PupsMom

Thank you all for your words of advice, understanding and comfort. They have been a great help to my family. Its never easy to lose a pet. :(

The behaviorist has had Pepper in his charge for several days now. The whole time he has been consulting with our vet. This morning they both agreed that they did not feel anything else could be done of benefit with Pepper. Mr. Stines our behaviorist called me and told me of his observations of her and his opinions. He believed her to have been severely abused as a young pup before we got her and that when she is in fear of something she responds with aggression. He said it was obvious that she had been starved as she is highly food aggressive. Even when presenting her with more than adequate amounts of food at all her feeding times she continued to be highly aggressive. He felt her to be too aggressive to attempt any hand feedings. He also believes that she is showing signs of being very predatory. And after reviewing all the reports on the attack of my son believes the attack was more of a predatory issue than of plain aggression. Since he was sleeping and had done nothing to the dog it was unlikely that she viewed him as a threat or feared him but more of she saw him as prey. He said that in itself makes her more of a threat to people than if she was just aggressive. He believes with her being starved that she had to hunt for food. He said he did not believe her to ever be safe around humans. So he recommended her to be put down. It was very hard to tell my son this, he wanted to help her so much. I told him that we have done everything we can and that sometimes it still isn't enough and we have to let them go. He wanted to see her one last time so we all met at the vets office. Pepper was muzzled and on a leash so that Kevin could say his good byes to her. I cried when he asked Mr. Stines if it would be ok for him to toss her a ball so she could play alittle bit because he wanted her to have alittle good time before she had to go. I know Mr. Stines did all that he possibly could do. He had tears in his eyes watching Kevin roll the ball to Pepper so she could play with it with her paws and push it back to him with her nose. She couldn't fetch it since she had a muzzle on. Its amazing the amount of love a child can have. When it was time to say our final good byes Kevin gave her a hug, a kiss on the head and told her she would have all the doggy bones she could eat in heaven. We both held a paw and rubbed her while they gave her the injection. She went peacefully. Now she is where she needs to be.

[quote name='IlBLisSlI']wow i was really going to stay out of this thread till i read this. i've really been trying hard here not to start more drama on this forum but i'm at the boiling point with this thread. here's what i think. i think that if this dog isn't put down immediately you should be the one put down. if i was your kid the only thing going through my mind would be "what the h*** is wrong with my mother? why does she love this dog more than me? why would she want to jeopordize my safety for a fucking pet? maybe it was inbreeding, maybe mom was abused as a child, or perhaps she just didn't get enough hugs and needs a pet to make her feel better about herself while i sit here and bleed. whatever it is my mom must be off her rocker." seriously if you are sitting here on a forum talking about how your dog attacked your child unprovoked instead of taking your dog to the vet to be put down i question your parenting abilities, and your common sense. stop looking for the answers you want to hear and start listening to the right answers. put the dog down. end of discussion.[/quote] You may question my parenting abilities all you like but as for me I dont question my parenting abilities as I am raising a kind and compassionate son. He has a love for all living things bugs, dogs, cats, birds, you name it. If my son finds an injured or sick animal all he can think of is taking care of that animal and doing everything he possibly can to make them better. He once found a bird that was injured and begged me to let him see if he could help it, he immediatley had to go to the local library and check out as many books as they would let him so he could figure out the best ways to try to help it. So no I dont question my parenting abilities .......there are too many people out there that are rude, crude, mean and dont care about anyone or anything animals included. The reason I asked in this forum if anyone knew of anything that might could be done to save Pepper is because my son wants with all his heart to help his dog he knew I was going to have her put down and asked for one last chance. I think that shows that he is very compassionate and forgiving. Alot of your comments were completely uncalled for such as maybe mom was abused as a child etc ....... I will chalk those up as have being made by someone who has failed to completely evolve into a mature adult.

[quote name='"Lokipups"'][quote]Where was the dog when this happened, on the couch with you and your son, in the middle?[/quote] No Pepper was on the floor chewing on a bone. I heard a growl and looked up and saw her teeth go around Kevin's arm. Then she started voilently shaking her head. It was the most horrible and terrifying thing I have ever seen. I had to pry her mouth off him and get between him and Pepper and she then started biting me. I picked my son up and kick the dog back to slowly work my way out of the room. Every time I kicked her back she would lunge at me again and bite wherever she could. I managed to get out of the room and close her in there. Had to quickly get a towel and wrap around Kevin's arm and take him to the ER. So now my son is never in the same room with the dog unless she is muzzled. The whole thing has made me rather paranoid I wake up several times a night and go down to check and make sure her crate is still securely closed. When I look at Pepper I see a dog that is lost and confused 1 minute shes happy to be petted with her tail wagging, eyes bright and then the next start growling, snarling and snapping. Where did the happy Pepper go and why?? Maybe there was some poor breeding involved but I really suspect she might have been severely abused as a little pup I think she was at least starved as she is highly food aggressive. Then I have to wonder why did the shelter adopt out a very food aggressive dog to a family with kids. It just makes us all so sad and we want to help her but you are all very right and family safety must come first. She is just like a walking bomb you never know when it will go off.

Pepper has had alot of strange behaviors since the day we got her. Dogs normally will not go potty where they sleep and eat. Pepper will always go pee and poop on her bed then roll all around in it then curl up and go to sleep so every morning she HAS to have a bath and you must wash her bedding. Even with removing the bedding so there was just floor there to sleep on she would do the same thing. Pepper has always been highly food agressive to the point that you cannot put food in her bowl if she is in the room or she will bite you while you are. She has to be in another room to put her food in her bowl then you can let her in to eat then you have to stay at least 4-5 feet away from her while shes eating or she will snarl and growl at you. Now weighing in at 73 lbs. she is not easy to handle. I just feel so bad I keep thinking there must have been something I could have done to prevent all this. I'm at a total loss and it breaks my heart to think I may have to have her put to sleep :cry: The kids will be heartbroken too they love her even though she is mean.

Thank you all for the warm welcome :D. I had Pepper spayed at the earliest time our vet would do it. Her behavior only got worse after that our vet then referred us to a behavioral specialist. He told me that in some females that are aggressive before they reach puberty often get worse once they are spayed. Pepper has show alot of aggression towards the behavioral specialist too. He even said he's never in his 30+ yrs seen a dog like our Pepper especially being as young as she is. I called him again alittle while ago and he is going to take Pepper for a week and see if he can make any progress with her. He told me he thinks its unlikely that he can but he said he would try. He also told me to prepare to make a descion if this does not work meaning to have her put down :( He said that taking her back to the shelter would be unfair and dangerous should they adopt her out to another family. I have to agree with that. Since even under supervision she will attack kids. When she bit my son when he was napping on the couch I was sitting at the other end of the couch reading a book. And in stopping her from biting my son she started biting me though none of the bites I recieved were as serious as my sons. Sometimes I wonder if she wasn't born with a mean streak in her or if she wasn't severely abused when she was very young. Thank you all for your comments it helps to have different perspectives and directions from which to look at.

Is it possible for a dog to be Super dominate??? I've had several dogs in my life and trained them. I now have a chow/lab mix that is 9 months old. I have taken her to obedience classes and even the trainer was shocked by her. She bites alot and so far nothing has worked to keep her from it. Not talking about nipping but biting and drawing blood, one of my sons had to have stitches. He was napping on the couch and the dog bit his arm and started slinging her head around like she was going to ripe it off. Pepper was adopted from a local shelter at 3 months of age, she has never been spanked since she has been in our household but I do not know what happened to her before we got her. She is also refusing to housetrain. I stay at home so I have even tried to take her out every 30 minutes. When you tell her no about anything she will look you straight in the eye, growl at you and pee on the floor without squatting. I have never seen a dog do that. I have discussed this all with our vet and he just scratches his head. This is just the tip of the iceburg of her strange behaviors :cry: . I dont know what we are doing wrong or what we can do to change the situation any comments would be appreciated. Thank you.