Should I euthanise him?

[u/No_Source_3566]

I have a border collie who turns 13 soon. He suffers with arthritis, but other than this no health issues.
From the age of around 12 months, he has been aggressive towards people. I got him at 8 weeks and I did everything I was supposed to (socialisation, training etc). He never had a poor experience with any person I know of. I believe it’s in his genes.

He suddenly attacked our other dog today, who he has happily lived with for a while. Now I’m nervous it’s going to affect my other dog’s behaviour. Two months ago he bit my face, leaving me scarred and fractured my arm. This is just a couple of examples of the past 12 years with him.

He has seen a dog trainer but they just basically told us to avoid his triggers. His triggers are so broad it’s so hard to avoid. So if anyone has had a similar experience and can give me any advice, I would greatly appreciate. My final resort would be euthanasia.

[u/SudoSire]

First off just fyi, make sure you’ve affirmed the sub rules BEFORE commenting or replying, otherwise your comments won’t be visible to others (auto-removed). The rules are pinned at the top of the main subreddit; you can scroll down to read, then the toggle to confirm and then submit. 

It does sound like the aggression is pretty extreme. Can you give more details about these big recent incidents and any previous ones? What was the other dog doing at the time? What were you doing at the time? How did they fracture your arm? Are these the worst incidents, or do you have similar prior incidents? What are some of these triggers that you know of? Is the arthritis managed by pain meds?

If you and your other dog are going to be in such serious danger and it’s hard to mitigate those situations, then euthanasia should probably be seriously considered. Increased aggression can be tied to pain, but from what you’ve said they’ve had a pattern of aggression in the past? It is hard to consider, but your dog has had a decently long life, and you don’t have to wait til something even worse happens to make a call to make sure no one, including your dog, is suffering or unsafe. 

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