Am I out of options?
I never thought I’d be here, but I need to talk to people who understand.
I rescued my Doberman at 12 weeks old as a parvo surrender. From the beginning, I could tell she was more easily triggered than most dogs, so I got a trainer involved right away. Around a year old, things escalated. She started testing boundaries in a way that turned into aggression, attacking me for asking her to move off the couch etc , and going after my 10 lb dog seemingly out of nowhere. She’s 85 lbs.
We brought in a professional trainer and got things to a “manageable” place, but never truly safe. I’ve never been able to fully trust her. The trainer even said she’s never seen such a sudden “flip switch” and mentioned the possibility of doberman rage syndrome, which I know is rare but terrifying if you've ever seen it.
After a few years of relative peace (and attacking my husband and I a few times), there was an incident between the dogs in a hallway. The little one gave a small growl for space and the other one attacked. Since then, it’s like a complete regression. Now any time she sees my other dog, she goes straight into attack mode.
We just started her on fluoxetine yesterday, and we’re trying to keep the dogs separated (we never left them alone together to begin with). But she knows how to open doors. Today I made a mistake and didn’t lock one, and she attacked again.
I am completely breaking down. I love this dog more than I can explain. 99% of the time she is incredibly sweet, affectionate, and bonded to me. But I am living in constant fear that she will seriously injure or kill my other dog.
Rehoming is not an option. She has too many triggers, and I wouldn’t trust that someone else could manage her safely or humanely.
We’ve tried a muzzle and conditioned it properly. She's doesn't mind it but has learned how to take it off no matter what I do.
I feel like I’m out of options and I hate even thinking about behavioral euthanasia. I don't know if I could even do it. I don’t know if I’m giving up too soon, especially since we just started medication. But I also don’t know how much more risk I can take.
Has anyone been in this position? Did medication make a real difference in a case like this? How do you even begin to make this decision?
I feel completely stuck between loving her and needing to protect my other dogs. She redirects her aggression on my husband and I as well but I'm more worried about the other dogs. Luckily there's no one else in the house and we don't have visitors often.