New foster dog attacked my daughter!

I would never trust this dog not to attack.  You know it appears swinging sets him off--tho if I remember correctly your daughter was not actually swinging just kinda rocking.  What else would set him off?  What if he is out being walked and someone pushes a baby in a stroller past him and he doesn't like the stroller and attacks that baby?  What if a kid on a skateboard closes in on him, would he attack? 
 
There are many great dogs in shelters that don't bite under circumstances like that, take a lot of provoking to attack.  Many will be PTS because they aren't adopted.  I think it would be a shame to work so hard on this dog and have him adopted out, only to have him attack and severely injure someone.
 
On one of my golden forums today was a post about a pit attack.  He had attacked a 73 year old woman last week.  The owner had a sign  up saying she had gaurd dogs.  They got out, the pit and an American Bull Dog (not sure what they look like) and headed into a bunch of kids playing down the street.  The pit went after a little boy, his sister tried to get him off, the dog turned on her and severaly mauled her face, groin and leg.  It was not clear if the ABD attacked or not.  The article was a paper called the Reading Eagle, which i assume is Reading PA. 
 
The dog had attacked once and in less than a week had attacked again.  A few months ago there was an article about a golden retriever that had attacked and bitten a child in the face.  It was thought he had provoked the dog--i think it was the family dog-- and nothing was done.  But later it attacked another child and was PTS.
 
One of the members on that forum now owns a golden that had bitten the family child.  In this case the dog was asleep and the little boy fell on him.  They were sure it was reflex, but didn't want to keep him.  This guy and his wife--grown kids--took him.  They were very cafeful with him and grandkids at first, but the dog loves the grandkids.  Also, the little boy that was bitten has come and played with him.  The dog has never shown any aggression at all.  In this case the golden was worth saving, in the other case it was not.  And i don't think the dog in this post is able to be trusted enough to ever go out for adoption.  Let people adopt a dog that is more trustworthy, be it another pittie or a different breed..

He is being very submissive with DH since the bite happened.He knows he did something wrong.At this point all we can do is keep him seperated from the kids and try exposing him to different things and see how he reacts.Even if it never happened again i would only ever consider adopting him out to a home with no kids and to someone with pit experience or experience with dogs with bite issues.Otherwise after we move we will have to build him a sanctuary area where he can have room to play on his own and not endanger anyone.If he has other issues other than this that havent shown up yet i may have no choice but to have him PTS.Atleast he gets plenty of excercise and doesnt have to stay in a small kennel run like poor Wally.I feel bad for him.

you are a saint.  truly.  you should be commended.  your commitment to the well-being of this dog is to be applauded.

Oh yes! He did violently attacked that bucket! Growling and snarling!

That's exactly the deflection I was expecting and I'm glad you had your husband with you.
If I was in your position, I'd think it's time for a pro to eval this dog in his entirety so that I'd have techniques that help him not exacerbate his issue.  I also don't want to find just the "right" trigger that causes a really bad injury.  You will learn a lot from him that will help him and other dogs, but it's better to learn from someone with experience in this type of aggression, than from the worst kind of consequences.

she concluded that he plays very rough, has a dominant personality (meaning he doesn't hesitate when he wants to try to play with you, he feels he is allowed to initiate such play), and has little bite inhibition, so he bites VERY hard even when it's just a play bite. Basically, he treats 5'7" 150 lb athletic adults like me as tug toys. Like your daughter, he got me on my side and ribs several times (among other places), latched on and pulled VERY hard. I was wearing winter clothes so I did not bleed but had very deep bruising which I'm still getting over and muscle aches for a while. There were no signes or cues leading to his "attack", one second we were walking along fine and the next he had lunged from behind and latched onto my shoulder.

This sounds exactly like a dog I knew in rescue.  He was trained regularly by a well-respected trainer (who has a good reputation with aggressive dogs) and her apprentice.  Instead of going into the general population, he was adopted by the apprentice.  The dog was kept in check and given other outlets for his play - he became a demo dog for the apprentice trainer and came to the reunion picnic having been trained to walk among the crowd of strangers holding a bucket asking for $$ donations.  My point is, there is hope and this is not a done deal.  But he needs to be trained and managed appropriately and could end up being a shining joy for you or whomever else takes him.  But I doubt it's going to be easy.  I'm sorry you have this trouble, but I'm glad you found it before he went into an unsuspecting home and did some permanent damage.  Good luck.

ORIGINAL: miranadobe

she concluded that he plays very rough, has a dominant personality (meaning he doesn't hesitate when he wants to try to play with you, he feels he is allowed to initiate such play), and has little bite inhibition, so he bites VERY hard even when it's just a play bite. Basically, he treats 5'7" 150 lb athletic adults like me as tug toys. Like your daughter, he got me on my side and ribs several times (among other places), latched on and pulled VERY hard. I was wearing winter clothes so I did not bleed but had very deep bruising which I'm still getting over and muscle aches for a while. There were no signes or cues leading to his "attack", one second we were walking along fine and the next he had lunged from behind and latched onto my shoulder.

This sounds exactly like a dog I knew in rescue.  He was trained regularly by a well-respected trainer (who has a good reputation with aggressive dogs) and her apprentice.  Instead of going into the general population, he was adopted by the apprentice.  The dog was kept in check and given other outlets for his play - he became a demo dog for the apprentice trainer and came to the reunion picnic having been trained to walk among the crowd of strangers holding a bucket asking for $$ donations.  My point is, there is hope and this is not a done deal.  But he needs to be trained and managed appropriately and could end up being a shining joy for you or whomever else takes him.  But I doubt it's going to be easy.  I'm sorry you have this trouble, but I'm glad you found it before he went into an unsuspecting home and did some permanent damage.  Good luck.

The other side of the coin is that when a dog crosses the line and bites someone, usally that will happen again, and may be worse the second time. Exposing innocent victims to this possibility, to me, is a big gamble that I wouldn't want to take.

, is a big gamble that I wouldn't want to take.

I agree - neither would I.  Even with the resources I have, I know I'm not prepared to manage a dog like that. 

I'd think it's time for a pro to eval this dog in his entirety so that I'd have techniques that help him not exacerbate his issue.

 
This would be the problem there simply arent any pro's around to do an evaluation.
At this point its either PTS or do it on my own.I know this dog and i am not afraid of him in the least.He listens to me and respects me.I may end up having to keep him for a long time or maybe forever and just make sure he has his own space to live.Its doable.I dont see him a s a lost cause just yet.Where we are moving is way out in the middle of nowhere,there wont be people walking by or other kids playing nearby.Other than the swing thing he has shown no other issues,i can take his food /toys ect.He plays well with other dogs.Listens well to commands and is very smart.Take the swing out of the equation and he is a great dog.Thats why i am so hesitant to just write him off.I think we can learn alot from eachother,in fact we already have.Swinging isnt something most people would do during a routine temperment test but it is now going to be part of mine!

Nyiceprincess, my experience with pro's is that they bring in their own baggage and notions to the table when giving advise.  Although I seek help from anyone in these matters, I also find as a good resource major organizations like the Anit-cruelty society.  I often contact them and they are very professional and don't hedge when giving advise.  Maybe you can find something like this organization in the NY area or even call them.  Go to the behavior hotline and then you will connect with a counselor.  [linkhttp://www.anticruelty.org/]http://www.anticruelty.org/[/link]  Also, the Denver Dumb Friends League have been helpful to me in the past. 

I am reading this and I can't belive that for one minute you would keep a dog like this in the same house as your children. You say you keep them apart, but what happens if one day a friend comes over and doesn't know the dog is outside and walks out there, lawsuit waiting to happen, and are you ready for your child to be killed if the dog decides one day to break out of the crate. What happens if he turns on you when you are alone. There are too many nice dogs that needs homes, dangerous dogs like this are what is giving pitt bulls a bad name. The nicest thing to do is euthanize him before there are more problems. This may sound harsh but I work at a vet hosp and we see it in dogs adopted from the pound that a few months later decide to eat the humans, something happened to make the first family give him up, maybe they are not telling the truth.
Please do not allow your child to become a statistic just because you think you can cure him, and if he bit your husband that would tell me he is a biter, meaning he does not respect humans and could bite anyone, no insurance would let you have this dog in your house knowing this,

I can totally understand how you already love him and want to help him or at least manage him.  But, what really strikes me is that he just hauled off and bit for no obvious reason.  I just don't understand that.  If he really has no bite inhibition at all that is truly a danger.  You just don't know if the next time you go to feed him he's going to decide to do the same thing.  Willow puts on a pretty scary show but for the most part that's all it is.  If she was hauling off biting from the get go that would of been a different story for me. 
 
I hope this will work out.  I know you don't want to give him up.  But, you've gotta really, really think this thru. 

I don't think it makes a difference at all that he seemed "sorry" or "knew he did something wrong". He WILL do it again. Who knows what else makes him aggressive besides swings. I sure wouldn't want to find out. And although you're keeping him separate from your kids, things happen and doors get left open or the dog squeezes by you and gets out. I think keeping this dog is a disaster waiting to happen.

OK Dh and i went out to swing.He basically ignored me but look at DH very confused and then ran off to attack his favorite toy ( a bucket) He then came back around and bit DH in the knee. So i guess he doesnt like swinging! Now what? He knew he was wrong for biting,DH jumped up and the dog peed himself!  He did not give a warning growl this time and the bite was very light,no mark

I just went back and read this.  I'm sorry, but this is a real situation for you.  He's biting people, anyone just because he doesn't know how to react to a situation.  And, the peeing is not because he knew he was wrong.  It's yet another anti social behavior.  Your DH got up, he felt scared by that so he pee'd.  But, it's not the submissive pee that you think it is.  Dogs that aren't properly socialized will pee sometimes just at the sight of a human. 

And, you do sound like you have a lot of experience.  But, it also sounds like your making excuses for him too. 

He's not warning just hauling off when he's not comfie with something, that's bad.  And, it doesn't matter that he didn't bite severely, he's biting.  The next time it could be bad.  The more he practices this biting the worse it will become.

Sorry, to be emotional.  But, I've been there making excuses for my dog.  If you do want to keep him and manage him you need to stop that.  You need to see him for what he is. 

I have not posted in this thread because I have no sage advice to offer nor have I formed a firm opinion either way on what should be done with this dog.  I can see both sides of this particular coin, it's heads you loose, tails you loose.
 
My comments are not going to pertain to the OP, but rather to a couple posts that are downright ugly and hateful.  If the shoe fits, put it on and walk yourself back to your keyboard and tone it down a bit.  You can consider this an official request.  And you know who you are.

ORIGINAL: willowchow

...He's biting people, anyone just because he doesn't know how to react to a situation.  And, the peeing is not because he knew he was wrong.  It's yet another anti social behavior.  Your DH got up, he felt scared by that so he pee'd.  But, it's not the submissive pee that you think it is.  Dogs that aren't properly socialized will pee sometimes just at the sight of a human. 

And, you do sound like you have a lot of experience.  But, it also sounds like your making excuses for him too. 

He's not warning just hauling off when he's not comfie with something, that's bad.  And, it doesn't matter that he didn't bite severely, he's biting.  The next time it could be bad.  The more he practices this biting the worse it will become.

Sorry, to be emotional.  But, I've been there making excuses for my dog.  If you do want to keep him and manage him you need to stop that.  You need to see him for what he is. 

I completely agree with everything you said.

Also, responding to a previous post- it does not sound like the dog was playing at all. More like the swing confused and frustrated him, and apparently those emotions are a short road to aggression for him.