Your dog viciously attacks someone what action would you take (Split from old thread)

we had a black cocker who adored my hubby, but little else and flew into a madness for no reason, the final straw was she bit my sister in law and would leap at any visitors - we had four small children living near us and could not risk the gate being left open - afraid went to the doggy kennel in the sky.
we now have labs

I am afraid it is a decision we have had to make on a couple of occasions with dogs we have been fostering/assessing for SHWA(UK). One dog in particular was as good as gold foir the first 12 hours - very friendly and cuddly. After a night's sleep, my wife went to say good morning to him and he attacked without warning, biting her hand badly. I pulled him away and he bit me badly as well. I put a muzzle on him (which we keep for just such occasions) and he continued to try to attack everyone he saw. We took him straight to our vet as there is no way we could consider rehoming a dog with those kind of known issues. The vet agreed with our assessment and he was regretfully, put to sleep while he lay in my arms.
It was only later that we discovered that the dog had been dosed up with ACP when we picked it up as it had a history of attacking humans (which we were not told about). Obviously the ACP wore off overnight and the dog was back to "normal."
It is a horrible decision to have to make, but unfortunately, sometimes inevitable.

Mick

When I lived in South Africa our German Shepherds were first and foremost our pets, but also played an important role in protecting us. We had 8 foot fencing all around our property, with signs every 6 feet warning of dangerous dogs. Some neighbours of ours had a barbeque one day, got a bit drunk and decided it might be fun to climb our fence and go paddling about in the river at the bottom of our property - we were out at the time. On the way down the shepherds were barking quite viciously so they picked up sticks to ward them off - that was like waving a red flag at a herd of bulls One of the dogs attacked one guy and bit him on the arm, quite badly so we were informed by the police, to the extent he needed surgery to repair the damage.

We came home to blood all over our doorstep (why was he at the back door???) and the police waiting for us, too scared to go in. After checking out our property, with all the warning signs,locked gate etc, we were asked if we wanted to counter sue for trespass. There was never any mention that the dog would have to be put to sleep. We knew he wasn't good with strangers, so when we had visitors he was locked in a spare room in the house so he couldn't bite anyone. With the family he was a wonderful and faithful companion who's tail never stopped wagging. After that awful day whenever we went out he was locked in the house, just in case.

I would probably feel differently now that I have kids. But in those days my hubby worked away from home a lot so I was left at home by myself, on 5 acres of land with neighbours who probably wouldn't hear any commotion. We took all necessary steps to ensure our dogs wouldn't get out, and people thinking about coming in would see all the signs, including one on the gate saying beep, don't come in, vicious dogs running free. Janus used to sleep in my bedroom next to the bed and I can honestly say I never once felt nervous or worried about intruders with him by my side.

If there was no reason, I would pts, would never trust the dog again..

I think my attitude 10 or 20 years ago would be different to how I`d approach it now. You do the best you can at the time, in those particular circumstances. I do regret having a dog PTS many years ago for (dog) aggression but at the time he would have probably gone on to kill and at the time I couldn`t find anyone to help me with him.
These days there is a lot more understanding of ways we can rehabilitate challenging dogs In your case it may have been a medical or breeding problem rather than one which could be solved by training. Either way, as the owner you are responsible for ensuring that your dog doesn`t injure people or animals so occasionally we have to take hard decisions.

I would be devastated....and depending on who the dog attacked I guess would depend on how much imput I had in the process.

I have been bitten several times....none of the dogs have been pts (most are my mothers - she has a habit of taking on the ones that no one else will, or being lumbered with them!)

I would hope that if one of my dogs bit someone I would be able to see the reason surrouding it - what that reason was would depend to whether the dog lived I guess. The bite is always going to be somthing the dog felt it had to do, it would come down to whether I feel the dog can be persuaded to change its mind I guess....

Not feeling well....that may not make sense (Sorry)

Makes sense to me!

For instance, if someone came toward you when you were out and was threatening or waving a weapon or stick at you then it's understandable that a dog might attack them, or if someone broke into the house and was encroaching on the dog's territory that is understandable too. IMO.

Hope you feel better soon

Ive been bitten a couple times not badly though. I agree if the dog bites for no apparent reason and is healthy, Id PTS without question. When doing labrador rescue we had a few that we had to have PTS, each time we gave the benefit of the doubt and each time we were proved wrong, sadly one time a yellow dog we had in bit my boss's stomach, he had shown no aggression for a couple months, but did come in because he had supposedly bitten his owner, time always tells.

I remember well, one day a guy walked into the vets where I worked and started crying.......
when asked what was wrong he just said ''can you put my dog to sleep.
We had a new receptionist on at the time, who didn't think to ask ''why'' instead she said ''right fetch him in''

It just happened to be me who came walking round the corner of the waiting room as he came in with a huge GSD, who promptly latched itself onto the top of my arm, then onto a leg of a good samaritan who tried to help. We had to wrestle him to the floor....very sad. He was PTS, myself and the other person was taken to hospital and both of us had sutres.
That dog had viciously attacked and bitten 5 people in it's short life without warning.

I still wonder why?????

But if I had one that viciously attacked then I would. As heartbreaking as it would be, I wouldn't want anyone else attacked.

I can relate to that, and I would have done exactly the same, I would never have had this dog pts, ever! Well done you for sticking to your guns and keeping this dog too!