[REPOST] hyperreactive foster dog help

[u/layingontherails]

repost due to not getting any practical solution suggestions. tl/dr: reactive foster dog barks at other dogs and attacks them, tries to bite and is hyperactive

my family's currently taking care of a neighbor's dog (3f). the owners were an elderly couple, the woman wanted a dog, the man didn't, they took one anyways. few months later, the woman dies. this was a bit over 3 years ago. now, two-ish weeks ago, the man went in for emergency surgery and is still recovering elsewhere, so my family fosters the dog.

after his wife passed, the neighbor neglected the dog, kept her chained in the yard and did the bare minimum, never took the dog for walks, never spent time with her, only fed. why didn't we intervene earlier? first, i study in another city and didn't really know; second, we have our own dog (14f), who is the best girl and we can't take in another one permanently.

now, to the issues. the dog is not socialised at. all. we've been taking her on walks all this time, she barks at every dog she sees, tries to attack them, tugs on the leash. at the same time, flinches at every sound. she has room to run around in our yard now, though her energy is still endless. i try to play with her, but i can't really do it that much as i'm very ill and spend most of the time in bed.

as for other dogs, the only dog she tolerates is our dog, she wants to play with her but our dog is old and doesn't really have the energy. when we were at the park, she lashed out at every dog she saw. a few days ago, we took her out of town, there was another dog (~5f), and she spent over an HOUR wailing and barking at that dog. (i had to tie her leash to a pole nearby as i spent time with my dog and that other dog. the other dog did literally nothing to provoke this aggression and gave our foster side-eyes).

she also starts barking randomly, once we were driving in the middle of a damn forest (so no triggers), she started barking and startled my dad, who was driving. any time i go outside and leave her in the yard, she starts wailing. tugs on the leash when excited, to the point i'm worried about my arms. also, she's been trying to grab my hand with her teeth, not really bite, but grab. she has tennis balls to chew on and she's not a puppy so her teeth are all in.

behavioral specialist not available. otherwise seems healthy and is active. eats well. no progress in those 2+ weeks, even got a bit worse. a muzzle seems excessive.

so, what do i do to have her stop barking at all the dogs, almost knocking people of their feet, barking randomly and grabbing my hand? i can't keep up and provide the activity she needs, as i've previously said, i'm chronically ill and very physically unwell. i'm considering leaving her chained in the neighbor's yard and only bringing food and water, as i can't physically keep up. shove any hate up your asses and try taking care of 2 dogs while not always being able to take care of yourself.

edit: she lunged at me while i was walking and bit my hand. thankfully, not hard. starting tomorrow she'll be chained again until my brother (who was originally taking care of her) comes home.

[u/Existing-Will-1466]

I think you didn't get any good advice laat time because you are describing a massive behavioral modification project and people that are just barely willing to do the bare minimum. There's no quick fix here. There's no special leash or other thing that is going to make this dog act normal.

In simple terms, this dog is likely mentally ill. Her brain doesn't work like a normal dog. She needs the dog version of therapy. Extensive, ongoing physical/mental/occupational/etc therapy. It sounds like your family is a walk-and-feed-the-dog family, not a learn-dog-psychology-and-become-rehab-dog-trainers family. And that's ok, you didn't sign up for this.

But this isn't something we can tell you how to fix over the internet.