# Shearer is randomly aggressive.



## Thumper (Sep 15, 2011)

Hi all. First post and all that and am in serious need of help! I'd like to also apologise for the length of this - I can get a bit wordy haha

Shearer is our German Shepherd. He's 2 years old and is fairly mild mannered and also enjoys a good stroke and some rough play - but he's a big dog which makes rough play pretty difficult in the event it gets out of hand! The problem with this is that once he does get excited, he gets _very_ excited and that can cause a lot of problems as you'll find out.

We got Shearer 4 days ago after a friend of my dads told him about the dog and how it was currently in police kennels for "attacking" an autistic child. Knowing that the chances of a dog with an attack record being re-homed would be minimal, he decided to bring him over without consulting the family - we were not pleased.

To clarify: the 'attack' was not an attack as such. The child was unmonitored with the dog and ended up trying to play with him - Shearer obliged and ended up scratching his face, at which point the police were informed that it was a "vicious attack" and obviously he was brought into the station.

Outside of the fact that Shearer hates cats and seems to get along reasonably with our other dog, Taz, there were initially very few signs of aggression from him. When we first introduced them, he wandered over to Taz, whimpered and licked his mouth - Taz returned the goodwill gesture. We kept them both on a leash and took them out for a walk to get used to each other, taking turns in which dog was 'leading' - naturally they were more interested in getting to know each other.

Anyhow, a few minor skirmishes between Shearer and Taz later they calmed down and started to accept each other... kind of. They both like rough play which can get out of hand pretty quickly some times but that just takes gentle monitoring, of course.

The breaking point happened on Tuesday morning.

I woke up to hear my name being screamed so I went to see what was going on and learned that Shearer had "mauled" my younger brother who has just started secondary school and is 10. The basic gist of it is that my brother was packing for school and Shearer just switched personalities. Fortunately the damage was minimal, leaving him only with two bite marks and a fair few scratches but my mother took him to the hospital just to get it cleaned up.

Obviously, after an incident like that we were none too keen on keeping Shearer but we first need to find him a new home. Along with this, we've started paying more attention to his body language and honestly, it's difficult to really know what he's planning on doing a lot of the time. He's often paying attention to something and as a result his ears are almost always pointed directly up but they seem to be pointing at us... and it's kind of disconcerting. Maybe that's just our mind playing games with us and helping us fear for the worst but that's something I think we, as a family, need to correct rather than a fault of the dog. To his credit, when I stroke him he always let's his ears relax and he happily submits - something he didn't do when he first came in. Perhaps he trusts me more than I trust him?

These acts of aggression seem to be at random but he is *very* protective over me. I was joking with my mother earlier today and she raised her voice, this lead to a rather large dog drop the knuckle bone and stand next to me barking. Needless to say, he rested his head on her legs to apologise once he realised there was no malice.

I took him on a long walk today and he decided I met a guy who was fishing and he struck up a conversation about Shearer - needless to say that was met by a startled GSD and gave a bark and a warning lunge for good measure. On the flipside, we came across a guy who simply refused to pass him out of fear - Shearer responded by putting his ears back and virtually crawling to him, presumably to show him he wasn't a vicious animal - it's literally random.

I'm concerned he may have a mental condition, or simply a trust issue. He's on his best behaviour with myself and my dad (more so me - I'm his walker!) and seems to be trying to win back my mother and brother's trust - unsuccessfully. Of course this leads to a fairly negative environment for the dog and I'm running out of hope of keeping him but just on the off chance that we do, I'm interested to know exactly what we can do to curb this kind of behaviour from him.

Also he keeps trying to eat our cats and rabbit. That's quite annoying to say the very least.

Thanks for any help you guys and gals can provide - it would be greatly appreciated.

It should be fairly obvious which is Shearer and which is Taz in the pictures!


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## Franksmom (Oct 13, 2010)

I'm not an expert in this, but this just sounds like a bad situation waiting to happen, he went after your 10 year old brother. I would not let him out unless he was under your direct supervision, as in the dog not even in a different room then you're in, 
You need to get in touch with a good trainer that knows GSD's as soon as possible. if you list your location someone on here may know of somebody.


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

My advise might not be the most well received of all the responses you can get here...but I need to say it. If your family can't keep him (and I can completely understand your family not wanting to take this dog on), please don't pass the dog along. Have him humanely euthanized by a vet.

Otherwise, you're setting him up to bounce from one unprepared home to another. Each successive home could be a little worse than the one before and at some point down the line this dog will meet a sad end. And people, perhaps even children, could easily be hurt seriously before then. 

The kind of people who are experienced enough to handle this dog are going to be few and far between. The chances of being able to find someone like that for your dog are pretty slim. And no rescue group will take him with his history. And it wouldn't be fair to him or the future people who come in contact with him not to be totally up front and honest about his behavior.

If you do decide to keep him, everyone in your home must be on board and committed to keeping him and working with him. Your Mom and brother don't trust him for a very good reason. You can't force them.

Not only does everyone need to be on board with keeping him, but you must find experienced professional help now. It will cost money and effort. But you have to do that. Anything less is just postponing the inevitable. I get the impression you aren't in the U.S. I don't know where you are in the world, or how prevalent dog behaviorists/trainers are in your location. It won't matter, because it will be something that you must do if you have any chance of success.

I don't envy you. This is a very rough position to be in. 
Sheilah


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

if you are real interested in keeping him, i would get some professional help, get him evaluated etc., maybe he has never been taught appropriate behavior and just does things when he feels like it..............or he could have a degree of fear response.............he may very well be giving signals that you just aren't aware of, some dogs might whine before an attack, their eyes might harden up, stiffen up the body, etc.............i think you should get a professional to eval, and go from there..............hopefully its a matter of training and teaching right from wrong and being giving leadership.........


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Ditto what Sheilah said.

IF you decide that you are going to work with him, you need to get him checked out medically. Full thyroid panel. If the attacks really are sudden, he may be having seizures so that needs to be checked as well.

Second, it is not likely that he is protective of you... you have only had him 4 days, there isn't much of a relationship yet. It is much more likely that he is guarding you or being possessive of you. That needs to stop.

Dog goes on NILIF immediately. Here is a website that explains NILIF: Nothing in Life is Free He gets no privileges or freedom unless he earns them. I'd keep him tethered to you whenever he's not contained.

At the same time, find a good professional that is experienced in dealing with aggressive dogs and more particularly GSDs if you can.

It's a tough situation to be in.


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## Jack's Dad (Jun 7, 2011)

I also agree with Sheilah. I would add that if you keep him he needs to be confined. He can not be given the opporttunity to do this again. It could be worse the next time. She is right about not passing this dog down the line. It's unfortunate but it is now your responsibility.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

how about a muzzle untill you figure out
what you're going to do with Shearer???


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## Thumper (Sep 15, 2011)

Ah, apologies for the lack of location info. I had actually filled out my details and forgot to hit "submit". And of course a huge, huge apology for the length of this post!

Another concern of mine is the fact that my mother is epileptic - I have no idea how he would react if she were to have a seizure in front of him and that is, by far, one of my most major concerns although I don't doubt that if he does decide to turn on her, Taz will inevitably be there to protect her but that is far, far beyond the point.



Franksmom said:


> I'm not an expert in this, but this just sounds like a bad situation waiting to happen, he went after your 10 year old brother. I would not let him out unless he was under your direct supervision, as in the dog not even in a different room then you're in,
> You need to get in touch with a good trainer that knows GSD's as soon as possible. if you list your location someone on here may know of somebody.


I agree whole heartedly, the problem is I'm completely unaware of any 'big dog' trainers in Newcastle and that's a large stumbling block. The price is also a concern but the end result would definitely be worth it.

The really weird thing about the problem with my brother is that I have not seen any of that aggressive nature first hand outside of a "handbags at dawn" scrap with Taz, in which he came off the worst with a tiny cut on his nose. (Which he regularly removes the scab and noses my jeans. Probably to irritate me.)

Regarding my brother it's a very weird situation. According to him he was literally just packing his bag and the dog turned on him for one reason or another and given the nature that I've seen (plus knowing the story from the previous owner) it's very difficult to believe it happened without provocation. According to my mother, he was snarling "like he was with Taz but not as loudly" which leads me to believe he was trying to play and got a bit too rough. Given that most of his injuries were scratches and the only puncture marks from his teeth was on his bicep and they barely broke the skin I'm leaning more towards it being a very bad attempt at rough play. He's done that with me and he does do the usual low growls and always goes for the bicep.

Of course I'm not saying that *IS* what happened, it's just a suggestion. We'll probably never know what the cause was and after all it's not exactly unheard of for dogs to sometimes just snap like that.

An interesting point actually. I was talking to my brother shortly after I made this thread and he actually wants to keep him... despite his being skittish around him, he genuinely believes that he's a "lovely dog" and that he doesn't "think we should get rid of him because of what happened". Maybe there was more to the story than he let on but that's what my mother saw too so I really, really don't know.



sit said:


> My advise might not be the most well received of all the responses you can get here...but I need to say it. If your family can't keep him (and I can completely understand your family not wanting to take this dog on), please don't pass the dog along. Have him humanely euthanized by a vet.
> 
> Otherwise, you're setting him up to bounce from one unprepared home to another. Each successive home could be a little worse than the one before and at some point down the line this dog will meet a sad end. And people, perhaps even children, could easily be hurt seriously before then.
> 
> ...


This is something I have been very seriously considering for obvious reasons but we're all very uncomfortable with having him put to sleep. Strangely enough, the one with the strongest opinion is actually my brother - he outright refused to even accept the possibility when it was suggested.

As for finding a rehoming shelter, we've contacted The Dogs Trust who have a "no destruction" policy (as long as the pooch is healthy, of course) and try to retrain the animals they receive. Unfortunately the closest shelter is too far for us to travel (none of us drive) so it has to be collection and sorting that out takes time.



debbiebrown said:


> if you are real interested in keeping him, i would get some professional help, get him evaluated etc., maybe he has never been taught appropriate behavior and just does things when he feels like it..............or he could have a degree of fear response.............he may very well be giving signals that you just aren't aware of, some dogs might whine before an attack, their eyes might harden up, stiffen up the body, etc.............i think you should get a professional to eval, and go from there..............hopefully its a matter of training and teaching right from wrong and being giving leadership.........


Funny you should mention signals. As I mentioned in the OP we have all been paying very close attention to his body language in an effort to gain more of an understanding and try to predict his mood as much as we possibly can and I think that's probably what we've been seeing in him with the 'unpredictability' issue I mentioned.

From what I _have_ seen of him, before he decides to attack it really is just instantaneous. I haven't actually noticed anything that really stands out to me about his body language outside of perhaps one thing:

The last fight he had with Taz (the day before he attacked my brother actually... hm) I was sitting on the settee and Taz was finishing off what was left of his dinner. Shearer came over for a stroke and I happily did so! He sat, gave me a paw and we just sat their for a few minutes - literally seconds later, his ears pricked up and forward and, almost slowly, turned his head to Taz and then he lunged. Fortunately I was close enough to grab him by his collar and pull him back before any damage was done but that doesn't excuse the events.



gsdraven said:


> Ditto what Sheilah said.
> 
> IF you decide that you are going to work with him, you need to get him checked out medically. Full thyroid panel. If the attacks really are sudden, he may be having seizures so that needs to be checked as well.
> 
> ...


We do have an appointment with the vets for a check up but that sadly isn't until Monday. The seizures are a very interesting point and something I will definitely check with the vets - it didn't even occur to me that that could be the problem.

Excellent point about possessiveness - that was actually the word I was trying to think of but couldn't! It's very likely given the situation with my mother and how quickly he dropped his bone although I think the reaction to the guy on a walk was more a startled reaction - he doesn't pay any attention to anybody but me when we're walking. (At which times he's usually very obedient and follows almost my every word - unless he finds a nettle. He really likes nettles and I really have no idea why!) How would you go about preventing that possessive nature?

I am actually doing the NLIF treatment with him since the incident I mentioned with Taz just now and it's working quite well. He's realising that he can't buy my attention unless he does something good and when he's bad, he gets some crate time. Unfortunately we don't have a proper crate for him (obviously given his size) so what we have instead done is constructed one for him in the garden, almost like a kennel, really.



Jack's Dad said:


> I also agree with Sheilah. I would add that if you keep him he needs to be confined. He can not be given the opporttunity to do this again. It could be worse the next time. She is right about not passing this dog down the line. It's unfortunate but it is now your responsibility.


Definitely. I'm not prepared to pass it off when I'm unsure of his overall mentality or temperament, it would be irresponsible to, quite literally, pass the buck and that is anything but my intention. If I do manage to rehome him, there will be a lot of questions beforehand on my end. I have had some interest in him from friends of friends (usually from offhand remarks by me which is misconstrued as "this pooch is available!") and a lot of the time they've said they have children or pets and I've refused point blank to allow them to take the dog in.



doggiedad said:


> how about a muzzle untill you figure out what you're going to do with Shearer???


Yeah we have a material muzzle that we use quite often if we get a bad feeling about his temperament and especially when the cats decide to wander in and definitely when he's walking. Today he managed to loosen his muzzle up and get it off while he was on a walk and playing with me on a patch of grass - given I was walking him by myself a very friendly police officer who was walking by offered to hold the leash while I tightened it up and put it back on haha.


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## Jack's Dad (Jun 7, 2011)

You have had good suggestions and I'm sure you will get more. I just want to say that if left alone and not treated the situation almost always gets worse not better in these cases. He's gottten away with a few things already so there is no reason for him to stop now. It's just a matter of when it happens. It is a serious matter and emotions should not be a factor in your decisions IMO.


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

i think the most important thing is to work with a trainer learn this dogs triggers and slowly condition him in controlled situations............i am sure he is giving some signals before he does this and they are missed. they might be suttle or might not be.........

after a Vet check you can determine the next step.......


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## Thumper (Sep 15, 2011)

Jack's Dad said:


> You have had good suggestions and I'm sure you will get more. I just want to say that if left alone and not treated the situation almost always gets worse not better in these cases. He's gottten away with a few things already so there is no reason for him to stop now. It's just a matter of when it happens. It is a serious matter and emotions should not be a factor in your decisions IMO.


Please don't think that I'm trying to use that as justification to delay what may very well be the inevitable - I'm most certainly not. To begin with I was so angry that I was prepared to have him put down then and there but after I cooled down a little, I realised that a knee jerk reaction such as that will not help anybody.

We have already began preventative measures as I outlined earlier and we're looking into training, it's just a case of finding the right trainer really.



debbiebrown said:


> i think the most important thing is to work with a trainer learn this dogs triggers and slowly condition him in controlled situations............i am sure he is giving some signals before he does this and they are missed. they might be suttle or might not be.........
> 
> after a Vet check you can determine the next step.......


He probably is, I definitely don't disagree. It's difficult to know what's bothering him when I barely know the dog myself.

I think the vets will definitely be the defining point - unless something happens in the mean time - fingers crossed that nothing happens!

Thanks for all the advice guys and gals! It's hugely appreciated


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

Thumper said:


> An interesting point actually. I was talking to my brother shortly after I made this thread and he actually wants to keep him... despite his being skittish around him, he genuinely believes that he's a "lovely dog" and that he doesn't "think we should get rid of him because of what happened". Maybe there was more to the story than he let on but that's what my mother saw too so I really, really don't know.


Your brother doesn't want to be the one to "cause" this dog to leave. I think you need to take your brother's story at face value and not discount any of it. I wouldn't look for more to the story or try to explain what happened. The dog did what he did, and really that is all you can go on at this point.

I would start contacting local trainers now, before the vet visit. I would also have this dog tethered to me by a leash at all times, and he would be crated any time he couldn't be tethered to me. No exceptions, even if he is as good as gold. 

I feel so bad for all of you, including Shearer. It is great that you have the appointment with the vet. But get a behaviorist/trainer in there now. How you manage him is going to be key and I really can't stress enough how important it is to get very experienced professional help.
Sheilah


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## e.rigby (May 28, 2011)

It's impossible to give you advice due to your situation and circumstances. Quite honestly it seems to me that you just aren't reading the dog correctly -- I highly HIGHLY recommend bringing in an experienced trainer! 

Brenda Aloff has a couple books out there that I'd also recommend you order and look over. Canine Body Language and then another one on Aggressive Canine Body Language.


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## RubyTuesday (Jan 20, 2008)

IF you try to save him it will be a challenging, potentially heart rending endeavor. IF you make that choice do it with eyes wide open. Be certain that he's controlled at all times & cannot bite a child. Assume that if given the opportunity there's an excellent chance that he will aggress. Be aware that future mishaps could be worse, even much worse, than what you've experienced with him so far. Know that improvements will come sloooowly with an ever present potential for regressing. Know too that regressing means you essentially start over, so stay hyper alert to prevent backsliding & losing whatever progress has been made. 

And No Excuses for Shearer. NONE. Children squeal, people trip, voices are raised, arguments break out. Some people move herky jerky. Others wheeze, rattle & pant. People routinely express annoyance, fear, anger, hilarity, trepidation. They leap, dance, clap & holler. Our companion dogs MUST take it in stride. Their safety, as well as ours, depends upon canine equaninimity & sound judgment. IF Shearer lacks judgment, or impulse control, then he must at all times be well controlled to keep everyone safe including himself.

I wish you & Shearer a rewarding & successful outcome if you opt to try & save him. Along with others here, I absolutely understand if that's not possible. Sadly, while every dog deserves to be saved, realistically not all of them can be.


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

I'm going to again ditto what Sheilah said.



Thumper said:


> I think the vets will definitely be the defining point - unless something happens in the mean time - fingers crossed that nothing happens!


Fingers crossed isn't going to cut it here. You need to *make sure* that nothing happens for your family and Shearer's sake. 

And I will stress again, start calling trainers NOW. Be very honest about the whole situation. Do not wait until after the vet visit. Worst that happens is after the vet, you decide not to work on it and you cancel the appointment with the trainer. But it should be lined up ASAP.


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## Thumper (Sep 15, 2011)

Hi all. Sorry I haven't responded the past few days, I've been ill for most of the time.

On Monday he had another of his episodes. He had tried to fight with Taz and was of course crated as punishment. Well it turns out I underestimated the intelligence of Shearer and he had somehow manage to open the door which I assume is probably my fault - maybe I didn't shut it properly. I don't know. Anyway, I was coming downstairs to make a cup of tea and as I left my room and shut my door, I noticed him sitting on the stairs standing to attention. Thinking nothing of it I tried to encourage him to go back down while I tried to figure out how on Earth he escaped. Literally half a second later, he had me pinned up against the wall and was trying to get to my face. Fortunately I'm a pretty quick thinker and my fight or flight response kicked in so I held my left arm over his throat to stop him getting at my face and with my right arm, pushed him to my right. He took a bit of a bad landing and promptly ran back down the stairs while I hid away in my room to try and make sense of what had just happened.

Anyway, I informed my mother (who was out picking my brother up from school) and then plucked up the courage to venture back downstairs. The second I opened the door I was greeted by a particularly guilty looking GSD, head hanging low and his ears pinned back. A whimper later and he moved closer and rested his head against my leg giving me the puppy eyes. Knowing he was going to be at the vets for a check up, I didn't think much of it and locked him in the bathroom while I made a cup of tea and sorted out his muzzle and leash.

The vet check up went without controversy and everything was, physically, more or less fine with him and the PDSA contacted a trainer for us to see if there is anything we could do to improve his attitude and find out if there was anything wrong with him. We informed them of the incidents and the vets naturally recommended we put him down but will run tests to make sure it isn't something that can be dealt with via medication - turns out whoever mentioned seizures is 100% correct. The aggressive incidents are the result of a disorder (I can't remember exactly what was said unfortunately) and he was simply trying to make sense of things. We were prescribed some medication and instructed to keep them updated. 

Since then, everything has been going great and he has even been playing with us a little more, playing with Taz and even when we were out on one of his walks, he'd be very friendly with people and probably most surprisingly other animals - great, right?

Not so. Today one of my cats (Simmy) somehow managed to get into the house (all the doors were locked and she was definitely outside at one point) and, to be blunt, there was a blood bath.

Shearer attacked Simmy, Simmy ran around the house, Taz tried to protect Simmy by attacking Shearer and overall it ended up as a free for all as all the animals decided to have an old fashioned scrap. Taz ended up distracting Shearer long enough for Simmy to escape behind the washing machine. I immediately jumped into the kitchen and held the door closed while I shouted to my mother to get Taz away from him and lock Shearer in her room.

Gladly, Simmy was largely unhurt with minor muscle pain and Taz came off smelling of roses while Shearer took quite the scratches to the nose and mouth as Simmy used her reflexes to defend herself.

Unfortunately, this was the end of the line. As we prepared for one final trip to the vets Shearer again decided to turn on me - gladly he was muzzled so I could just push him away and tell him off.

I know it's something we should have done a lot sooner but with the vets on Monday and the improvement he has shown I honestly thought there was some hope for him but obviously the medication didn't do it's intended job and we simply can't take the risks while we trial and error different meds.

If anything, I'm glad it's over and we can get back to normality. Such a gorgeous dog too... it's a crying shame.


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Poor Shearer. :halogsd: RIP Bud... I hope you've found peace.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

It truly is a shame. Unfortunately, his medical condition was not caught at an earlier stage so that the medicines could be adjusted. It's a hard decision to make, especially when there is danger to a child involved. I hope your brother understands that there was a medical condition making him aggressive and that it was not his doing in any way.

RIP Shearer. May you run free and happy.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I'm so sorry, poor shearer, I also hope he's found peace


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## Thumper (Sep 15, 2011)

Jax08 said:


> It truly is a shame. Unfortunately, his medical condition was not caught at an earlier stage so that the medicines could be adjusted. It's a hard decision to make, especially when there is danger to a child involved. I hope your brother understands that there was a medical condition making him aggressive and that it was not his doing in any way.
> 
> RIP Shearer. May you run free and happy.


Yeah I sat him down and had a good long talk with him about why he did what he did and that it really was out of his control and probably more importantly all of our control - "damage limitation" still includes 'damage', after all.

I'm really quite upset about it simply because I genuinely believed he was on the right path but sadly there is nothing I could possibly do. Even the vet was amazed at the difference in him from the last time we saw her - and this was only after a few days. He was sitting amongst the animals and happily letting people go up to him and stroke him and even decided that it was time to play with the Golden Retriever in the waiting area which was pretty funny.

You can only give so many chances, right?

Edit: I forgot to say - far from my brother being put off big dogs, he's now talking about wanting a GSD pup after seeing the "Stages of GSD ears" thread on here! I can't say I'd particularly object to that if I'm honest


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## wyominggrandma (Jan 2, 2011)

I think you made the right decision, for both your families safety and Shearer. Obviously you can only take so many risks and although it seems the attacks are possibly medically induced, one time is too many if he ends up severely injuring you or your family, or anyone else. 
I know it was hard, but you were doing the best for Shearer. Now he is at peace and you know how his life ended, easily and without abuse or pain. If you had given him to someone else, then they might have killed him or shot him or beat him or given him to someone else and the cycle continued.
This way, he went peacefully.Some on the forum might say "shame on you, you didn't try hard enough, or long enough, but your family made a decision to protect you and other humans and with one so unpredictable, only bad would have come of him being alive.


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

wyominggrandma said:


> only bad would have come of him being alive.


This is not necessarily true. And that's all I am going to say about that.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I tend to agree with Jamie and that's all I'll say on it to..


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## Thumper (Sep 15, 2011)

wyominggrandma said:


> I think you made the right decision, for both your families safety and Shearer. Obviously you can only take so many risks and although it seems the attacks are possibly medically induced, one time is too many if he ends up severely injuring you or your family, or anyone else.
> I know it was hard, but you were doing the best for Shearer. Now he is at peace and you know how his life ended, easily and without abuse or pain. If you had given him to someone else, then they might have killed him or shot him or beat him or given him to someone else and the cycle continued.
> This way, he went peacefully.Some on the forum might say "shame on you, you didn't try hard enough, or long enough, but your family made a decision to protect you and other humans and with one so unpredictable, only bad would have come of him being alive.


Yeah, the only regret was letting it go so long if I'm honest. I was determined to see what the vet had to say and gladly they put us in touch with a very good trainer who gave us a crash course in what to expect, how to deal with certain situations and then we spent about an hour on focus and obedience.

I don't regret the decision to have him put down in the slightest although I do wish that it hadn't have had to come to this.

Like you said, the family comes first and when it became patently obvious that Shearer was not going to fit into our household, there's very little that we can do.


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## wyominggrandma (Jan 2, 2011)

Sometimes things are not as easy as saying" do this or do that". I knew some on the forum would disagree with what I said, but I do stand by it' Shearer alive was not a happy healthy dog, nor was he safe,and when I said "only bad would come of him being alive" I meant because obviously the family was not safe nor felt safe with him.
We had a Sheltie at 5 months old that started attacking my granddaughter. Out of nowhere, he would just attack and draw blood numerous times.. Because he came from a top notch breeder and all medical issues were cleared, we thought maybe it was something my granddaughter was doing. I brought the dog to my home for awhile to work with him and see what "set him off". We were outside one day working on healing and he was sitting by my side, wagging his tail. We started off and he literally stopped in his tracks and then attacked me. He went right through my pants and I ended up in the emergency room with stitches. This from a 15 lb Sheltie. He was PTS the next day and because we all were trying to figure out what went wrong, had a total necropsy done. He had a HUGE brain tumor which was causing the pain and then the attacks.
Some days he was good, some days he was vicious. We could have kept trying till "the cows came home" to fix this, but it was not fixable. We had all kinds of comments about putting this poor Sheltie puppy to sleep. Yea, could you imagine what this poor Sheltie could have done to my granddaughters face? Or a neighbor child?
Sometmes it is best for humans and the dog to end it before a horrible situation occurs. Shearer sounds like it would have gotten worse. Maybe not, but would anyone on this forum volunteer to take this dog in knowing he has attacked and bitten people? I bet not.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I feel bad that the final thing was an outdoor cat coming in causing this, if the dog did not turn on you again after that, I would have wished you all would have given the medicine more time. But the fact is that even with siezure meds, the dog might not have a healthy, happy life. And a full-grown GSD can be really dangerous. Keeping kids and other people safe is important. It is sad, yes. But I think you did the right thing. I am really sorry you had this experience. I hope that your next dog is wonderful.


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## Thumper (Sep 15, 2011)

wyominggrandma said:


> Sometimes things are not as easy as saying" do this or do that". I knew some on the forum would disagree with what I said, but I do stand by it' Shearer alive was not a happy healthy dog, nor was he safe,and when I said "only bad would come of him being alive" I meant because obviously the family was not safe nor felt safe with him.
> We had a Sheltie at 5 months old that started attacking my granddaughter. Out of nowhere, he would just attack and draw blood numerous times.. Because he came from a top notch breeder and all medical issues were cleared, we thought maybe it was something my granddaughter was doing. I brought the dog to my home for awhile to work with him and see what "set him off". We were outside one day working on healing and he was sitting by my side, wagging his tail. We started off and he literally stopped in his tracks and then attacked me. He went right through my pants and I ended up in the emergency room with stitches. This from a 15 lb Sheltie. He was PTS the next day and because we all were trying to figure out what went wrong, had a total necropsy done. He had a HUGE brain tumor which was causing the pain and then the attacks.
> Some days he was good, some days he was vicious. We could have kept trying till "the cows came home" to fix this, but it was not fixable. We had all kinds of comments about putting this poor Sheltie puppy to sleep. Yea, could you imagine what this poor Sheltie could have done to my granddaughters face? Or a neighbor child?
> Sometmes it is best for humans and the dog to end it before a horrible situation occurs. Shearer sounds like it would have gotten worse. Maybe not, but would anyone on this forum volunteer to take this dog in knowing he has attacked and bitten people? I bet not.


Had he not have turned on me afterwards, I would have looked at every other option possible.

I think the point the moderators were trying to make was that Shearer himself was not inherently bad but I do understand your point. I have a friend who had a Beagle with a brain tumour and it was truly tragic to see a once happy, healthy dog just snap and turn into, literally, a dog from ****. Obviously she had to be put down but it was for the best as hard as it was.

I'm in total agreement with your point about the humans making the decision at times. The problem is a lot of people have animals put down because they simply can't rehome them which is a truly sad state of affairs.



selzer said:


> I feel bad that the final thing was an outdoor cat coming in causing this, if the dog did not turn on you again after that, I would have wished you all would have given the medicine more time. But the fact is that even with siezure meds, the dog might not have a healthy, happy life. And a full-grown GSD can be really dangerous. Keeping kids and other people safe is important. It is sad, yes. But I think you did the right thing. I am really sorry you had this experience. I hope that your next dog is wonderful.


The cat spends most of her time indoors, actually. Our other cat (Jess) is the outdoor cat - Simmy is just a lover of attention and too young to know any better. I think her trust of Taz was the problem - she thinks all dogs of his size should act the same way, I guess.

Really the red flags had been raised long before (thus this thread) and the attack on Simmy was really just confirmation that no matter what we do, Shearer would not fit into our house. Once he tried to attack me, it was set in stone that he was to be put to sleep. As has been said, he will be in a happier place now and I really do hope he finds peace and that wherever he will be, he'll be waiting for a good stroke and some play time when I get there - maybe we'll even find the time to give him a good bath!

On the subject of that, is it common for GSDs to like baths? Shearer tried to get in with me on more than one occasion =/

I'd also like to say that the last thing Shearer did in his seemingly troubled life was give me a kiss. I stayed with him throughout the procedure and he took it like a champ. Just before he passed he looked up at me with his big eyes, let out a whimper and licked my face. I'd like to think that I meant more to him than I realised - he certainly meant a lot to me.


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## Stella's Mom (Mar 8, 2011)

Thumper said:


> Had he not have turned on me afterwards, I would have looked at every other option possible.
> 
> I think the point the moderators were trying to make was that Shearer himself was not inherently bad but I do understand your point. I have a friend who had a Beagle with a brain tumour and it was truly tragic to see a once happy, healthy dog just snap and turn into, literally, a dog from ****. Obviously she had to be put down but it was for the best as hard as it was.
> 
> ...



So sorry for your pain and the heartache. It is never an easy decision, but safety of your family and other pets had to come first.

It sounds as though Shearer loved you till the end and maybe he understood something was not quite right with him. 

All in all what a very sad post.


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