Euthanasia for a mentally ill dog?

Oh, my. You have alot of commitment!

I would guess this to be a severe case of redirected aggression, as the episodes make no sense. Many cases of redirected aggression have a source that we as humans, have difficulty identifying, and while we are mystified, it gets worse over time.

At this point, you have an extremely unhappy dog, an extremely unhappy family, and have exhausted your resources trying to help this poor animal. It doesn't seem feasible to continue. I would put her out of her misery, and get your family back to normal.

Well as far as attacking cats and groundhogs -- that is expected. For sure the groundhogs and I know many dogs that while not food aggressive with other dogs for some reason will simply not tolerate cats around their foods. It is still something that you should not accept from your dog but it is pretty common.

BUT, I personally would never have an aggressive dog around a 4 year old. That would be the issue with me. When I have kids - my kids will come first and their saftey would of had that dog out of my home a long time ago. It is hard to really give you advice without seeing the dog and knowing even more, it is hard to tell you what to do. But I would say for sure crate the dog when you are cooking and eating. I'd crate the dog in the kitchen and make it watch me eat --but that's just because i'm an asshole haha.

I would suggest that since she came from a backyard breeder that he mistreated her and this caused the problem. However, I got my dog from the same situation (he was byb, abused, and sick) when he was 4 months old. He had some noticable problems from the start: he was very timid and prone to fear related aggression, but now he is not aggressive or timid. I'd like to ask, how was the dog when you first got her? (I am NOT suggesting that the way you raised her is the problem, I am NOT at all a believer of "their are no bad dogs only bad owners" i'm way against that. I am just curious.)

*And to answer your question, with the information you have given I would say the best to do is put her down. It sounds like you have tried to give this dog a happy life and have put in a good deal of time and effort into training. Talk to your vet -- sounds like he knows the dog, and see what he thinks.

As far as training advice, I do not believe in 100% positive reinforcment. I think your dog should learn positive actions = positive results and negative actions = negative results. But I do not believe in beating or hurting your dog. If the dog does something positive it gets a treat...i'd say praise but sounds like this dog is 10000% food motivated. If the dog is being negative I would put a prong collar on the dog and give it a quick snap if it is being aggressive and crate her or put her in an isolated room for 10-15 minutes. If she resists that is too bad because she has a prong and she is not getting anywhere. Again, I am in no position to give you training advice...i'm just saying what I would do as a last hope to "fix" her.

Putting a dog down is very hard, they are part of the family but you are making the right decision, it is not a mean process, the vet will shave a little patch on the dogs front leg, and uses a needle euthanize the dog, you will be there to comfort your loyal pet through this process and then your dog will just fall to sleep. Even though this is still an emotional process its best for the dog and for your new puppy. Nine years is along time for a dog to live and I'm sure you treated him very well, take him for along walk or do what ever the other activities are that you did with your beloved pet and then take him to the vets, you will both have wonderful memories of his last day on earth . God Bless you both.

I don't have a problem with some of her behavior (the prey driven behavior), but I see no reason at all to keep a human aggressive dog around, especially one that is aggressive with its owner.

I am big on trying to rehab difficult dogs, but if this were my dog, I would have her put down.

I know it's hard....you have a lot of time and effort invested in this dog, but you can see the disaster looming on the horizon, and you should do what you know is right.

The dog may be physically healthy, but there is something not right with its brain. The dog has gotten too many thrills from bloody attacks and is no longer trustworthy. I'd put that dog down, and I am a dog lover. I'm sorry for you. It sounds like you have put in a lot of time and effort to train the dog, and it is not working.

I feel for you. Unfortunately, I think your dong might just have snapped. I have never seen that happen drastically before. I don't know why you said another trainer isn't and option because that's what I would do, try a different trainer before completely giving up and putting her down. If it doesn't work with a different trainer I would humanely put her down because she is a danger to you, your child, and other animals.

Id ethanize this dog before someone gets hurt. Its not worth risking your safety, your childs safety, your other pet's safety.. etc this dog sounds like a total psycho. Time for some pink juice and a dirt nap.