Attachment 196
We are going to have to put his girl down this week. She is only 4 and is healthy and is the sweetest dog you could imagine 99% of the time. However, she has a dark side. She is a rescue and was abused early in her life. She is very anxious and her fight or flight is all fight. She has gotten into multiple fights with our older lab over the last 3 years we've had her and we have worked with her a lot and thought we were past it (despite trips to the vet ER and human ER ... my finger got nicked pretty bad once).
In fact, they went a whole year without fighting. But starting last month, it started back up. No harm no foul for the first few (the family has become adept at the right way to break them up ... the trick is to grab them by their hind legs like a wheelbarrow). Anyway, this Friday morning my wife's hand got in the way ... the dog though she had the other dog and wouldn't let go ... she gets completely out of her mind when she is like this. Anyway my wife ended up with five stitches and a broken metacarpal ... hand surgeon consultation is today to find out if it needs surgery ... ER thought it would.
Give that this is the second on the record bite issue (ER calls the cops) animal control may force the issue but even if not we have come to the painful conclusion that putting her down will be best. Rescues and the pound don't even try to adopt out dogs that have aggressive history, not to mention that with her issues a place like that would be terribly traumatic. So she's suffer for 48 hours or however long it is only to end up with the same fate.
We are heartbroken about it because she really is a sweet dog ... but don't really see an alternative.