Charlie had a toy in his mouth, as he growled and snarled and wouldn't let go, Pasdar was yapping at him and it took both me and my roommate to get the toy away from him. And this time my roommate is the one who was bitten. Not bad and not hard, but he did go after her, snagged her on the shoulder. It wasn't an accident as he tried to get the toy back - he went after her.

I'm so torn on what to do with him. I know he's my responsibility. I want to do right by him. I really don't want to put him down - I wouldn't be able to live with myself. But I also have a responsibility to my other dogs, to myself and my roommate. We shouldn't have to live with an animal we can't control. And it would break my heart if one day he hurt, or even killed (remember, we also have two Chihuahuas) one of our other pets.

My roommate and I are giving serious thoughts to trying to find him a new home, or get help from a resue. As I said, I know he is my responsibility. I would never place an ad in the paper and just try to pass him off to anyone who wants to buy him. This is about placing him with someone who can help him. Any and all advise is welcome here.