[Murreydobe]

Hi every one, we have been lurking on here for weeks but now I have to post. Our new dog (Koda) needs help. He is a shelter dog and has been here for three weeks. Our other dobe (Apache) was a rescue also and he was AWESOME. Anyway, Koda has shown some signs of fear aggression (growls and stuff) but we worked through it. Well last night my wife cooked him up a big soup bone and he was eating it out of her hand fine, then she let him have it by himself but he kept dropping it on the hardwood floor so I would pick it up and put it on the rug. I guess taking it and giving it back freaked him out because he wouldn't eat it. So she picked it up to let him eat it but he wouldn't. I was kinda hovering over him trying to encorage him to eat it when he growled and bit my hand, ouch. Well now we don't trust him but, bringing him back to the shelter is a death sentence which he doesn't deserve. We don't want him to die but we don't have enough experience to know how to proceed. I guess what I am asking is, is any one in Jersey willing to give him a try? He really has a great personality but issues as well. It would be a shame to see this dog go to waste. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

I'm going to ask the obvious here..if you don't trust him, why should anyone else?

I'd be *extremely* careful about placing this dog. Since you know the dog bites, you could be taking on some pretty big liability if there's another bite in the future.

 

[Murreydobe]

I know, but it breaks my heart to think this poor dog is goin to die because he bit me.

Wouldn't it break your heart MORE if this dog seriously injured (or killed)someone in the future?

I don't mean to sound hard hearted, and it's never an easy decision to make. But if an owner isn't willing/able to work with a known biter themselves, then I think they have a moral obligation to put the dog down.
It's just not right to pass this kind of problem along to someone else..and to be honest, dogs like this frequently wind up getting passed from home to home to home to home, eventually winding up being abused.

Nor is it particularly smart to try to place a dog thats a known biter from position of potential liability, as I mentioned. Personally, I'm not willing to risk everything I have to re-home a dog with this kind of problem. Not when there are thousands of homeless dobermans across the country who have never made the choice to use their teeth on a human.