# Sweet girl is aggressive



## Retrievermum (Nov 2, 2019)

I have a very sweet female Golden. She is a happy girl, easy going, low energy, loving. She loves her brothers (one big retriever dog and one little toy dog). Generally she gets on really well with them. 

Every now and then she gets scary aggression. My big boy is the softest dog ever and let’s her take anything of his if she wants it but the little one often will not just let her. He learnt a lesson not to touch her foot bowl but she also sometimes attacks him over a dropped treat she perceives as hers. Usually it’s posturing but she has also broken his skin once where there was a little blood. He was ok and after calming down they were friends again. 

The other time she does this is when I take her out alone and when we return home she will go after my big boy and belt him up and I pull her off him. He is a complete sweetheart and doesn’t understand why his best buddy does this. Neither do I. I’m scared of taking her out alone for this reason. 

I’m just wondering if anyone has experienced this sort of thing with their Golden? She is fine with other dogs and loves kids. She’s timid around other adults. She came from a good breeder and hasn’t had anything bad happen to her. 

I sometimes think she’s mad that she had to go out without him and felt unsafe without him as she is timid on walks without him. 

I have a vet appointment booked in a few days. I understand I should have her thyroid checked? Is there anything else I can do? 

Thanks.


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## Ivyacres (Jun 3, 2011)

No real experience with this but hope other members add their advice.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Welcome to the forum.

How old is your girl? Good you are having her thyroid checked, I would also have a general wellness check done at the same time to rule out any other medical problem. 

Once you have any medical problems that may show up taken care of, you may want to have a trainer come to your house to help. 

Good luck, hope you keep us posted how things are going.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

OK, I have some experience with this. My English Springer Spaniel was my older dog and Buffy was my pup. Buffy was SO BAD...She was constantly attacking Aster, pulling at his legs, leaping at him, mounting him, growling, etc. My friend was an excellent behaviorist. I had her come over the house to see this. To quote: "This is not play. Buffy is an alpha bitch. You need to step in to fix this, they expect it from you". Well I took her advice, I stepped in and would not allow this display. On a follow up visit my friend told me that I had done an excellent job.

Good luck!


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

We have a wonderful forum member who goes by "Sweet Girl" and she's not aggressive at all!! LOLOL


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

hotel4dogs said:


> We have a wonderful forum member who goes by "Sweet Girl" and she's not aggressive at all!! LOLOL


Ha! I did a double take  Then I remembered other people besides us might use this term too :grin2:

I'm with Gdigli on this one, I would keep her on leash after returning from a walk and go through some obedience work, simple commands, to remind her who is really in charge and if she gets nasty, you have the leash to control and correct her with a leash pop to get her attention and a stern voice. 

Do you practice obedience with her on a regular basis? Things like down/stay, place/wait etc.? I'd keep up with that and try to keep a strict eye on her. Drawing blood is certainly not ok. 

If you find that you're struggling after working with Gdigli's idea, I'd do some research on having someone with big dog behavioral experience come help you in person. There is nothing like help in person from someone who is experienced and can come watch the dynamics in person. We are a good place to get new ideas, but serious help should always be in person. Fingers crossed that keeping a stronger boundaries in place will be the trick.


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## Retrievermum (Nov 2, 2019)

Thanks everyone. Ha I didn't realise about sweet girl. My girl really is the sweetest girl but just sometimes gets so nasty to her brothers. 

She is 3. I'd say she is that alpha female bitch. She hasn't been desexed yet. When it first started with a bit of possessiveness over her bowl I thought it was because she was on heat and the new dog who was an adult had tried to take from it with her right there (the boys are both fixed). She never drew blood back then. It only happened a couple times in the first couple years and she never attacked my bigger retriever back then who she was raised with from a puppy. 

Moving onto this year she started doing the attack or going to attack when I got home from a walk with just her. My retriever boy would hide under the table and she'd try to go for him. I didn't let her actually attack him again in that scenario but she tries really hard to every time and he gets terrified. They are best of friends usually. 

The only other time she attacked him was when he was trying to get her to play by barking at her in a playful bark and she suddenly just jumped him and full on attacked him (not at all play fighting, full on aggressive attack) but drew no blood. 

After this happens she will leave it for a bit but then later on lick their faces and be all sweet to them. 

The little one's recent attack has got me more worried because she did draw blood. If I hadn't been there I would hate to know what might have happened. She wasn't giving up and he's very small.

She has no symptoms of any illness but I'll still get her checked. She did have a littermate who had a brain tumour but I don't know if they are genetic? It really worries me.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

I think you need a certified veterinary behaviorist. This is a complicated problem, and I worry it will get worse.


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## Retrievermum (Nov 2, 2019)

The attacks are so random. They come out of nowhere and aren't often at all. She does have the thing though when she comes home from walks on her own with me. I've stopped doing it because it's scary. 

I think that's what I'm going to work on the most because I know when that's going to happen. As for the rest, she's no longer going to get her special treat in the evening along with the others after it caused her to attack the little one when she dropped some and he went for it. She didn't posture or growl or give any warning, just went for him with full force. It was relatively easy to pull her off him though, thankfully. 

She doesn't respond to learning tricks. She can only do a couple things and refuses to learn more. I try but she just keeps doing the ones she does know. But I'll keep trying to engage her mentally and make her work more for things, I forget what that training is called where they have to work for something rather than just given. 

Will talk to the vet about it too. Get her thyroid levels checked. I'll look for a behaviourist too. She's such a good easy going girl except for this thing which is really scary. The boys shouldn't have to be in fear of her and be so confused by her being their best friend and then attack them randomly. I know that it's probably not really random and something sets her off but it appears that way. She doesn't know how to growl, she never has. I wish she would do that instead for some warning.


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## pawsnpaca (Nov 11, 2014)

I agree with getting the dog's thyroid levels checked. And you may want to talk to your vet about sending the blood sample to HemoPet for testing, as this company (which is owned by Jean Dodds, one of the foremost thyroid researcher for dogs) will do a more comprehensive test than is done by the typical vet's office and may catch issues that may be missed otherwise. I have had two Goldens which tested positive for hypothyroidism and always had my tests sent to HemoPet (I usually had my vet pull and prep the samples and then mailed them to HemoPet myself). There is an order form on their site which gives a list of available tests and specifics about blood sample prep, how to ship, cost of the test (usually cheaper than the vet), etc. I THINK you'll need the Thyroid 5, but I'd call or email them to confirm (they're really good about responding).

In the meantime, I suggest Googling "Dodds Thyroid symptoms" to find some good articles and interviews on the subject.

This may NOT be your dog's issue, but to be honest, you kind of WANT it to be, since it is a pretty easy fix. Otherwise, yes, you need to rule out other illnesses or injuries and get a professional behaviorist involved.


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## Retrievermum (Nov 2, 2019)

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I am certain it's my own fault for spoiling her and then an adopted small adult dog who has some small dog syndrome came into the mix just after her first birthday. Before that she was a sweetheart and I'd never seen any aggression whatsoever in her. I miss that happy dog. She isn't unhappy but I think she is stressed. It's been two years now of living with the little dog. 

I had a breakthrough yesterday with her. Decided to get a clicker and do some training. She can do a few things really well but I've never been able to get her to learn new more advanced tricks. Yesterday though with the clicker training she learnt one new thing and I think the mental exercise helped her. Will be doing that now every day. No more spoiling her either, which is really hard because she is so used to it and gives me that look. 

Vet appointment tomorrow and hopefully work out if there is anything medical that needs to be attended to. Still looking into the behaviourist too but will talk to the vet tomorrow about it. 

Thanks everyone.


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