English Bulldog tried to attack pizza man

I just adopted an English Bulldog from a rescue home about a week ago. She's guesstimated to be 4 or 5 years old. She was picked up as a stray and taken to the local animal shelter. She was scheduled to be euthanized for temperament and the rescue home picked her up and saved her. They had her for 2 and half months and said she was very sweet and well behaved. I fell in love with her quickly but yesterday she tried to viciously attack the pizza delivery guy and I was totally shocked. This is my 3rd English Bulldog and my experience with them is that they love people. My last bulldog did get aggressive toward other dogs but she loved people. In fact I didn't think English Bulldogs were ever aggressive towards adults.

Anyway, I originally had her outside when he came to deliver me the sandwich I ordered. Then he had to go back to his shop and come back because he forgot to bring my soda. After he left to go back for my soda I let the dog in the house and I started eating my sandwich. In true dog nature, she of course wanted some. When the pizza delivery guy came back I heard him drive up so I got up to go to the door and the dog started barking. I opened the door just wide enough for him to hand me the soda. The dog aggressively shoved her nose in the door and flung it open and tore out after the poor pizza delivery man. I mean she was really going to tear him up. Fortuneatly he was very fast and was able to grab her head and get her down to the ground and I grabbed her collar. I apologized and told him I had just gotten the dog and had no idea she would do such a thing. He said he was okay but it scared the crap out of both of us.

I called the rescue home to tell them what happened and to tell them I was going to have to give her back because I just could not risk having a dog that was that aggressive. The rescue foster dad said they had her for 2 and half months and she never displayed that type of behavior and that they had people and animals in and out of the house all of the time. They said she is not a candidate to be placed in a home with that kind of behavior so that she would most likely be euthanized. I asked if there wasn't someone that could train her not to do this and he said no. I don't know if he was trying to make me feel bad but I sure do. This is so hard because I feel head over heals for this dog and now I have to give her back and on top of that she is probably going to be euthanized.

What makes it even worse for my emotional state is that I just had to have my 12 year old English Bulldog euthanized because she had congestive heart failure and got to a point that she was starting to suffer so I had to put her down. Now within 6 weeks I am losing another English Bulldog.

Has anyone out there had any experience with an English Bulldog being aggressive towards humans and attacking them? If so what did you do?

Okay, this does not need to become a tragedy. She's not a bad dog and you aren't a bad person. You are just in the beginning of your relationship. I would, right away, sign up for an obedience training class with her. You and she need to establish that you are the boss, and she is the dog, and she does not need to be protective of you to such an extreme.

Obedience training is as much for you as the dog, and just because she is older doesn't mean she cannot learn! Bless you for taking on an adult rescue, and let us know how things work out. In the meantime, you can gate off her access to the front door if someone is coming by, just to prevent tragedy. Keep her on a leash even inside if you are having visitors or delivery people, and keep her focussed on you if she starts getting tense.

With ANY animal, and especially a rescue, and a new rescue at that, you simply have no idea what her past was. I wouldn't consider rehoming her because of 1 incident with a pizza man. What is interesting to me is the aggressive behavior after the food delivery. This sounds like a training issue all the way. I hope you will reconsider.

Just an update. I gave the English Bulldog back to the rescue. She attacked a family friend just two days after she attacked the pizza delivery guy . I lost my trust with this dog and just could not risk keeping her. I have a 10 year old granddaughter that visits me every year and I don't want to worry about her being attacked.

The foster mom was very angry with me for returning her. I really didn't understand her anger. She doesn't have children other than the bulldogs she rescues. She says this dog never demonstrated this behaviour at her house in the 4 months she had her. I think since this is the case it's best she keeps her if she trusts her enough. I think the dog is unpredictable and too scary to have around. I don't believe the rescue should even attempt to place this dog in another home.

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Originally Posted by AnnaJo

Just an update. I gave the English Bulldog back to the rescue. She attacked a family friend just two days after she attacked the pizza delivery guy . I lost my trust with this dog and just could not risk keeping her. I have a 10 year old granddaughter that visits me every year and I don't want to worry about her being attacked.

The foster mom was very angry with me for returning her. I really didn't understand her anger. She doesn't have children other than the bulldogs she rescues. She says this dog never demonstrated this behaviour at her house in the 4 months she had her. I think since this is the case it's best she keeps her if she trusts her enough. I think the dog is unpredictable and too scary to have around. I don't believe the rescue should even attempt to place this dog in another home.

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Thats really too bad :(
Sadly some animals react differently around different people. The dog might have viewed you as weak/vulnerable, or loved you far too much, so she/he would try to protect you where there was no reason for it.

The issue can be corrected (in many cases), but that dog needs to be labeled as a biter & not trustworthy until the issue is corrected.

An old friend's dog (back in the mid/late 90's) had a similar issue, however it also included dogs... basically anything breathing he wanted to attack. We were determined to make him more civilized & it took us about 30 mins to break him once we learned what was originally getting him off (known as a trigger). We muzzled him, put on his prong choker & chained him TIGHT to a tree. We then brought out my friendly dog & got him to sit infront of the the Rottie that clearly wanted to tear his throat out. My dog obeyed & did all sorts of tricks infront or the Rottie. We gave my dog treats & patted him & hugged him & gave him kisses.. Then we did the same to the Rottie, hugged him, patted him & gave him kisses with yummy treats... Then I would give my dog attention & treats & she did the same to her dog... Then we switched dogs, she gave mine attention & treats & I gave her's attention & treats... He calmed right dog & started to do the rottie butt wiggle of happiness. From then on after that Rottie was in love with my dog & would follow him to the ends or the world & back. My dog taught the Rottie how to swim & be a civilized dog. In public we still kept the Rottie muzzled as that kept him calm as he wasn't able to bark at a dog that was barking at him... As long as he couldn't bark back he was good. Once he turned 5 or 6 he was a much more trust worthy dog & didn't need his muzzle at all.

He even allowed a burgler to enter the house to steal them blind... THe guy would have gotten away with it if he didn't kick the little dog, which made her scream in pain... ya... 200+ stitches later I think he learnt his lesson lol

So it is very possible to make a seemingly aggressive dog friendly, they just need to know what they are doing is a no no... NOT saying That rescue could be trained, but it is possible & I hope that rescue lady puts him into some serious obidence lessons so he/she knows where he/she stands in the ranks.

Whatever you do, don't feel bad. It just wasn't a good mix for you. Take some time off from having a dog, & then go look into a different rescue for a potential companion.