Fear Aggression
Our lab of 16 years passed away this past January. The first of August we adopted a roughly 2 year old lab mix from a rescue organazation. We know she was from a divorce couple and neither wanted her....
Forum Discussion
One of our Aussies, Bandit, was so hyperactive that our trusted vet referred us to a vet, Dr. J, who had a PhD in animal behavior. We have had working Aussies over 35 years, so we are used to their normal level of hyper and all of our Aussies work herding our flock of sheep. So this was not a little case of Aussie hyper, but a dog that was diagnosed clincially hyperactive.
As Dr. Doug states animal behavior specialists can develop a program that combines medication and behavior modification. Behavior modification is not a quick process. Bear was weaned off medication as the process continued after about 6 months while the behavioral modification continued another 6 mos. Bear went on to earn both ASCA and AKC herding titles, but the one I was most proud of was when he earned his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) title.
When one of my "trialing friends" had a dog that had fear aggression issues, I recommended Dr. J to him. Again it required months and months of work, but he swears that Dr. J saved the dog's life as left untreated he would have surely seriously bit someone.
Each dog is an individual and outcomes may differ, but I personally I would highly recommend you have your dog evaluated by a specialist. Most dog bites are a result of fear aggression so it is a very serious issue. Click here for more info on animal behaviorists.
FYI - we are familiar and have used basket muzzles especially if we are trying to treat a wounded dog (rams can get rough). It is a tool, but it needs to be managed and used appropriately. The dog needs to be conditioned to accept the muzzle. With a fearful dog, it may increase the dog's anxiety and do more harm than good.
As Dr. Doug states animal behavior specialists can develop a program that combines medication and behavior modification. Behavior modification is not a quick process. Bear was weaned off medication as the process continued after about 6 months while the behavioral modification continued another 6 mos. Bear went on to earn both ASCA and AKC herding titles, but the one I was most proud of was when he earned his CGC (Canine Good Citizen) title.
When one of my "trialing friends" had a dog that had fear aggression issues, I recommended Dr. J to him. Again it required months and months of work, but he swears that Dr. J saved the dog's life as left untreated he would have surely seriously bit someone.
Each dog is an individual and outcomes may differ, but I personally I would highly recommend you have your dog evaluated by a specialist. Most dog bites are a result of fear aggression so it is a very serious issue. Click here for more info on animal behaviorists.
FYI - we are familiar and have used basket muzzles especially if we are trying to treat a wounded dog (rams can get rough). It is a tool, but it needs to be managed and used appropriately. The dog needs to be conditioned to accept the muzzle. With a fearful dog, it may increase the dog's anxiety and do more harm than good.
