How do you stop a dog from bitting only certain people ?

I have an aulstraion sheapard she is 7 years old. When she was small she was abused very badly by my husband who is now deased she also watched my now brother inlaw beat my other dog to death, She is only mean sometimes I love her very much.What can i do please help.

You dog is trying to protect herself. If you are still around these abusers, you don't need to be. A dog does not deserve to be abused for any reason. And because she has been abused, she is going to look at any new person as an abuser until proven otherwise. Dogs are very trustworthy until someone messes with them. They do not ever forget.

you keep the bad people away,
or put a muzzle on her, or put her in a
room,so she cant get to him.
good luck

you will always have to watch her. Why would she trust people that beat the **** out of her? If she is nice to you then I would just make her your dog, and i guess socializing her more and more with people will help. She will always have it in the back of her head since she was brought up around horrible people. I have a couple of dogs i will let go one on one with your brother in law.

Smack it, she'll eventually learn.

I think you should call animal control on your brother inlaw

I would seek professional help-- for your dog and your brother-in-law, if possible. (No disrespect, but your BIL has major anger issues if he beat a dog to death.)

As for your dog, if you can't afford a behavioral trainer, love her lots, treat her well (I'm sure you do already) and in a situation where she thinks she needs to protect you and/ or herself, then show her you're the boss. (That part will be easier with the help of a pro). Don't teach her to bite anyone, not even certain individuals. She doesn't need to be confused further.

Sorry to hear about your dogs, particularly as two men in your family are to blame. Are there any nice men you know who could spend a little time with her? She might benefit from meeting kind humans.

I agree with the other posters (well, most of them) - the problem lies with the people. It would be best for you to seek the help of a behaviorist. Dogs do not want to be aggressive towards people. You can teach her to tolerate people again - but you need to learn more about what to do.
http://www.iaabc.org
to find a behaviorist
and reading material:
http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?I...

Seems you both need some counseling

Take the dog and get the hell out of there....seriously that is some F'd up stuff.