kittiesareus

Hi all,
I foster for a local Basset rescue and aquired a 9y/o basset about a month ago. He from the beginning uses his mouth to let you know he is not happy. Usually just mouthing but at one point when I was trying to see if he was food aggressive and took his food away he bit me hard, broke the skin and bruised me up. He has been better but I am unsure if it is because we now know his touchy spots or if he is in fact getting better with us. He was given up because he bit the owners child and he was becoming "cranky". I think his hearinjg is going too. His owners had him since he was 6 weeks old. I really thought that it was a respect thing because I would be eating on the couch and he would try to steal my food from me, when I would push him away he would bite me. The previuos owners didn't seem to train him much as he didn't know anything but sit. We have been able to work with him on some of that. When we first got him he would try to constantly hump my cats, that has since gotten better. I jsut want to know If I am doing the right thing and I want to make him adoptable too.

2hounds

I'm no expert and this sure is a tough one. I'm sure you've been in contact with the rescue organization to let them know about whats going on. I've also heard that once a dog bites its a very hard habit to correct. Hopefully others can chime in?? I googled "Breaking dog biting" ans several websites popped up, maybe you will find some helpful info there. Good luck!

~Heather

__________________
Mommy to Gibbs and kitty kitty Eva

Dear sweet Lily (ATB ) you will never be forgotten.

murraysmom

You said he was given up because "he was becoming cranky"- if his behavior changed, could there be a physical cause? I'm wondering if it would be worth having his thyroid checked?

kittiesareus

We had labwork done when we brought him home and it all came back fine. I was secretly wishing there was some health reason, maybe then it would have been easier to fix. Behavior problems are sooo difficult.

Baxter Basset

Some years ago I received a Basset from an acquaintence who knew I was grieving the loss of my 11 year old Basset. a relative of his was splitting from his wife and neither was going to take him. He was a beautiful tri-color and seemed very nice. Well, I kept him for 2.5 years - 2.5 years of pure hell!! He bit me a few times, tormented my other animals, was very food/toy agressive - and barked all the time. I kept trying everything - I had him to obedience school - twice, had a behavioralist come to the house and she said she thought he was abused. She even prescribed Prozac, which has no effect on him! He wreaked havock in the house and yet there were times when he could be loveable. I hung onto that and really loved and felt sorry for him. When there was no relief and I tried everything I could, I was able to rehouse him with a couple in another state. They were losing their only pet, an elderly Basset Hound, and my friend told their vet about Homer. He thought it would be a good match because there were no children and no other pets. I gave him over and cried my eyes out over it, but although I haven't heard anything in a long time, initially it seemed to be working out. I truly pray it has.

Soundtrack

I'm sorry, I would not even consider adopting out that dog. He needs to either be a permanent foster (in which case he's taking up resources that could be used on adoptable hounds) or he needs to be euthanized.

I know it sounds harsh, but the liabilites of placing such a dog are too high. Most biters can NOT be rehabilitated, only managed, and at his age I doubt he'll change much. He may become fine with you, as you learn his quirks, but if he is adopted out and bites someone the rescue could get sued and put out of business.

__________________
Rosie-Ch Soundtrack Cracklin' Rose CGN AGN RA Am RN TT
Melody-Ch Soundtrack Unchained Melody TT
Sailor-Ch Soundtrack Expedition Sailor RN TT
Chili-Ch Soundtrack Spice Up Your Life
Curry-Ch Soundtrack Canadian Brass
Pepper-Ch Pennieslogon Living La Vida Loca CGN
Vina-Ch Soundtrack Grand Illusion
Leila-Ch Soundtrack Almost Paradise
Deela-Ch Soundtrack Wink Of An Eye
Hermione - Soundtrack Spellbound
Eowyn - Soundtrack Rain Dance

Aruuuu

What Miriam said. Given the dog's history, and now his current behavior with you, something is just not right. I'm very surprised that the rescue even took a dog they knew was a biter. If he's 'hard-wired' to bite, and it sounds like he is, training will not help......

__________________
If stress were exercise, I'd be in great shape!

Rusty Stickers Mom

I'm sorry that you are in this situation but I do agree with the 2 previous responses. To me that's like giving someone a loaded gun and saying It might go off someday, be careful. Something you just can't do.

Pinkwhip

Obviously, working successfully with aggression takes a lot of experience.

There are people who have that experience.

And there is someone who has that experience who is the right person for this dog.

Given that people feel comfortable advising you to have this dog killed (because that's the bottom line, can't work with the dog so kill him), I want to at least pipe in and say that unless experts such as those from the shelter featured on National Geographic's series Dog Town, that takes only the worse cases and never gives up on the dog, told you that it was best to put this dog down, euthanize, whatever word you want, than I think that anyone who agreed to take on responsibility for a life, should go all the way. And going all the way may mean finding an expert to work with this dog - or learning to be one yourself.

The place on the Nat Geo show is called Best Friends Animal Society - they are at www.bestfriends.org. Rescue groups and shelters send them their worst cases. Once a dog is there, they guarantee nothing bad will ever happen to them. They adopt out dogs, but some dogs with aggression stay there their whole lives. Some with aggression are there for years and are finally ready to be adopted. BUT it's a great place - not your typical shelter - it's like little college dorms of dogs. They have way over 2,000 animals - it's really quite amazing and they're probably not the only ones. They don't believe in euthanizing behavior problems. So there are such places.

While killing a dog with a serious and potentially deadly behavior problem, may seem like the only option and, in fact, the right thing to do, THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS. So, while I agree with the intent of the comments hinting at euthanizing this dog - meaning that what they are saying first is that it may be very difficult if not impossible for someone without serious, serious experience to rehabilitate this dog, I don't agree that the first option should be kill him. That should be last on a long, long, long list of other options - no one has yet said contact an expert - I think that is interesting.

The only other thing I want to say is that I totally think you are doing the right thing by asking for other people's opinions -- and maybe one of the questions you could ask is if you are right the person for to work with this dog. If you have the experience, than awesome - this dog with grow you. If you don't have the experience, than you could get that experience with the help of an expert. If you don't have the experience and you can't get expert help, you could find a foster family that does have it. Or you could try a shelter like Best Friends.

Point being, there are too many options available to you at this point in the game.

Again, I'm not saying this dog should be adopted out, or kept at your house, or anyone's house - there is obviously a huge and dangerous problem, all I am saying is that maybe it's not okay to jump right to the ultimate cure before really exploring.

I think that is exactly what you are doing by asking your question, "Am I doing the right thing?" So, I'm saying that I think you are doing the right thing - just keep making sure to discover what else is available to you and that you are not in harm's way as you do it.

I have a fear aggressive dog and I hired Pat Miller the behaviorist who writes for Whole Dog Journal on her issues - I realized that even though I had read no less than 12 books on the subject, am a fair trainer, have had loads of dogs, I could not go it alone - it was too serious, too important and that I had to fair to my dog and make sure she had the best chance. I had to swollen my pride that "I can handle this!" and get real help. I learned a lot and this is a really long and hard road, but we are getting there.

I don't agree with the human version of euthanize for behavior problems either - so I also want to say that I do understand that there are different views on this forum - and I love that there are - and I know no one would say anything that they didn't truly believe with their whole compassionate heart was right and good. So, I'm not judging the people, just the opinion - and throwing another view into the ring.

Betsy Iole

I had a dog-aggressive, fear-biting golden. We employed a behaviorist, who worked with the dog for *years*. We learned to successfully manage his behavior, and he lived a long and happy life with us, finally dying of age-related causes. That said, he was a huge PITA, and our daily stress level decreased in a major way when he went on to his reward.

I should also note that we had the resources to manage a problem dog like this: megabucks for the behaviorist, medical testing, and construction of an indoor/outdoor run; one of us worked at home and could provide a lot of structure; and we have NO children. Not everyone enjoys these conditions/resources, and not all problem dogs can be successfully managed, even under the best of circumstances.

Only a person/family actually living with a particular aggressive dog can determine whether they'll be able to manage the dog, day in and day out, longterm. Given this dog's age, I think it would be very difficult to eliminate his biting behavior, although I applaud kittiesareus for working with him. I assume that because this dog is being fostered for a rescue group, the group will make a determination as to the dog's future. Will be interested in hearing their decision.

__________________
Betsy, Mom to
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Caper UD RE TD BHCA-VC
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Cuppa Joe TD
CH Bugle Bay's AllUCanEat Buffet CDX RN TDX NA CGC BHCA-VCX, 1996-2008
"Bugsie" UDX NA NAJ CGC, 1991-2006