TLDR: See titleFull story: In February we started looking to adopt a large dog as a family pet and a celebration of my mom beating cancer. This would be our first dog but my mom in particular loves to research so we had a great base of information to start with. It took weeks of driving from shelter to shelter to find the right dog because we kept repeating "We want to find THE dog not just A dog." Finally we met Rascal, a ~6yo hound mix. He was amazing meeting us and seemed nervous but happy as we got him home. He would be living with my mom who works odd hospital shifts (sometimes overnight), my dad the houseparent, and myself a young adult also home more often than not. That means that 60% of the time there is two people home to care for him, otherwise we are all home. The longest we'd be out is dinner and a movie every once and a while. Also note everyone was on board and thrilled to be getting him home so we all approached Rascal with lots of love.On to our situation. Rascal when we first got him home was nervous but we got him acclimated pretty well within two weeks. He needed some better walking habits and to learn some commands (wait being the biggest one) but all that training was going pretty well. We suspect he was abused in his old home by the male there. Rascal has flinched away from my dad but almost always he comes back wagging his tail and recognizes his reaction wasn't necessary. But at about three weeks it was clear he got along amazingly with my mom, somewhat well with me, but actively distrusted my dad. It started slowly with Rascal mopeing when mom wasn't home, but we played with him to show him we wanted to bond with him. As more time went on Rascal would shirk away from pets from dad, even refusing a strip of bacon from him. He actively refuses to walk with dad, won't respond to affection, commands, or food. Their play time has gotten to the point where dad feels unsafe because Rascal quickly gets worked up and tries to snap at dad's hands. Just this weekend dad was getting a ball that was stuck under the couch, where he needed to lie on the floor to get to it. Rascal was hovering but then suddenly lunged at dad making a serious growl. Now I am well versed in dog behavior and body language but I have zero idea what happened here. This pattern of growing distrust has spread to me too - I was arguably the main person training him and we got along very well, but now he refuses to listen to my commands on walks, he leaves when I touch him. Dad and I are Rascal's primary 'resource' people since we are always here for walks, food, and play - and we are happy to give these to him. We desperately want a bond with him. He is now refusing these regularly from both of us. But through all this Rascal's bond with my mom has just gotten better. His eyes shine when he looks at her and he follows her loyally but almost clingy. When I see the two of them together its clear he can be a great dog but he just seems to hate 2/3 of us.As you can imagine this is incredibly stressful at this point. Mom adores him and for a while didn't fully see the situation. Dad is pretty uncomfortable and resentful even saying he wished we kept driving past the shelter the day we got him. I've been trying to mediate between all of us, but even though I'm so sad to say it I don't think its fair to Rascal to be in a house with people he just doesn't like. We have tried pretty much everything we have found online. Note that we don't expect instant results and have tried our best to be patient with him. Here is a list of stuff we have done:-Simply normal activity where we aren't pushy but don't ignore Rascal-Try starting play times and engage if Rascal seems ok with it-Basic trick training to build trust-Scent games-Fun 'adventures' to dog parks or places we don't usually walk-Leave Rascal be and only engage when he initiates it (this just leads to sad days on the couch)Also some more points that didn't fit well above:-Rascal is fine with other men, in our house, walking, we even visited another house for an evening, even those with beards and glasses like my dad-Rascal is also fine with young women (like myself) as several of my friends have been over-He also is dog-socially awkward and doesn't seem to know how to play with other dogsAny and all help, insight, or questions is very welcome. Its near midnight locally so I'll likely reply tomorrow. :) edit-formatting via /r/dogs http://ift.tt/2rKHfEe
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