Let Sleeping Dogs Lie??

Sharon, what a great example of how your own positive changes really helped Ari! Yeah!

 Is there any way you can take a video of your dog reacting this way (while keeping yourself safe, of course)? I think it will be very hard for even a vet to diagnose anything (much harder for people over the internet!) without having actually seeing what's going on.

No matter what the cause of the problems, though, reacting aggressively towards your dog will only make things worse. If it is a neurological problem, clearly getting mad about it is pretty unkind. If it's fear OR resource guarding, reacting negatively will only make the dog more fearful or feel more like she really needs to guard against you, because you're scary.

The best move is to prevent the situation in the first place - pick up the bones like you'd talked about, get the dog checked out by a vet, etc. But if your efforts don't work and the dog does react, instead of reacting at the dog yourself, re-direct the behavior by asking your dog to do something else. Like "go to your pillow" or "sit" or "high five" or basically anything else to get the dog focused on doing what you ask instead of focusing on the aggressive behavior. The key is to do this in a normal or happy voice, or else the dog will still think it's in "conflict mode" and will be unlikely to listen to you.

I think all of us are offering suggestions based on what we've experienced with our own dogs - pretty typical human nature, especially on the internet - but not necessarily applicable to your individual situation. None of us can really give good advice because we're not there with you, seeing what is happening. I do strongly recommend a vet checkup, and if health issues are ruled out, a consult with a good dog behaviorist. I would really hate to hear about someone in your house getting bitten, when it could have been prevented if you had a better idea what was going on with your dog! I know when my dog started exhibiting borderline aggressive behavior I waited far too long to get a pro trainer in to work with us, and I really, really regret it. My dog is doing a lot better now, but if we had had help earlier, I wouldn't have had to "un-train" him nearly as much.

Best wishes to you and your dog!

jgln

I think if I email you on this network your emails will come to my work email and I don't want that. I would need to be on my home computer. What I can tell you now is what vet we use if that helps. We really just go here due to the location to home. I will check with my wife on when her next checkup is scheduled for. She takes her to the vet not me because of my work hours.

 http://www.swedesboroah.com/

Swedsboro Animal Hospital (NJ)

 

It sounds as though they refer their behavior/neurology cases out, but they can still do some preliminary tests and a clinical exam.  My sense is that if your dog is reacting to TV, that you need to mention that, as it's a common thing for dogs with seizure activity to be triggered by TV.  As to the behavior in other places, that is a bit confounding, since it seems to happen around resources, such as sleeping areas, or bones.  Some dogs will "freeze" to warn you off, and it might appear to the uninitiated as a glassy eyed appearance or as "whale eye" - either of which can seem neurological yet not be.  It's also possible that your dog has seizure activity *and* is still a resource guarder - resource guarding tends to escalate the more the dog is pressed or tested.  If I am working with a resource guarder I tend *not* to let the dog just lay around wherever it wants chewing on bones.  The bones are mine, and the only way the dog gets to chew one is if I'm holding the other end.  When I want to take my bone back, I just give the dog a piece of chicken in trade.  But, at least I am not prying the bone out of the dog's mouth, risking being bitten.  The next thing I do is put the dog on a "learn to earn" program.  I feed the dog for doing "work" - in other words, no bowl feeding.  I give the kibbles out by hand in exchange for the dog doing known behaviors (sit, down, stay, spin, whatever the dog knows).   That way, I become very important, and not just an impediment that the dog wishes to chase away from his food - rather, I am the provider of the food, so he wants me to stay;-)

I use Jean Donaldson's book "Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs" as a preventive training strategy for all dogs, and you might find it useful remedially for your dog.

I know very little about behavior issues with dogs but when I read your first few posts the first things that came to mind was sight problems after waking up and when Meg was mentioning about seizures it all made sense!  He responds when you speak to him by going around and licking your hand!  Kinda like he snaps out of it. 

Interesting. 

 Definitely wouldn't get rid of the dog. I don't find it too strange that she might react like that when startled.

For everybody's well being my suggestion would be to designate her sleeping place where she wouldn't be disturbed, and insist that she uses that. It can be close, but out of the way, so she wouldn't get startled when somebody is moving around. This will do two things, give her some extra quiet and also teach her that she does not own the place.

I would do more work on rules and boundaries, some things that I would not allow. Doesn't really matter what you pick. No sleeping on furniture, no going upstairs ... whatever it is.

Throw NILIF into the mix. The issue might be a combination of being startled and territorial of her spot. 

There is a lot of things you can do, but I would definitely start by designating a sleeping place for her and not let her settle under the table if that is where she reacts this way.