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Thread: Last hope

  1. #1
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    Last hope

    Hello all,
    I know this is my first post and I hate for it to be a plea for help but I don't know what else to do. My wife and I are expecting our first child in august and we have had sever issue with our lab. He is a 3 year old black lab who started growling at my wife when he was one and half. It started light and progress to full food and toy territorial protectiveness. We tried all different type of actions before we hired a trainer who uses a shock collar. He did amazing but has not learned not to growl. We switched his food to an all natural to rule out diet, we ran blood work to make sure he didn't have hypothyroid. We have spent thousands with no luck. He is unpredictable now, he can go from being fine in a social setting to growling when someone touches him. The other day he tried to nip at my wife. Its just odd that he can be loving one day and aggressive the next. After consulting a few vets and trainers many suggest putting him down. I really don't want to have to lose my dog, but I cant risk him injuring my future child or anyone else. While he hasn't ever bite anyone I fear when he could. Has anyone had luck with medicine or holistic approaches? We are just at a loss of what to do with a dog we tried everything with. Hopefully someone has a answer

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Have you spoken with your dog's breeder?

    If it were me and I had taken him to vets, trainers, behaviorists, and exhausted all opinions, I would probably put my dog down in a similar situation. That being said, there's no way that, over the internet, we can diagnose your dog or give advice as we cannot see the dog or see the interaction. Plus, no one here (as far as I know) is a behaviorist or vet. Also, you are asking about holistic vets or medication. Has this not been addressed with a vet? Have you not spoken to a holistic vet?

    I understand you might just be looking for hope, but if you are looking for actual advice, I'm afraid you won't be able to get that here.

    I'm truly sorry for your situation.

  3. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Labradorks For This Useful Post:

    Charlotte K. (07-07-2014), emma_Dad (07-06-2014)

  4. #3
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Hello and Welcome!

    Sorry you are in this situation. I cannot add more in suggestions.

  5. #4
    House Broken petitesalmon's Avatar
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    Maybe you could see if you can give her to a rescue organisation? I'm not sure about America but in Australia they would most likely take them and rehabilitate them/rehome them (potentially with only a male for example) as opposed to putting them down. I know the organisation I volunteer for in Australia would prefer any option over PTS

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to petitesalmon For This Useful Post:

    Berna (07-07-2014)

  7. #5
    Senior Dog Halcyon's Avatar
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    Hello and welcome!

    No advice here but you might want to post in Training Tips. It might get you a few more replies. Another idea might be to PM battmain (View Profile: battmain - Labrador Retriever Dogs Chat Forum Board - Dogs, Puppies, Photos, Training, Pictures, Rescue Forums).

  8. #6
    Real Retriever 3ChocMom's Avatar
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    I don't believe a shock collar is the best way to deal with an aggressive dog and actually think it could make things worse, so I'm disappointed that the trainer you worked with went with this method. Are you saying that your dog was perfectly fine until he hit 1-1/2 years old, then all of a sudden started growling at your wife? Did anything happen around that time? A major change in his environment, some type of traumatic event? Have you tried looking for a behaviorist that specializes in aggression?

    Regarding the growling, let me just say, you don't ever want to train your dog not to growl. Growling is a dog's way of saying back off, of giving a warning. If you train that away, you risk the dog biting without any warning, which is even more dangerous.

    As far as where you go from here, you are running out of time with a new baby coming so soon. There are no medications or herbal remedies that could help with this, short of sedating your dog, which isn't a solution. Only you know how bad this problem is, and it sounds like you don't trust your dog not to bite, even though you say he hasn't yet. Nipping is still a big problem, even if he didn't connect or break skin. I can't tell you to put your dog down without knowing the full extent of this, without seeing your dog's behavior myself. But I do think, if other trainers and vets who have worked with your dog are advising this, you should seriously consider it. Be honest with yourself and honest about what you are seeing in your dog. Don't make excuses for his behavior (i.e., he's not like this all the time!).

    I know some will advocate contacting a rescue, but please do not do this. As a rescue volunteer, I can tell you, it will be almost impossible to find a rescue willing to take on an aggressive dog. We don't have the resources to pay a behaviorist to *maybe* save one dog when there are hundreds of perfectly nice dogs without temperament issues sitting in shelters on death row. I will be perfectly blunt in saying that contacting rescues or trying to rehome an aggressive dog on your own is only putting your problem on someone else. Please don't do that. If your dog is one that cannot be saved, please do the right thing (even though it's so hard) and make that decision yourself, then be there with your dog when he goes, so he's with people he knows and loves. It's a terribly difficult thing to do (I know, I've been there), and only you and your wife can know whether there's hope or not.

  9. The Following User Says Thank You to 3ChocMom For This Useful Post:

    Charlotte K. (07-07-2014)

 



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