As I said earlier.....

Ive dealt with hundreds of dogs that are frightened and /or in pain Anne, havent had one bite me yet. have you? maybe its the way you handled them if you have? Not knocking you at all in any way, just a possibility, considering I have rescued many guard dogs (sick ones and healthy ones!) as well as abuse cases, perhaps I have just been lucky?

firstly i was referring to dogs who bite for the sake of bitting , i too own a dog that was badly treated and who snapped at my oh twice when we first got her out of sheer fear . this is not what i was referring to when i said ppl aggressive dogs that bite should be put to sleep .
You have a very beautiful dog and im glad with the right loving home and ownership .sorry i thought i had stated this . but i will go back an ammend my thread to save ppl thinking im a total horrrible person that just thinks i believe all dogs should be put to sleep regardless there background as it is really not what i meant .
i got my eldest boxer at 16weeks old she was physically and mentally scared due to being abused at a very young age by her previous iggnorant owner and she was also badly dehydrated and painfully under weight i spent months rehabilitating her and workinhg with her to gain her trust it took her five months before she would begin to trust my husband as he was male ., and that was all she could see was a male and pain , she still has a deep fear of strangers and ppl she does not know , it takes her a long time to trust and when she does she is the most loven affectionate dog .and all because a so called human being thought he could use her as a punch bag and target practice for an iron bar . so yes i have lived and worked hard to rehabilitate my dog . i also owned a gsd/ boxer cross that was abandoned at a very young age

Oh this is another hard one. I agree with so many of you here. i think it's far to complex to give a black or white answer to. I generally agree with Ramble, Patch, borderdawn, borzoismum and many of you although the answers in some cases are different.

Like many of you I agree that dog to dog aggression can generally be managed and worked upon..I have living proof with flex now 17 and has been living happily with our other dogs for many years and he was a biting, fighting machine when he arrived.

People aggression..generally not good and I think the dog may need to be PTS but again it can depend on circumstances. Then does the breed in question play a part also ..I mean if you have a small dog that is people aggressive, could it be managed? Or if it is a huge strong dog that is people aggressive would it be practical and safe to manage it?

More questions than answers from me I'm afraid.

So your saying that if the dog is handled in the right way to prevent a bite then this is ok? your saying although the dog could bite because you've handled him in the correct way he hasn't bitten, so can be rehomed?!!?

If my dog bit me I might well keep it for reasons of sentimentality but, of course, I would do my utmost to ensure it was not able to repeat that with anyone else in particular children but if we are talking about a rehoming situation then, no I would not rehome such a dog I would have it put to sleep and I can appreciate that rescue would often do the same for exactly the same reasons ie that they would feel responsible for anything that occurred subsequently not to mention fear legal actions that could cripple their ability to assist all the other animals dependent on them.

many years ago when i worked in rescue,we had a NPSP on any animals,until one dog we had in for biting the owners child,felt rather than put her to sleep she should go in to rescue,but failed to tell us why and that she`d just found the dog and kept her overnight,we as the rescue found out the hard way,she was a lovely wee cocker spaniel,and very playfull we wondered why she had came in,however after 1 mth we found her a home,with 2 kids in a 2 parent family household,they had had her 3 weeks and had no sign of agression towards any of the family,thinking theyd found the perfect family dog we got a card from them thanking us for having paired them up,however one night one of the children was having night terrors and woke up screaming,(the wee cocker slept in the kids room,)only to be attacked by the wee cocker,face and hands biten,and the mom as she tried to get the wee cocker of the child,as a rescue we all felt bad,the woman who first brought her in felt worse,no more than the mother of the child who in her words were she put her child in danger,the wee cocker was put to sleep the next day.


what would you have done?

jmo ppl aggressive dogs should be put to sleep.i wouldnt give any dog a chance to do it again,if theyv not been brought up right,its the persons fault,not the dogs fault but as a mom with kids i personally wouldnt take that chance.

iv had dogs nip in pain,and i think its diffrent to a down right nasty bite,ive hit out when iv been in pain,and im sure theres not many here who can say that they havent.

Thats the point though, [ for me anyway ], dogs dont bite for the sake of it, they do it for a reason, even if the reason is not clear, there is always a reason.

If a dog is `serial biter` for unexplored reason, then thats down to ignorance of not trying to find the cause - how many times does a dog need to bite before someone notices something is wrong either medically or in the dogs environment .

personally i wouldnt have had a dog only having known it for 3 weeks - sleeping in my childs bedroom for a start ,...

i think my dog would be scared if i woke up screaming in the middle of the night too- and i have had him 4 years !!!

i think sometimes people expect far too much out of dogs and forget that they are dogs not babysitters !!

sorry not having a go but i get really riled when i hear "oh the dog just snapped for no reason etc" as i too think there are always reasons even if they arent obvious. and as humans we expect far too much from animals.



having said all of that if i ever had to give up bruno ( not that i would) if he had to live in a kennel for the rest of his life after having his home comforts then in some respects i would rather he was PTS as he would be far too stressed in kennels as they terrify him. so in some cases in extreme cases - dependent on the dog then i think that PTS should be considered but not be a blanket procedure.

no i know your not having a go jyo

My thoughts exactly

Zoe why was a dog with no history (you stated the rescue thought she was a stray) rehomed with kids !?