New Aggression Signs ???

[shutterbug0303]

This is about Sahara. We are beginning to see some new signs of aggression!!

Let me start a little further back...When we got Sahara, as most of you know, she had a severe case of mange. She is a super-sick baby and because of this...she mainly made trips to the vet and our house (that's all). Because of this, she didn't end up being socialized nearly enough. Dane's are a "skiddish" breed in general, and they must be well-socialized as pups to be comfortable around strangers. I don't think we had another person in our house when she was with us for the first few months of her life.

She's always been afraid of people, but will just stay back and "shiver". She rarely will let anyone pet her. It is worse on our own property though. She will "handle" people outside of the house...but in our house, she will not.

I don't know what to do with her now. She is beginning to show some aggression signs now. It is mostly with men (remember, we don't have an adult male in the house). When my friend comes over she will cower and not let him touch her, so he ignores her mainly. But the last time he was here...she went after him as soon as he turned his back to her to walk away. Same thing happened tonight with my brothers friend. My mom was sitting right next to her and she was fine, allowing him to pet her and everything...then as soon as he turned around to walk away, she jumped up and lunged toward him, growling and barking.

I'm so upset and sad right now!!! The thought of my precious girl being like this is so frightening! Is it too late?? What should I do?? We don't know many people, and this area is not very pup-friendly, so there is not many places to take her where she can be around people. Of course we have the beach...and a dog park about 45 mins away.

Any info, help, advice...ANYTHING...you can give me would be most appreciated. If I've left anything out, please let me know.

[Shelteez2]

The best advice I can give you is to try and contact a behaviorist. Aggression is not something you want to deal with on your own.
We cannot determine if it is true aggressioin or not without being able to see her.

Until you find a behaviorist you can try desensitizing her. If your friend comes over have him completely ignore her. Every now and then he can toss a really yummy treat in her direction. You don't want him to try and interact with her though. You just want her to learn that men = treats.

Again this would work better if you were working with someone who could guide you and watch her responses.

Good luck I hope everything works out okay.

[carrie]

I totally agree with that advice - this is not something that can be dealt with via the internet.

[GraciesMommy]

Do you have a PetSmart any where close by? I know they do socialization for pups here up to 10 months old..one hour on Saturdays and its free..just a suggestion

[shutterbug0303]

Our closest Petsmart is an hour away...a little to far to go. We do have som local training though. I do think that an actually socialization class is a good start with her, along with talking to our vet/behaviorist. She was much more well-behaved today. Its like she has PMS or something! Some days she's fine, others she's not. Go figure. But she does need to have more obedience and socialization. We're off to the vet this week to talk to him about it.

[Glacier]

Originally posted by shutterbug0303
! Some days she's fine, others she's not.

That line stood out for me. Any chance she's in pain? One of my dogs was showing kinda random aggressive behaviors. Somedays Goldie was as sweet as pie other days she'd try to kill the other dogs, bark at everyone ect. I let it go for awhile as she's a quirky dog with a nasty history. Turns out that Goldie was in pain. If another dog or a person was near her when she moved in a way that hurt, she would lash out at them. She's on a low dose daily pain med now and will be for the rest of her life. She's a much happier dog again!

[bckrazy]

You should search for a good, reputable behaviorist ASAP! They can tell you what kind of aggression you're dealing with, and give good advice on how to treat it. We saw a behaviorist 2 years ago, and it helped us SO much with Gonzo. Just watch out for people who are not license, trained, or seem like they just want money.

Socialize her by desensitizing her to new men in the house. Start very slow, and have her only associate men with positives, getting treats and praise. Take her everywhere you can, bring plenty of treats and ask people to give her a treat and pet her (preferably on the chin). There are a lot of places that dogs are welcome, a lot of hardware stores, cafes or restaurants with tables outside, and pet stores of course. You could also just walk her around your neighborhood and ask your nieghbors to give her treats and praise

[shutterbug0303]

Start very slow, and have her only associate men with positives, getting treats and praise. Take her everywhere you can, bring plenty of treats and ask people to give her a treat and pet her (preferably on the chin).

I think I am going to start taking her out weekly/bi-weekly to our local tourist attraction...its basically a boardwalk with tons of stores. They have a dog bakery there too! I will take a pocket-full of treats and start handing them out to people who want to pet her. I think we will use her kibble since treats tend to be so fattening. The only thing I worry about is she usually will not take treats from strangers. She is just too scared of them I guess. Persistence will pay off though, I'm sure.

About her being in pain. That is a good thought and something we will look into. But do you think she would ever show any signs around us (her family). We never see any strange behavior unless someone from outside of the family is there. We will have the vet give her a good one-over though.