So my dog, whom we got about six weeks ago, seems to have an issue of aggression towards other dogs, or perhaps more precisely, of reacting disproportionately to perceived aggression from other dogs.

The first incident was a week after we brought Lilly home, with our next-door neighbor's dog, Watson. Before we got Lilly the neighbor let their dog wander freely which never bothered us as he's a very nice, gentle dog with us and our kids. But we thought that we had better make sure Lilly would not have a problem with Watson so we brought Lilly on her leash to the border between our properties, where Watson was waiting, unleashed, with the neighbor. As we approached, Watson took what in other circumstances I would have called a playful stance -- front lowered with legs splayed out a bit. Lilly did not see it that way and charged him. It took all the neighbor, a big guy, and I had to get them apart. In the end neither dog was seriously injured but Watson got a puncture wound on his leg and Lilly got a big scratch on top of her head. At any rate, this has not hurt our relationship with the neighbor, and they are now more careful about letting Watson out unleashed (and we have never let Lilly out unleashed and do not intend to unless at some point we fence in our back yard).

The second incident occurred this morning. I was not there, but my wife and younger daughter took Lilly for a walk in our neighborhood. They were walking in the street as always as there are no sidewalks. As they were walking past a house a smaller dog came running out from between cars in the driveway to greet Lilly. Again, Lilly saw this as aggression and attacked. Once again the other dog got a puncture wound (a few of them actually but one that was worse than the others) and Lilly got a bit of a cut on her head. My wife was able to stop the fight by throwing her coat over Lilly's head, and she says that once Lilly could no longer see the other dog she calmed down immediately. My wife spoke briefly to the dog's owner who was outside as well right after this and then brought her home, after which we both went back to talk to him. He was very nice about the whole thing, fortunately, and helped my wife, who was distraught, calm down some. He was going to take his dog (Maggie) to the vet to get her leg looked at. We gave him our names, address and phone numbers and then left. He stopped by our house a few minutes ago after going to the vet and let us know what was up; Maggie got staples to close up the worst wound and just antibiotic ointment on the others. We agreed to split the bill, as while I do not think we would be legally liable since Maggie was not leashed, we do not want to make enemies with our neighbors. Hopefully this bill is not outrageous.

In between these two incidents we have encountered other dogs from a distance while walking Lilly numerous times, and with a couple of exceptions of slow senior dogs, her reaction is usually pretty strong. She will pull fairly hard on the leash, sometimes growling and/or barking. Just last week we paid a trainer to come to us to advise us on this. Her opinion was that Lilly's reaction is a learned mechanism to *avoid* incidents; if she acts aggressively then other dogs will leave her alone. She advised that we find a "stunt dog" to help with overcoming this. We should let the dogs see each other from a considerable distance to let Lilly know that the mere sight of another dog does not require any response. We should repeat this over the course of many days, getting the dogs very gradually closer together until they actually meet (leashed, with very close supervision of course). Our next-door neighbor hopefully can help with this.

Meanwhile, at home, Lilly is just the sweetest dog. She's great with kids, which is very good as we frequently have various neighbors' kids at our house in addition to our own.

could be some leash aggression, as well. Dogs on leash and off leash can be totally different.

Oh man, that almost exactly describes a Doberman mix that moved into my building recently. He lives with two other dogs so obviously doesn't have a problem with them, but every other dog he sees in the building or out in the park, he charges at, growling and yelping. His vet says it's anxiety and he's getting used to his new surroundings. That's not gonna fly if someone's dog gets injured. A bunch of us complained, but our manager insists we just keep our distance (and the owner and walkers have been good about that lately).

IMO, it can be really hard to tell what the issue is. Definitely could be a leash thing, especially when she is on leash but the other dog is not. But also just past experiences with other dogs that Lilly hasn't gotten over. Or she may think she's protecting you.

The stunt dog or other training is a good idea. I might also ask that neighbor to borrow a blanket or something else that has Watson's scent on it, and just keep it near where Lilly hangs out. That will get her acclimated to the scent and know nothing is wrong. Also, as hard as this is to pull off, try to act calm and normal when she is lunging at another dog. Yelling or scolding her might make it worse. (Obviously hold her back though)

After much deliberation my wife and I decided that Lilly is not a good fit for us and our neighborhood, and we're returning her to the rescue tomorrow.

Something additional happened on Monday hours after the incident with Maggie. I had gone out for a bit and when I came back I came around the back of the house for some reason to come in the sliding door. Turns out it was locked so I knocked. Lilly was right there and she went apeshit, even though she could clearly see me through the glass door (it was mid-afternoon on a sunny day). This wasn't the first time she's shown some troubling behavior around me though I didn't think much of it before this incident.

Really the biggest factor is the other dog issue though. Especially Watson next door. Right now our daughters are not big enough to control Lilly if she lunges, which basically means they can't take Lilly out unless they're certain that Watson is not outside. And even if Watson isn't outside, the neighbors could let him out. Besides Watson we basically are afraid to take her for walks in our neighborhood except late at night when others presumably are not walking their dogs. We went to a park on Monday afternoon to get her out of the neighborhood and spent the whole time detouring to avoid other dogs. I'd love to know for sure that with some (finite) time and effort we could get past this issue, but we can't know that, and in the meantime, this is no way to live, for us or for her.

Good decision. We had to do that with 1-2 of the fosters we were assigned. She probably needs a very specific environment to be comfortable and you can't devote your whole life to searching for that.

It seems like the right call, unfortunately. Fortunately there are thousands of dogs out there looking for a good home and you'll find one in no time.

I'm 'lucky' that my dog is only an asshole in the home to relative strangers which doesn't happen all that often. Training again next week. 105 bucks.

She also got a parasite this weekend. 200 bucks. Dogs!

Thanks guys. It's good to have some validation as neither my wife or I really felt good about the decision. My wife especially as while she was the one who originally suggested that we relinquish Lilly, she also *loved* that dog, and vice versa. In seven weeks she really became part of the family in a lot of ways.

This was a really hard day, almost as hard as the few times I've had to euthanize pets.

Tough choice but the right one. Hope everyone is handling it well.

lived with my brother for a while we were both bachelors. he was a k9 cop up until recently and i loved his dogs like my own. i set up some of his weights and a treadclimber in his basement this winter and have been there pretty much every day for the last few months. his most recent partner is a 6.5 yr old belgian malinois. just a total ball of energy. last saw him on wedsnesday and he was bringing me his ball to play with and flopping over for belly rubs. my brother mentioned not to get too rough with him because he didn't think he was feeling well since he didn't eat his dinner. didn't eat the last few days either so my brother took him to the vet yesterday. vets didn't see anything on first glance but wanted to run some tests. turns out his body is riddled with cancer. they called me tonight and told me to come quick to say goodbye. he was out of it for most of the time i was there. first time i've ever seen him where he wasn't go go go. by the time i was leaving he had found some second wind and was playing with his ball a bit. i left on that note because that's how i wanted to remember him. i'll miss him.

Sorry pal

sorry to hear it. he looks like a good boy

so sorry