I’m so conflicted
Hopefully no one from my shelter sees this, but I have a problem with this dog at a shelter I volunteer at and I don’t know how to feel. This boy is called a Lab on the website, but after being around him in person, I’m pretty sure he’s a pittie or at least has some pit in him. He has the same stocky build and the same head shape. Now, there are other pits at the shelter that I LOVE. I get along with all of them except for this boy. And it’s not his fault. He came from a terribly abusive home and has a deep distrust of humans as a result. He’s the sweetest boy when he’s around someone that he’s known for a very long time, and he actually gets along great with other dogs. But to people he’s known only a few months, he thinks they’re a threat. And I do believe he wants to kill. He has to be kept in his own room at the shelter because if he sees someone he’s known a few months, he goes berserk. He starts barking, growling, and lunging against the cage, and he can even move it several feet. There have been times when I’m walking a dog there at the shelter and he’ll see me from across the street and try lunging at me. But the cherry on top came last week…I was walking another dog in a grassy field where, unbeknownst to me, another volunteer had this dog. The volunteer wasn’t holding on to the leash and was on her phone when this dog and I entered the field. As soon as he saw me, this dog stood up and started sprinting toward me. The dog I was walking got in front of me and started barking, which dissuaded the pit/Lab long enough for the volunteer to get up, grab the pit/Lab’s leash, pull him back, and scream for me to run. Which I did. I was shaking for a long time afterwards. That dog had spit flying from his mouth and even when the other volunteer was pulling him back, he was trying to go for my throat.
So I guess I’m trying to say this: I DONT think this dog is evil and I feel terrible that life has been so cruel to him. But I don’t think that he should be alive. He distrusts everyone but a small handful of people and (although not his fault) can be dangerous out in public. But I feel terrible for saying that. Am I wrong?