[Thas's Parents]

I got my rescue Shepherd, Thas, two years ago. She was being fostered by one of my closest mates, and because I was seeing her foster a lot, I was seeing Thas a lot. I applied to adopt her, and that's where the story starts.

Thas was estimated to be 12 months old when I got her.

She was the same Thas I remembered from when I'd known her before adopting. She was a friendly, calm, people loving dog who liked nothing more than a slow stroll in the woods.

About 7 months after she came to live with us (me and my long-term boyfriend, Gary) I noticed that the hackles on her shoulders raised whenever she saw another dog. And then the same happened when she saw a child. And then an adult. Then a pram. Then a cat. I had no idea what this meant. I did a google search, but found nothing, and tried to find some books, but nothing that specifically told me about hackles (I occasionally found a book that mentioned hackles, but that was it). Because all she was doing was "puffin' up her fur", I decided to ignore it.

Then it escelated. One day, we were taking a nice walk, and she was sniffing around comfortably (on lead because we were in an area where cars often travel) and another dog came by. Thas looked really briefly, then went back to sniffing, but as soon as the dog was level with us, without warning, she shot her head up and lunged across me at it. When everything had settled again, I tied her to a tree and calle Gary to come and pick us up. We went straight home.

She started getting more and more aggressive toward dogs, seemingly from nowhere. The third time she attacked, she nearly knocked down a little girl. I took her to the vets then, and got some antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. I thought "that must be it!" and calmed down, glad that we'd found the reason for our beloved dogs change in behaviour. The UTI cleared up, but her behaviour didn't.

I started giving her more exercise, taking her cycling with me, swimming with me, getting up earlier to give her longer walks, going to bed later, Gary would come home in the afternoon to play with her, I'd come home an hour after to do a bit of play and training in the back garden, then four hours later Gary would be home from work to do the training, give her a brisk walk and a play, and then I'd come home two hours later so that Gary and I could train her in a joint session. We're still doing it like that.

We had taken her to a young dogs training class when we first got her, and she ddi so well. She made lots of dog friends, and we'd all meet up to go for a walk to an offlead area on a Saturday. She got along so well with other dogs to start with, so I assumed her behaviour was something we were doing. Because of her behaviour, we had to stop taking her to the training class.

When she started growling and lunging at people, Gary and I invested in a behaviourist. And then when we were told that "yes, she has aggression" (the most wasted £80-per-hour ever) we contacted a trainer who offered to come down free of charge for the first hour, and watch us interact with her. We got asked a few questions, like "Had you made any drastic changes in your behaviour when you noticed a problem?) - No. "Was there anything new or different in Thas's living enviroment?" - No. We paid £500 to have the trainer come in and do some work with her for 6 weeks.. At the end of the 6 weeks, we were told that we should consider euthenasia.

We contacted another two trainers and, again, wasted our money, and another behaviourist who was a bit more informatice than the trainers, but still seemed like a waste.

We've been told to put her to sleep over and over again, but can't bear it. We rescued this dog, and don't plan to give up easily. I contacted another trainer, and had him come on a walk with me and Gary. Trainer stood back while I took Thas, and then Gary took Thas for a brisk up and down walk along the trail. When we saw approaching dogs, the trainer took Thas. I was expecting her to act like a totally different dog, like you see on such shows as It's Me or the Dog. But nope. Our Thas was still in there. The trainer hadn't been expecting it at all, and was nearly bowled over.

After 3 hours, the trainer left, and his final sentence regarding Thas was "Some dogs just aren't meant to be pets." But she WAS a pet, once.

It wouldn't be so bad if she showed that she was going to attack, but she doesn't She looks totally calm and content, just walking along next to us. Her hackles don't even go up anymore. But as soon as another dog gets within reach of her, she goes nuts. Even then it doesn't look like she's being aggressive, as weird as that sounds. Being walking passed actually think she's a puppy just wanting to play. We KNOW she isn't, because if she gets to another dog, she doesn't play, she goes straight for the throat.

I don't know what to do.

I've already had the usual in my quest to find help.

-You like that she prefers you.
-You got her as a guard dog.
-You babied her as a pup.
-You baby her now.
-You're not telling the full story.

I can honestly say, no I don't. I hate the fact she growls at my family and that I can't take her anywhere with me without a muzzle. No, I didn't. I got her as a family pet. No, I didn't. I didn't have her as a puppy. The teenage-stage had already been and gone by the time I adopted her, as well. I don't baby her now. List of household rules below. I can't think of anything else to tell.

Some things to note
-She was spayed by the rescue prior to being fostered.
-She was found tied to a bench at 7-ish months old.
-She's a suspected German Shepherd x Belgian Malinois.
-She's never been attacked by a dog (that I know of).
-She passed her Silver leveln (level 2) in our Obedience class prior to the behaviour change.
-She'd been checked thoroughly by the vet, for thyroid problems and such. All came back fine (apart from the UTI the first time.)

A few rules of the house are
-The couch is for people.
-When we sit down to dinner, you go and wait in the kitchen. Nothing mroe off-putting than a dog drooling over mashed potatoes.
-Get on your bed when the doorbell rings.
-Pulling gets you no where.
-Sit before you get put on/off the lead.
-The people choose when the game is over.

[cigwyllt]

Your post is heartbreaking. I wish I had advice for you. The only thing that you haven't mentioned is the use of a muzzle - has that been discussed at all?

I know that some dogs for whatever reason have been so damaged by their past that they are too disturbed to live happily. My sister in law is a very experienced dog owner and for many years has competed in obedience competitions with her border collies. Some years ago rescued an aggressive collie that had been featured on . She did everything she could to give him a good life and so far as obedience was concerned he would compete and succeed at a high level but he was just too aggressive to live in society. The final straw came when he attacked a friend of hers that he had previously ignored for months cutting his thigh through his overalls and trousers. As they were friends no charges were brought but it was the final straw and he had to be PTS. If anything could have been done to save him it would have been done.

I'm not saying that Thas is at that point yet but please don't blame yourselves.

[shelley]

Your story is so sad.
I have found myself in the early stages similar to your story. You seem to have tried everything!! I must admit, If it was me I would prefer to muzzle my dog in public for the rest of thier lives than have them PTS. providing your dog accepts the muzzle?
Have you also tried a haltie instead of a collar and leash when walking? I have rescued some newfoundlands in the past which can be very powerful when disobedient and found the Haltie very responsive.

My girl has a visit to the vets in the morning for a once-over because of her aggression towards her sister but I will not be asking the services of a dog whisperer.

Widhing you the very best.

[lange]

I'm sorry you're having such problems. I would have her thyroid panel done again. This time send them to a Dr. Dodds for results. Here are links you should read:
Article by Dr. Jean Dodds----
HEMOPET.HTM---
and finally: Dr. Jean Dodds - Canine Thyroid Testing | Hemopet.org
From what I've read in the past, Dr Dodds is the expert.

I'm not sure if you're saying that your dog is reactive to everyone, both canine and human? At first it sounds like it's both dogs & people. Then you tend to mention dogs more so. But the reason I ask is because it would be very unique to find a dog reactive to both dog and humans totally out of the blue as you mentioned. Usually there are behavioral/learned issues that create "specific" triggers. Then if it were genetic you would have been given SOME signs of instability even before she turned 18 months old. From what I'm getting none of these things happened. Which then only leaves physiology.

If her aggression really did begin suddenly & unbiasedly I would take a second look at her health. Since you have gone through so many measures you should give it one last go around with a full thyroid panel being done. It makes only sense to go with someone like Dr Dodds who will likely have much more experience in reading the results.

[lange]

I just happened across this article today. Coincidence?...
http://www.hemopet.org/files/0879_001.pdf

[Thas's Parents]

Wow. I just wanted toleave an update, so I'm sorry for brining a thread back to life.

The problem seems to be solved. Wow. I'll give a thorough update when I have time, but I wasn't sure if the thread would be deleted after a certain time. I'll try my hardest to give a real update within the day. Thanks for all the links and support.

I think some of you will be pretty amazed by what caused her aggression/reactivity.

[cigwyllt]

Hey - this isn't an old thread!

It's always good to have a update, especially when things are sounding so positive. I am intrigued now and looking forward to hearing the cause of the trouble and your solution.

[Thas's Parents]

Onward, to the proper update!

Somebody asked us if we had her eyes tested, suggesting she could be partially blind. We decided to do our own little experiment at home. Gary stood at one end of the room, having Thas in the Sit-Wait at the other side. I stood behind thas. Gary got her to look at him, and I put my left hand by her left eye, and got a "oo, what's that? I see you!" sort of reaction. I did the same thing with her right eye, and didn't get a reaction at all until I moved my hand across her muzzle.

T^he next day, we tried it again, but I went to her right eye first. No reason. Left eye, reaction.

So to the vets we went. We chose a new vet, because we just weren't happy with our old one giving us the same "she's aggressive, nothing more nothing less" diagnosis. We were asked to wait in the waiting room, to minimize her bad behaviour (she is aggressive and reactive to both dogs and people, but it's more visible toward dogs). It failed, and we heard multiple barking/growling sessions from the examination room.

Maybe 15 minutes later, out the vet came with a muzzled Thas, and the diagnosis of partial/complete blindness in her right eye. She showed us by covering Thas's left eye, and shining a small torch into her right eye. The fact there was no pupil change (pinprick) suggested she couldn't see light in that eye at all. Alright then! We weren't sure if that would even be a factor in her behaviour, but decided to try something on our next walk.

Instead of staying to the left of the path when a dog is passing, we moved to the right side, so that our body was NOT blocking her from the dog or person. She reacted, but the quick jerk reaction was enough to stop her. We tried next time, and she reacted as the dog was nearly passed her. We backtracked a few times after that, then went forward, and found a way to guarantee mostly positive results.

She's so much better! She still has problems with people approaching her or people in the house, but she now only stares at dogs passing us on walks, unless the dog comes over. Then we try our best to have her sit, so she's easier to control, but we don't expect her to totally ignore dogs just yet.

We've converted her "Heel" command so that she goes to the right of us instead of the left. She can always feel us with her, and doesn't need to see us, but she's a lot better when she can see dogs and people that are coming toward her. She wasn't keen on not being able to see us, but we got her used to it quickly, and her heel is actually a lot better. She's always against our leg now, so that she can feel us constantly there.

We've been talking to a local trainer, who trains "on mass", in a class with other dogs. We're going to arrange to take Thas along with us in the next few weeks. If we can't join in, we'll just stand there and help her get used to dogs passing us.

To celebrate our new girl, we purchased the first identity tag she's had in 13 months. It's a nice purple heart, with two engraved hearts on the "humps" of the tag, and her name, with "good girl" in small text under it. Of course we have our contact details (mobile/cell numbers, Thas's e-mail) on the back, as well. With the image of Thas running off lead firmly in our minds, we're determined to keep up her socialisation and get her used to being around other dogs. We're practicing hard with her recall and "Leave", and both are coming along well.

So to anybody with unexplained aggression in your dog: check for blindness! Although our little home-made test wasn't enough to say "Yep, she's blind, get an eye patch", it was enough to have her sight examined properly.

[cigwyllt]

That makes a lot of sense. My Jack Russell gets very silly when the hair grows too long around his eyes. He is very nervous anyway but when his hair grows long and in poor light he gets very stressed and is likely to react fearfully and aggressively to the silliest things.

I am so glad you have had success with Tha. That is great news.

[lange]

YAY!! It's strange to say but that is great news!! I'm soo glad you didn't listen to the people who told you to put her to sleep. I think too many people automatically dismiss an aggressive dog as being an ingrained behavior. So many times there is a real reason behind it which can be worked on or medically explained. The hardest part is finding the root issue. So glad for you and your baby!!!!! Great job & persistence!!

[Thas's Parents]

Thanks guys. We're all a lt happier. Thas seems to be "smiling" more when we're out. Jowels back, ears back, wiggly wiggly happiness! I was talking with Gary about it over dinner this evening, and he went all teary eyed. He's one of these big, butch, "I'm not afraid to be seen with a Chihuahua" kind of guys. I decided not to persue the conversation, because it looked like he was about to burst into tears, LOL. Happy tears, don't worry.

As we expected, there was a little set back today...I was walking her, with Gary a few feet behind talking on his phone. Across the road, a dog was walking. I got Thas to focus on me, but she'd already seen the dog, and people were approaching us on our side, I got a bit panicky. "OMD, too close to everyone, too close to roads, eek!!!" I had to take a different route down a small public garden and take a breather before going again. More of a "me" set back, but a set back none the less.

I also went along to the Dog Class this evening, Thas staying at home. Gary had gone to cover a colleagues shift, and I decided I had a few minutes to kill, so I called the trainer, and she invited me down, told me I could bring Thas if I liked, and assured me she'd bring her own muzzle. Thas scratched the ~*&# out of her muzzle, and now it just falls off her face. We should probably replace it.

Because of our recent arrangements, we have to walk Thas together or not at all. If I get a bit panicky and can't stop somewhere quiet,. Gary can take her, and vice versa. We unexpectedly had to foster a little Bichon recently, but luckily had a friend experienced with "all things curly" and managed to pick Buster up within a week. Throughout that week, Thas's training went down hill quickly. Buster hated Gary, so we agreed I'd work with buster and Gary, with Thas. Gary got nervous everytime he walked her, and it caused problems with her. While Buster was improving, Thas was declining. Three days into the fostering, Gary was able to take Buster on and I could take Thas. Buster's in his permanent home now, and, as stated in my first Update post, Thas is a lot better.

I'm a very proud hu-mum right now. When Gary gets home, we'll discuss the training class. The trainer wants to meet Thas seperately before she sees her in the class, but said that, no matter how Thas behaved, we'd all be welcome in the class, providing we took proper precautions (i.e: muzzle).

[lange]

That's all uplifting to hear. It's so nice to hear happy news once in awhile. I'm sure Thas will have some setbacks but there's no doubt she is on the right path now. And you being armed and ready! It also sounds like you have a great teammate in Gary. I wish my husband would walk the dogs at least! lol

Keep us updated. I love hearing everyone's stories especially when you start to feel attached & want to know how things are going. Your commitment to Thas is inspiring & your tag to Thas is hillarious too. lol