Expert: Sue - 9/5/2007

Question
I have a BC I have owned since he was 12 weeks old.  He is now 9 years.  He has been diagnosed with bilateral hip dysplasia, one hip so severe that the ball of the femur has no "cup" on the pelvis to even sit in.  His arthritis is pretty bad, and he takes Rimadyl, the maximum dose allowed.  He gets around pretty good, but we do notice he has days where he is obviously experiencing pain.  However, his quality of life seems to be good--he still fetches with enthusiasm, plays with the older boys, and seems to have plenty of zest for life.  However. we have noticed that about a year ago, he started growling at the neighbor children.  He generally would avoid them following the growling and it seemed more a warning growl, not very intense.  We kept him away from visiting children.  We moved this summer, and the last couple of weeks, he has been exposed to a couple of new children and the growling began anew. One child in particular the dog was very intense, the growling for the first time frightened me.  We removed the dog from the area.  Then yesterday I heard the dog growl intensely at my youngest son when he just walked into the room where the dog was.  i was completely freaked out.  The dog has never liked that child but has never behaved like that toward him.  We generally don't have growling with adults, if they have been introduced by my husband and I to the dog as "OK".  At this point, I am trying to determine what to do.  Last year we consulted a dog behaviorist, which helped a bit, but now we are in a worse place, I think, with the growling taking on a more frightening tone.  The dog is obviusly in pain, but still enjoys his life a good bit.  How do we know when it is the right time to put him down? We know we will probably have to eventually due to the severity of the arthritis (poor dog poops on three legs) but I just cant figure out if now is the time or if I should be trying something else?

Answer
Hello Whitney,
It sounds like you have really tried working things out with your dogs aggression.  Older dogs do have less tolerance to fast movements and noise than younger animals (just like their masters, lol).  Only you will know the right time to consider putting your dog to sleep.  Have you reprimanded you dog with the inappropriate behavior?  Given consistent commands? Praised appropriate behavior?  If so, the only other thing I can think of is try to keep your dog away from those situations that you know will illicit aggressive behavior.
Here is a site that I think might be of benefit to you in considering the alternative. This site also has support available for people in your situation.  I do hope this is a help to you.  http://www.rainbowbridge.com/New_Beginnings/default.htm
Should you have additional questions, please feel free to write to us again.