Help - aggressive dog

If you give him one more chance, OK that means the next person he bites will be the last, so is it going to be easier to have him put to sleep the next time he bites, or the time after that? And I wonder if the relatives who said he should have one more chance would be quite so forgiving if it was their child next?

You can keep him muzzled but there are so many what if's, what if he escapes again, what if you relax and leave it off just once, what if he gets it off or it breaks, what if he runs at someone and causes an accident?

Having a dog put to sleep is horrible, but for the owner not the dog. He's not going to know and you will get over it and find another companion for your remaining dog.
 
A friend of mine was in the same situation last year. She had struggled for seven years with a dog that was prone to nervous aggression. She had done everything right - socialised and trained him as puppy, got a referral from her vet to a really good behavourist, followed the behaviourist's instructions to the letter - and the dog really did improve a lot. But he was never going to be 100 per cent reliable with strangers. And one day after he escaped into the neighbour's garden, she realised that she just couldn't take the risk that he might one day escape and bite a child, so she did the responsible thing and had him put down.

This is not your fault. There is a strong genetic component to dog behaviour. And sometimes with the best will in the world, we cannot make a dog safe.
 
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