Help! Suddenly Aggressive Dog

K

kellymac

Forums Novice
Hi. I have a three or four-year-old neutered Sheltie. To make a long story short, he was left with me two years ago when some strangers asked me to dog-sit and never came back for him (they did eventually ask me if I'd like to keep him since they weren't moving back). I believe that he may have previously been abused because when I first got him he was afraid of everything (leaves on the sidewalk, the leash, all new people, etc.).

With regards to the fear, he's gotten a LOT better. However, as he has been getting less fearful, he's been getting more aggressive towards other dogs and people. In the last six months, he's completely changed as a dog. For example, he used to be great towards other dogs and he was gentle with every dog he met. Now, whenever he sees a dog he lunges and starts aggressively barking, and he's even walked up to a dog to sniff him and then suddenly bitten him.

It's the same sort of story with regards to people. He used to never bark, and while he was afraid of people, he would gradually warm up to them and was never fearful aggressive (he just would hide behind me). Now he just flips out randomly. He will chase young kids and nip and bark at them if they are running around. If someone wave their hand at him or makes any sort of motion that he thinks is directed at him, he flips out and will lunge towards them barking. When people come over to the house, he barks when they arrive, then will usually calm down and just want to play, and then will absolutely freaks out when they leave (goes nuts and tries to chase them). He will try to attack people through the windows of my car or my house, and will throw himself against the windows barking and snarling.

I work and go to school full-time, so he usually spends 5-8 hours alone Mon-Fri. We go for walks every day and I throw the frisbee for a half an hour or until he stops bringing it back because he's tired. I'm allowed to take him to work with me, but he randomly lunged at my boss last time he came in (boss came into talk to me and he was fine, boss walks by my office two minutes later and my dog throws himself at the door barking) and now I feel like I can't trust him (plus I don't want to lose my job because of my dog). Likewise, I used to take him around to stores that allowed pets (like pet food stores and plant nurseries and stuff) but again, I feel like I can't trust him with that anymore because of the number of times he's just randomly freaked and tried to attack a person or dog. We are basically no longer doing the things that we used to do together because he continually misbehaves.

Just to clarify, he's been through training (we are not taking classes right now but we were in a Show Novice class in November). He's incredibly obedient when it comes to regular training, and is very attentive towards me. When he does this barking thing, if he's on the leash I give him a correction (yank then release) and say NO, or grab his muzzle and say NO. If I say "No" in any other context (if he's begging or something), he usually immediately drops it. He really wants to please and doesn't misbehave in any other way. He just doesn't seem to care when I correct him for being aggressive.

I'm sorry for the long post, just very upset and frustrated. It's frankly embarrassing because I never thought I'd be the type of person who can't control their dog and that's what's happened with this aggression. Any suggestions or ideas?? A friend suggested that it might be because he thinks he's trying to protect me, so if that sounds right, how do I get him to understand that's not his job?
 
I can't help but wonder, since this is new behavior, that maybe he has developed an eyesight problem. If he is now seeing images blurry, instead of crystal clear, his reaction would be to go into offense mode, barking to keep everything at a distance.
This is, of course, just a thought, but certainly worth looking into. If you decide to get his eyes checked, have it done by a veterinary opthamologist.
 
I'm wondering if he's a very dominant animal who, now that he's gotten his confidence back, is trying to reassert himself.
 
This is really familiar - I'm dealing with something similar with Tully atm.

It's a fearful dog that's developed some 'bravado' with adulthood, not confidence but just the feeling they can deal with this themselves. So the emphasis is on letting the dog know you will still take charge of situations where they are fearful and to build confidence.

First of all I really encourage you to put him in a head collar when you are out. It will give you much better control over his reactivity. I can't tell you how quickly Tully calms down with the head collar or.

You really need to go back to basics in letting him know you will take charge of these situations and that the behaviour is inappropriate. When you are walking if he starts to react turn around and walk in the other direction. Do this everytime he reacts - even the smallest reaction.

I've noticed with Tully she curls her tail over her back when she is in that 'false bravado' frame of mind. As soon as I see that tail curled we stop and work on commands that get her to focus on me and show some self control and I keep doing it until I see the tail drop. Then we continue our walk. We often start our walks by doing some obedience practice so she starts out in the right frame of mind.

I'd encourage you to go back to training. I've noticed Tully has gotten worse since she stopped flyball and agility, so I've put her into an obedience class just so we have some one-on-one time and she has a 'job' to do to rebuild her confidence in a more productive way.

I have found I need to regularly go through period of 'retraining' because I think with a fearful dog they never quite get over the fear and do slip back sometimes. We've been doing the retraining now for a couple of weeks and it's made a big difference to her behaviour already.

With the reactivity indoors - it also sounds like false bravado. He waits to be brave when he knows nothing will harm him. Try keeping him on a lead (or in the head collar if you are at the office or somewhere you can keep tighter control) so you can stop his reaction straight away. As soon as he reacts he goes in the crate or, in Tully's case, on the mat (with a toy or treat as a distraction). Eventually they do learn as soon as the reaction comes they may as well go straight to their crate/mat. I have a friend with a reactive dog who's dog just does one bark and then puts himself in the crate. I must admit Tully is still at the stage when I have to tell her 'on the mat' when she starts, but she doesn't need to be led their now.
 
excellent article you linked. I have to say with brown beady eyes I cant tell dilated pupils and the muscles I cant see under the fur.
I am still working on this body language thing but with a body of fur and being new to a dog is a bit harder.
 
*Caro said:
This is really familiar - I'm dealing with something similar with Tully atm.

It's a fearful dog that's developed some 'bravado' with adulthood, not confidence but just the feeling they can deal with this themselves. So the emphasis is on letting the dog know you will still take charge of situations where they are fearful and to build confidence.

First of all I really encourage you to put him in a head collar when you are out. It will give you much better control over his reactivity. I can't tell you how quickly Tully calms down with the head collar or.

You really need to go back to basics in letting him know you will take charge of these situations and that the behaviour is inappropriate. When you are walking if he starts to react turn around and walk in the other direction. Do this everytime he reacts - even the smallest reaction.

I've noticed with Tully she curls her tail over her back when she is in that 'false bravado' frame of mind. As soon as I see that tail curled we stop and work on commands that get her to focus on me and show some self control and I keep doing it until I see the tail drop. Then we continue our walk. We often start our walks by doing some obedience practice so she starts out in the right frame of mind.

I'd encourage you to go back to training. I've noticed Tully has gotten worse since she stopped flyball and agility, so I've put her into an obedience class just so we have some one-on-one time and she has a 'job' to do to rebuild her confidence in a more productive way.

I have found I need to regularly go through period of 'retraining' because I think with a fearful dog they never quite get over the fear and do slip back sometimes. We've been doing the retraining now for a couple of weeks and it's made a big difference to her behaviour already.

With the reactivity indoors - it also sounds like false bravado. He waits to be brave when he knows nothing will harm him. Try keeping him on a lead (or in the head collar if you are at the office or somewhere you can keep tighter control) so you can stop his reaction straight away. As soon as he reacts he goes in the crate or, in Tully's case, on the mat (with a toy or treat as a distraction). Eventually they do learn as soon as the reaction comes they may as well go straight to their crate/mat. I have a friend with a reactive dog who's dog just does one bark and then puts himself in the crate. I must admit Tully is still at the stage when I have to tell her 'on the mat' when she starts, but she doesn't need to be led their now.
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I'd definitely go see a vet to rule out any physical problems just to be on the safe side.

I echo what Caro said, I have a sheltie that does the same thing because she's insecure. The way she carries on barking, growling and lunging you wouldn't think she was insecure, but I've had her since she was a pup and she had an accident a few years ago that left her disabled, so I know her well and understand where the behavior is coming from.

Sadie is still insecure about strange people staring into her eyes, but using a gentle leader and the techniques that Caro outlined, 95% of the time Sadie doesn't bark, lunge or carry on anymore. I no longer have to use the gl with her and can break her fixated stare (similar to Tully's tail curl) that always leads to one of her episodes, on the rare occasion when it still happens.
 
If this is a sudden change, I'm with the others who suggested a check up with the vet. I'd suggest you have the thyroid checked as well as the other things suggested here.

I know when my dog's thyroid was off he was very grumpy. He wasn't aggressive but his patience with other dogs and people was definitely lower than it was at other times in his life. (He'd usually try to avoid the annoyance before snapping at it.)

I hope you find out what's wrong with him.
 
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