Serious aggression issue? (kind of long)

[pharmdoc]

Sorry this is long, but this is a serious issue that we need input about.

My husband and I own a 9 month old brindle boxer, Brock. We also have a 2 year old Fawn boxer, Arwen and a 1 1/2 year old Westie, Conan. Since Brock was a puppy he was always very affectionate and got along great with the other two dogs. We would occasionally take him to the pet store and dog park. Brock would occasionally rough house with Arwen, but nothing that we were concerned about. Brock has been great when family and friends come over. We were actually quite surprised at how calm and sweet he was around people compared to Arwen. He would sniff and investigate people that would come into our house, but then would just walk away with no problems. At times we noticed that he would growl and bark at our neighbors house when going outside to use the bathroom, but nothing serious.

We recently had a serious incident with Brock. There were a couple of times when our neighbors were outside in their backyard and Brock would start barking and growling. Our neighbor mentioned that Brock scared her, which concerned us quite a bit. We had her come over one day while Brock was outside so he could get her scent and see if that would calm his fears. The neighbor became afraid and began to run away, Brock managed to get out of his leash and bite her on the back of the leg, breaking skin. This obviously caused a lot of problems in our neighborhood, which has made us get Brock neutered, start personal training, and build a very expensive privacy fence. We were blessed that the neighbor did not want to file a complaint with the animal control. We took Brock over to a professional dog trainers' house. The trainer was sitting in the driveway and while we were walking up the drive Brock became almost uncontrollable. He began ferociously barking and growling at the trainer. We had NEVER seen this side of him before. It was extremely frightening. To make a long story short, we spent 4 hours with the trainer. She showed us how to "hand feed" Brock and to establish eye contact with him. She really did not give us any hope or reassurance that this behavior can be corrected. She mentioned mental illness and food allergy as possibilities.

The problem is that Brock acts like two different dogs. Brock is very sweet and docile at home and is not hyperactive or aggressive with us or our friends and family that come over. But as soon as he goes outside, he seems to turn into a different dog. Do we need to find another trainer? Has anyone else had these types of issues? We love our dog dearly and want to do whats best for him and our neighbors.

 

[tastubbs]

You are not alone. Is Brock being protective of you, your children or other dogs? I have one that is overly so, bit the first trainer, and I have had to work with him a lot with obedience training and socialization - in and outside my home. I suggest trying another trainer and to do the training in a neutral area (not your home or theirs). Not all "trainers' know what they are doing, I have learned. I hope you get some good advice here. Good luck and be prepared for a lot of work.

 

[ehayes21]

My first stop would be to a vet, have a full work up done, thyroid panel, etc. Sudden aggression is often a symptom that something medical is going on. If all that checks out, my second guess is that he's going through his second fear imprint period and is reacting more out of fear than out of true aggression, but regardless the fact that he actually bit your neighbor is concerning. Instead of consulting a trainer, I would actually start looking for a behaviorist or behavior consultant to help you. Here are a couple links:

Int. Assoc. of Animal Behavior Consultants
Directory of Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists — Animal Behavior Society: Applied Animal Behavior

Until you can get some help, I would up your in-house training and definitely avoid any potentially overwhelming circumstances you cannot personally oversee - meeting new people, don't let him off leash, avoid confrontation, etc. This second fear period sometimes requires more patience than anything, this includes you not reacting or correcting him, just go on about business as usual and don't force him into situations where you can tell he's already reactive, i.e. don't repeat what you tried to do with your neighbor. I am not trying to make you feel bad by saying this, I think you meant well - but this was probably the worst thing you could have done. The fact that he was able to take care of the situation on his own by chasing and biting your neighbor has already reinforced this behavior. Since it's worked once, he's more than likely to try it again. That's why I urge to consult a behavioral professional.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[johann]

Definitely get a full thryoid panel done, not just the T4 that your vet will offer. Insist on the full one thru MSU or Hemapet to check TgAA and look for thyroiditis.

Johann suddenly started being very aggressive at around 19 months old. His was mostly directed towards other dogs...but he had started to growl/lunge and try to snap at people too. He actually bit our vet when she was drawing blood to check his thryoid.....very out of character for our vet-loving boxer. His levels showed thyroiditis and the beginnings of hypothyroidism. After 2 days of medication, he was back to being super wiggly and friendly with strangers at Petsmart, on walks, the vet, etc.

Also find a good behaviorist to help you with him.