On Mon, 20 Nov 2006 18:46:55 -0600, Lynne
wrote:


I don't know if this is my fault or not, for rushing things, but I can't
keep him now that I know he is willing to attack me. I have to think it
was in his nature anyway and I triggered it. I'm just not willing to
keep a dog who will attack people. Myself, I can handle it, but my kids
and their friends, other people--no way. That's an unmanigeable
situation for our lifestyle.

I wouldn't assume that because he bit you when you broke up a fight
that he will bite you, your kids or visitors to your home if no one is
breaking up a fight. I would get a behaviorist to take a look at the
situation so you will know whether there is any need to worry about
your kids. The rescue you got him from might be able to help you with
that. FWIW, I've had many a dog that would bite me if I grabbed a
collar during a fight with another dog that would never in a million
years hurt me or a child for any reason. If you ever have to break up
another fight between any dogs, yours or a strange dog attacking Roxy,
grab a broom or something to stick between them and yell in your most
commanding voice for them to knock it off. Don't stick your hand
between them. If you can grab the back legs as they are tussling,
that's good, too, but be careful that you don't do it halfway or put
them down too soon or the dog can spin and bite you. That's why I
prefer getting something else to break up the fight with so that I can
stay back until the dog is out of full on fight mode and has its
thinking brain engaged.

The odds are he will be put down if you return him since he has bitten
because of the liability on a dog that has bitten for any reason at
all. That's a shame, though, because he may well not actually be a
liability. I don't know many dogs that won't bite when they are
fighting. They aren't thinking, they are just fighting with another
dog and then you get yourself in the middle of it and it just happens.
That's not the same as a dog who will attack a human. He didn't
attack you. He attacked Roxy. So far he has not been willing to
attack people, so you shouldn't be basing your decisions on the
assumption that he has. Believe me, it is a whole different ballgame
to bite someone breaking up a serious fight and attacking a human.
Different in the dog's head and very different for the safety of the
humans in contact with the dog.

You should not have been practicing this stuff with them off leash and
side by side, especially after he had already shown signs of resource
guarding. The fact that he didn't go off on Roxy before is a good
sign that the resource guarding can be manageable and isn't so strong
that it is an absolute, but you haven't done enough of the groundwork
to be putting it to that kind of test. It's like you took someone who
had been good on their diet for a couple of days and waved their
favorite dessert in front of them on the assumption that because they
hadn't eaten it in those couple of days they must be over their
cravings completely. You haven't traded enough and trained enough for
him to understand that he doesn't have to go after all the goodies or
that he will not be allowed to. His brain is still telling him that
his best bet is to get while the getting's good even though he has
been trying to be obedient to you. There have been a lot of good
signs, but pushing too far too fast brought out the worst. Then
handling the fight wrong got you bit, not any human aggression on
Briar's part that would be a danger to your family (unless you don't
teach them not to jump into the middle of a dog fight, anyway). Cesar
may be able to fix things like that in one visit, but the rest of us
take a lot longer than that. Now stop waving temptation in front of
his face until he knows how to get what he really wants without doing
anything you don't want him to do and has practiced that enough that
it is his first instinct when he sees what he wants (like my attention
hog who now sits away from you instead of rubbing all over you when he
wants to be petted because although bumping and rubbing was ingrained
when he came, it never works here while sitting pretty always does).

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay