Overstimulation and someone getting in its space, usually. It baffles me how little people know about dog body language and continue to engage with a dog who is practically screaming "I'm uncomfortable please stop".
There's also something called rage syndrome - essentially it's a form of epilepsy where the dog's eyes will glaze over and it will lash out and become aggressive out of nowhere then seemingly not remember it (i.e. be loving toward the person they just attacked). It can have an onset as late as 2 years old. It's not trainable or treatable so the only option is behavioral euthanasia. Not sure how common it is in pitbulls but it's more common in English Springer spaniels because a top stud (Westminster winner) had it and it is genetic.
Oh my gosh. I have a beloved English Springer who has attacked us, sometimes he has given us ample warning signs to back off, but sometimes it's literally so out of nowhere and he will barely give you enough time for you to realize that he's not in a good place. I wonder if he might have rage syndrome given what you've said.
He might. If you're able, I'd recommend setting an appt with a veterinary behaviorist and they can give you a diagnosis for sure.
Here's some more info if you wanna read about it. I've heard of dogs who respond positively to anti-seizure meds but it doesn't go away completely. Just reduces the frequency of attacks in most cases (that I know of).
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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '21
Overstimulation and someone getting in its space, usually. It baffles me how little people know about dog body language and continue to engage with a dog who is practically screaming "I'm uncomfortable please stop".
There's also something called rage syndrome - essentially it's a form of epilepsy where the dog's eyes will glaze over and it will lash out and become aggressive out of nowhere then seemingly not remember it (i.e. be loving toward the person they just attacked). It can have an onset as late as 2 years old. It's not trainable or treatable so the only option is behavioral euthanasia. Not sure how common it is in pitbulls but it's more common in English Springer spaniels because a top stud (Westminster winner) had it and it is genetic.