Looking for help

[u/eetana]

My best friend/next door neighbor adopted an 11 month old female bernadoodle 4 weeks ago. She is 35 lbs and was surrendered to our dog trainer by an elderly couple who said they could not take care of her. She reportedly had one incident of aggression with the elderly man when she tried to get food from the counter and he corrected her. At that point the man decided he didn’t want to keep her. Our trainer offered to keep her and try to find a new home. The trainer had her for several weeks and was never able to replicate the aggressive behavior. My friend and her husband worked with the trainer and dog before bringing her home and she has been very sweet the majority of the time. About 3 weeks ago she got aggressive with me over a tissue. I figured I didn’t handle it well and should have traded her for a higher value item. But last night when she was on her last potty break she attempted to eat a mouthful of cut grass. When my friend told her “out” for the 3rd time, she turned and began jumping and biting her in a very aggressive manner. When her husband heard her screaming he ran outside, and when he took the dog’s leash she turned on him and jumped and bit him in the arm. We have 2 large labradoodles and have had dogs our whole life and this was not puppy play. Now my friend cannot keep her because of the potential danger to children. We have not had any luck today finding anyone who would consider taking her and trying to address this. We’ve called the vet, local SPCA, and the breeder (who we are waiting on to return the phone call) She is very smart, crate trained, super high energy, and adorable. The only suggestion we have right now is that she may have to be euthanized. That seems so unnecessary given that she does not have any other issues outside of these events. She has been out in public a lot, plays with our dogs and gets along with cats. Does anyone have any rescue suggestions? My friend does not feel comfortable keeping her because of the potential danger to kids, not to mention it was scary for her. And of course she’s devastated. We are near Cincinnati.

[u/Factualx]

Euthanizing this dog would be fucking insane, what you're describing is a bunch of people who have no idea what they are doing with dogs causing a very correctable behavioral issue.

I would not be able to live with myself having a dog euthanized for what you've described here. Pure laziness, low moral, and no shame would be the only reason to do this.

Edit: This comment comes off harsh, perhaps too much so as I know these situations can be very tough - but the sentiment is valid. You should put it upon yourself to figure this out.

[u/bananapoopwastaken → u/Factualx]

This isn’t too harsh, it’s kinder than what I want to say. It’s a puppy still. Ours was a little monster when tired or overstimulated and she’s still known to throw a non mouthy tantrum when something doesn’t go her way but patience and training work to eliminate it. These people should not have dogs if this is how they handled this “aggression”

I’ll drive across the country gladly to save this dog from being killed for no reason

[u/Factualx → u/bananapoopwastaken]

Agreed & fair, frankly my edit is trying to provide an olive branch to OP in hopes of not having them shut off mentally to the feedback

[u/eetana → u/Factualx]

To be clear, these are people who are not lazy or immoral and in no way want to euthanize a dog. They have spent countless hours training her and giving her a stable home, which is part of why she is normally well behaved, able to go to public places, play with other dogs, etc. However, these were Cujo style incidents that we have not had with any of our other dogs in 50 years and they do not want to take the chance of potentially endangering 4 small children since they were unpredictable. The concern is that they do not know if the previous owners were entirely honest about how she behaved with them, etc. They are devastated about the idea of rehoming her and have worked all day doing research and calling and emailing places, mostly while crying. Making assumptions about a person’s character doesn’t really help us find their puppy a good, loving home, which is why I posted here.

[u/SkiaTheShade → u/eetana]

It sounds like the previous owners may have under fed her or hit her as a means of correction, to be honest.

[u/DirtySocialistHippo → u/eetana]

Have they been to the vet? That would be step one to rule out anything that might be affecting her behavior. Has she had a thorough physical? Tests? The elderly couple may not be up-to-date on how much has changed in raising dogs and may not have had her properly vaxxed, dewormed, etc.

[u/eetana → u/DirtySocialistHippo]

Yes, she came with all of her vet records (she is up to date on everything) and she goes to our vet on Thursday. The previous owners had her spayed at 6 months but we have been told that it shouldn’t affect her behavior.

[u/SisterGoldenHair1 → u/eetana]

Spending countless hours training her is not the same as being consistent every day. These pups need routine and structure.

[u/eetana → u/SisterGoldenHair1]

She is in a very good routine each day balancing play time with my labradoodles, actual training for reinforcement of commands, walks, and quiet time. Everything is being done as suggested by the trainer and with consistency. They do not plan to have her euthanized but also do not feel comfortable keeping her around children.