how do i deal with my fear aggressive dog?

Your best bet would be to slowly try to socialize her. It's a fair bit more work with an older dog who has problems already but it can be done.

Take the dog to a park or something, have him on a leash, have your friends and family join you there. Bring lots of his favourite treat and/or toy (whatever motivates this dog for reward).

Simply have your friend(the stranger) crouch down with the treat in hand and avoid eye contact with the dog(eye contact can be intimidating to some dogs) slowly lure the dog towards this person. If the dog approaches them nicely and takes the treat, give him lots of praise.

You will need to do this several times with many different people. After some time, he should learn that strangers can be nice and he will get a reward when he is nice to them.

As for the dog aggression, I would consult a professional dog trainer on this one. Dog fights can turn ugly and it's best to have a professional around should anything go wrong.

Best of luck to you!

Your best bet is to get in touch with a dog behaviorist or get obedience training and treat this quickly before somebody gets hurt. This is potentially a very dangerous situation and the longer it goes untreated the less likely the dog can be saved. That said, Australian cattle dogs are great dogs and very trainable. Good luck to you. It sounds like this dog has been a really blessing in your life as you are in hers.

By "attacked" do you mean actual, full on attacks, bites, or something less? Regardless, you need to contact a professional. Reseach dog behavioralists and trainers in your area. They will cost you money, but it will be nothing compared to the possible legal fees you could be facing if any one of these people attacked chose to press charges.

Abuse and or fear has NOTHING to do with it. your dog is flat out aggressive and more than likely possessive of YOU as well. How many attacks involved you being in the area and your other dog or family coming near you?

Option one: Get her evaluated and trained if possible

Option two: PTS on YOUR terms before you are forced to put her down and if you continue to ALLOW her to bite people and animals she will be.

Don't care if she has helped you through their divorce this dog is a liability.

fir your own safety if anything get her trained out of this habit. you could be sued if the dog bite anyone and sadly she will get destroyed so the best thing is for you is to contact your local vet and ask them if they know a dog trainer. im a bit confused though did the shelter not tell you she has issues. i would socialisee her on a one to one basis and i would get a good trainer and hopefully she will mend her bad ways.

Find a trainer, pronto. I suggest this list:

http://www.trulydogfriendly.com/blog/?page_id=4

I also suggest the following book so you can get an overall perspective:

http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/product/cautious-...

And this DVD if you want to understand canine body language better, which will help you see problems before they get out of hand:

http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/product/reading-b...