Freckles from what I am reading from the majority of posters is if you can give the dog a chance do but be aware if the dog has bitten in the past you need to know the trigger and that could be absolutely anything or one thing or many things so it is better to err on the side of caution and keep the dog away from visitors or family it may have an issue with.
Personally for me if I ask anyone to ignore a behaviour or my dog when visiting my home I would expect them to do it as I know my dog they don't so if your brother is one of these people who ignores what you ask then the dog is best kept put of his way or muzzled for its sake and your brothers when he visits. I sympathise I have a brother the same he doesn't visit but he does seem to think his way is right all the time.
This may be fear aggression which Ollie had and I had a very good tip from the vets at the vet school when he had to be admitted. He always had to be muzzled at the vet and this was our worst nightmare. The very slight young girl who dealt with him watched him and as we put the muzzle on he lay down he didn't relax but when the vet examined him he stayed down or got up as asked. When the examination was over she asked us to remove the muzzle while we sat doing the paperwork he laid down and relaxed. She mentioned if he meant harm he would be up at his full height his face in hers.
While he stayed in there they dislike muzzles the other vet he was signed over to put a cone on him and they could examine him by gently pushing against the side of his face for the side of his body they were examining he learnt they were like us and were helping him before long the cone was off and the team could go in the crate to give him cuddles take him for a shower and groom him. The team and the vet when he had to be PTS because he was so ill cried I never thought he would never accomplish that in his life with a vet.
Admittedly he had never bitten but I did learn his body language and knew exactly when he was stressed and when to remove him from a situation or better still never to put him in a situation he couldn't deal with.

You are going to have to have plans in place for this not to happen again for the dogs safety and your visitors and especially your brothers.

Before condemning a dog to death I try to find out what happened first, many young children make the first move with dogs, many dogs will try to get away from the child and will give warning signs before biting, if all this is ignored then the dog will bite and it will be the adults fault not the dog's but they dog pays the final price, he is killed.

If we have children and a dog we should protect the dog as much as the children. I also had 3 children, they learnt to respect my dogs from a very early age. The only problem I had with a child was because his mother thought it was ok for her child to abuse my dog but my dog wasn't to react even though she didn't attempt to bite. I soon put her right and told her to take her badly behaved child out of my house


Parents are also responsible for what their children do to others and animals. I used to run a pre-school playgroup, then amount of 3 year old children who had never been said no to was incredible, they had no respect for anyone and often their language was a disgrace. What chance have these children got when they are not being taught how to live in our society. We shouldn't have children if we are not prepared to teach them to grow into decent adults.

By teaching children how to treat others, animals as well as humans isn't putting dogs before children, it is teaching their children how to be good humans and respect others.

I think that it you have the dog properly assessed its much more complex than what is being debated here. I think they need to find out the exact situations, how much damage was done, how much noise was being made, how long the dog was engaged in the bite etc....there is a bit difference between a whole range of situations and behaviours that people tend to group together as 'aggressive'

Having fostered dogs that had sent people to A&E several times and turned them round, every one had been abused or not socialised properly. When they were ready to go to their forever home a lot of care was taken to make sure the home was right, the people understood the dog's problems and why when it was known. They were also taught to use positive methods with the dogs and I gave 24 hour back-up. Only one dog bit his new owner, he had been with them 2 days when a piece of toast was dropped on the floor, the dog picked it up and the owner tried to force it out of the dog's mouth and got bitten. The bite did break the skin but it could have taken his finger off, the dog showed bite inhibition. The owner never tried that again.

No matter how good a dog is, if they feel threatened they will react, if we ignore what we are telling us they will react. Dogs have a reason to bite, it is us humans who are too thick to work out why the dog bit. I have had several dogs that had learnt that warning didn't work so the bite straight away, only 1 never learnt to warn again but she was 13 years old when she came to me.

I agree, the problem is finding someone with the knowledge and experience to assess the dog, in the meantime all that can be done is to manage the dog so she doesn't get the chance to bite anyone.

As the OP has now taken in the dog and is now taking care of her in law she is now classed as the owner and will be responsible for anything the dog does. She can be prosecuted and not her stepson.

I hate labelling dogs as aggressive, there are so many reasons why they are reacting like this and it is up to us as owners to find out why so we can make the right decisions.

Definitely, it needs to be kept out of the room when they have visitors and walked on lead in remote areas. I hope the op has seen my original post as Gwen Bailey would have that knowledge, as would others on the APBC website.

I think people on here are trying to offer help and advice - but inevitably on a subject that arouses so much passion i.e dogs, there will be a dispute.

I have posted on here before with problems with my dog's aggression (dog not human aggression) and I scan the responses for the ones I like - probably not the best idea. People will always criticise but as the saying goes until we've walked in another's shoes etc... we just cannot know.

All I'm concerned about is that you love your dog and want the best for him. If your brother cannot respect your word, then if it were me, I wouldn't hesitate in telling him he is not welcome, easy for me because I don't like my brother anyway.

I work with my dog's weaknesses i.e walking him in areas where I'm 98% certain there are no other dogs and if there are dogs around then I keep him on a short lead. I'm completely used to it now. You may need to make adjustments with your dog - but you'll soon get used to it. The most important thing is to protect yourself from allegations of owning a dangerous dog and by extension protect your dog.

I hope that makes sense.

Sometimes with fear aggression it is not just one trigger but can be many so you as the owner have to be on the top of your game at all times and ready to remove your dog immediataley to protect your dog and visitors it may be this dog is best kept out of the way with some people at all times if they visit.

My fear aggressive Bernese was only ever muzzled at a vet we took him on many holidays walking through towns and villages people would stop to make a fuss of him we would explain he was not happy with that so they would stay and chat and he would lie down he was treated and fussed for thois behaviour because he was calm. He never bit anyone who visited our house even people he didn't like because as I keep stressing he was removed behind a gate he could see and hear but didn't have to interact which suited him fine. His stress levels then went down again.

A behaviourist may not be able to cure the dog it isn't alwasys possible but may be able to teach the owner how the deal with it and to give suggesstions how to cope with the behaviour.

When we had our windows fitted my OH took time off work he dealt with the workman I kept Ollie out of the way or on a lead at all times we use to incorproate these jobs into his holidays same with our boiler when it was fitted so then the workmen could come and go as they needed and we knew Ollie was under control and dog and visitors were safe.

I agree with what you say about a behaviourist not necessarily being able to cure it but they should be able to say if they have a dog that is dangerous or a dog that can show self control and the appropriate calming signals, teach the owner to recognise these and work with and manage their dog safely.

I agree and is what I have been saying it is not necessarily about teaching the dog it is teaching the owner. In fact that is what all training is about teaching the owner to know how to work their dog to its best ability. I worked out my dogs body language very early on.