u/DNags

https://preview.redd.it/qalhq858r1ch1.jpg?width=1586&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a19231a12f5e36edecd4a3f37448ac1964a04deb

Some very sad news about our 2 year old, Cleo (our second grey). I've posted a few times about her since my wife and I adopted her 8+ months ago, for advice on dealing with intense anxiety while living in a loud, urban area. To this day leaving the condo for a walk remains an extremely stressful event for her.

I was giving her some belly rubs today which she normally loves. She gave me her permission like she always does, by lifting her leg and rolling over halfway. When I started to give her some butt scratches as I often do, she suddenly lunged at me. I was several feet away but she got out of bed, snapped at my face and connected with my forehead, and then followed me several steps across the living room as I rolled away from, standing on my back while barking and snarling down at me. It was terrifying and I have 2 swollen lumps on my forehead that are bleeding :(

I have literally no idea what triggered this, nothing was out of the ordinary. We've known she must have had a lot of trauma in the past, and was likely handled very roughly. She's had several hostile reactions in the past to being touched or moved, but it was always a couple of growls or a snap that felt like "give me some space." She had never gotten up out of her bed, chased anyone, attacked anyone, etc.

My wife and I are both obviously feeling super depressed and guilty, like we've failed. We've been working with a behaviorist for several months, we've tried several different medications/combinations with our vet. We've also really bonded with her, and most of the time she's this sweet cuddly girl. I genuinely think she tries her hardest to be a good, but her fight-or-flight threshold is just so incredibly low that we've feared for a while she may never be happy with us in the city.

Now I'm afraid I'll never trust her again and I'm honestly just scared of her at this point. I know we often hear "it can take a year" but we can't help but feel like this is the end of the effort we have to help make her a home here. We don't know what to do.

When we've taken her to the suburbs to visit she is SO much happier, especially on walks. Tail always wagging instead of tucked 100% of the time, jumping around, sniffing, no problem when there's a plane or leaf blower, etc... But after this incident we would feel wary asking anyone we know to take her permanently. We just want what is best for her.

The agency we got her from has limited resources and the initial adoption was incredibly rushed. I've since heard some concerning/similar stories from other adopters and I'm a little cautious about asking them to take her back. There are other, more reputable greyhound groups in my area we could reach out to.

I would appreciate anyone's perspective & opinion, however brutally honest it may be. TIA

Edit: thank you everyone who has replied. Truly appreciate it.