RED ALERT!

Question
Kristen,
 Thank you for your time in reading my letter.
My wife and I have 2 dogs.  A lab shepherd mix female 90lbs healthy Iams dog food 3yrs old, and a male labradoodle 70lb 2 yrs old. We are extremely active with our dogs, I  take them for runs, and my wife takes them for walks. Recently our Lab Jadyn has nipped a familar dog on the nose while walking.  My wife went irate about the situation.  We went to the vet and they said keep her away from other dogs. Had blood work done on her and she showed low levels in her thyroid.  Shes lost weight, attitude has changed and now my wife and my mother in law went for a walk last nite and Jadyn killed 2 turkeys in the woods. 6-7 months ago she's chased kids from the road to their house, and all of this worries me, because my wife is pregnant with our first child.  I don't know what to do, retrain her, give her away or put her down.  So open for suggestions. Please help us decide.
Thank you Kristen!
Jacques

Answer
Jacques, first, let me just say that aggression towards other animals is completely different than aggression towards people. You did not indicate that your dog has ever shown aggression towards people, so I do not think you need to be concerned about the baby. However, having said that, let me also say that a dog should NEVER be left alone with a baby or child, no matter what breed, what age, or how friendly the dog is. There should always be adult supervision when children and dogs interact with one another, because anything could happen. As for the chasing incident, with the kids, you don't know if the kids provoked your dog in any way or not. They very well could have. Or, they could have just seen her and started running, which could have triggered her prey drive. Or, she could have been trying to play. You just don't know.

I would recommend that you not allow her to run off lead when you take her for a walk, so that she does not have an opportunity to chase or kill other animals or kids. I know this is not as easy as what you have been doing, but you need to be able to control your dog.

For that reason, I would also recommend that you call around and see if there are any local trainers in your area that can come out to your house and assess her behavior. It's very difficult, if not impossible, to give advice to someone whose dog is exhibiting aggressive behaviors, without actually seeing the dog in person to determine if the behaviors are stemming from fear, dominance, or something else entirely.

I would not recommend giving her away, unless you will be responsible enough to tell her new owners exactly WHY you're giving her away. It would be wrong of you to just give her away without disclosing the reason why, so the new owner will have a heads-up about things.