What to do with our dog?
 

Our little Chihuahua puppy Fonzie, which we've had for just over 6 weeks, was killed this evening.

Unfortunately, it appears that our other dog, Dude, which is a medium/large sized Shepard mix, is the one that killed him.

Dude loves to play with other dogs, but sometimes gets a little too aggressive, which is probably what happened this evening. I appears Dude bit Fonzie and it didn't take much...

Fonzie was like another child for my wife and she's pretty devastated right now. Two of our kids saw Fonzie shortly after it happened and from what I understand it wasn't a very clean site. Of course all the kids are very upset as well.

I'm very bummed too, I thought Fonzie was a great little dog, he was fun to have around.

Of course, now the question is what do we do with Dude? Neither of us thinks that he intentionally did this, but he does gets a little too aggressive when he's playing around. However, we never thought anything like this would happen with him.

I know my wife has been getting frustrated with him, just last night she was saying we needed get him started with some serious obedience training or look for a new home for him. I've never really cared for Dude, he was a dog my wife brought home against my wishes, so I was more inclined to help find a new home rather than spend money on him.

Of course, now he has a "history" and we don't know what to do with him. I think in the right home were he could get good attention and discipline, he would be an excellent dog, we're just not the right home.

Here's a picture of Fonzie right after we go him:
<img src="http://www.getoutanddrive.com/images/stories/puppy4.jpg">

My heart goes out to you man. That's horrible. My girlfriend and I are huge animal lovers.
 

We brought home a puppy to our 11 year old Golden and luckily he was gentle with her. I would have flown off the handle if the older dog had hurt and in this horrible case killed the puppy. I would definitely find a home for the Shepard mix but disclose what happened. It may be a great dog for someone that just wants to have one pet at home and has no children. I couldn't trust him with kids after that. Sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry to hear about that! I work in the Veterinary field, and have some opinions on
 

what would probably be a good course of action. As you said, your dog now has a "history" which would make it extremely difficult to find a good home for him. To be blunt, if you take him to a shelter (unless it is a no-kill shelter) he will be euthanized. Any dog that is aggressive in any form will never have a chance. There are simply too many dogs in shelters that have no behavioral issues to really give him a chance. (This happens too many times to count)

If you invest time into some obedience training (and I mean GOOD training, not Petsmart stuff) you could really turn his attitude around and stop the behavioral aggressiveness. By getting this training, he could become a great dog that you enjoy being around, or give him a better chance at finding a good home for him.

That being said, some dogs will never be able to be around other dogs, cats, children, etc. and that may just be the way it goes, but a lot of times this can be turned around with time and effort.

To give you an example, my dog, Rocky, is an Australian Shepherd. He is the most loving dog, but when we first got him as a one year old puppy, he hadn't ever been socialized properly (if at all!), and was aggressive towards other dogs and people when he was on the leash. I took him to Dave Skoletsky from Sit means Sit located at the Indian Tree Pet Lodge in Arvada (www.sitmeanssit.com or (303) 422-DOGS) and it totally turned him around. Not only did he completely stop being aggressive towards anything, but I could do a ton of off-leash stuff with him and have complete control.

Bottom line: if you spend the time getting him some training "therapy" then you will give him a chance at having a good life, either with your family or with another.

Good luck and keep us posted as to what you end up doing, I'm very sorry to hear about the loss in your family, in such a tragic way. Dogs can be like our children, and it's never easy to lose any of them.

Wow, sorry to hear that, Matt. Unfortunate especially with the Rolo incident all over the news...
 

It would be really hard for me to trust Dude after this incident. But some aggressive obedience training could do wonders.

On a related note, Rolo will be allowed to go home but with MANY restrictions.

Hope everything works out for you.

Van

my gf just got a chihuahua, i could take dude off your hands...
 

seriously though, thats terrible. that happened with my parents dog and a month old kitten a few years ago. the kitten was near the dogs food dish though, and we never had a another problem with any of the many other kittens we fostered. might have been an isolated incident, but if they were just playing, with no food or toys to dispute, i dunno

Sorry to hear man

Sithappens.com
 

Worth every penny!!!

sorry to hear.....we had a similar incident as well....
 

We had two dogs......bailey, a lab, was 15 years old and piper, a Chesapeake bay retriever, was 5 years old. One day for no reason Piper attacked Bailey to kill her! She grabbed her throat and took her down. Bailey had no strength or energy to fight back but luckily I was there to separate them......and it was hard to separate them! We kept them apart for the remaining time before Bailey passed away a few months later on Dec. 23, 2007 :( I still have no clue on why Piper did attack the Bailey, the dog she grew up with.

Tuff call in your situation......but if you and your wife don't find it too hard I would find a home for him or put him down. Once a dog has killed it changes them for the bad. I would not let that dog around small kids at all.

Sorry man
good luck with your decision
-Zach

They are now "Sit means Sit" - They used to be Sit Happens (or at least they are phasing that
 

name out - since they have officially franchised with Fred Hassan)

That's the one that I was talking about! Who did you train with?

Bummer Matt...sorry to hear...
 

My girlfriend had a Chihuahua/ Pug mix...actually two of them..and they were pretty cool most of the time..(when they werent pooping on the carpet). I mistakenly opened a gate and the smaller one got his rear leg caught underneath and damaged...I felt really bad. I can understand what you are going thru. If you can afford it...do the dog training..but I get to thinking..if this other dog did this...are the kids totally safe?

Very good point - another reason to get that dog into training - those kids could very well be in
 

danger. Something to think about when leaving them alone (and depending on the size/age of the kids as well)

The local owner came to our house twice, then I forget who we worked with after that.....AWESOME...
 

Our dogs had been through 3 other classes and we still had issues. Even after spending countless hours and money on them. SitHappens completely changed our lives with the dogs. Wonderfull stuff.

^^^^Sit Means Sit = SitHappens....same training we used....can't say enough good about it.

Sorry to hear that, Matt
 

I know how much you guys love your dogs. That's got to be tough.

Very sorry to hear that....
 

I would try the training route first. I have 2 GSD's, and one has been a challenge. They can definetly be re-habed and trained, it just takes time and work.

Doggie Daycare may be in your future as well. This helps the dogs learn to socialize and play in a controlled environment.

Lastly, look into rescue groups for your dog. How much Shepherd is there? Unfortunately, most GSD rescues only take very high GSD mixes, or pure bred dogs. Thankfully, there are other rescues for just about every other type of dog.

Absolutely last, Maxfund. It is the only non-kill shelter in the area that I can think of. Other shelters (including Boulder)test the dogs. If it fails, it will be euthanized.

I know this won't be a popular opinion, but
 

Honestly I don't think any dog that shows any kind of propensity for a violent attack like that deserves a second chance. I have a dog and I love her dearly, but if she had done that to another dog I think I would immediately put her down.

Of course, I have a two year old daughter and a seven month old daughter, so my priorities are with them, not my dog. Like I said, I love my dog, but I value my kids' safety above everything else.

Yeah...
 

I think Dude is going to Dumb Friends on Saturday unless someone wants to take him. I'll give Max Fund a call first to see if they can take him.

Dude is *her* dog and I had to let her make the decision. Even if he did go to training and came out a completely changed dog, she still doesn't want him in the house, due to having killed her baby.

Neither of us believe it was a hostile attack that led to Fonzie's death, but at the same time, we don't know since we didn't see what happened.

Dude has always been OK with our kids, but we've always have had to supervise him around others. Not because he's mean, just because he's big and stupid and doesn't know how to be gentle with them.

He was a little rough with Fonzie at first, but after a couple of weeks of supervision, they appeared to be getting along fine. Dude would lay on the ground and let Fonzie jump all over him with no problems. Who knows what let to this.

So yeah, I don't think Dude is going to be with our family much longer, which makes my wife sad too. Although, it will make the cat happy. The cat has been hiding in the basement ever since Dude arrived.

A tired (walked) dog is a good dog...
 

I've got a large shep dog and a 2 month old, and I don't worry one minute about him...and not that he ever goes unsupervised because of it. I keep him well loved/walked and given his due attention.

My experience is that if you are not able to give an animal the attention/love he/she deserves, then it's best to get rid of him to a friend or someone who will. How bored would you get laying around every day, ya know?

If a dog is anxious because he hasn't done much lately, he will likely play ruff simply because he's super psyched to be doing something fun and stimulating. He probably was loving have a friend and playmate.

My vote is "schedule" Dude in, or get him a good home.

(I hope I'm not sounding judgemental, just saying it's easy to raise a good dog with consistency and exercize.)

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If you give Dude away
 

please tell the shelter what happened. At least that way they can make sure he doesn't go to a family with young kids.