[luvmylife1010]

This is very strange. When I first got Dixie in the beginning of December she was shy and seemed very submissive. In the past month she has been trying to attack my husband if he is playing with our other dog, but only if he is playing with Comet. The rest of the time she will take food from him, sit next to him on my lap, etc. She even will follow him into the kitchen without me. Also, she will growl and bark at my oldest son who is 13. She was a breeder from a kennel where I am thinking that she was abused by a man or men. She has been debarked. She is hand shy, if I go to give her a treat and come at her too quickly she pulls back into a ball and squeezes her eyes shut tight and makes this little noise like when you drawn your breath in really quickly. I feel so bad for her and I know she is attacking in fear because if things are calm she is sweet and loving to everyone. I don't know what's in her head though, is she thinking that my husband is hurting our other dog and Dixie is trying to protect her, or is it that she just can't cope with quick and loud movement? I have been having my husband start playing with our other dog while Dixie is on my lap and when she goes to attack, I hold her back and tell her no. I have been working on her training too. She now knows how to sit and will "give you five", but she is stubborn when it comes to stay and come and totally doesn't get "down" which indicates to me that she has somewhat of a dominant personality. I have been free feeding because she needs to gain a little weight, but I am thinking now that maybe I should schedule her feedings and make her work for it. I am basically venting here and appreciate any feedback you all may have. My husband is afraid that Dixie will start attacking the kids. His step daughter from a previous marriage was mauled by her cousin's rottie when she was six years old (the age our daughter is now)and it tore the right side of her face away and did major damage to her leg...there was visible teeth scraping on her leg bone and all the ligaments and such were torn to shreds. She was very lucky and had awesome doctors and her scarring is minimal considering the extent of the damage. She is 17 now. I understand my husband's fear and, of course, if Dixie goes after the kids she's gone, but I don't want it to,or think, it will escalate to that point. I guess I just want to know if I'm headed in the right direction for correcting this problem. Thanks everyone, I know this is an extremely long post. I wanted to be as detailed as possible to get accurate advice. Thanks again.