# Dog aggression after heat cycle?



## hazmat

So Zelda and I made it across the Pacific and are getting our schedules right for being back in America. We have been here for about a month now. Recently (about 2 months ago) she started her heat cycle. Before her heat, she was a very friendly pup. We could pass by other dogs walking on the road and while she didn't always listen to me, she never attacked them. If we were doing heeling exercises then we would pass by and she would be okay with that. If we were just doing a fun walk to sniff all the things, she would be allowed to sniff the other dog and it always led to a play session where they would run and chase for a bit before I tested her recall and she came back so we could go home. 
When she went into her cycle, I decided to stop the playing so that I could ensure that she would be safe from any intact males. I kept taking her on walks and she would get upset with any dog passing by. Snapping, bearing teeth and growls were just some of the behaviours she started displaying with dogs that she previously was playing with. I chalked it up to the heat and decided to start trying to be on the other side of the street if I saw a dog coming. She was never like this even with new dogs that she encountered.

Now it's been almost two months. We are in a different environment now where many dogs are off leash and hiking with their handlers. I was hoping she could be with me on the trails or swimming in the lakes and having fun but this aggression hasn't gone away. She tried to attack a 10 week old puppy as well when we decided to try some obedience/socialization training in a store. I'm torn but a trainer came up to me after the incident and said that he does training with E-collars and he could get that behavior to stop immediately. I don't want to resort to an e-collar but I fear for my dog's life that if she ever got away from me or from a petsitter and killed another animal, they would put her down. 

If I would have had her spayed, would this behavior have happened? It was like a light switch that overnight, she just flipped and decided that there were a few dogs she liked and wanted to mate with and all other dogs were going to die. I can't help but think that I could have avoided this if I had her spayed but I tried to follow what most people recommended and not spay her til she was done growing. 

Any advice would be appreciated. I really was hoping that we could be out and about but now I just don't trust her to be out with me hiking when there are so many dogs out that are not leashed and she would try to kill all of them.


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## Muskeg

I'm actually dealing with a bit of this right now in my 2 year old. It's not so much a switch, but for the first time I'm seeing some conflict with the other female in the home. Ugh. I'd actually recommend spaying her and also working with a trainer.

Anytime I've had conflicts in my pack, it has been around heat cycles.


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## Mary Beth

This article by Cesar Millan has some insight and suggestions:

https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-behavior/aggression/heat-and-aggression


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## middleofnowhere

With the timing of this (and experience with one of my intact females), I'm thinking perhaps false pregnancy. I have a female that in her fourth year, developed intense false pregnancies (earlier, mild ones with light lactation) and during these she would act as though no other dog belonged on the face of the earth. If it's false pregnancy, training is not going to correct the behavior. Spaying the animal will.


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## tim_s_adams

OP, from reading your previous posts, it doesn't sound to me like this dog reactivity came out of the blue in connection to your dog's heat...unless she was actually in heat at 9 months, which would have been about 3-4 months ago. It sounds more like it's been a sort of linear progression for some time.

It also sounds like you're experiencing a perfect storm of variables currently with your move and new environment and the heat all at once! You also mentioned that because of the heat you stopped letting her meet other dogs while out walking. Not unreasonable, but that change in behavior on your part could definitely have contributed to her reactivity due to barrier frustration! Given all these changes in both of your lives recently, it might be difficult to pinpoint "the" cause. 

I have a friend who's dog recently finished her second heat, though, just as she reached 2 yrs of age, and she became somewhat more aggressive. Whether it was her heat, or her age, or a combination of both who knows. But the dog can no longer be trusted to play nicely with other dogs. So it does happen.

In any event, I suggest you do due diligence before hiring any trainer who claims they can stop this behavior immediately with an e-collar. Be very clear on the methods used, and talk to numerous previous clients, those with GSDs in particular! I know a number of people who have used a large franchise training center this past year, who's training methodology is entirely e-collar based. Without exception not a single GSD owner was happy with the outcome, most spent months getting their dogs over residual, and undesirable, effects of the training they received there! One made a surprise visit to the facility during her board-and-train, and was so upset at what she saw she took her dog home with her right then! In contrast, most all of the owners of other breeds were happy with the training. Just know what you're signing your dog up for in advance would be my advice!


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## wolfy dog

Hormones do weird things. They are very unpredictable as we all know.... I had a Malinois who turned into a vicious b**** during her first heat and attacked our small male dog that she lived with peacefully before. So I had her spayed for that very reason. The result was that she was OK with our small dog but immediately after spaying became very DA to other dogs, male or female, didn't matter. You never how it works until after the surgery. I was not as good in training back then so maybe I could have helped her better than I did.


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