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Can he be placed?

18K views 174 replies 32 participants last post by  my boy diesel 
#1 · (Edited)
Unhappy Brutus Buckeye

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Hi. I just joined yesterday. Unfortunately we have a problem with our beloved Brutus Buckeye. He badly bit a child who was playing with our two granddaughters in our house. Everything worked out fine with the child, her mom and her grandparents. One attitude is that he needs to be put down. Another (mine) is that surely there is a place for him with someone else in the right environment. Help.


Thanks for the responses. Here is more background. Brutus had been a problem at his prior residence as he had nipped at a couple of kids (always around the granddaughters) so I guess he was showing his protectiveness. We now have him at our house 95 percent of the time and we just moved to be close to the grandkids. The child he bit a few days ago was new to him. There was a puncture of the forearm, a gash in the calf and a bite in the back that showed all four canine teeth in action. Fortunately he released, probably when I intervened. He is now four and we got him when he was two. He had training at about one year old but I don't know what kind.
 
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#2 ·
oh boy. IMO, that is not a bite, that is an attack. Bite marks in three different areas of the body? On a child? How old is the child?

No, he can not be placed. You can not pass off a problem dog on to someone else, especially with a history like that. Either keep him isolated away from children and up his obedience dramatically with a good trainer. Or euthanize him.
 
#5 ·
This dog had a history of biting a child before you had him. Yet you allow him to be near children again?

Would you want to pass him down the line to do it again? You have 2 choices here: euthanize him, which I'm hoping you don't want to do or CRATE HIM when you have children around.
 
#6 ·
The dog is wired wrong.

Unless you are willing and able to properly crate or kennel him, and I mean LOCK so children CANNOT get to him. Then, do the kind thing and take him to the vet and have him euthanized.

No other child should ever be subjected to an attack by this dog.

I am sorry, but no rescue will work with such a dog. And no shelter will do anything with him but euthanize him. It is far kinder to go and be with him that to throw him into a kennel where he will be dragged along by strangers to the room and have it done.

I think it would be wrong to rehome this dog to anyone. While you may be totally clear and open with his history and why you are rehoming him, those people may not be. And then another child is attacked. This is very bad for the breed and dog owners everywhere.
 
#10 ·
I am sorry, but no rescue will work with such a dog. And no shelter will do anything with him but euthanize him.
I agree with one important caveat: no responsible rescue or shelter will take this dog. Not with that bite history.

You may, if you look long enough and are willing to pay generously enough, find a less responsible rescue and/or "no-kill sanctuary" that is willing to take the dog.

I would be very, very careful about entrusting any dog to such an organization. While it's tempting to imagine that they offer a happy solution to your dilemma, the great majority of groups willing to take dogs with this type of bite history are clueless, delusional, and/or exploitative, and the fate that ultimately awaits animals in their care is far worse than the merciful end of a needle.
 
#8 ·
Everything mentioned above is correct. PTS or absolutely no contact with children. At what point are you legally responsible for the actions of your dog? With a knowledge of prior attacks... That's negligent at best. If it were my kid, you'd be paying the med bills and then some and on top of that I'd be seeking criminal charges if possible in that state.
 
#9 ·
In this case, pretty much agree with the others and I'm usually about giving the dog the benefit of the doubt.

if you decide to euth due to the bite most states have a waiting period, for ensuring there is no possibility of rabies transmission and you'll need to keep him locked away from children, securely, at all times.
 
#11 ·
less than ethical 'rescues' will take dogs with a bite history and use them as bait dogs for pitbull training...
 
#12 ·
I am curious as to why the parents of the bitten child aren't screaming bloody murder and having the dog quarantined through animal control. What is the story/excuse for this dog's behavior? Was he sleeping and the kid fell on him? Was the kid hitting the grandchildren and screaming?

Bites on three locations and only stopping because you were able to come in and stop him, is really, really serious. Knowing of any extenuating circumstances, may be helpful in deciding whether this dog is safe to be around you and your wife.

I mean, some dogs, and it isn't common, but they have something called Rage Syndrome. Not sure if such a dog would have been able to snap out of it when you pulled him off. But in that case, the dog needs to be liberated from its demons. If the kid tried to ride the dog like a pony, then you don't need to worry so much about you and your wife.
 
#13 ·
Depending on the state if the dog is provably current on rabies they can do in home quarantine.

Had a friend deal with that when her dog was bit by a rabid raccoon last summer but he was current on his vaccines. Same thing when I fostered a JRT that was a child biter too...in home quarantine, in our case 10 days, because he was current on vaccines.

If the dog is not current on rabies vaccine then, again depending on location, they may quarantine at a facility.
 
#14 ·
Check her wall, Sue, there's a message there with more information.

I really hope this is a trolling episode.
 
#15 ·
Thanks. The kid was seven. Sorry, it is so sad for the owners, but the dog really needs to be humanely euthanized. That is too much damage on a child who can't possibly be seen as a threat of any sort.
 
#16 ·
A stable dog properly, socialized dog shouldn't see a 7 y/o as a threat.

A human who knows her dog has a bite history shouldn't let any child near the dog.

Otto is a stable well socialized adult dog but he's still 98lbs of east german booyah. I crate him when other people's kids are here because it's just too much risk, too much worry, what if he gets jiggy with their leg? What if he growls and the child wets itself...
 
#17 ·
I agree with Jenn. I have a dog with a bite history. He is currently in a large kennel run in my back yard, surrounded by hot wire. He never even has contact with family members, only my husband or I. Period. If I didn't have the ability to contain him, I would have him euthanized. He is a broken dog.
 
#18 ·
I think his problem is kids no matter how he is or isn't wired. There are plenty of homes that don't and won't ever have children in them. Some dogs just don't like them, just as some dogs don't like other dogs or cats. I wouldn't lie about what he has done. Were you present during the bite to witness what happened before hand? Has this dog ever gone after your grand kids?
 
#19 ·
I think his problem is kids no matter how he is or isn't wired. There are plenty of homes that don't and won't ever have children in them. Some dogs just don't like them, just as some dogs don't like other dogs or cats. I wouldn't lie about what he has done. Were you present during the bite to witness what happened before hand? Has this dog ever gone after your grand kids?[/QUOte

This is what I see as wrong with the internet. Diagnosing such a serious issue as something so simple as he doesn't like kids. The biggest part of passing a dog like this on is that you can never be sure this dog won't be re-homed again without his history following him. It's to easy to say it's just a problem with kids. Ok, then what age kids, what if this escalates to older kids, then to adults. 3 bites also equate an attack to me, this dog isn't right.
 
#20 ·
How many bites should a single dog have? Every time a GSD attacks a small children 500 people know about, and remember it every time they see a GSD. This is how the breed is given such a bad name.

It doesn't matter that some dogs just don't like kids. If you have a dog that ATTACKED one, then you need to do the right thing. An attack is not a warning snap that connected, a nip, a single bite. An attack is when a dog goes after its target, bites it more than once, and isn't stopping until someone is able to pull it free.

If this dog gets out of the yard when the new owners are not home, and chases a child on a bike, it will KILL the child on the bike, because no one will be there to stop it.

You cannot, with a clear conscience rehome this dog. Not to anyone, save maybe Cesar. Only because if he rehomes the dog and it KILLS someone, then he has way too much to lose to do that.
 
#21 ·
It's nearly impossible to find a home that's not only willing to take a dog with a bite history like this, but to give this dog to someone thinking that it won't encounter a single child for the rest of its life is an ignorant hope.

Personally, I would have this dog humanely PTS before he attacks another child and you have no choice and are drowning in lawsuit debts.
 
#23 ·
I think you have only two choices in the matter, 1. to isolate him from children and hope to heck he never escapes and encounters one or 2, PTS.

I agree with others, he's a ticking time bomb, and you could lose everything you own and then some, if ever gets his teeth on another person, whether it's a child or adult.

This dog should not be placed and no reputable rescue will touch him with a ten foot pole.

I'm sorry this happened:(
 
#25 ·
It is not weird. He came here hoping to hear something that we can't give him. It is completely and utterly sad. I hope that the op reads everything, and thinks about it, and if he keeps the dog, it hits home how careful he has to be. And, that he understands completely what it means to rehome this dog to anyone.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I had a dog(non GSD) that attacked and did damage to a child comparable to the OP's dog. The child in question teased the dog consistently any time she could, it was a group of kids really. One day they were by the fence doing their usual taunting and the dog got out and got her, my son was a little younger then this group of kids at the time. I took that child to her house and explained what happened and what was happening all along. The parents did not report it nor did they hold me accountable. I never seen that group of kids again. My point is that we don't know what kids in question did to the dog. Maybe they did nothing but I'm leaning toward it was something . I am not going to suggest putting a dog to sleep without a lot more info. The bigger problem with the internet is people that jump right past everything and go right to ending the dogs life. The parents are not pursuing it for a reason. My dog never bit another child again and lived happily with my son. We don't know what led to the attack, did the dog have a bone , were the kids teasing him,etc. there are a lot of scenarios and we just don't know. Not many people asked additional questions before they said PTS and that is wrong. Should the dog have bitten , we would all like to say no, but we don't know the circumstances at all.
 
#27 ·
The problem with the internet is that a newbie to this site isn't going to know that most that have responded to this thread are NOT generally saying PTS quickly. Most of us generally say, find a trainer, manage the dog, use a muzzle, get a behaviorialist, get him a check up at the vet.

Sometimes dogs cannot be trusted in the human world. It happens. There is really no other place for these domesticated creatures. You cannot put them out as a feral dog. They are not feral. They cannot be trusted with humans. And another attack by this dog should land the OP in prison. Could in some states.

We are a dog-loving, GSD-crazy site of people, and the majority are saying that this dog should go to the vet and be humanely euthanized, certainly not rehomed. Not a one of us who is saying this doesn't understand how hard that will be to do.
 
#33 ·
I never say PTS, ever. But the fact that this dog bit the child in 3 separate areas makes things much more complicated. This wasn't a warning bite, not with that many bites inflicted. I'm not going to guess what's wrong with the dog, or what happened to provoke this, but it's far beyond your typical "doesn't do well with children."
 
#35 ·
I did say PTS.

I did because it is IMPOSSIBLE to rehome the dog safely or responsibly. And it sounds like the owners of the dog are not willing to, or are afraid to keep and manage the dog so it NEVER comes into contact with another child.

There are worse things than humane euthanasia. The future for this dog is terribly bleak.

No other child or adult should be bitten by this dog. It is sad. I think you look at it as though the dog has an excruciating form of cancer that is inoperable. The dog has a sickness, and needs to be released from the pain and consequences of his sickness. It is nobody's fault. It just is. And the if your dog was in severe pain, and dying, then wouldn't you take it to the vet and relieve it's suffering?
 
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