PLEASE HELP update on previous thread ( heartbroken at having to home my aggress

Well its been four weeks now since ruby ( little dog) was re-homed to an animal rescue centre. The first 2 weeks she was there in temporary foster, she seemed fine with text messages back and forth from me to the rescue owner enquiring after her wellbeing and the owner sending me videos of little dog playing happily in this huge garden, surrounded by other dogs and pictures of her curled up on her stool type bed in the foster carers kitchen. I asked "Is she settling at night? Is she still getting on with other dogs?" I said im heartbroken at having to re-home her due to her being so unpredictable around my other dogs (attacking at will for no given reason) and at strangers but that i knew she would do her best to find a really suitable home for her. Her reply to me was " she is doing superbly! Not the same dog! Will send more pics later. Anyway Elaine ( the rescue owner) had told me that she planned to send little dog to a more permanent foster carer who had vast experience with this type of aggression and dog and she would keep me updated. I could see from her FB page when little dog was being moved as she was requesting transport to take her there, so i also knew whereabouts little dog was heading. I was elated that they had managed to turn a corner with little dog as well but confused as to why she acted this way with me but not around them. My next communication with Elaine was as follows...

" Hi elaine.. I have set up a standing order to pay your rescue £10 per month as a contribution. Please can you let me know how little dog is doing and if she got transferred to Wales? It was one of the hardest things i have ever done to hand her over and walk away. I truly hope she is ok and not upset or as nervous anymore".. This was her reply " She moved to wales yesterday and is now with her foster carer.. She is doing really well and the fosterer has messaged me saying she may fail in fostering her and keep her which would be great". I asked is she snapping and growling or if she had attacked any other dogs. She said to me she snaps once she gets her feet under the table but is not doing this at foster carers and had a few people handling her. She said shes perfectly fine and that she needed to start afresh as she was too reliant on me and will be fine once she realises shes not "princess Ruby".. with an lol attached. Anyway fast forward one week and i noticed on her FB page that she was requesting URGENT help for transport as she desperatly needed to move a dog ( from the same location as little dog went too). So i figured something must of happened. I text elaine and i asked her " is little dog ok? Has she settled or not?. She replied saying that sadly little dog had not settled with her foster carer at all and they are bringing her back to shelter tommorow and that sadly she is very very unbalanced and that she would call me. I of course asked what had happened and her reply was that she has bitten her foster carer and her foster carers boyfriend several times and will not settle and that (elaine) is now at a loss. Now, when i first dropped little dog off at shelter, i was told by elaine that she never puts a dog down and only after extensive work if she feels there is nothing more she can do, would she consider it. I at that time said i dont want that for her so if it came to that point could i have her back? ( i know it was desperate but thats how i felt at the time). She is due to call me today and i feel this is what she is going to say to me. My question is.. What should i do?. What would you do?. My daughter who lives with me is expecting twins soon, so should i even be considering it. I dont know what scale the bites were yet, whether they were "air bites" or penetrating ( needing stitches) bites. Your feedback would be most appreciated tks

I posted in your last thread - please check out Cesar Milan The Dog Whisperer - videos, books, training methods. It will give you a really good understanding on why the dogs acts the way she does and what to do to correct the problem. You can also see many of his Dog Whisperer episodes on youtube.

Also, why can't the dog go to the home where she was doing well? Clearly she fit in there and had a handler who knows how to change her environment and make her feel safe (the dog) so she is normal. Not really sure the logic with moving her out to Wales and another foster home so soon. That itself was kind poor decision making. She had just changed homes, finally was able to relax and be normal and then immediately moved out to a new environment again - that itself could have triggered the problems. Fearful insecure animals don't take that well to so many changes in a such close sequence.

Hi... I wondered the same thing until she called me just now... Basically she said that little dog is fine when outside of the home environment but when inside she latches on to someone... anyone for attention and then deems them her property... Its under these circumstances that she attacks and whilst with her first foster carer this happened when she walked through the door and her own dog walked over tail wagging to greet her.... So little dog attacked other dog then when carer tried to intervene little dog lunged at lady and clamped onto her thigh biting her badly... I asked her why she didn't tell me this and she said that she was hoping it was a one off but it wasn't as she did it over again several times with new foster... She told me that in her opinion little dog was damaged... Either born this way or some sort of metabolic disorder .. She said she could and would never be able to rehome her as she was too unpredictable and was trying one last resort to get her with a man who only takes dogs such as her and keeps them within his pack... A little like the English version of the dog whisperer but if he couldn't take her then in her opinion due to the dog suffering as well being in an agitated anxiety state constantly then she would have her pts ... I asked her about bringing her home and she said that if this man will take her but if he doesn't have space for a couple weeks then she would strive better to be back with me (kinda as her fosterer) than in kennals but she said on a long term basis its not recommended to keep her as she is very very unstable and with new babies coming soon she would certainly fear regards an attack from her. . I'm so upset I can't even think straight xx

I'd still urge you to watch his shows, get his books and educate yourself so you do get a better understand on animal psychology, dog in particular, and how they view you and the world around them. It's important to learn so that this situation doesn't repeat itself. I hate to be harsh with you, but no, she wasn't born this way, she was raised this way and yes, it can be corrected with the right handler. However, few people know how.

The fact that she "latches on" and then becomes aggressive tells me one simple thing - she is an insecure dog who is actively taking control and the only way she is doing that is because the "humans" in question are not clear strong firm leaders. Only way she is jumping into that role is because there is a vacuum/opportunity there. She is not born this way, her issues are human created and very much fixable and....quite common really, more common than you realize.

As for correcting bad behavior....don't get me started on that soapbox. Learning how to correct/discipline an animal properly is a long road and takes a lot of training and practice for the humans because we do not really practice that in our lives and interactions among ourselves. I've trained many animals and rehabbed a number of "death row" cases. I can tell you from experience, that people think they are applying discipline or a correction, but in fact they are escalating the issue. In reality they are applying fear, anxiety and agitation of their own to add fuel to the fire. Most corrections that people make are....not corrections but rather random punishments that the animal doesn't understand because they are either unclear or poorly timed, aka too late after the fact. So not effective at all even though in the human mind they are "fixing" things but they really are causing additional problems.

I can pretty much guarantee you that when your dog went after the other dog, the human panicked and reacted with panic and since they reacted with panic and agitation, they got bit too.....because that makes sense in dog world. Your dog was disciplining the human not the other way around and the dog was doing that because she saw herself as in charge and agitated human as weak and behaving in an unbalanced manner.