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[TsPoet]

Darby,
I have a lot of experience rehabilitating fear aggressive and under-socialized dogs. On an individual basis (I'm not a trainer, I'm just a sucker).
1st - Lisa's post is on the mark. I know it's hard, but you can't let yourself feel guilty and wait too long to remove a dog that could be dangerous for your family. Also a fear aggressive dog is stressed all the time, that's a difficult way to live.
2nd - you are on the right track with training and the like and as long as you feel like you can, keep it up. But, see #1 - it's very important.

I have 2 dogs that have issues. I've had Murphy for 6 years. Murphy is extremely fear aggressive and with what I know now, he should have been put to sleep, for everyone's good even his own. They considered putting him to sleep as unadoptable before I came along, he should have been. I love Da Murph with every fiber of my being and I'm so glad to have him around. But it was 3 years before I could have anyone in my house without locking him up. It was 4 years before anyone other than me could touch him. I still can't take him to a public place without watching him like a hawk – I do it all the time, though.
I got Finn about 2 years ago, I had gained a reputation as being able to rehabilitate a dog with Murphy, so when a feral dog was caught in a badger trap, they called me. One thing I learned from Finn is that I learned nothing from Murphy. The other thing I learned from Finn is that dogs are completely different from each other. Within 6 months of having Finn, she passed her CGC (canine good citizens) and she's a sweet love, with huge fear issues that are always on the verge of turning into aggression, but so far haven't. I can't believe they were considering putting her to sleep as unadoptable.
Murphy and Finn are both much smaller than Rusty, and that's an important point.

Learn doggie bad “words” and avoid them – never make eye contact. Staring is aggressive to a dog. Ask people not to make eye contact with him.
Never hug Rusty, never hover over him – these are aggressive behaviors to a dog. Never kiss, him, again, face to face is aggressive to a dog. Let Rusty “greet” people not head-on, never come up face to face – polite to a human, rude to a dog. Come up to him from the side and let him go up to people from the side. Don't walk behind him, either, never out of where he can turn his head and see you.

And the most important thing -
After you get basic obedience with Rusty, I highly recommend tricks. Tricks build confidence and are fun. Tricks are how you distract a fear aggressive dog from what they are afraid of. Tricks, tricks, and more tricks. Shake, spin around... roll over is a tough one, a dog is very vulnerable doing a roll over. But, if you can get a roll over in the privacy of your home, then that forces him to have confidence in you in a controlled environment.
Clicker training to do tricks is also recommended for many dogs (Finn is afraid of the clicker, so it doesn't work for her).
Don't hesitate to use treats, make sure the tricks are fun. You can get dog food like this
http://naturalbalanceinc.com/dogform...Treatroll.html
at Petsmart – I would **never** feed it as dog food, but chopped up into tiny (and I mean tiny, dogs don't know the difference between a 1” chunk and a speck) it makes a wonderful treat for doing tricks. Any situation that might make him upset, quickly make him do a trick, make it fun. When you are playing to distract from stressful situations, feed multiple tiny little specks as if it's a huge party, rather than one big chunk – makes it part of the fun.

Consider a CGC class.
Check with your local dog training clubs, most cities have them, and they will know about CGC and trick classes. Don't worry about passing the CGC, no way Murphy will ever do so, but he's taken 2 classes. In fact, over the 6 years I've had him, Murphy and I have taken: beginning obedience (2x), intermediate obedience (2x), CGC (2x), beginning rally, beginning and intermediate agility, and now we are in beginning freestyle. Murphy doesn't need many of these classes, is obedience it excellent. But, the controlled environment is perfect.

It's constant work with these guys.

[TsPoet]

in case my last post wasn't long enough:

You can never correct Rusty's aggressive behavior. That's probably the hardest thing to not do. But, "no!", or jerking the collar or slapping the butt all tell Rusty "see, you were right to be afraid". meanwhile, you cant comfort him, either. Comforting him just tells him its OK to be afraid.
that's why the tricks - without tricks to distract him in a positive way, you've got nothing you can do!

[Zen]

pssst- it's not Rudy, it's Rusty

[TsPoet]

pssst- it's not Rudy, it's Rusty

oops, fixed with edit button,thnx

[Trekhawk]

Darby, I know you are trying your best to help this dog. I think you have gone to great lengths to try to modify his behavior, and you should be commended.
I feel I should tell you that if the dog has now bitten you more than once and you have a child at home who has become afraid of the dog....well if it were me I would not hesitate to have the dog put down. Not to 'punish' the poor dog, but rather to prevent a possibly very tragic biting incident where anyone might be the victim- you, your son, someone on the street, or a visitor...
The poor dog does not seem a likely adoptable prospect by others either.
I only say this to try to assure you that I would not think you were 'cruel' if you opted to put the dog to sleep. It's what I would do if the dog started biting.

I agree with Lisa.
I have three boys and if I thought our dog was a danger to them I would not hesitate in removing the dog.

I must add that I love our dog and it would break my heart so I understand that it would not be easy.

[sundial]

two of our foster kitties. 10 month already and no home yet

I LOVE that photo. How darling!

[Aggie_Ama]

I agree with Lisa.
I have three boys and if I thought our dog was a danger to them I would not hesitate in removing the dog.

I must add that I love our dog and it would break my heart so I understand that it would not be easy.

20 years later my Mammaw will still firmly tell you she did the right thing having her dog Joe put to sleep for biting just once after not being overly aggressive in the past. The animal control that picked him asked if she really wanted to euthanize Joe and she sternly replied "I have 5 grandkids I keep, he bit me and he will bite them. I am sorry but yes, you must do this." At the time I was 5 and there is one cousin younger than me but almost 2 years.

Sorry MTBDarby, you are trying very hard whether you think so or not!

[papaver]

About the fear agressive thing...

Meet Bertrand:



He is my 4 year old frenchy and at the age of 1 he was diagnosed as an fear agressive dog. I went to a dog psychologist and the first visit was a disaster. Bert was shaking all the time and was really really scared. The psychologist took a video of our first visit. She honestly thought that it was best for Bert to be put down because he wasn't having much of a live. But I wanted to try to work with him for six months or so and see if we could turn things around. AND WE DID!

It took a lot of time but now our little Bert is enjoying his life at the fullest!!!

What did we do?

- First of all you have to learn the dog that whenever he's scared he can flee away instead of attacking.
- If you walk the dog and you see that something frightens your dog, cross the street.
- If someone comes over to your house, before you let that person in, put your dog in a bench or in a room where he feels save. Give him a cookie.
- Ask visitors not to look your dog in the eye and don't let them pet your dog.
- Don't take your dog to busy streets or events.
- Learn your dog new things, and reward him lots. It will boost his confidence.

And yes, we gave him pills. Human pills for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Fluvoxamine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluvoxamine

It helped to give him more confidence and at the same time learn his new behavior. We gave him these pills for about two years. Now Bertrand is already a year pill free and he is absolutely great. We still put him in a room first when we have visitors but after 30 minutes or so we let him loose. The first 5 minutes he barks and shows he's the boss of the house but after that he doesn't mind that there are people.

I'm glad that I didn't put him down. Bert is right now lying next to me, snoring very loudly.

At the last visit to the psychologist she showed me her notes and the video of his first visit. The progression he made is really amazing. She could even play with him.

[laura jane]

My 'kids'.. 2 Australian Cattle Dogs, Bella and Cole

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I love seeing photos of everyone's pets, and hearing their stories, both the sad and happy ones. Even the sad stories make me feel good because they show how much we feel for and care about our animals.

[sweetpotatopie]

Ben and Baxter

[jesvetmed]

They are beautiful! I love beagles!!!!
And great work with Bertrand... I'm glad that you have given him a better life.

[Zen]

Belly Rubs For Everyone!!!!

[emily_in_nc]

Meet Bertrand:

...

papaver, thank you for not giving up on Bert. He is absolutely adorable and a wonderful friend, I'm sure. We are Boston Terrier owners who think Frenchies are delightful as well!

[papaver]

@Emily: I have a boston terrier too.