Ugh. At my wits end. I don't know what to do with these two anymore.
Background first I suppose.
While living in Florida, hubby and I were getting ready to leave one day, opened the door and found a pittie pup and a rattie pup on the front step. They'd gotten into a bag of garbage on the side of the house and rip it open and drug some around front to eat.
The little pittie didn't look much worse for wear, but the rattie was in terrible shape. He was truly nothing but bone and skin. As he was eating the pittie would run over and steal food from him and a fight would ensue.
I knew the dogs belonged to the people across the street, so we went over and told them their dogs were on our porch and the terrier was painfully thin. The guys said basically, yeh we know, we don't want them anymore. [sm=asking03.gif]
So, we called a friend that had just bought a house and was wanting a puppy to see if she'd take them. She jumped at the chance for the pittie as that's what she'd always had growing up, but didn't want the rattie. So we scooped him up and took him to our vet. He weighed 8 pounds and his ideal weight was 16. He was roughly 6-8 months old. Infested with fleas. The vet said he may have been abused, but wasn't sure.
So, we kept him. The first problem was he was extremely food aggressive. It took us well over a year to break him of that. Secondly, after being with us for about 6 months he suddenly became aggressive toward strangers. He was well socialized from the time we got him, so I have no clue why he turned aggressive. The only thing I can think of is we had an English Mastiff when we brought him in and she was a fear biter. I bought her as a puppy (way before learning about BYBs - she was my teacher [&o]) and at 10 weeks old she was terrified of everything. She's another story, but a sad one, and because I didn't do my homework on the breed, BYB's, and training / socializing, she became a fear biter. Totally my fault.
Anyway, she was very fearful of strangers but learned by a year and a half old that people were intimidated by her because of her size. Because of that she became a fear biter. She'd run and bark at anyone that came in the yard. Fortunately for me she minded me extremely well and with a quick no she'd turn and immediately come back to my side so I never had a problem with that. But if someone came in the house I had to lock her up.
Anyway, the only thing I can think of is Murphy picked up on her temperment and modeled it. By the time we moved up here he was so bad I was seriously thinking of having him put down. I've read books, talked to trainers, talked to other dog people. Nothing. Nothing I did worked with him. I'd just resigned myself to the fact that I had another Cleo on my hands, but this time instead of a 182 pound unstable dog that could take down a bedroom door to go after anything she wanted, I had a 25 pound unstable dog that I could kennel.
In the meantime, the neighbors that had starved Murphy had gotten another rattie. This one they tied to a tree and let their kids abuse. They threw rocks at it, sticks at it, kicked him. It was terrible. I have no clue why in the world people like this bring home a puppy. They'd get them at 6 or 7 weeks old, bring them inside and when the dog didn't housetrain itself they'd get disgusted and toss it outside.
Again, they'd gotten the rattie and the pittie. Luckily they'd chewed through thier ropes and dug out under the fence. The pittie, despite all he'd gone through, was the most loving little thing. The rattie this time was a mess. He was so scared of people it took us 3 weeks to earn his trust and catch him. To this day if anyone is loud or moves fast he'll pee on himself and hide. He's also very clingy which makes me nuts. I've always had big, confident, self assured dogs. A small clingy dog is making me crazy!
So, now we live in TN. I had the first 3 months we were here with no job so I could really get into training Murph. He came a good way. I got him off leash trained which was really important to me. His recall got much better, basic commands were excellent. But he still couldn't be trusted around strangers. I have no clue why.
My husband's health has deteriorated terribly and he's now disabled. He walks with a cane. I work 2 hours from home and put in at least 10 hour days, so I get home in time for bed. I do get 3 days a week off, but the first day is usually spent catching up on sleep. The second day is spent running errands as we only have one vehicle and hubby really can't drive anyway. The third day I spend trying to remember who each of my kids are. So, there's just little time left that I can spend on training anymore.
The other problem is Murphy has realized my husband can't catch him or anything, so he totally ignores anything he says, even has started growling at him. He's very strong for such a small little dog, and my husband has a hard time walking him even on a leash as he pulls so badly for him.
We live across from a huge cow pasture and this is Murphy's latest target. He loves to torment them. Now, if I'm home and I take him out, he knows better. He's only gone after them once when I took him out. I immediately leashed him, took him back across the street by the fence, and put him in a down position with his back to the cows, not even letting him look backward at them. I swear I could hear the cows laughing at him!! But since then, if I let him out he won't even look over there. Problem solved. Hubby's another problem. He just can't control him.
As for his temperment, we have guests come over that he seems regularly. He'll go to them all happy, tail wagging, tongue hanging out, and then suddenly with no warning - no sound at all - he'll try to attack them.
Fencing is temporarily out of the question for financial reasons. So, does anyone have any other suggestions before I totally lose my mind with this dog?? He's hubby's dog and hubby positively adores him, regardless of the fact that he's totally unstable. But he's finally gotten to the point that he's mentioned he's terribly stressed with him in the house. He can't relax at all.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not blaming the dog. He wasn't from a decent breeder, so a bit starts there. Then he had a traumatic first 6 months. But over 4 years, he's still at this point? Even our vet has recommended having him put down. Said some dogs just never are right after what he's been through. If I can't find some way to help him, I really am considering this. It's disruptive to the entire household.