hey friends. i am new to this site but really appriciate it.
2 months ago i made the decision to put down my malinois boxer mix. Bear was a rescue dog. he was maby 7 or 8 weeks when we found him. he was verycute but he was food agressive from the get go. i corrected that and all was well. as he started to mature he was alwase very agressive with strangers. and scared. we did all we could to socialise him. he really improved but at around the age of 2,things went very wrong. he would freak out if he was being walked and saw a stranger. i mean piss himself and cower. he was super affectionate with us but then started growling when you petted him. then he woud grow and show every inch of tooth. had to be muzzeld at the vet. and we finally started to get concerned about his biting us. I took him and held him and loved on him while the put him down so his last moments would not be terror in a vet with strangers. on previous visits I had to remove him from the kennel at the vet. becouse he was so vicious. I think he may have been his own grandpa. inbread or something. I think ive read on this site that this was a sharp dog. well it was tough for us, but i am still unsure if i did all i could. thanks.

I am so sorry to hear about your dog. It sounds like you loved him worked with him above and beyond what most people would have done. I would say that you did the right thing and take comfort in that he is no longer living life in fear.
Leah

thank you leah. we have a 5 yr old blue heeler that never did this sort of thing. and now a 15 week rottie puppy. the pup is very smart and non food agressive. but we will miss the good times with bear. thanks norma jean and jerry

Norma, Read this link, Question #4 is "I just put my 9 year old dog to sleep, and I would like to know if I made the right decision.".

http://www.leerburg.com/qafear.htm#need

There is alot of information on that page that you can read, but the majority points to you having made the right decision. I am defiantely not an advocate for putting a dog down, but I have never owned a dog that had these type of fear based aggression issues so there's no way for me to tell you what I would do facing that situation... I would probably do the same thing as you did.

thank for the info on the archive. I just read ed's board rules and should have used the archive first. Very sorry about that. I plan on getting into comp. in the future and will be very interested in the dvd's. until then i will post only when nessesary. thanks for the info.

 Quote:

...until then i will post only when nessesary.

You'd be the first <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I was just giving the link because I remembered Ed had a section on fear biters, I didn't mean that you posted inappropriately <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

FWIW, i think you did the right thing. there simply are dogs that need to be euthanized due to temperment. it's NEVER an easy decision to euthanize, but don't second-guess yourself here.

i've had to assist at a few temperment-based euthanasias, they've all been absolutely called for; no one needs dogs like that in the world. but i am also sorry that you even ever had to make the decision... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />