shih tzu agressive monster

we adopted a 4 yr old Shih Tzu from the Humane Society. We think that he was raised by an older couple and he was not socialized. He is fearful of any loud noises and doesn't seem to know a lot like what a cat is, other dog etc. The problem whenever he gets scared he charges and tries to bite whether it be the family, cats and/or dog. He is getting better sometiems with the cats and still is agressive towards the dog. I am trying to socialize him, he has a harness, he is exercised, disciplined as much as we can without yelling or making him submit becuase he gets red zoned and bites. Any other suggestions. We can't live our life much longer with this unpredictable, agreesive dog.

OK Catthy, it looks like you have a problem here. Without seeing the dog and evaluating it but studying your words in your post, I have to say that many dogs are in shelters for a reason and we know the reason this one was there. I also strongly suspect that this dog was originally purchased at a pet store. I say that because of my experience helping clients train pet store dogs. This dog may not be fixable. You need to contact a CERTIFIED animal behaviorist for help on this. This is not a training problem, it's a behavior problem and a complex one at that. Be certain that any behaviorist you contact has at least a 4 year degree in animal behavior from a real college, not some fly by night college.

Hope this helps and keep us posted on progress.

Cathy, I can't offer any help but I wanted to say well done for trying so hard with this dog. My mum has regularly taken rescue dogs from the Shih-tzu rescue society. She is amazing with dogs but once she took on a dog who proved to have similar problems also he howled each time he was left even for a minute. Despite everything he wasn't fixable even with expert help, it broke my mums heart, he had to go back to the rescue society, they said he would get one more chance but I don't think he would have had a good outcome. I wish you the very best in dealing with this, but remember sometimes you can't fix problems however hard you try.

I wish I had something helpful to say, but I couldn't ignore your post without wishing you good luck in dealing with this problem.

Thank you all for the posts. I am cautiously happy to say that I am seeing a 50% change in behaviour. After my first post, things went from bad to worst - so I decided to devote and make one last effort so the monster and I went head to head for two nights. Whenever he tried to chase the cat or dog, I dealt with him with a firm discipline - I didn't yell or hit and I finally got him to back down somewhat. Friday night he started to show a little bit of an improment, today he showed great improvement - he still charged a few times but not with the severe agressiveness that he showed before - he actually smelt the other animals and backed away - and when I disciplined him for misbehaving he didn't tried to attack me as much as he did before - I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will continue to show progress!

I do wish you the best Cathy, You are a strong person for trying and believing in this little dog.

I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you Cathy.

We will all be hoping for the best outcome. I admire your determination.