Behavior Change Issues at Year 2

Warning: Long Post

I have made the decision to behaviorally euthanize our dog after a severe bite to a stranger to him (family member to us) after an escalating bite history.

My question is what is the experience of vets with genetics and epigenetics manifesting around 2 years in the form of no inhibition biting? And maybe post Parvo neuro issues?

History: My border/mcnab dog has just turned 2. He has always been an absolute angel with me. He bit me once (redirected but not on purpose) level 2, but also never shown aggression toward me, and has been nothing but gentle, loving, and bonded to me. I cannot imagine my life without him, and I am completely shattered. To be clear, this recent bite was not a nip, and it was not a minor bite. This was a level 4 bite. The victim required numerous stitches, spent five hours in the emergency department, and now needs follow-up care with a plastic surgeon. We are lucky that it was an arm and not a face. We are also lucky it was a family member (I guess?) because otherwise we’d be looking at a lawsuit.

It happened without any warning, no growling, barking, or visible signs of distress. We still replay it in our heads was it intentional? But it was because we are told dogs know the level of bite they are using.

Again. The person he attacked was a stranger to him, but an older member of the family so we aren't getting sued. The incident was completely unprovoked.

This was also not his first bite. He had started biting after he hit 8 months. He previously bit another person in our home and two professional trainers after we started training after that bite. Those incidents were much less severe but did involve broken skin, and weirdly enough again, no warning. But not level 4. Maybe borderline 2/3. No barking, no growling, just jump and bite, but after the second bite we took significant action rather than just correction. We muzzle-trained him, engaged a licensed veterinary behaviorist DACVB (DVM), and started him on medication Reconcile and clonidine. He has been in long-term, ongoing bite training and behavioral care. He wasn't wearing his muzzle at the time, because he hadn't had an incident in some time, it looked like he was doing amazing and he was in a safe place. It was a moment of letting our guard fall. We failed. And he was in such an amazing fun mood, no fear (that we could see) at all. We had just undergone a recent evaluation for a follow up after his meds and training and thought we had it under control.

He lives a full, enriched life. He is not bored or neglected in any way. He has an agility course in our backyard, does scent and find training, gets plenty of walks, playtime, and mental stimulation, and is deeply bonded with us. We are an older couple, no children so we have a lot of time to work with him. With me, he is incredibly gentle, we work on "gentle teeth" command which basically is a little game we do where he uses as little as his teeth as he can while taking treats. He gets meds three times a day to help with his anxiety and he just hops up on the sofa and opens his mouth when I say "meds!"

But I guess the reality, which I have discussed at length with his personal veterinarian, the vet that is doing a house call to perform BE and his behaviorist DVM, is that he has lost bite inhibition toward humans or maybe he never had it and we can’t train it into him, it appears. He seems to have bite inhibition with me and my husband though. Which we would think he wouldn’t have if he didn’t have any bite inhibition. He’s just extremely unpredictable with everyone else. My vet said that sometimes around the age of two years that dogs of unknown pedigree can start to show genetic mental issues. We don't know what his parentage is, except his DNA test that came back with border and mcnab. He came to us at 8 weeks from a backyard breeder and immediately went into the ICU for parvo. He had a 20% chance of survival but received monoclonal antibodies and after 4 days in the ICU he recovered. From weeks 8-10 he was pretty sick. (We didn't choose a backyard breeder, that's another story) He also has been diagnosed with generalized fear and anxiety that appears to have fundamentally altered his ability to respond to people safely although he hides it. Except with biting. Anyway, regardless of the reasons why, the conclusion we have come to is devastating but unavoidable that he is now a dangerous dog. Not to us but to the community. Maybe to us in the future because again, he has not used bite inhibition with now, a couple of people. Maybe he would eventually bite us.

But if he were ever to escape the house and encounter a child or another vulnerable person, the consequences could be life-threatening. I was told that when a dog loses bite inhibition, especially at this level, it is unlikely to return. Border Collies may nip and that can be managed. Level 4 bites toward humans are not normal and indicate something profoundly wrong.

After talking to his regular vet and his behavioral vet I am having to choose behavioral euthanasia. This is the only way I can ensure he leaves this world safely, peacefully, and surrounded by the people who love him, lying on his favorite couch surrounded by his toy lambs. A veterinarian will be coming to our home on January 18, so we can have a couple of last weekends together.

I had never heard of this before but the more I read, I have learned, painfully, that this does happen sometimes even when you do everything “right.” I was recommended the Losing Lulu grief group, and reading those stories has shown me that our situation is not unique, even though it feels unbearably alone.

If there were a way to fix him, I would spend anything. I would do anything. But all three vets tell me that some dogs cannot be fixed, and keeping him alive would mean a life of constant fear, confinement, management and risk to him and to others and management is nearly impossible over the next ten years or however long he would live. Dogs don’t want to hurt humans. I truly believe that. And by making this decision, I am protecting him from ever being put in a situation where he could cause harm again.

I am utterly heartbroken, but I am doing this out of love. I guess I am posting to see if anyone else had to BE a dog that has no bite inhibition but seems to be a normal dog in all other ways. And could we have done anything differently or is it really just genetic or post Parvo?