[lawnmunchkin]

Hey there everyone... I'm new around here. I signed up hoping that somewhere here could give me advice.

In July of this past year I took in a rescue dog. She is a chihuahua mix. (I have another dog as well, and cats too) Within a day it was apparent this poor girl had been heavily abused. She is 7-8 years old and came from a shelter in the southern united states. I was told she was an owner surrender.

She often would attack my other dog, and my cats, but never severely, just scratches. Once she realized what she was doing she would stop run away, then come back and give them kisses as if to say "I'm sorry!"

She started getting better, and a few months ago she had to have surgery for the ligaments in her back legs. After that for the next month she started to become more aggressive towards people. One day she bit my face, another day my hand - but I am confident it was because she was in extreme pain from the surgery.

Fast forward to last month, things seemed to be getting a lot better. She hardly ever attacks the dog or the cats anymore. However, now in the last few weeks she has started to revert to the way she was when she first arrived.

When I pet her she often runs and hides under the couch, or she will snap at me. (She is no longer peeing in freight, which is what she used to do)

Often when I talk to her in a soft voice to say hello she runs away and hides under the couch.

I've become wary of petting her belly. Since the day she came to us she has always loved belly rubs, but now if I try to rub her belly she snaps at me and runs away with her tail between her legs.

However, she is now ok with playing with me, which she never was before. She will bring me toys and we play fetch and we play tug and she is a happy girl.

She also will no longer let me put on her sweater to go outside. She jumps around quite happy, but will snap if I try to put on the sweater, which means she has been using the pee pads a lot more than normal, as I won't take her outside in the frigid -15 weather without her boots and sweater. This isn't a problem, it is just another change in behaviour.

Nothing has changed in our behaviour towards her, what would cause her to change her behaviour towards us so drastically?

Thanks in advance!

[scorp11764]

Hello,

I am not the Dog Whisperer by any means but I have had dogs all my life. First, thing that I thought by the cahnges in her behavior to touching, I am wondering if she is in pain. Being a tiny dog and 7/8 years old you never know. As for the aggression, you have to assert your self as pack leader but also not respond to aggressive acts. Any response, even telling her NO is a response. But do alot a reward for good behavior. Use a special treat that she only gets for good behavior. And above all, patience!! God bless her, you dont know what trauma she has been thru. I had a rescue, Skipper and thru love, understanding, praise and patience, I was able to change his behaviors and had him for 14 wonderful years.

I wish I could provide you with more concrete advice. Good Luck and God bless for rescueing!!

Kathie

[lawnmunchkin]

Thank you for your response!

I am pretty sure she isn't in pain. When she had the surgery, and before that, when she was in pain it was obvious. She moved differently, she acted differently, and she would squeal in pain if something hurt. Right after she had the surgery, she had to stay at the vet for a few days for observation. I came to visit her twice a day while she was there, and every time, despite the fact that she was in A LOT of pain she would climb out of the cage into my arms and snuggle with me. When I had to leave, she would cry and it would break my heart.

With my other dog, when he does something wrong we use the phrase "what did you do?" when she has been aggressive towards us/pets I usually use this same phrase. Ideally, I would like it to someday get to the point where she responds the way my other dog does and realize what she did was not right. If I am not allowed to respond to aggressive behaviour, how is she to learn what she is doing is wrong? When she first came to me, and she got into fights with the other animals we gave her time-outs after the fight, and it seemed to work quite well, but now it isn't so much she is being aggressive more in that she seems scared.

One thing I noticed today that I forgot to mention is that if we look at her, and she is in one of these moods she will run and hide under the couch.

Has anyone had experience with this? Before she came to us, I had a lot of different foster dogs, and even with the ones that were obviously abused we never experienced this type of thing.

I just want to help her gain her confidence again, and put us back on the right path to helping her realize that she is 100% part of our family and we love her!