Ready to give up!

Question
QUESTION: I have a one year old Stadfordshire Terrier male and from the day I got him for my husband he has been nothing but a pain in the ass. He has chewed through walls, ripped up his cage, when he is left home alone he goes room to room chewing and ripping up everything. And any time he is out of sight he is stealing something off the counters, or something to destroy. I have tried teaching him right from wrong which I know he knows because he only does it in private, and he is on eggshells listening out for someone coming, and then he'll run and hide. He is very pushy and stubborn. He is very aggressive when he wants something from you, wether its attention which is never enough for him, or what your cooking, or eating. He almost never sleeps. He walks around the house all day and night. No one can get any sleep. My husband and I have tried gently disciplining him and beating him on his butt to make him stop the bad behaviors. Now he refuses to even be disciplined. He runs away from us, and snaps at our hands when we try to grab his collar when he's in trouble. Today he growled angrily at me and was trying to bite my hand even when I grabbed his tail to pull him out the corner. I don't even trust him anymore, and I was ready to kick his ass when he tried to bite me. I am ready to drop his stubborn ass off at the pound. Today he tore open the back of our couch and climbed in it to hide when we got home because he knew that all the things he tore up while we were gone was bad. I just don't get it. If he knows that he is doing something wrong that will get him into trouble then why does he still do it? Why is he behaving so disrespectful, and pushy?

ANSWER: The abuse you have given this dog is outrageous.  Hitting, pulling him by the tail, KICKING HIS ASS??? And you want to know why the dog is ANXIOUS, FEARFUL, STRESSED and becoming AGGRESSIVE????

This dog requires the intervention of an experienced professional.  He is extremely stressed, he has not been trained (taught) how to behave, he does not have ONE IDEA why he is being "disciplined", he does NOT TRUST YOU (and who can blame him) and he has obtained such a high state of anxiety that he is finding it necessary to protect himself.  YOU ARE ABOUT TO BE BITTEN AND YOU DESERVE IT.

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QUESTION: I do not disagree with you that we deserve to be bitten because I know that he is angry for us hitting him and is only defending himself because he only acts that way while he is being hit. But we have tried gentle methods like saying bad dog. I would bring him to the chewed up item and say bad dog so that he would understand and I would put him in his crate, or in a corner away from everyone so he will know that he is being punished. I feel that he knows right from wrong because he always waits until no one is around to do it. And when he hears someone coming he runs and hides, or he automatically runs to his crate, or the punishment corner. He never tears up things right confront of us, or goes up on the counter while we are in the kitchen. When I'm eating he pushes up by the table or on me and I say no, and bad dog, or get back, and he does it and then comes right back again several times until I get angry yell at him and stand up then he runs just far enough out of my reach and waits. Often 2 seconds later he is right back at it AGAIN! He has his dog food, and we don't feed him table food. We have changed his dog food a few times to find something he might like more to stop the begging in case he is hungry but even with his stomach big enough to burst with food he still continues to push his head up at the counter, and tables. I am concerned that one day he will jump up on the stove while it is on and burn himself. He sneaks around and takes things to chew up, and when he gets caught he hangs his head down and tries to run. I cant let him out of my sight when he is in the house because I know what he will do. He was stubborn from when he was a puppy! When we would try to walk him he would drop down on his chin and press his paws and chest down to the floor with his butt in the air and refuse to walk. We would have to pull him like that and he would continue to go like that the whole way. I have never seen a dog like this in my life. I love him and he is a good dog, but he keeps doing these destructive things. I am asking for your advice on how to make him understand what we are asking of him. I do not like making him stay in the crate while we are not home but if I don't he will destroy the house. How can I stop this behavior! He loves praise, and i give him allot of it so he will know when he does something good, and I say bad dog when he does something bad, but it still doesn't stop the behavior. Please help! I know it is something I am doing that is confusing him, tell me what it is so that I can fix it. Also I am not going to hit him anymore so I need to know how to build back his trust. So that he will come to me all the time when I call him off the leash outside. I know we are making allot of mistakes with him and I am sorry, could you please explain to me how to undo the damage that we have done to make my dog feel happy and loved, and to be a well behaved dog. Also sometimes he gives off an extremely musky odor when he is in trouble. Could you please tell me what that is? It is strong enough to linger throughout the house for a long time.

Answer
I repeat: THIS DOG REQUIRES THE INTERVENTION OF AN EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL, A CERTIFIED APPLIED ANIMAL BEHAVIORIST.  You have NO IDEA what you're doing.  You have created a MONSTER.  There is NOTHING anyone can tell you FOR FREE ON THE INTERNET that can educate you adequately.  This dog will DIE in a public municipal shelter because YOU have not spent ONE DIME trying to educate yourself and TEACH HIM properly.  I CANNOT explain to you in this venue how to "undo" the harm you have done.  This requires an IN PERSON, extensive evaluation and INSTRUCTION on how to use positive reinforcement training and how to HUMANELY rehabilitate this dog's behavior through behavior modification.  Your dog is LIVING IN ABJECT FEAR and this is DISGRACEFUL. You should BE ASHAMED of yourself for looking for FREE ADVICE on the internet instead of HIRING a PROFESSIONAL to attempt to save this young dog before it is too late.  I have ZERO SYMPATHY FOR YOU.