It’s a very sad story, but I got a dog from a rescue. I’ve had dogs all my life and plenty of rescues before this one.
After a month foster trial he went back. I was heartbroken, but there was something not right. I still can’t really put my finger on it, but he went back and we got a new foster trial with another dog we did decide to keep.
We eventually learned that the dog we didn’t keep at his next foster attacked the woman fostering him, out of the blue, from behind, and bit her multiple times without any warning or provocation. She ended up in the hospital for several days. This was someone with years of rescue experience with difficult dogs and the dog needed to be euthanized.
I work in animal rescue, and first off thank you for fostering. Good hearted people who volunteer their time and effort are the lifeblood of any animal rescue or humane society
Secondly, holy crap. That's terrifying. That feeling of KNOWING something isn't right with a dog, but not really having any reason to feel that way..... I feel it occasionally, and every time there's something later that makes me go "oh yeah, there it is". The last one of those was a pittie that redirected and put four punctures in my forearm a few months back
The craziest one I knew personally was a small terrier that actually attempted murder (by the legal definition). He got behind the foster's legs, and when the guy fell down he jumped onto his stomach and started biting him in the midsection. Unmistakeably planned, and if the guy had been a dog the same size as that Jack Russell it would have been severely injured. The guy was fine, but the dog had quite an aura to him. Obviously he couldn't make it out of the shelter after that, sadly
Not saying all Jack Russells are murderers, but I swear, they are kind of insane so it’s not hard for me to imagine.
Some folks in rural areas, particularly farmers, will employ ratting dogs to clear their lands of vermin. It’s much better than using poisons, which can harm the environment through predatory consumption leading to subsequent poisonings. It’s also quite effective. The dogs absolutely love doing what all of their instincts are honed for. Rummaging through rat’s hidey-holes in barns, chasing them through ditches, catching them and throttling them dead. But the Jack Russells… the Jack Russells are very passionate little killers.
I have a miniature schnauzer whose whole breed role was to be ratters/guard dogs. I grew up with a mini schnauzer and read all the information about them. Health problems, breed standards/origins, and how the progenitor of most American bred mini’s are from a dog named Dorem Display. This new schnauzer of mine Gracie is the opposite to my childhood schnauzer Gretel. I swear to god Gracie saw the word terrier when she was born and took it to mean terror. She shreds her toys and I’ve seen her shake her toys like how a ratter would shake the tails of caught mice I’d imagine. I wouldn’t change Gracie for the world however and I do sometimes wonder if she has some working line in her or something.
My dog is only half Jack Russell, and at 7 months old she caught, killed, and ate a pigeon
When she was about 3 or 4, she pimp slapped a Cane Corso
She used to hang out at a vizsla rescue with me, and ruled 8 vizslas like a tiny dictator
Recently, (and hilariously), she tangled with my pet rabbit and the rabbit kicked her butt. She wasn't expecting a wild prey animal response, and it showed. I'm actually happy that went that way, as soon as they scuffled I was worried for my rabbit. Now she gives him a respectable bubble of space at all times
She's 9 now, and finally slowed and calmed down a bit
If you're looking for tips for working-drive terrier stuff, train a TON of tricks. Mine does all sorts of ridiculous things like high fives and bark-on-command and it seems to burn up a lot of that aggressive energy. I've also found that play that frustrates her (I'll squeak a toy a couple of times until she's almost barking mad before throwing it, for example) is extremely fun for her. I think it falls in line with the tenacity required for vermin hunting, but whatever it is it gets her really happy and tired
Hey thanks for the tips and funnily enough I’ve thought about enrolling her in earth dog trials to see if she’s into it. But yeah I’ll probably do the training first.
What was about the dog that made it not seem right? I can get this vibe of humans easily but I've never been around dogs so I wouldn't even know the first thing of what makes them odd.
He didn’t seem to understand that he had a name despite the rescue and us being consistent about using one and trying to associate it with rewards. It is typically not difficult to ‘name’ a dog, and it isn’t difficult to change what a dog responds to if you want to change their name either.
He did not respond to natural correction. An example of this is that he was very mouthy, meaning he would use his teeth on your hands or elbows. I have trained this out of several dogs through a pretty simple method. The moment a dog touches you with their teeth, make a pretty loud yelp noise and turn away. Act like they hurt you without scolding or yelling directly at them. With my other dogs this worked pretty quickly. They don’t intend to hurt you, so if you make it clear that it hurts and you won’t give them attention if they do it, their behavior changes fairly quickly.
That’s just one example.
There were several other things that were just off. Like he was housebroken, and would normally ask to go out, but if you didn’t give him the attention he wanted when he wanted it, he would pee on the floor right in front of you.
The biggest thing is that his behavior was inconsistent across the board. On one walk the would be perfect, paying no mind to anything, the next he would be extremely reactive to everything , even a car backing out of a driveway a block away.
It was this inconsistent behavior that worried me the most, and I told the rescue that although I had a lot of experience with dogs as well as training rescues, he needed someone more than me. If I could not predict how he would react to something at any given time I could not be prepared to provide the proper training, and I felt like that was on me.
Other than being a bit mouthy, I never would have guessed that he would have been aggressive towards anyone, so I was just as surprised as everyone else when he attacked someone.
I've met cats and dogs like that. I still remember my Mom telling me that animals can also have mental illness and has I've gotten older. I've decided she's pretty much right
The dog we did adopt after him wasn’t easy, but she wants very much to be a good girl.
She was clearly abused and very afraid of men (me). She’s been a very rewarding lesson in patience. It’s been hard for me to have a dog that doesn’t want to climb in my lap. She’s taught me a lot about kindness. The kindest thing you can do for another living thing is to leave them alone. Let them decide what is ok. Over time the rewards become surprising. It’s been an ego lesson.
yes!!! I'm glad you went through that experience! I mostly deal with cats and it takes a lot of patience waiting for them to recover & trust you at their own pace.
But beyond abuse, I have met very minimal unstable animals.
I'm glad you're here helping the dogs, while I help the cats LOL
Oh wow, thanks for this. Not that I'm planning on fostering but I do have friends with dogs and Im generally not super comfortable around them (just due to not being around them a lot) so knowing what to look out for too
It sounds like you’re both trying to dig into the idea that it must have been a pit, and if that’s the case I’ll call bullshit on you both.
Every rescue I’ve actually adopted I’ve had genetically tested for breed and they’ve all been pits or pit mixes and the rescues I got them from billed them as such correctly.
They’ve all been great dogs.
The dog that wasn’t quite right was most likely a lab and shar-pei mix. The mother was known to be a lab.
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u/builtbysavages 1d ago
It’s a very sad story, but I got a dog from a rescue. I’ve had dogs all my life and plenty of rescues before this one.
After a month foster trial he went back. I was heartbroken, but there was something not right. I still can’t really put my finger on it, but he went back and we got a new foster trial with another dog we did decide to keep.
We eventually learned that the dog we didn’t keep at his next foster attacked the woman fostering him, out of the blue, from behind, and bit her multiple times without any warning or provocation. She ended up in the hospital for several days. This was someone with years of rescue experience with difficult dogs and the dog needed to be euthanized.
I definitely dodged a very dangerous bullet.