# My handsome boy has issues



## abcwinos (Aug 26, 2007)

My golden boy Harper is 13 months old. We got him as a puppy and tried to do everything right. We took him all different places, park, dog park, pet store etc. He was always a little scared but did okay. Then as he got older we started having more problems. He began barking and growling when people came to the house but was always okay when we went out. Well we had not been anywhere in a while and had to go to the vet for a neuter last week. As soon as we walked in he was backing up barking and growling at people. They ended up muzzling him although I told them he has never tried to bite. I was so sad.  It just did not seem right to have to muzzle a golden. I feel like I must have done something wrong with him as a pup and the vet seems to imply that I had. He is neurotic in other ways too. He eats everything and I mean everything he can get his hands on. No toy lasts more than 30 secs before he is eating it chunk by chunk. He scratches and cleans himself constantly even though I can not figure out why. To put it simply this dog has issues lol. I really want to do my best to help him and I hope its not too late. He is such a sweet loving boy at home with us. Does anyone have any suggestions? BTW I have a 4 year old female that I raised and she is pretty normal lol. We also have a 3 month old pup who is now idolizing Harper, oh no :doh:.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

I'm so sorry you are going through this. I'm hoping some of our breeders and trainers will chime in. My initial thought would be to rule out anything medical... including thyroid. THat can exhibit itself in behavior problems. Once any and everything medical is ruled out, I would consult a trainer/ behaviorist. Harper is very lucky to have you... to help him overcome his issues and become the very best golden he can be. (BTW..... have a full thyroid panel run and remember that even a low normal in a golden is LOW and needs treatment. You may also consider having the bloodwork sent to Dr. Jean Dodds ..... she is the leader in hematology issues and runs hemopet in California. She routinely has blood work sent in to her lab and then she does the interpretation.)


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Welcome to the forum. You'll find a wealth of info here

You need some professionals to give you some answers. Did you tell your vet about all these personality changes? Maybe blood tests are in order to rule out a medical reason.
If it's hormonal, it could take awhile to resolve.
If he has so much fear/anxiety you may need to take a medical and behavior approach.
I'll let the professionals here guide you in that direction.
I empathicize. One of my boys has a couple anxiety issues. I just feel so bad for him because I know he can't help it. I wishyou alot of luck in your journey to better health
for Harper.
Please post pics!!!


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## abcwinos (Aug 26, 2007)

*Pic of my handsome boy*

Here is a pic of Harper taken last week.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

He looks like a healthy happy boy! Hope you get some good advice!


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

Is Harper one of Marley's puppies? He sure is cute! I hope you can solve this issue. One of the trainers might be able to give you good advice.


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## abcwinos (Aug 26, 2007)

No he is unrelated. Why?


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## jnmarr (Mar 7, 2008)

He is very handsome indeed. Welcome! :wavey:

I understand how you feel.. my Rusty also has issues.. I think to a big extent it is the breeding.. 
We had an " incident " at around that age with him, also. They muzzled him to work on a dew claw.. he was in pain and growling. Wound up he had to go in to be sedated because I didn't want them to grind it down and cauterize it while he was being traumatized.. I also had them do all the annuals he was do to have done at that time. He acted weird and even snapped a teen boy after that.. so I sought out a behaviorist. After a month of working with her we began to see improvements. 
If you are interested I can give you a list of good books on the subject.
He had to go to the vet because one of his teeth have the top part turn purple 4 months before he was due for his next set of shots.. I found a wonderful new one that worked with us. She started meeting him outside, slowly made friends with him, etc. I scheduled " play " visits with her. Just 15 minutes and she would actually play with him and feed him cooked liver.. gaining his trust and by the time he was due for the shots he went into the room, with the squeaker ball in his mouth and took it all in stride. 
This will not get better without a lot of work on your part.. but he is sooooo worth it. He is so lucky to have you to help him through this. I will be happy to help any way I can.
Nancy


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

Oh, I read something that confused me. It doesn't matter. I hope you get to the bottom of his issue. My niece has a timid Golden, but he doesn't growl and shows no signs of fear aggression. He doesn't even bark. He just goes and hides until he is comfortable.


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## Thor0918 (Feb 28, 2008)

Maybe he's just becoming a teenager


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

abcwinos said:


> My golden boy Harper is 13 months old. He was always a little scared but did okay. Then as he got older we started having more problems. He began barking and growling when people came to the house but was always okay when we went out. Well we had not been anywhere in a while and had to go to the vet for a neuter last week. As soon as we walked in he was backing up barking and growling at people. They ended up muzzling him although I told them he has never tried to bite.


Sounds like the problem has been there all along. It's quite normal for a fear-aggressive dog to seem "normal" when away from the home, reason being, the dog is out of his comfort zone and doesn't have the confidence to act aggressively. Now that he's older, he's got the confidence to back up his fear with aggression, hence the barking/growling at the vet.

They were right to muzzle him. It keeps them safer and keeps your dog safer as well.

Best advice I can give it to find a GOOD trainer who can help you. I define "good" as someone who isn't just going to try and "correct" the symptoms out of the dog with choke chain corrections, etc. when he growls. Rather, they need to address the fear that's causing him to growl in the first place and *teach* a new coping mechanism so he doesn't feel the need to growl. 

In the meantime, please do not correct him for growling. Remember that it's his way of communicating to you that he's scared. Dogs who are repeatedly "punished' for growling can often learn not to growl... just to suddenly lash out and bite at what scares them!

Sorry you're dealing with this. Please find a good trainer to help you!

Also, never a bad idea to rule out possible medical issue, however it doesn't sound like this is a sudden personality change, which is why medical wasn't my first thought.


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## ScoobyDoo (May 7, 2008)

When he starts to get aggressive just poke him in the side and go..."shhht." Works for the Dog Whisperer. (lol)


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## abcwinos (Aug 26, 2007)

I never said that they should not have muzzled him. I suggested it to the people at the vet because I did not want to have to worry. I just stated that it was sad that it has gotten to that point.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

abcwinos said:


> I never said that they should not have muzzled him. I suggested it to the people at the vet because I did not want to have to worry. I just stated that it was sad that it has gotten to that point.


I wasn't suggesting you said that they *shouldn't* have muzzled him. Just pointing out that, while hard to watch, it was in fact the best decision for all involved.


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