# My Boy Scared Me



## Anitsisqua (Mar 25, 2012)

So I almost didn't say anything on here because this embarrasses me. The fact that this happened/is going on makes me feel like an absolute failure with my dog. It's very discouraging....

Basically, Gabe has seemed to get more anxious. He get aggressive every time someone comes to the apartment. He barks his head off and sounds incredibly ferocious. It was concerning, but I didn't really know what to do about it except lock him up. It's not as though I actually get visitors here... It's always the maintenance man or a delivery, etc.

Well, out of nowhere last week he started having accidents in the apartment, something that hasn't happened in over a year. I was very concerned, so I took him in to a vet up here. She was very nice (turns out she lives in my complex!), but Gabe started out surprisingly anxious. He tried to hide under the chairs, growled at the vet and tech, and generally concerned me with how nervous he seemed. He'd been a little anxious with vets/vet techs before, but it seemed to be worse at the new vet. They muzzled him to be safe, and had me hold his head while the vet examined him. While she examined his hind end, he tried to pull away and started to growl. The muzzle strap slipped over the back of his head as he pulled, and he bit my hand. He bit fairly hard, not enough to break the skin, but it left a mark. I was absolutely shocked. He calmed down quickly when released, and was very affectionate with the vet and tech when they weren't trying to examine him...

I already made an appointment with a behaviorist to discuss these two issues, but I guess I needed to come clean to the community and ask for advice until my appointment.


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## katieliz (Mar 29, 2007)

my sense is that he probably doesn't feel good, on top of maybe not having a really sound temperment from the get-go? not making any excuses for the behavior, but he's clearly afraid, whatever the cause/origin, and you need a really secure basket muzzle for him. i know how you feel (the embarrassment/failure thing), but i don't think what's happening is entirely, or maybe even at all, your fault. now that you know what's happening tho, you've got to protect yourself and any veterinary professionals who work on him. very secure basket muzzle. behaviorist consult is GREAT.


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## Eiros (Jun 30, 2011)

Sorry to hear you're going through this. The behaviorist will help, he might need some extra tlc to gain confidence. Sorry I don't have much to offer but I wanted to show my support


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Does he have something going on in his nether regions? 

He is how old? 3-2-2012 was his birthdate or his gotcha date? 

If it was his birthdate, that makes him 8 months old, which seems to be a pretty common time for people to start feeling overwhelmed by their dog's behaviors. What training have you done with him? 

He sounds fearful and unsocialized. With so little to go on, my feeling is whatever you are doing isn't working, so you might want to go the opposite direction in your training/management approach. If you are doing all +R, then you might want to move toward using corrections, work for privilages, etc. If you are doing strict NILIF and correction based training, you might want to go with fewer corrections, and a more positive set of training games to build confidence, etc. 

Your dog needs to trust that you have things covered. I do not believe in all the alpha baloney out there, Cesar type stuff. But, a dog isn't a good decision maker when it comes to surviving in the people-society. He will make decisions and bad ones if he does not feel he can trust that you are in control of the important stuff. His fearful-aggression is him protecting himself. He should not have to protect himself. He should trust you to protect him. 

I am sorry if this is a bit of rambling. It is not much to go on. I hope the behaviorist that you are consulting will ask and listen and observe what you are doing that is not working, and give you suggestions to follow to help the dog gain the confidence in you that he needs. 

Training classes is something that can be very helpful too. It gets you out with him and gives you things to accomplish and learn together, which should help both of you learn to trust each other by training, following through, rewarding, etc. 

Don't give up, this is the the rocky rapids here, it gets much better.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

The behaviorist is a good idea, some clubs have classes that may help in this area too. How is he with people after the initial meeting at the door? Is he able to calm down and greet anyone? When our girls were younger they would crowd the door, we started leashing them and having them down/stay. After everyone is settled in they could calmly meet the visitor.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

selzer said:


> Does he have something going on in his nether regions?
> 
> He is how old? 3-2-2012 was his birthdate or his gotcha date?
> 
> If it was his birthdate, that makes him 8 months old,


 No, that makes him a year and 8 months old.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Sunflowers said:


> No, that makes him a year and 8 months old.


Uhg! I suppose it does. Late bloomer? Dogs that are a year and a half old are still young and impressionable. They can still mature into and ok dog.


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## rickaz80 (Feb 24, 2008)

First, you are not a failure. Your dog is at a hard age and it sounds like you care very much. Find a good trainer, no hard asses. You don't want to break the dog or yourself. A good trainer will get you outside where things are going on, she will work on building confidence between you and your dog. Put in the homework, it will pay off.


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## Anitsisqua (Mar 25, 2012)

Thank you everyone for your support and advice. This has ME pretty stressed and anxious and I appreciate the positivity and assistance.

You're probably right. I might need to just be generally more affectionate and reassuring. I'll work on that. While I love him like crazy, I have to admit I tend toward not wanting to let him walk all over me and might be a little too hard with him as a result.

He does NOT have anything going on with his nether regions health-wise.

The vet referred me to this behaviorist at the University of Tennessee, and the consult I have scheduled is a 2-hour consult with her and her assistant, who is a trainer. Basically, after this evaluation, this "package" (for lack of a better term) includes the initial evaluation, analysis of corrective approaches and 6 months of follow-ups. The vet said she tends to try to focus more on positive corrections, which is good.

The only time I've had an actual guest, once the barking was over, Gabe greeted her easily enough and they were playing with a ball before you could blink. Other times it's just been the cable guy/maintenance man coming to fix the sink or a pizza/package being delivered, so I wouldn't let him out of his crate/inside from the porch.

I'll see what else might be available out here in the way of trainers/classes as well, and hopefully I'll be able to find something where the timing/cost are able to be made to work.


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