I thought maybe some FOTs would have some feedback about our situation, since many of us are dog lovers. This is a long story so bear with me...
We got our dog, Lucy, from a shelter about 6 months ago. She is a 2 year old pit bull/sight-hound (not sure what kind) mutt. She is the sweetest and gentlest dog with people, is very affectionate and mellow at home. She gets along with most dogs too, but there have been 3 disturbing incidents within the 6 months we've had her. The first was a 4-dog fight at a dog run. All 4 dogs were at each others' throats, and we had no idea how it happened. Lucy had small puncture wounds on her neck from a bite, but she fought back ferociously too. This traumatized us but Lucy seemed to go back to normal afterward, and the wounds healed fine - and we don't bring her to the dog run anymore. After that, we were more cautious around other dogs, and in a few months, we began to allow her to play with dogs at the park, after an initial period to make sure they were friendly toward each other. The second incident was at my sister's house, who has 3 dogs of her own. The dogs seemed to be getting along ok, but when we went inside, Lucy had one of the dogs by the throat and wouldn't let go. This was really our fault, we sort of took it for granted that she was ok because she had been playing with dogs all weekend with perfect success. The dog she bit is an older, grouchy dog, but much smaller than her. After this, we committed to more socialization training for the next couple of months, and again, she seemed to be completely comfortable around other dogs and really loves playing with most of them. So last weekend, after going to the park and socializing with her leash on for a couple months, we let her off the leash there. There were 2 dogs there that she was getting along with nicely. Then, the owner of the other dogs picked up a stick and dangled it while Lucy and 1 other dog jumped at it, then he threw it and they both ran for it - and in a split second, Lucy had the other dog by the throat and would not let go. In all of these situations, she didn't growl, snarl, show teeth, or any signs that we could identify as warning signs of aggression. When we finally got the them apart, the other was ok, no blood or anything, despite its yelps that had us completely terrified.
So...now we are at the point where we have to either accept that she is not safe with other dogs, or try whatever we can do to rehabilitate her. We can't afford professional training right now, but eventually we will. We just got a muzzle, which we probably should have had before. The whole situation is breaking our hearts! Are we irresponsible dog owners? Can Lucy be rehabilitated to get along with all dogs? I've been researching training tips and stuff to deal with dog aggression. I guess we have a long road ahead of us and should be more patient. :-(
Well thanks for reading this if you've gotten this far!
