[Patti V.]

We adopted Otis four weeks ago, things were going great with our older 10 yo Basset (Stubby) we had rescued two years ago with cancer. In the last four days he has
1) pulled out of his collar and charged another dog walking behind us
2) we take them with us often, yesterday he lunged out of the truck and RAN across the street, up to a woman walking her small dog barking and trying to bite him
3) today, out of the blue, he turned on Stubby, biting and barking. Our cat and I ran to his (Stubby) rescue, me pulling Otis down the hall and our cat whacking him several times. Timeout in the bathroom. This is scarring us to feel that we can’t leave them alone anymore.

Any advise? We’ve had four other Bassets...not a single problem.

 

[TeazelsMum]

This could simply be that Otis now has his feet under the table, and is pushing the boundaries. You may also now be seeing the 'real' Otis. If you can find out as much background with him, it may help you understand why he's acting this way. But just know, this is NOT normal for a Basset. I think, other than asking about his past, a vet visit might be worth doing in case there's a medical problem going on. And much as I hate to say it, I knew of a Basset who flipped and it was found he had a brain tumour. I hope you can sort this out because attacking your other Basset, let alone unprovoked attacks on strange dogs, can't be tolerated. So sorry. You may now be finding out why he was out of his previous home(s).

 

[Mikey T]

You have likely discovered why he was in rescue in the first place, Behavioral Issue are the most likely cause owner relinquishment of a dog. In a multi dog household dog v dog aggression is much hard to deal with than human agression in dogs. The first thing you need to consider if trying to rehabilitate him is the likelihood he could cause injury to another person or dog. see ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- for this guide on bite sevarity

• Level One: Bark, lunge, no teeth on skin.
• Level Two: Teeth touched, no puncture.
• Level Three: 1-4 holes from a single bite. All holes less than half the length of a single canine tooth.
• Level Four: Single bite, deep puncture (up to one and a half times the depth of a single canine tooth), wound goes black within 24 hours.
• Level Five: Multiple bite attack or multiple attack incidents.
• Level Six: Missing large portions of flesh. [/quoter]

Three and above are very problematic to resolve simply because you can not countercondition and desensitize , and proof properly for moral and ethical reason of not putting anouther human or creature in harms way. If the dog is all lunging barking and snaping without causing real damage then he is what is oftern termed "reactive" you can work with him in trainging classes specifically for reactive dogs. find a behaviorist/trainer that specializes in reactive dogs

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Keep in mind unless you work aggressively to change the behavior the dog will only get worse over time. If you decide that the dog is too much for you to handle There are two options. The first is return to the Rescue. Personal; I would not recommend doing so given that the rescue has already adopted out this dog with it problems without proper warning and the likelihood they do it again is high. The other is euthanasia which is certain approprate in many situations and often the best thing for the dog, I have been in your situation ijn the Past and self admittedly went toop long before going this route with a rescue beagle and endure way to many apuncture wounds .