Renfrew woman needed tetanus jab after rescue dog bit her

Karen Scott has been left tortured by the decision to give up her mixed German Shepard, BB, after his aggression issues spiralled out of control.

The 29-year-old saved the two-year-old dog with husband Duncan Scott, 30, after spotting him in an animal shelter group on Facebook.

The pair were thrilled to bring him home in Renfrew last June, but were shocked to see his behaviour grow more unpredictable and dangerous.

BB had a troubled start to life

This included BB biting Karen’s thumb when she tried to bring him inside from the garden, which left a small scar and required a tetanus shot for protection.

Karen told the Glasgow Times: “I took his collar one day to bring him in from the rain but he freaked out and bit my thumb breaking the skin. It left a deep tooth mark on the back of my hand.

“I think he realised what he had done because he was sheepish after it. I just dried him off and told him it would be okay.

“We loved him too much to give him up even after that.

“I had a big scratch at the top of my arm and was bruised as well. I went to my GP the next day for a tetanus jag.

“I have a scar now from where the tooth went in on the bone at the bottom of my knuckle. It was swollen for about eight weeks.”

BB bit Karen

BB struggled with suddenly lunging at people in an aggressive manner, meaning the couple had to ban guests from their home and had to reconsider if they wanted to have children.

Karen believes BB was badly abused as a puppy in Romania, making it hard for him to trust people, especially men, and resulted in issues with neck sensitivity after being chained up.

Despite his behaviour issues, the family remained determined to keep BB and even spent thousands of pounds on dog training sessions to help him.

Sadly, after it failed to get his behaviour under control the pair made the heart-breaking decision to surrender him back to the shelter, a year after adopting him.

Karen and Duncan made the choice to give BB back

Karen said: “BB was the most beautiful dog ever. We loved having him so much, but his aggression became far too much.

“Our house feels so empty without him and if we thought there was anyway to keep him we would have, but it was just one step forward and 15 steps back.

“He was perfect in the house with us but hated other people. He would bark and lunge at everyone including young kids when we went for walks.

“We spent around £2000 on training for him which we were happy to do if it would work long-term but we couldn’t get his behaviour under control.”

Distraught Karen “crumbled” when she had to hand BB over and was thankful the troubled dog “didn’t look back at her”.

She travelled to England with her mother and was left heartbroken after delivering him to the shelter.

BB struggled with aggression

Karen said: “The rescue we got him from told us we could return BB to a kennel which was a five-hour drive away. Duncan couldn’t face handing him over, so I went with my mum.

“It was awful. I couldn't speak because I was crying so much when the kennel took him away. I just crumbled and my mum held me up.

“I told him I was sorry and stood and watched while he was taken into the kennel. I am just glad he didn’t look back at me.”

Now Karen believes they were “out their depths” with BB, but doesn’t regret welcoming him into her home for just over a year.

She and Duncan have decided not to get another dog for now and are urging others to make sure they are prepared before adopting a pet.

Karen said: “We didn’t go into dog rescue totally naively. We knew there would be behaviour issues, we didn’t expect to adopt this perfect well-rounded dog.

“We were just too out of our depths I can admit that, but we gave BB a really good home and lots of love for the 14 months we had him.

“I don’t regret getting BB. We totally fell in love with him because he was brilliant, but we just weren’t the right home for him.

“I would just warn other people to be very cautious when rescuing and understand the sacrifices that it might mean.”