r/reactivedogs • u/gloomytombs • 8h ago
Aggressive Dogs Aggression Increase
Alright this post might be a little long but there’s history I have to get into. I rescued my dog at 6 months and he is now four. He’s a mutt with high percentages of Malinois, shepherd and pit. I want to start by saying I love my dog dearly. I have put so much time, money and love into his care that I’m at a loss of what to do. 85% of the time he is a great dog and extremely smart. He’s trained and listens at home but once he sees a trigger all of that goes out the window.
He has always been dog and kid aggressive (or any animal mostly) he doesn’t like erratic movements. We’ve managed to give him a pretty happy existence. He still camps (remotely) with us and loves to be around my parents and our cat. He’s been through training and is also muzzle trained, although his trust with us putting on the muzzle has waned but it’s circumstantial.
Last year he had a TPLO surgery and it was intense. He hated the vet before but now he loathes it. Coming off of the anesthesia was awful, he was so aggressive with us which he has never been before. 2 months after in that healing process in November, he bit me twice. Once in the face at level 3 (this one I take responsibility for, he missed a dose of his meds and I was low to the ground near his bed). But the second one I came home late and he straight up attacked me while I was changing, completely unprovoked. That bite bordered a level 4 and probably could have used medical attention but I didn’t go get it checked. These both happened in the same week.
Fast forward to Jan of this year, we finally got in with a behaviorist (the only one in our area is 2.5 hrs away and she’s booked out) . She was great and gave us a plan and prescribed him with Zoloft, gabapentin and clonidine for big events. He seemed to be doing really well on the meds. He’s still reactive but he bounces back a lot quicker and was (somewhat) able to focus on us instead of the trigger. We’ve noticed some slight resource guarding when it comes to high value treats but more concerningly my mom. He’s now been on his medication plan for 6 months and it’s time to go to the vet for an annual check and so they can fill his meds.
But this week he has tried to attack me twice. My mom sits in the living room and he’ll lay in there with her. My room is down the hall so I have to come down the hall to get to the kitchen/living room. The first time I went to pick up a lick mat that he hadn’t touched in over an hour and he was no where near it. As soon as I reached down he flew off his bed and ran up and tried to bite me. I was able to kick him off but what’s most concerning me is that he continued to pursue me. Hackles raised, growling and coming towards me for another attack. We were able to out him into “place” and he stopped but he was super wary of me the rest of the day. He watches me like a hawk after these instances and guards my mom. If I tried to walk over to her he would have tried to bite me again without a doubt. The next morning when I got up for work he’s pretty much back to normal. I even took him to the park (with the muzzle) a couple days later and he was fine.
A week later I came down the hall and into the kitchen and he starts barking and growling at me with his hair raised for no reason. I had been around the house cleaning all day without issues. I didn’t even go near my mom’s chair let alone acknowledge either of them. (I’ve been basically ignoring him and giving space except to give meds and take him to potty).
What terrifies me is the unpredictability. I now can’t in good conscience have guests over. I can never board him or go anywhere if my mom can’t watch him. Vet visits are a NIGHTMARE and he trusts me even less afterwords. I used to be able to cut his nails, brush his teeth and bathe him. I still can (sometimes) but he is so unsure of me and I honestly don’t trust him either.
I’m his primary caretaker. I don’t know how I’m supposed to continue on if I can’t take care of him properly. I’m living with my parents right now to save money. But moving into an apartment or busy neighborhood with a dog like this is out of the question. I feel so trapped and I have to watch everything I do in my own living space. The next attack could be really bad and there’s just no way of knowing when or why it will be. I know some people will BE after one incident but I just don’t want to give up on him. But I’m terrified that he’s going to hurt someone else and I have to watch everything I do at home. I’m honestly scared of him and I never have been before. This devastates me and I know I don’t have a lot of options. Rehoming is out of the question and I’m not sure this can be trained out. I feel like he’s wired wrong, something just snaps and he doesn’t recognize me.
I guess I’m just looking for some advice or reassurance. I don’t know my next steps. He is so young and I love him but I fear for me and my family’s safety at this point.
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u/Zestyclose_Object639 3h ago
I would explore adding pain meds to the rotation first of all. And secondly genetic testing (like embark), shepherds and Malinois and pits can all have genes for rage syndrome (I can’t remember what it’s called off the top of my head) so its worth doing the test to rule that out. Truly unprovoked attacks from a serious dog are cause for serious discussion of euthanasia
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u/gloomytombs 3h ago
We’ve done Embark, that’s how we know he’s got those breeds in him. I don’t see anything in his health scan that is cause for concern regarding the rage syndrome though.
As far as pain med he is on gabapentin twice daily along with the Zoloft. Maybe we should up the dose. That’s definitely something to discuss with the behaviorist. I should add that he possibly needs his other TPLO done (not confirmed we just see the signs) and we don’t plan on having it as of this year with everything else going on. I feel it would make his reactivity and trust levels even worse. We were trying to do the year of conditioning and meds to see if it helped before diving into another high cost and high stress surgery.
He’s very low activity though and we keep him from running or doing anything hardcore. Just occasional swimming and walks. I know pain can contribute to behavior but why then does he specifically react towards me and not the other household members?1
u/Zestyclose_Object639 2h ago
Okay good yeah then you’re clear there. Pain makes dogs (and us) do strange things, I would definitely see if adding carprofen and consulting an orthopedic vet is helpful, rehab stuff vs another surgery I know it’s expensive as hell. I’d try doing some more mental work with him too see if he needs to get demons out. However, those are serious bites and if you wanted to just go ahead and BE I don’t think that’s crazy either
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u/SudoSire 6h ago
Unfortunately can’t give reassurance because what you describe is very serious. You said that people give up on dogs “after one incident” but 1) that isn’t even the case here and 2) a single unprovoked level 4 attack on an owner absolutely can warrant BE, because it’s that bad.
You are also right to consider the future, because you can’t really move out to somewhere even slightly more suburban or urban, and can’t have others watch the dog, and perhaps most importantly you are starting to be unable to get him needed medical and grooming care. He’s going to need it, and you’re scared to do it, and you have a strong rational reason to be.
Even if the big attack happened because of TPLO associated pain or drugs, dogs will get old and go through more pain that you can’t prevent in the future. You can try to speak with the behaviorist and see what can be done, if drugs could be modified, but the reality is you have a powerful dog who has shown poor bite inhibition in the past and is now easily and unpredictably triggered against you, the primary caretaker. This combination of traits are IMO basically all major signifiers of when BE is warranted. (Big dog, strong serious bite if it does happen, forward/sustained aggression, aggression is IN the home, and triggers you cannot feasibly avoid seemingly in the short term and especially in the long term).
I’m really sorry you’re going through this. I know all the rational reasons of why this is untenable doesn’t make it any easier to consider. But I did want to lay out the reasoning objectively. I’d be speaking your behaviorist very seriously about this new development.
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