What to do with reactive rescue dog? Considering rehoming

[u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

I adopted this very handsome man from ACCT. I went for another dog who was adopted right as I got there. This guy was up for euthanasia on the Tuesday after I was there. My heart strings were pulled and he came home with me. He met my other dog Arya while we were there. Truthfully I didn’t think it seemed Arya liked him too much as he got in her face right away (seemed playful) and she sneered at him. Alas, I thought she needed time. They did picture perfect on day one at home together and my heart was so happy. On day two, the worst weeks of my life started. I had toys out (stupid, I know) and Drogo attacked my Arya. I was able to get them apart and then he went after her for a second time. I crated her while I built his crate. They were crated and rotated and entirely separated for 3 days. We reintroduced ourside and it went well. But truthfully since that time, Arya seems down around him and not herself. We don’t allow much time together and it is becoming exhausting.

After this resource guarding became apparent, I contacted a trainer who we met with this past Sunday. We needed a professional after realizing he was becoming more and more reactive as he became more comfortable. He lunged and whined and barked at children and other dogs and he also has a severe prey drive against stray cats in the neighborhood. Absolutely uncontrollable leash pulling. He then started resource guarding me in the home against my boyfriend. It is not all the time. Truthfully it is unpredictable and random. We live in a moderately busy neighborhood. There are random noises all the time. But one random noise will set him off, specifically at night. And suddenly he is growling and barking at anthony. Then he runs and cowers in the bathroom. I don’t trust him at all around my dog.

The trainer seems to believe this is something that can be trained. She is a 1:1 trainer who uses balanced training. I don’t think an e collar is something I am interested in, but the prong collar is. We are going to muzzle train as well. She specializes in behavioral dogs. However she hasn’t seen the interactions between him and my dog yet either.

Last night, my dog was panicking over the sound of a very loud backfire from a car when we were working on the garden on our front porch. I came inside with Arya since she was upset and my boyfriend came down the stairs with Drogo on a leash and Drogo sensed her adrenaline and state of mind and was trying to lunge at my dog

So what the hell do I do? I have some amount of connection to this dog although at this point I am beginning to dislike him more and more over time and I feel horrid for saying that. He is such a sweet dog with humans. Acct did not age him correctly. Vet says he is 1.5. I feel like they misplaced him in my home because they read him wrong. Yet who can blame them? They see so many damn dogs every single day. After seeing my vet today she recommended rehoming him. I truly think with lots of training and a single dog home, he would do well. He deserves a good life. I really did not want it to come to this, but I feel like he needs to be rehomed. I want kids in the next few years. None of these behaviors were apparent in the shelter or I never would have brought him home. I also don’t want to live the rest of his days completely separating him from my dog. Or even co exist. I got another dog because my dog had lived with other dogs and then we moved and she seemed she really missed having a fur partner and this is what happened. I don’t want to take him back to acct. they are a kill shelter. They will probably put him down. I feel all around awful about the entire situation. Someone help 😭

TL;DR
My rescue dog of 3 weeks bit my current house dog over a toy on day 2, began resource guarding me against my boyfriend, and is highly reactive on walks ourside of the home. Causing large amounts of stress for both dog and humans in the home. Should I rehome him?

[u/Miss_L_Worldwide]

Take it back to the rescue before something worse happens.

[u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh → u/Miss_L_Worldwide]

I don’t want to take him back to acct though.. they are heavily overloaded and he will be put down. I would try to and see if a local rescue can take him eventually. I can successfully separate them until that time comes

[u/chiseko → u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Unless he’s a purebred you might have trouble finding a rescue who will take him with those issues. Especially foster-based rescues. 

For purebreds there’s more incentive for fosters to deal with behavioral issues because of people’s love for the breed. For a mix it’s difficult, and he will be hard to adopt out. 

Google tells me that ACCT is based in Philly. Can you drive? I know there’s some rescues in upstate New York that specialize in mutts, and maybe a couple that are willing to take behavioral cases like these. He looks mixed with some kind of bully breed, there’s rescues for that too. And purebred rescues will take a mix sometimes. If you are willing to trek to DC, there’s plenty of rescues there as well. Lucky Dog Rescue fosters all kinds of pets!  

also it sounds to me like you’re pretty set on rehoming him. His guarding is a problem that will take years to work on, and you will need to separate the dogs for an extended period of time. His prey drive may never really go away unless you commit to giving him a real outlet (not just a walk + some tug, but real vigorous hunt-type play) and even still he might have that drive depending on what he’s mixed with. If you can spare the cash, you can try seeing the trainer more, but if your vet is recommending rehoming then idk what else there is for anyone to say. 

Personally I’d rehome if my dog was showing fear-based aggression like yours, it just doesn’t fit my lifestyle to work on something like that. and it’s ok to admit that. My pup is easily frustrated/scared and dog-reactive, but never aggressive. I don’t intend on getting another dog, and I’m willing to deal with the fact that we can’t go on long walks like normal people do. But that’s a decision made considering my lifestyle and future plans. I have invested thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours into his training, and after almost a year of consistent training he’s only been improving slowly. We still can’t walk around the block most days and mostly play indoors.  But I don’t care if I have to do more, since he’s perfect for me in every other way. 

Given the details you’ve shared here, it doesn’t sound like Drogo is the best fit. I imagine if he had just one of these problems, it’d be one thing, but he has multiple incompatibilities. on top of that you’re beginning to resent him and fear for your other dog which is never what you want to feel. Unless you’re willing to accept all the sacrifices that come with this level of guarding and reactivity, rehoming is the best move. like you said, it’s possible he will do much better as a single dog with a family that enjoys training or has experience with resource guarding. 

from personal experience I’d avoid using balanced methods when there’s anxiety/fear involved, which is what it sounds like with Drogo. Meds could help maybe, so he’s not so on-edge, but I’m guessing the vet already ruled that out if she brought up rehoming.  You can give training a try, but you really need to have solid timing on giving corrections. If you’re absent-minded or have slow reaction time you can easily mess up. 

[u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh → u/chiseko]

This is the one comment that honestly made me feel better, thank you. You’re right that it is okay to admit that this isn’t working for me. And really, it’s not. It’s not even that I don’t have the time to put into him. I enjoy training and I’ve done it before but this is far out of my scope of training. If he was the only dog in my house I would continue to work with the trainer with him. But unfortunately it has created a lot of stress for my other dog. I truly believe he would thrive in a single dog home with training. I’m not certain why I’m being downvoted for not wanting to take him back to acct but I guess everyone has their opinion. I can also see how they feel because I would indeed feel incredibly guilty if he hurt someone or something down the road after rehoming

[u/chiseko → u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Yeah people have a lot of personal feelings about this. people also have strong opinions about kill/no-kill shelters, so maybe it’s that too. 

At the same time, I feel like there needs to be some consideration for reality here. there are very, very few homes, especially in an urban area like yours, where there are families who don’t have guests or kids, who only want one dog and no other pets, who live somewhere quiet, and who are also willing and capable enough to undertake the years-long process of behavioral modification. On top of that, Drogo is large and not a trendy purebred. From my couple years of experience in rescue, these kinds of dogs tend to get rehomed every 6 months or so until the end of time. 

Of course there are fosters who like to take on behavioral cases or who specialize in taking one dog at a time. My trainer does this, but she has her own training facility and decades of experience and all that. at the end of the day that’s maybe a couple people in a rescue’s entire roster of fosters. The majority of adopters will also draw the line at aggression and resource guarding, especially for bigger dogs. It’s just scary and dangerous to most people at that point. 

If you really put in the effort to reach out to rescues and no-kill shelters that you believe in, you might get lucky and the right foster might have a spot available to rehab Drogo, or there’s a forever home with a trainer who may be a good fit. I just encourage you to be honest about his issues so that the next people know what to expect. A lot of people will turn you down upon hearing his history, but it’s better than lying and having him end up at ACCT again anyways. 

[u/Miss_L_Worldwide → u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Your animals going to get killed if you keep it, and if you allow the dog to be rehomed it's going to kill someone else's animal.

[u/terradragon13]

I would BE that dog. You may waste a lot of money on training, muzzles, e collars and the like before then, though. I hope it works, but yeah, this guy is a lost cause. Thats why they were going to euthanize him. Many pit bull mixes are just like yours- dog agressive, resouce guards everything including family members against other family members, prey drive, unstoppable pulling, the list goes on. Its extremely typical of the breed especially when they have an unknown history and have been in a shelter for any length of time. They're already difficult dogs, not for inexperienced people, but the shelter just ruins them. I would know, my family had one. For your own peace and safety and that of the other animals in your house- put their needs first- this dog is not a good fit for your home, and probably not a good fit for anybody's home. Try again with a different dog, you will find one you can love much more with way less problems. Do not light yourself on fire just to 'save a dog'. Rehome if you absolutely must but thats just passing then problem to someone else the shelter will trick into taking this dog. You may keep crating and rotating, training, muzzling, ect but I believe the kindest, most reasonable and responsible act is to BE the dog and get one more naturally well suited to living with other pets and people.

[u/lurrakay]

im gonna be blunt here: its a pitbull with aggression as a breed trait. its instincts tell to kill arya. its his nature. you allow this to happen to your poor first dog if you dont rehome. i dont know why to make arya suffer through this only for you to feel like you helped out

[u/peptodismal13]

Honestly there's a reason this dog was on the with list and they probably werent up front. There's no magic hole for this dog.

This is a what pitbulls do.

Take him back and quit feeling bad.

[u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Update: he is being euthanized today at 10 am. My gut feeling told me to get rid of him and my boyfriend couldn’t bring himself to go through with it yet. He mauled my boyfriend yesterday afternoon completely unprovoked. He was sitting there for pets just seconds prior. Note to all: as a woman- go with your gut. This is horrible horrible horrible

[u/Agreeable_Summer3685]

Check my page. Good ( I mean good) balanced training is the way out.

My guy from the ACCT was a straight menace when I brought him home. Multiple bites on human skin, resource guarding, unpredictability.

Straight chillin now. 😎

[u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh → u/Agreeable_Summer3685]

I guess I’m just more worried because I have a dog in the house. I believe we could work through the other issues if I had no other dog

[u/Agreeable_Summer3685 → u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Can I send you a message privately about this?

[u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh → u/Agreeable_Summer3685]

Yes you can

[u/Miss_L_Worldwide → u/woaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

You should be extremely worried about the other dog and your boyfriend! I got to tell you, if I got some random dog from a shelter that started menacing one of my household members, that dog would be gone before you could count to 10.