# Aggressive 1 year old



## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

You need to find a certified veterinary behaviorist. 

This is a link to the website: ACVB


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Sorry you are having a hard time. I am curious about some things. How long have you had the dog? How was the dog when you first got her? What signs did you see when you first got her that this might happen? How did you address any nipping while she was a puppy? How much obedience training have you done? What other things trigger this behavior?

I would ask my vet about this, get a checkup. Then get help from a professional.

BTW, your sock example: It sounds like she wants to play, you don't want to play, she is grabbing you by the arm to get you to play but she has not learned bite inhibition. Many dogs will grab clothing, the arm, to pull a person into play. Thor will do this if I am playing with Buffy, he also wants to play. However, he has learned bite inhibition.


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

Your situation sounds both scary and dangerous, and I agree, you need a behavioral vet as soon as possible. Please consult with your local Vet and he or she may be able to contact a specialist on your behalf. I doubt your dog's aggression will improve with dominance-based interventions such as pinning the dog, and you may be at risk of serious injuries. I hope you can get to the root of this behavior and turn things around. Best wishes.


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## murphy1 (Jun 21, 2012)

I hope you don't have any children in the home.


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

I agree with what has been mentioned above. I'd seek out professional help from a board certified veterinary behavioralist right away. I would take my dog to the regular vet to make sure that your pup is healthy. My mom's dog had an undiagnosed UTI which only manifestation was that he became incredibly aggressive, biting and attacking my mom (We're talking puncture wounds that had to be treated with antibiotics). Went away completely after he'd been treated, but then, he'd never had this issue before and was about 8 years old when it happened. 

I'd also have a behavioralist come work with you and the dog in your home. Keep the dog away from children and strangers, to reduce the risk that something could happen to one of them. Same goes for dogs if she has dog aggression. If you have concerns about these things happening, there's no shame in getting a safe muzzle and having her on it during dog walks etc. 

I'd start getting educated about canine body language, so you can start to learn to get a read on your dog--it can help figure out if its fear, overexcitement, etc. 

As you have learned, often these problems do get worse, not better, without focused, targeted, and consistent intervention. So you're doing the right thing by addressing it and not delaying. I'm sorry you are having to go through this, I'm sure its both scary and frustrating.


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## FosterGolden (Mar 10, 2014)

First, find a certified veterinary behaviorist NOT a trainer. Here is a directory: Member Directory « ACVB. They will most likely, as a first step, have you head to the vet for a thorough work-up. Sometimes these types of behaviors can be caused by thyroid issues, among other things. So, get her thyroid tested, but get the full panel, which unfortunately is about $500. 


Have you spoken to the breeder? Perhaps some of her siblings are having the same issue and they have found a solution or the underlying problem, which might help you navigate your action plan with your dog. 


Try to get video of these instances in case you cannot replicate it in front of the behaviorist. 


Good luck!


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

gdgli said:


> Sorry you are having a hard time. I am curious about some things. How long have you had the dog? How was the dog when you first got her? What signs did you see when you first got her that this might happen? How did you address any nipping while she was a puppy? How much obedience training have you done? What other things trigger this behavior?
> 
> I would ask my vet about this, get a checkup. Then get help from a professional.
> 
> BTW, your sock example: It sounds like she wants to play, you don't want to play, she is grabbing you by the arm to get you to play but she has not learned bite inhibition. Many dogs will grab clothing, the arm, to pull a person into play. Thor will do this if I am playing with Buffy, he also wants to play. However, he has learned bite inhibition.


I agree with all of this, and would ask the same questions. How much formal training have you done with your dog, and what did you do to teach bite inhibition?

I used to work in rescue, and we got a lot of dogs that were abandoned aged 6 months to a year with similar "aggressive" behaviour. I adopted one of them: a 6-month-old female Labrador mix. For her previous owner, she'd been a Saturday afternoon impulse purchase from a pet store. She'd never been taught bite inhibition and hadn't been given any structure at all. I chose her because, through all the bad behaviour, you could still see her amazing personality. However, within a couple of days of bringing her home, our hands were bloody and bitten, our sleeves were torn from her attempts to "play", and when confined, she would go into a frenzy of destruction (e.g. she ate large chunks out of our kitchen cabinet doors).

Fast forward a few months. She graduated top of all her obedience classes, learned bite inhibition and developed the gentlest of mouths. I crated her for the first year when she was alone, but for the rest of her life she was loose in the house when we went out and she never did any damage. I did flyball and agility with her, and she became a wonderful family member. We travelled all over North America with her, staying in hotels or on campsites, and she was always a polite and welcome guest. All she needed was training.

You ask what you can do in the meantime, while you're trying to find a trainer. To address her "attacks" when another person enters the house, have you tried teaching an alternative behaviour? If you haven't taught her the basic commands (sit, down, stay), now would be the time to do that. Then place a cushion or dog bed in a corner somewhere, and teach her a "bed" command. Once she can do this, you can send her to her bed when your other family members come home. Don't try to teach this while she's in "attack" mode: you have to teach it separately, and you shouldn't try to use the command in the "attack" situation until you're sure she will obey. That would normally take a few weeks of daily practice and reinforcement, and possibly more. We've done something similar with both our dogs. When someone comes to the door, they bark a bit, then go and sit on the staircase while we let the people in. We don't even have to tell them to do this any more. They know the drill.

I hope you find a good trainer, one who will teach you how to train your dog. 

Best of luck!


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## GoldenPiper1 (Jun 13, 2017)

Thank you to everyone who has responded. She has been to obedience class as a puppy. She knows commands such as sit, down, stay, and go to her crate. She also knows tricks like shake, sit pretty, figure 8, and spin. She is a very smart dog and knows all of her commands very well. The problem is she won’t listen to them when she goes into a frenzy. I took a look at the ACVB site and unfortunately there are none anywhere near my area. I live on Long Island if anyone has any recommendations.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Talk to your regular vet and ask if they can refer you to a behavioral vet somewhere. They may not be close, but they are worth the trip.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

GoldenPiper1 said:


> Some things I have tried are putting her in her crate during her attacks, using a choke collar to put her in a down position, using an air horn.


No offense, but these are the worst things you could be doing with a dog who sounds like she's got a combination of some "excitement disorder" and fear aggression. 

When fear aggressive dogs do something like grabbing at your socks - and anticipate a correction coming, they sometimes act out. It's all about evading punishment. 

The harsher your handling of her - the more you're going to see this type of behavior. 

I would not do anything remotely like pinning your dog - and putting a choke chain on her and dragging her into a down (submissive and vulnerable position) will just INCREASE the snarling, snapping, punishment avoidance behaviors. 

You need to be calm and handle the situation calmly.

The dog as well, probably needs more outlet for her energy when she is that frazzed - and some of this is starting with her playing "inappropriately" and suddenly anticipating a correction, stuffing her in a crate is probably not what I'd want to do. Especially if she's stuffed in there every time she's in trouble. Again, punishment evasion comes to play.

If you have a fenced yard, I'd go outside WITH her, let her run and be a dog. Build a better bond with her. Get her back into obedience classes - preferably do privates with somebody so, among else, you can learn to like your dog again. If she's as neurotic and reactive as she sounds, she's going to need a calm and loving hand + a job. 

Puppy classes are basically nonsensical for the most part. Nobody really trains the dogs in these classes. It's all more a show and tell socialization thing that everyone does with puppies. And tricks are silly. Obedience training should be more about giving your dog REAL JOBS to do. 

Train her to heel on leash, sit without any audible or physical commands from you, stay on command, come on command... go further and get her into upper level obedience, doing jumps and retrieves, scent discrimination, etc. 

Having regular training (that's going to CLASS every single week of her life going forward until she reaches retirement age - and if she takes to obedience work and has no physical issues, you might not even have to retire her) will help steady things in her little life. 

I'm not anti-corrections, fwiw - but the reason why everyone jumps in and recommends a behaviorist is because a lot of the time when dogs act out like this - there's things the owner is doing or not doing which somebody with a good eye is going spot and be able to address, should the owner be willing to make changes. 

Thinking your dog gets "angry" is an example of something that doesn't make sense in the dog world. And somebody worth their salt is going to be able to explain what actually is going on by watching and figuring out your dog. 

I'm not necessarily impressed with degrees and/or people who visit 1-3 times and suddenly everything's supposed to be "fixed". With dogs with anxiety related issues (fear, excitement junk, etc), there's no quick fixes. Easiest way to calm and build confidence in your dog (meaning you yourself learning how to read your dog + your dog not feeling like the world's out to get her) is by making a huge and long (very long) term commitment to dog training.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

FosterGolden said:


> So, get her thyroid tested, but get the full panel, which unfortunately is about $500.


Is that California prices? 

I only pay $75 for the full panel (sent to MSU).


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## GoldenPiper1 (Jun 13, 2017)

Thank you, this is a very helpful response. You made me realize that she does anticipate punishment for acting out. When she starts to act out, she will sometimes run in and out of her pen, all while continuing to bark and bite, because she anticipates me putting her in there. I try to handle these situations calmly and without any sort of punishment, but she just won’t calm down if I try to make her sit or redirect her. Also just wanted to note that I do not “punish” her for anything but when she is attacking me, and I have never punished her for tugging at my socks, only when she escalates to the biting and lunging. I will stop using the choke collar and putting her in her pen as punishment. I have tried redirecting with a treat and rewarding when she sits or goes into a down during her episodes, but am not sure if she could mistake that as me rewarding her aggressive behavior. I’d also like to note that she is very sweet most of the time, and most of her problems stem from what appears to be overexcitement and frustration.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> but she just won’t calm down if I try to make her sit or redirect her.


Then why I suggest taking her outside and throwing tennis balls in the backyard for a while. Let her blow off steam. 

And dog training as well - absolutely recommend making a commitment to giving her a positive JOB to do where she's working her brain and learning control.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

GoldenPiper1 said:


> Thank you, this is a very helpful response. You made me realize that she does anticipate punishment for acting out. When she starts to act out, she will sometimes run in and out of her pen, all while continuing to bark and bite, because she anticipates me putting her in there. I try to handle these situations calmly and without any sort of punishment, but she just won’t calm down if I try to make her sit or redirect her. Also just wanted to note that I do not “punish” her for anything but when she is attacking me, and I have never punished her for tugging at my socks, only when she escalates to the biting and lunging. I will stop using the choke collar and putting her in her pen as punishment. I have tried redirecting with a treat and rewarding when she sits or goes into a down during her episodes, but am not sure if she could mistake that as me rewarding her aggressive behavior. I’d also like to note that she is very sweet most of the time, and most of her problems stem from what appears to be overexcitement and frustration.


Does it seem to happen at the same times of day? Some dogs have a "witching hour" where they are too wound up and hyper, and need to get out and run it off to settle down.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

GoldenPiper1 said:


> Thank you to everyone who has responded. She has been to obedience class as a puppy. She knows commands such as sit, down, stay, and go to her crate. She also knows tricks like shake, sit pretty, figure 8, and spin. She is a very smart dog and knows all of her commands very well. The problem is she won’t listen to them when she goes into a frenzy. I took a look at the ACVB site and unfortunately there are none anywhere near my area. I live on Long Island if anyone has any recommendations.


There a couple of behavior vets in Pennsylvania.


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## Gleepers (Apr 20, 2016)

I’d agree a behaviorist is probably a good idea. They can watch what’s going on and see your response and essentially train you to work with your dog. 

Penny does similar things to me. She gets worked up and goes after my clothes or tries to chew my arms. She just turned 2. For her it’s almost always her way of expressing that she is hungry or that it’s time for a walk. Occasionally she just gets over stimulated or excited and then goes after me or my other dog. Assuming it’s not time for food or walking the quickest way I have to redirect her is working on obedience. She trains with a class twice a month for rally. 
When she goes off I go grab some treats and we spend a solid 5-10 min at least working on heals, and sits and downs and stays and turns. Not just a quick command but a good mini training session.


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## FosterGolden (Mar 10, 2014)

Megora said:


> Is that California prices?
> 
> I only pay $75 for the full panel (sent to MSU).



I'm in Oregon. 


The complete thyroid antibody profile is a couple/few hundred, and added to a full blood panel, and you're looking at around $500. The typical thyroid test add-on is probably the one you are thinking of. Unless, of course, your vet has an "in" or something.  My understanding is that part of the test, I believe the free t4, requires different machinery and/or additional labor. Something about dialysis? It's been a couple years since I went through it with my dog when I started the testing on him that ended up being his recently diagnosed SIBO. In discussing it with others, including my classmate who is a tech at our local specialty vet, it is most definitely correct. However, I recently discovered that some vet clinics are getting the machines in-house, so hopefully that test is less expensive for pet owners in the future.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

FosterGolden said:


> I'm in Oregon.
> 
> 
> The complete thyroid antibody profile is a couple/few hundred, and added to a full blood panel, and you're looking at around $500. The typical thyroid test add-on is probably the one you are thinking of. Unless, of course, your vet has an "in" or something.  My understanding is that part of the test, I believe the free t4, requires different machinery and/or additional labor. Something about dialysis? It's been a couple years since I went through it with my dog when I started the testing on him that ended up being his recently diagnosed SIBO. In discussing it with others, including my classmate who is a tech at our local specialty vet, it is most definitely correct. However, I recently discovered that some vet clinics are getting the machines in-house, so hopefully that test is less expensive for pet owners in the future.


Interesting.....

If I were just doing the basic T4 test - that would be about $50. It costs more for the full panel (including antibodies, etc) costs about $75 (and I thought my vet was over charging me when she kept running the full panel every few weeks when trying to problem solve Jacks non-response to the thyroid supplement he was on).


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## FosterGolden (Mar 10, 2014)

Megora said:


> Interesting.....
> 
> If I were just doing the basic T4 test - that would be about $50. It costs more for the full panel (including antibodies, etc) costs about $75 (and I thought my vet was over charging me when she kept running the full panel every few weeks when trying to problem solve Jacks non-response to the thyroid supplement he was on).



Your vet did not do the same test that mine did. If you look at Dr. Jean Dodds' website and test fees, for example, you'll see that the range is huge. We did the "gold standard" of thyroid tests and it is well-known for both it's accuracy, completeness, as well as cost, which is the differentiator when you are discussing "a thyroid test" vs. "THE thyroid test" amongst people who are well-versed in this stuff. It was not just my vet and I was not overcharged. I talked to several people including vet techs at different clinics as well as friends who have been through it themselves, none of which go to my clinic. 


To the OP, you might want to poke around on this site and read about some of the aggression issues that thyroid problems can cause and see if anything sound familiar. I always like to go to my vet with some information and the more you know, the more questions you can ask. https://drjeandoddspethealthresource.tumblr.com/dodds-thyroid#.WvB98WaWy3A 


I think you've received some good advice, but remember, no one here has seen you or your dog in action and no one here is a vet or a certified veterinary behaviorist. The way you are explaining what is going on sounds like it could be anything from a thyroid issue or other health issue to a training issue. As you know, you cannot train your way out of a health issue, so your best bet getting a full and thorough work-up from your vet. When working at vet clinics I have seen animals change their temperament simply because we worked on their teeth or shaved their fur of mats. Pain itself can cause aggression. Who knows if your pup might have a broken tooth, a UTI, something going on in her joints? I have seen people in competition really work their dogs over on the jumps, getting after them, making them do it over and over and over, and then find out that the dog had shoulder arthritis. Trust me, you don't want to be that person! Or, what if you dog is a little mental? Neurotic? Again, that is something you need to find out before you assume a training issue. I really hope you'll have all of the necessary health tests done before treating this as a training issue. Good luck!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

FosterGolden said:


> Your vet did not do the same test that mine did. If you look at Dr. Jean Dodds' website and test fees, for example, you'll see that the range is huge. We did the "gold standard" of thyroid tests and it is well-known for both it's accuracy, completeness, as well as cost, which is the differentiator when you are discussing "a thyroid test" vs. "THE thyroid test" amongst people who are well-versed in this stuff. It was not just my vet and I was not overcharged. I talked to several people including vet techs at different clinics as well as friends who have been through it themselves, none of which go to my clinic.


I see.... My comment was more along the lines of assuring people that when people tell them to get the thyroid checked and pay for the full panel, they are NOT talking about spending major bucks. 

The T4 test ($50) can typically be done in house at most vets and is not adequate when dx thyroid condition. It's only done when checking levels. 

The full panel ($75-120) has to be done at the start and it gets sent out to places like MSU for the best diagnostics/analysis. 

^^^ With my Jacks, his thyroid at its worst was not responsive to thyroid supplement. Dr. Dodds was very helpful in helping me address various problems and working with my vets.


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