Breaking points

[sblmnldrknss]

What is your breaking point on getting rid of a pet? Dog? Cat? Are they different? I don't mean moving or allergies, but I mean animal behaviors.

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Comments

[themachinestops]

1. When they're aggressive to people both inside and outside their family, and medication or obedience training doesn't work.

2. (for older pets) When they've lost interest in most of their daily activities and become totally unable to care for themselves. For cats this usually means not using the litter pan. Although this is a much harder decision to make than #1.

I wouldn't get rid of a pet based on allergies, I'd just take Claritin.

[sblmnldrknss]

What about aggression to other animals?

And a lot of people rehome pets because of kids' allergies.

[themachinestops]

I know, I'm just saying it wouldn't be an option for me. Don't know what I would do if I had kids with allergies.

Aggression to other animals: it depends. We had a cat who despised other cats. She'd attack them if they got too close. But she just isolated herself in the bedroom and the other cats learned not to get too close to her. She didn't seek them out to attack them. So that was fine. If the pet is a seek-and-destroy type, but was loving toward their "parents," I think I'd probably try to put them in their own room or make them an outdoor kitty as a last resort. IDK much about dogs.

[moustachios]

Yeah, that's pretty much where my line is, too.

Allergies... it would depend on how severe the reaction was, and whether or not repeat exposure and/or allergy shots were helping the situation. My husband's dog and cat allergies have improved tremendously over the years, but not everyone's immune system reacts that way. If things were just getting worse, I guess I'd have to surrender. Anaphylactic shock sucks.

[amazonvera]

If they're dangerously aggressive and I've tried every available training method, professional behaviorist, etc. without success or progress.

[amazonvera]

In response to your edit, have you taken her to any training or behavioral classes? Contacted a behaviorist?

[sblmnldrknss]

We called two places, both which said they didn't think their program would generate a response to her situation.
Additionally, I don't feel comfortable having her around while going through training, not unless she's in the crate 24/7.

[amazonvera]

It sounds like you have an otherwise good dog with an (understandable) anxiety problem. When you get a rescue dog, you don't know their past and there's an implicit agreement to put some extra effort in and help them work through some issues. Rehoming a dog, as has already happened at least once with this animal, is very stressful for them and is bound to make things worse for her, not better.

I'd encourage you to keep looking for a class or a behaviorist. There are cases far worse than what you're describing where behavioral training has worked. Keep your dogs separated in the mean time and make sure the "problem" dog is getting plenty of exercise. Being cooped up in a crate 24-7, even when you're there to supervise, is likely to make things far worse, even in the meantime.

[ms_hecubus]

Aggression that would make me afraid for my child's safety (or my own). Or extremely destructive behavior.

That said, I've dealt with both aggression and destructive behaviors and have been able to resolve it. However, I know that I have my limit with both of those.

[breakableheart]

From what you describe here I would make the very difficult decision to have her euthanized if I could not immediately find a rescue for her.

If the rescue places won't take her there's a reason - they don't think she's a good risk for them. If she's not a good risk for professionals she's not a good risk for the average person. I'm uncomfortable rehoming a dog with violence problems - what if the next person who gets her is a total flake and she actually does some serious harm?

I wish you good luck whatever you decide. No matter what avenue you take it won't be easy. Sometimes taking responsibility means making the crappiest choices.

[sblmnldrknss]

That's pretty much where we're at.

We like to have our dogs be a part of our lives. We take our dogs places with us, we plan activities that can include them, but we can't take Ellie anywhere because if she encounters another dog, it could be bad. So far it hasn't been, but she goes nuts.

So for someone else to take her.... they would have to be as careful as we are(which is very careful) AND not have other pets or kids. What's the likelihood of that? She is REALLY sweet as can be, and super patient with the kids and everything else, and I love her to pieces. Really. I tear up just at the thought of having to get rid of her, but.... I can't take a chance with my kids or my other dog, who at this point is a loving monster of a dog. He seems completely bewildered by why his big sister goes after him.

[breakableheart]

I hope whatever you decide you have support and kindness. Good luck.

[personasystem]

In your position I would euthanize ASAP. We had a 12 year old dog that started getting violent as she became senile. She'd always had mild jealousy issues and a bit of a temper (we rescued her from an abusive home), but in the last year or so of her life she began to get really violent towards our other two dogs. We attempted to work with her, my parents both spent a lot of time training dogs for show, but the training was less than useless and eventually none of us were interested in being around a dog that would get randomly set off and become vicious. After two very serious fights we had to lock her up in a back room while we tried to scrape up enough money to just have her put down

[sblmnldrknss]

If we lived in the place where we got her, the rescue we got her from would take her, and then evaluate whether or not she was eligible to be adopted again.
The rescue where we live now, where we got the puppy, knows this dog well, knows both of them well, actually, because the woman who runs the rescue also has a boarding facility, and she recently spent a week with my dogs. Without my husband present, she's much better. But when she feels someone is in her territory(so coming near my husband, especially when the other dog does it) is when she lashes out. It's not every time, but it's been increasing in frequency over the last couple of weeks. I think our trip exacerbated the situation.

And fwiw, I don't have an infant, but a 3 year old and an 8 year old. My 3 year old is right on her level.

I would like to think that she is fixable. But I don't TRUST that she can be "fixed" to the point of being reliable around my kids.

[personasystem]

Oooh, I must have read 8 years as 8 months somewhere around here. Sorry. :) Still, a three year old is just too young to be around a mean dog like that imo. I'd be terrified of having them in the same room. Dog bites can be incredibly serious injuries.

[sblmnldrknss]

Yes, 8 years and 3 years. They're both very good with the dogs, but being kids, they do sometimes trip or bump. And heck, in the dark sometimes I stumble on one of the dogs. A normal dog reaction I can deal with, but one that's prone to fly off the handle? Not so much.