Because of all the emergency vet visits, if your dog is mouthing, growling, snapping, showing its teeth, biting, or displaying other dog behavior issues, this could cause you, your spouse, and your family distress.
Sometimes giving up your dog with the behavioral issue is the best course of action, whether it’s to protect yourself, your pet, a human infant, farm animals, or the humane society in general.
Choosing where to surrender aggressive dogs, especially in a way that causes your dog the least amount of harm, can be very difficult. How can you make the best decisions for your dog while safeguarding yourself and others?
These are the issues we address as we give you advice on where to surrender aggressive dogs.
What Do Trainers Advise For Aggressive Dogs?
When we discussed Kopa’s behavior with our dog trainer, she advised us that it was likely because we weren’t being sufficiently dominant and demonstrating that we were the alphas. (Basically, we needed to be more like Sally. She advised us on how to stop this undesirable behavior and provided us with a muzzle to use during this training period.
Unfortunately, putting these suggestions into practice only seemed to make things worse. We felt helpless.
What To Do With An Aggressive Dog That Bites?
There are several options for dealing with a vicious dog that bites.
We All Need To Feel Safe At Home
Pat and I think it’s crucial for people to not be afraid of our dogs and for them to feel loved and at ease around their family members. We believed that fearing Kopa would increase the likelihood of growling or biting, which would ultimately give him an undeserved position as the pack leader and cause more problems.
We also believed that we should feel secure and at home, but it was obvious that neither Kopa nor we did since he was growling. This prevented us from all being able to unwind and appreciate living as a two-person, two-dog family.
Kopa probably felt that we were always on edge, waiting for the next growl to happen. We didn’t want this for either our dog or for ourselves. Kopa deserved better.
We decided to part ways with Kopa because we were due with a child in August 2018. We have a lot of young nieces and nephews, and Sally has always felt at ease around them. But when there were kids around, we found ourselves following Kopa around.
What’s to say a young child stepping on his paw, pulling on his ear, or startling him wouldn’t cause a more significant reaction if harmless actions like cuddling and slightly shifting Kopa to make room for Sally cause him to growl?
We didn’t think this was something we should take a chance on. We would feel completely responsible and terrible if Kopa hurt someone, especially a child.
We anticipate that there will be instances in the future when we must leave our child unattended for a brief period of time in order to get a bottle, wash our hands, or perform some other task. We wouldn’t feel secure leaving Kopa with them in these circumstances.
FAQ
What do I do with an extremely aggressive dog?
Under the supervision of a qualified professional, behavior modification is the most secure and efficient way to address an aggression issue. Rewarding a dog for good behavior is an important part of behavior modification, so you’ll probably have more success if your dog enjoys praise, treats, and toys.
Can aggressive dogs be rehabilitated?
Dogs that are willing to use aggression to influence a situation’s outcome are rarely cured, but they are frequently controllable. Predictable interactions, avoiding stimuli that cause aggression, adhering to a healthy daily routine of exercise, play, and social interaction can all help.
Can you rehome a reactive dog?
Reactivity and behavior issues are the most frequent causes for dogs being given up for adoption, according to the Dog’s Trust. And the harder it is to find a new home the higher the scale of reactivity. Sadly, the most frequent reason for euthanizing a dog under the age of two is reactivity.