Hello,
Thank you in advance for your responses. Long story short - we adopted a rescue dog mid July. He checked off all the boxes, 4 years old. This dog was in the shelter (a good one) and struggled, so he was put into a foster home. He was there for almost a year and a half. It was a lady, her adult daughter, 3-6 other dogs, 3 cats, and a new roommate just moved in. Per her and the shelter, he's always been good with everyone and all animals. The shelter took him to a school to visit kids and vet students had him as a patient. Even when he was kennel stressed - no aggression issues. He gets along with my cat and other dog, and initially did well with my boys for the first 4 weeks. He's also done well with them while on sedatives. Did a foster-to-adopt trial for 3 weeks. All was well. During week 5, he started to suddenly jump/growl/nip us all at once - mainly my two kids - aged 7 and 12. Nothing in the household had changed. The first incident happened when my eldest sat down next to my husband on the couch. After that, I banned both of my dogs from the couch.
I've taken the dog to the vet twice. The first time was during week 4 for shivering - vet deemed he was scared (he doesn't like loud noises.) The second visit was after a few nipping incidences occurred. They gave me sedatives and suggested a get a muzzle. They also said to rehome, as it sounds like the kids may be causing him anxiety. I reached out to a few rescues, one said they'd do a courtesy posting if I had a trainer assess him. The trainer came out, heard the story. Said I should take him off sedatives, put him on fluxotine, use a muzzle and advised on how to use an e-collar. He said the behavior is fixable via using the e-collar correctly.
Here are my concerns, aside from the nipping. I have mixed feelings about e-collars. The vet said that fluxotine can cause aggression in some dogs. The trainer said he's never seen that happen. I can get the muzzle on the dog, but he does muzzle punches before calming down with it. In the past, my husband and I have witnessed one of our dogs suddenly kill the other. We lost both dogs that day.