advise really needed!!!!

I just adopted a new dog, Max, from a shelter and we knew he had a few small issues but nothing major. Because we're college students, we went to our hometown to get him and took him home to where we live the next day. While we were at my parents place he did try to bite my mother twice but we just brushed it off as stressfulness. Once we took him home, he was a good boy until the first night at our house (after we had him for 2 days) when I got out of the shower and went to pet him because he was looking for me while i was in the shower. Out of no where, while I was petting him, he tried to attack me. Not playful attack but teeth out, growling and ready to pounce attack. My fiance' took him for a walk and I sat on the ground crying because I was now scared of the dog that I now own.
The next day, feeling calmer after sleeping, I called the shelter to find out about his history to see if this was just a one time thing considering he was stressed about moving a lot and my smell was different after the shower. I turned out that we were right but he does need a lot of work because he was kept outside at his previous owners' and was never socialized properly and it would take a while to get him adjusted. A week has gone by and he has made great progress. We are very proud of him and we have grown quite attached.
My mother and sister visited us today and I was excited that they were going to get a glimpse of the real Max. Unfortunately, he tried to attack each of them on two occasions. Now my mother is very intent on us getting rid of him, before we get too attached and before he actually bites someone. The thing is, we are already attached to him.
We don't want to give up hope on our new dog but we don't want him to hurt someone. Can anyone give me any advise?????

I'm not sure about where you live at, however around here there are some dog trainers that come right to you house to work with you and the dog on it's own territory, and around here they specialize in behavior problems such as agression.

It would be worth your time to call around and see what's available in your area.

Please make sure the rabies vaccination is up to date, and be very careful with him around other people, some states require reporting bites to animal control if someone needs to see a doctor.

Good luck

Your dealing with aggression (obviously). The problem is, without seeing the dog in-person, I cannot tell which type of aggression you are dealing with. The reason that's important is that the treatment for one type of aggression will feed the other, and vice versa.

What you must do is find an animal behaviorist or trainer who can help you in-person. Trust me. It's very dangerous to try to solve this problem on-line. If you decide it's one aggression and it's another, you will doom the dog. It takes years of training to be able to properly distinguish one from the other. Subtle non-verbal body cues your dog is giving will be the tell-tale signs, but it takes a trainer to be able to read them correctly.

Please see if you can't find an animal behaviorst in your area. If not, see if you can't find a professional trainer who can help. I have to tell you, regardless of the type of aggression, this will take a lot of work, and more than likely, you will be working with this dog the rest of it's life. There is no quick fix to aggression. No magic pill. Just lots of work and training you can do to control it. And, depending on the type and severity, it can be controlled.

BTW, an animal behaviorist has a graduate degree from a university. There are people out there claiming to be Animal Behaviorists who do not have the education. A professional trainer will have on-hands experience as opposed to a degree. For aggression, I prefer the behaviorist, but would turn to a good trainer if there are no behaviorists available.

A behaviorist or trainer is absolutely necessary in this type of situation. Many shelters have someone that works with them to deal with cases like this. A call to the shelter would be the recommended first step.

Here's a link to a website explaining the types of agression and the issues involved. It's not likely to solve your problems, but will provide important insights into which type of agressive behavior he's exhibiting.

Dog owners guide to agression

Good luck!

Good website! There were a few minor things I disagreed with, but it has some really great info for owners dealing with aggressions.

thanks for the info and the site! there is a behavior specialist i talked to at the shelter we got him from but it's 3 hours away. luckily i did find one in the area and i will be calling them tomorrow for some info. thanks guys!