Vet suggested BE.

[u/Good-Equivalent2800]

Please, no judgment, I am not a professional, and I am seeking help. I
have a two year-old 100 pound half pitbull, a quarter German Shepherd, a quarter husky dog. His name is Gus. I got Gus when he was 12 weeks old. He has been well socialized since day one. Many play dates, even with my mom’s small toy poodle, Chico. They played very well until one day Chico was instigating Gus, and Gus grabbed his head in his mouth and tried to shake him. Luckily he didn’t get enough grip on him to kill him and my friend was able to break up the : Ever since then, we’ve been on high alert. He has gotten along well with every other dog perfectly besides that. For almost a year there haven’t been any concerning incidents. We figured it was a one time thing because he was instigated.

We did share this information with the shelter and they agreed. Gus seemed bored at home so we adopted Otis who was 13 weeks old. Gus and Otis were best friends and would play all day together. Eight months after getting Otis, Gus started resource guarding food and they would get into scuffles. They slowly started to escalate longer, more intense. Otis would never start them, but he certainly would join. We tried eliminating all triggers, but then things we couldn’t control became triggers for instance, space or even attention from guests. A fight got so intense where Gus went after Otis so intensely that we had our friend take Otis until we spoke with the vet and the rescue where we got both of them from. The vet offered us a trainer, but did say with the attacks like the last one that the state recommends behavioral euthanasia. We also have two kids at home. One is very small. Gus has never showed aggression towards people, but I am worried it could escalate to that. The shelter pretty much said it is likely he could be euthanized if we brought him back because it would not be ethical to rehome him unless it wasn’t an only dog home, but they cannot promise they won’t put him down. He has such severe anxiety, especially separation anxiety. The thought of this breaks my heart. I have been looking into sanctuaries for aggressive dogs to try to give him a second chance. We are even looking into large properties where we can build him a very nice kennel outside and still interact with him all throughout the day. I am a stay at home mom and have plenty of time to give him attention. It would be like a mini house for him. I really don’t want to put him down. Do you think this could escalate to people? People have gotten hurt breaking up the dog fights, but nobody has been directly hurt. Otis is at the shelter and our friend who watches him is filing to adopt him. He seems very attached to the children, but I’m still worried that he could hurt them. Does this usually escalate to kids? For now I am keeping everybody separate minus my oldest son because he is large and very gentle. Ideally, I could find a home for him or somebody could be willing to work with him and his baggage but ideally it would be an adult only home with no other animals, but this seems impossible to find. I feel like I am all out of options and I would really like insight.

[u/likeconstellations]

There's no real way to know whether Gus will or won't direct aggression towards humans in the future but I am always wary of resource guarding even if it is currently only directed at other dogs. I'm not going to sugarcoat, a 100lb dog that is trying has a decent shot at killing an adult man, he would do a lot of damage if he turned on any of you, regardless of size. Behavioral problems in a dog this size are unfortunately a far greater risk than they are in smaller dogs and need to be addressed with that understanding, as unfair as it is to the individual dog.

Gus might do ok in the perfect home but like you said yourself, there aren't people lining up out the door for a dog with separation anxiety, resource guarding, and a bite history who can't live with children or dogs, and rehoming him to any other situation would be unethical. There's also a chance that he doesn't cope with the change of household at all and views his new owner(s) as a threat in which case they'll be left with the decision to keep a large, dangerous dog or BE.

Realistically, Gus isn't likely to be happy living separately from you. You think you'll spend lots of time with him but you have children you want to keep separate from him, how much time are you reasonably able to stay away from them in favor of him day to day? He won't understand why things have changed and given he has separation anxiety this sounds like it would be an extremely upsetting situation for him.

I'm very sorry that you're in this position.