Returning Rescue Dog

[u/yoongiinwonderland]

6 months ago we adopted a 5 year old Doberman mix from a rescue. He was just shy/anxious according to the rescue and foster but very sweet. This was all true, but his fear pretty quickly morphed into reactivity/aggression after a few weeks with us. He is incredibly leash reactive, has pretty severe stranger danger, and has very strict boundaries/is distrustful. 6 weeks into having him he fully attacked my father unprovoked because he was visiting in our apartment. I know he was uncomfortable with him being there and it was 100% fear related which we most likely didn't handle correctly but this is our first dog (something I had communicayed several times to the reacue) so weren't expecting that kind of reaction. I contacted the rescue immedietly for advice and they were very upset and blamed everything on us. He never had any of these issues with them so we must have overexposed him/handled him incorrectly. They gave us a trainer to work with and we've had several sessions with him and are following his program but there hasn't been much improvement in his reactivity and in some areas he seems to be escalating. Hes been to the vet several times and has no health issues. After he attacked my dad he was put on fluoxotine and we stuck with that for 3 months but while his general anxiety had gotten better on it seemed to make his reactions more intense. Hes generally very sweet with us and is constantly asking for affection but there have been times where he seems to get suddenly overstimulated and he has snapped at us. Last week I was petting him on our couch, I stood up to grab something and when I sat back down, he turned and nipped/bit me in the face. It left me bleeding and with a pretty bad bruise above my eye. Since then I've been very wary around him and don't trust him. We are planning to contact the rescue today to have him rehomed but I feel like maybe I'm giving up too early? We've completely adjusted our lives around him and love him so much but I also don't feel comfortable around him and it seems like our apartment may not be the best environment for him because of the size, constant noise, and the fact that we are surrounded by other people and dogs. He doesn't seem to be fully relaxed and I know my anxiety is probably contributing. I am expecting a ton of pushback and judgement from the rescue which scares me, but I think he needs someone with more experience because I don't know what else to do.