Should my dog be put down because of aggression?

If anyone is able to offer help or advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Our family dog is a 75 pound Rottie/German Shepherd mix. We adopted him 6 years ago when he was one year old. We had two cats at the time. His name is Lucky. He was in a severely abusive situation that the shelter rescued him from and his previous owners were jailed. He has been and is a fantastic, loving dog.
Over the last few years, he's begun showing some sign of aggression. Barking, lunging at the front window when the mailman comes, charging and ramming other males, and then killing rabbits and squirrels in our yard. Then over the last year, he has begun to (out of the blue) attack our cat. This past weekend, he did it again and drew blood.
To complicate matters, we have two little girls, 5 and 3. Lucky growls under his breath if we bump him when he's sleeping (only sometimes), and recently he's started to growl if they hug him which he never used to mind. He loves our girls and is very protective of them. Sleeps in their room. Two days ago, when our youngest got near him and leaned over to hand me something, he turned and growled. Not so much under his breath, but a real growl.
We talked with the woman who rescued him and her opinion was that he probably needs to be put down as hard as that is because it seems to be progressing. I recently had brain surgery, we lost our home, and our steady income. So we are strapped financially.
Lucky is loving and licky and 99 percent of the time wouldn't hurt a fly. He is obedient and will come on command even if he's chasing a rabbit.
Does anyone have any ideas that may help?
Thanks.

First thing is a trip to the vets to see if there is anything wrong. pain or failing eyesight/hearing may make him extra grumpy

if its nothing medical you need your vet to pass you on to a behaviourist. I know financially you are struggling a bit - if you are insured you may get it paid for - or if not not all behaviourists charge fortunes

My first advice would be to consult a vet to have a full blood work up on the dog particularly thyroid and, perhaps and EEG.

Unfortunately the reason that people put up with dogs which bite is because of the 2% rule ie 98% of the time they are nice dogs.

If you cannot afford a vet and any tests and maybe ongoing meds and/or a behaviourist then with two children in the house I would seriously consider having your dog PTS before a tragedy occurs.

It is really not ideal giving advice over the ether as we have no idea of what is ACTUALLY happening, but I would recommend the vet as being your first port of call.

Tell me, does your dog get at least ONE good hour of off lead exercise every day? Could it be that due to your current problems your dog has been "parked" for a while?

Always remember, that no matter how good the rehabilitation, dogs will always revert to the behaviour they first learned.

I am sorry this may not be the news you expected, but I am a realist.

I just wanted to add it really isnt the best to let him sleep in the childrens room or let them hug him
better to be safe

Please do not allow the dog to sleep in the children's room this is such a dangerous situation. What if one of the children got out of bed at night and brushed past him or some noise could spook him. It is way too dangerous.

Very difficult for people to advise you what might be wrong without seeing the dog. But I would definitely keep the children and the dog separate now.

Thank you for your help, everyone. We have recently consulted a vet, and he is healthy.
We've been praying all day for a solution and about 10 minutes ago received an answer.
There is a local rescue league (no kill) that will take, rehabilitate/train, and re-home him to a cat-less, child-less home. They will also keep us informed so that we know where he ends up.
We are so thankful for this option - he is not aggressive toward adults at all and is very docile. He deserves better.
Thank you for your help and suggestions (he's not sleeping in the kids' room anymore).
Thank you!

I'm glad you found a solution you're happy with

What did the vet actually do though? Taking a dog for a checkup and having the vet deem it healthy there and then is much like going to see a doctor, them poking and prodding you for 10 minutes, and declaring you healthy. What about a joint condition that only flares up some of the time? A stomach condition, heart problems, etc.? A vitamin deficiency, a hormone imbalance, even a brain tumour. A dog cannot be declared healthy on looks alone, you would need to consider thorough blood tests and possibly x-rays or MRIs. I understand that vet treatment is quite expensive in the US and without insurance these procedures may be out of your budget but I would perhaps suggest the rescue look into his health further (perhaps you could stretch to donating towards this? Maybe set up a payment plan to the rescue in leui of the daily cost of dog food, flea treatment, etc. for the next few months?), preferably before rehoming him, incase there is a medical cause (which may not just disappear by itself)

I have a Rottie x GSD who started developing anxiety issues at the start of the year, mainly separation anxiety but also reacting to dogs out on walks, getting very reactive in the car (not just to dogs, but bicycles, motorbikes, some people, etc) and so on - bloodwork showed her thyroid levels to be very low. She's now on a daily dose of Soloxine and has improved 200%. The medication is actually pretty cheap (and I haven't even shopped around for the best deal, as my vet claim from the insurance direct, I just buy through them) and once the initial few thyroid panel tests are out of the way she'll only need her levels checking once or twice a year. A pretty simple solution for what was becoming a big problem (and worsening as time went on)

What an awful problem, I am so sorry to read about it.
I agree with what has already been said. Often, a problem with an adult dog, that is not immediately apparent, is due to some medical problem such as hypothyroid, pain, or even things such as tumours.

A vet should give a thorough test, a blood test to start with can often suggest something might be wrong... did your vet at least do this?

If your dog does go to the rescue, I hope it is the right solution for all. Have you looked into their training methods? They should be based on reward based methods and not punishment based!

Wys
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