My first reaction would be to STOP the MiL taking Fido out.

Make other arrangements for walking if you possibly can.

Sorry to hear you're in this situation.....

*hugs*

Fido knocked Leo and another kid over so a am not sure if that causes a problem or not???
I'm just so scared that he can get put down so I might have jumped before thinking.
I've told the mil that i don't want her anywhere near me or my family and took the key back so if I can speak to the other people and get them to help me out we should be fine.
I'm going to call a few dog walkers because Estelle is too scared to walk him on her own now. this is the worst feeling ever when someone says they want to have one of your family put down.

thinking of you pal, no advice but never gonna be easy with family involved. But we are all ears here when you want to blow off steam or have a rant!
chin up and hope all gets sorted soon.

Having met Monosyllabic, I would bet that there are genuine reasons and from his subsequent posts, I can understand his panic.

Its an awful situation to be in - I know how hard you have worked with him and what a good job you were doing.

I hope you can get it sorted, though of course with you working full time and with Estelle now afraid to walk him, it does seem like a pretty big problem at the moment. Fingers crossed you can find a dog walker, though you will need to be very sure of their capabilities or they could end up being no better for him than your MIL.

Another downer and I'm perhaps being over pessimistic here, is that I think the chances of you finding the right home for your lad are fairly slim. There are so many dogs in rescue at the moment, many without any issues.

Having said all that, I'm sure that if you and Estelle work together you will be able to make this right again. Whilst it is so sad that he's slipped, you've been through it all once with him, I have every confidence that you can do it again.

Its good to hear that you have already calmed down and are starting to take positive action to get him back on track.

The fact that he's always been muzzled must go in your favour as I can't imagine that he will have been able to cause any damage to the other dogs....and as for knocking a child over, well the most friendly dog can do that.

I'll be keeping my fingers firmly crossed for you that you can get this all sorted...you have been so good for Fido.

Hi Ben,

Even though a child was knocked over it doesnt make any difference, as Hali has said, the friendliest dog could do that and in actual fact, Luca was knocked down by a loose dog in our local park who i would have said wasnt under control and the owner was a bit of a twit, however I wouldnt of dreamt of asking for dog to be put down, as it wasnt the dogs fault it was the owner, and in all honesty its the same case here, it has got to the stage with Fido that he is now slipped and gone back to bad behaviour.

I think you are right to take the key away and you have to be firm with that, Hali is also right that you will probably struggle to rehome Fido with issues ( and if you dont mention the issues then who knows where he would end up being passed on etc)

YOu can work through this,
has Estelle thought of a head harness for him so that she is in complete control, and a long line so she can let him have a run in open areas.

I honestly do struggle sometimes with Bruno and Luca if other dogs are about as he is so strong and is obviously always onlead, however it can be done and he isnt bothered as long as he gets out and about.

Luca still goes in his buggy a lot to walk the dog, but i also take him out on bike etc and Bruno is manageable.

Why is Estelle scared because of other dogs coming up to him or because she cannot control him??

Exactly what does Fido do when he sees another dog and is onlead?

Also as an aside, I could recommend a couple of behaviourists if you feel you need some assistance with him to repair the damage done by the MIL.

You might also consider Max at Action4dogs ( google him) he does controlled social walks and it might be a nice way for Fido to get reassociated with nice dogs who arent a bad influence but a good one !! I think he charges about £10 a walk but thats no more than a dog walker and it would mean he could give you some advice at the same time. He is based out your way someway i think so relatively local.

I wish you luck, and really hope you dont give up on Fido, you have come a long way with him, and I wouldnt like to see the actions of one undo it all.

Good luck ( also we are planning a staffie social walk soonish and it would be good to see you there - again all dogs onlead and under strict control so no issues with stray numpties and there dogs !!! )

Dani

I think it was because Leo was there and the other owner was going mental at her after the fight happened.
Fido didn't do much damage to the other dog but I have seen him attack and it looks really bad. He is 34kg and can jump 4 1/2 foot fences so he puts all that in to hitting the other dog. So it always looks really bad. He is normally off lead and we were thinking about taking his muzzle off because he has been so good up to christmas but we thankfully decided to leave it a bit longer.
Before christmas he was picking the dogs he would go up to and staying clear of ones he didn't like and a few times he has had a dog mount him and he had no reaction. But now he thinks he is in charge again and wants to let everyone know.

He is a good boy just confused and needs to be told what his place is all the time and cause he is a cross i think it might be the different parts of him conflicting??

I'd like to thank you all for you help and I hope we can help him again.

I totally sympathise with you, my lab sounds a bit similar to your Fido. The only thing that helped was to keep socialising him and controlling meetings with other dogs. I totally sympathise also with how even one bad experience can set you back so many steps. I am now pretty good at reading other dogs' body language and can spot another dog a mile off ha ha! If I see a dog I know Jago doesn't like or who I think may coming running up to him I remove him from the situation. I have dicovered a ball to chuck in the sea works wonders as nothing is as exciting to him and getting his ball back from the water, and it provides an escape route for him. Is there anything similar you could try with Fido? I really hope you can find someone savvy to walk him for you.

Walk him on a lead
Keep him muzzled
DON'T let Mil anywhere near him

That would solve your immediate problems..

Sorry to hear you are having such horrid problems - especially with the MIL!

Dani and Fiona have already given some great advice, so I just wanted to say that I hope you manage to get things sorted out so that Fido can remain with you and continue with the great training and socialisation you have already started.

The socialisation walks with Action4dogs sounds great, and I think Yogi might benefit from them, with his hooligan way of greeting strange dogs If you do decide to go that route and need extra dogs for the walk, then give me a shout. I looked at the website and it says that Max will take the socialisation walks (with a maximum of 5 dogs) if you can get 5 friends together.

Dani - do you know Max? Is he good?

Best of luck Mono, and please keep us updated.

hi Kirsty, I havent been on Max's walks but he was recommended by one of the girls at staffie rescue and I referred someone else to him too and they got on great.
I might have to try and do it myself one day with Bruno "!!! LOL