Medical Aggression in Dogs

Medical Aggression

In Dogs

I have an 8 year old basset hound. I have been struggling over the last few month whether I should have her put to sleep or not. Over the last year her behavior has really changed. She has become more aggressive. She has attacked my husband 13 times, and we have yet to figure out why she would want to bite him. The attacks are not light. She gets vicious when she bites him. She has also lost her training. She will now do things she knows she is not supposed to do and has not done since she was a puppy, like taking our food off the table. She has also lost all bladder function. She will mess in her bed, on the floor where she is lying down. She will also pee or poop when she knows she has done something wrong. She gets confused and disoriented, she has a hard time finding her bed. The Vet has given her a check up and physically she is healthy. I am just concerned about her mental state. Is she to young to put to sleep? Should I even consider putting her to sleep? My husband and I have tried so many thing, it seems that we are running out of options.

A recent situation has unfortunately led me to your site in search of help. I have a male Kuvasz who just turned 9 years in December 2004. I got him from one of the top breeders in the country for NO COST when he was 18 months old. I wasn't looking for such a dog but he was not "show worthy" supposedly due to thyroid problems (hair loss) and worn spots on his elbows so the breeders were looking for a home. This is not something they were pursuing but a mutual friend knew of the dog and the rest was history. Most of the other adult dogs at the kennel were wanting to rip me to shreds from behind the fence but my guy was as docile as could be. I never really gave it much thought as to why he was so gentle. In the next seven years, we lived by ourselves with not many problems. He got to know my Dad, some friends, and some other relatives in my house without a problem, or so I thought.

One evening he bit (nipped) my neighbor while we were walking from the living room to the kitchen. She moved abruptly and the dog got her on the rear. It startled everybody including the dog and I didn't know what to think. He was protecting me right? Now I know this was not the case.
This bite happened about 2 years after I had the dog and I didn't know about fear biting at that time but it sounds like this is what it was.

For a while after I had the dog, I noticed how much of a scared pooch he was. A light coming on in a room would send him to the corner. A loud bang sent him to the basement. Carrying a large unknown object through the living room caused him to bolt in whatever direction got him out of the room the quickest. Over time things became less severe but he has always been timid and scared of otherwise normal things.

One of the conditions of the the exchange of the dog was that if I could no longer keep him or had difficulty with him, I could bring him back to the breeder since they were the "Experts". I found myself working long hours and I was often gone for 12-16 hours per day. I thought this was really affecting the dog. For his benefit I was willing to return him to the breeder and go on without him. When I made initial contact with them, I was met by a wall of blame whereby I was blamed for "making the dog's world smaller" because I didn't take him everywhere I went in the car, introduce him to many more people and a host of other things. I was pissed and determined not to let them have the last word. I just broke off contact and decided to deal with it myself.

For the next few years, life went on and things got a bit better. I never had any biting problems at the vet, the groomer, and at the park.

He was still timid but I thought he was making progress. Lately, I met my wife to be and she and the dog became best buddies. The rest is history. She ended up taking him to live at her house since she's home most of the day. Things were really looking better until she got into a shouting match with her teenage daughter one day. The dog bit the daughter and still 2 months later, he makes menacing growls at the sound of her name. This all happened after a good relationship of 6 months with both teenage kids. This was the beginning of the end because he has since bitten others. The last and final straw, he bit my fiancé with her back to him with his jaws fully extended. If I had been there I would have beaten him senseless.

Well, once again, I've contacted the breeder with this story and once again it's ALL my fault. This time, I've exposed him to too many people and overwhelming situations without the "tools" to deal with it. After getting pissed again, even though they're willing to take him back, I won't give them the satisfaction. We called a local animal rescue contact to see what prospects existed to get him placed. He was more than blunt at the prospects. If returned to the breeder, he gave us the opinion that the dog would be either kenneled and isolated for the rest of his life, put down (not likely due to the ego), or maybe placed in another home. This was the first time I had heard of fear biting and it's all.

Starting to make sense. I've had plain old regular dogs all my life and never had any trouble. After researching the topic these past few days, I realize that I've failed this dog miserably. Although it's through ignorance mostly, I didn't think to research the behavior of this dog. We're now faced with what to do. The thing I fear is that we'll have to put him down and that makes me very sad and at the same time very ANGRY.

If it has to happen that way, it should be with his family. What I want to ask you as a professional, how could the breeders not have known this dog was a ticking bomb? They gave away a $1500.00 dog! I can see that they opted to give him away because he was a liability to their heralded reputation rather than an asset. Is there anything worse than having a fear biter in the line? Being the "Experts" that they portray themselves to be, they should have known this and said," he's a fear biter and needs special handling”. To that I would have either said, "no way Jose" or taken the chance knowing at least what I was signing on to do. I would appreciate your opinion on this matter and wonder if there's any chance to rehabilitate this dog. The bottom line is that I cannot put anybody else needlessly at risk. Thank you.

I was reading on your Problems Site and noticed you only had dogs in heat problems. I thought I would share this story with you in case you decided to post it for information.

I had a Red Heeler X Border Collie who was the smartest dog I had ever seen. We bonded when I was 12 and we spent every waking second together. I trained her to dress up and fetch and attack on command. I also taught her agility. I taught her all of these on hand commands too, in case I didn't feel like speaking to her. I was 12.

When I got married, Chewie was almost 7 years old. My husband had a dog the same age. They bonded instantly and my husband's dog was the tattler. When Chewie would try and climb out of the kennel (which had a wired kennel top, she stuck her paws through the chain links and untwisted the wires and then pulled the wire down and hopped out, I'd seen her do it a number of times!!!) Adam's dog would bark relentlessly. So we knew something was wrong and would get Chewie safely back in. I'm trying to make a point that they were best friends. They loved each other, but Chewie was always my girl. My special girl, whom I loved so much.

Well, after 4 years of them loving each other and being friends (both spayed and nice), I woke up one morning (late October of 2005) and Kalley's face was practically gone. Her eye was not there and the right side of her face was in shreds. Chewie was covered in blood. I rushed Kalley to the vet where I paid several hundred dollars to put Kall through surgery and literally reconstruct her face.

During the same week, it happened again, just not so severe. I usually let them run around during the day and they would hang out in our yard (we live on 2 acres set away from everybody in the mountains so I never worried about them running off and it never happened) and kennel them at night because of cougars. I started letting them take turns sleeping inside at night so they were seperated. They started fighting during the day. Chewie ripping Kalley apart relentlessly. I talked to my vet and couldn't figure out why she was doing this. He said to destroy her. It's only going to get worse. I knew my dog and knew there had to be a reason.

I took her to a good vet 200 miles from my house and it cost me several hundred dollars to find out my dog had cancer. She was becoming aggressive because she was sick. Not just aggressive, but evil. Nasty. Not to me or my husband, but to his dog. Not any of my cats, just Kall. She was diagnosed with serious liver problems in the second week of November and by Christmas she was dead. There was nothing I could do. If I had discovered it earlier, maybe she would have lived.

My point is, some dogs change when they get sick. Chewie was so sweet and loved Kalley for 4 years with out ever even growling at her. Then, within 2 weeks, she was dead.

Now I still have Kalley but she is not the same dog she used to be. I don't think she will live through this winter because she is depressed that Chewie is gone. I've spent the last few months trying to get her to get over her grief, but she just lays on the porch and wont go for rides with me anymore in my truck. I miss Chewie so much, but I don't know how to help Kalley. I have taken her to the vet and as a last resort we're going to have to put her on anti-depressants. I just don't know what else to do.

Make sure if your dogs suddenly get aggressive, take them to the vet and check them for everything. If I had done that in the beginning, I could've put Chewie through Chemo or something. Then maybe I would still have both of them, instead of just a depressed dog who could care less if a bad guy breaks in.

Sorry this was so long, you can edit it if you want. I hope this can help and maybe save another dog's life someday.

I love your Website and love your Dumb & Dumber Site!!! My husband and I laugh at those all of the time. Please don't put me there, even though I deserve it for the death of my dog, Chewie.

9-12-1994 until 12-21-2005
I miss you, girl
Chewie Chew-Dog

ADAM CLEVELAND

When purchasing any product from Leerburg Enterprises, Inc. it is understood that any and all products sold by Leerburg Enterprises, Inc. are sold in Dunn County Wisconsin, USA. Any and all legal action taken against Leerburg Enterprises, Inc. concerning the purchase or use of these products must take place in Dunn County, Wisconsin. If customers do not agree with this policy they should not purchase Leerburg Ent. Inc. products.

Dog Training is never without risk of injury. Do not use any of the products sold by Leerburg Enterprises, Inc. without consulting a local professional. The training methods shown in the Leerburg Ent. Inc. DVD’s are meant to be used with a local instructor or trainer. Leerburg Enterprises, Inc. cannot be held responsible for accidents or injuries to humans and/or animals.

Copyright 2008 Leerburg® Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. US Copyright Link. By accessing any information within Leerburg.com, you agree to abide by the Leerburg.com Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.



Raising Puppies	Training DVDs	Training Equipment	New Products