I had a lovely dog who developed essentially canine dementia. She had never even nipped before but suddenly after she hit 14 she would have episodes of extreme aggression with no discernible triggers. I had to completely separate her from our other dogs and she couldn’t visit with guests because she was just too unpredictable. It was devastating to have a dog go from being the best friend you could ask for, to you being afraid to get your face within bite range in case she loses it. The worst part was that you could tell during her more coherent moments that she missed our old cuddly interactions but we just couldn’t risk it. It was horrible.
Same. My dog just passed away two weeks ago, and the last 4 months were just like you described. He was such a beautiful boy but then near the end of his life😭😭 the unpredictable behavior caused fear of cuddling with him... he hated that, and so did I.
I had one who did that. For no reason. You'd be petting her then she attack you. She was 14 plus years old. got so I had a choice sedate her or put her down. She broke skin on my husband when he walked near her. I could not see her being sedated the rest of her life, so we choose to put her down. Seh may have been older than that, we got her at the pound. Hardest thing I ever did. I became afraid of her. She would just go into total attack mold no reason. She was physically fine, vet thought maybe she had a stroke, or dementia. I could not keep her secured from everybody and other animals in the home. She attacked them too. I felt it was no life for her. Prayers for you.
I fostered a dog that was returned because of biting. The dog also had seizures. Despite my decade of experience and a very structured and safe environment, she turned on me twice. I definitely said I could see it was a “turn” and something was seriously wrong with her. The rescue would not hear what I was saying and wanted me to still adopt her out to regular families. It created so much tension that I ended up parting ways with them. I just felt it was so incredibly irresponsible. It was so sad and disturbing.
Yeah I hear you! We must come to a point where it’s accepted that some dogs has a “ screw loose” and no matter all your efforts, they will turn on you, fast and unexpected ! It’s awful if rescues blames that on the fosters as they could let a dog be adopted that could turn on a child in a NY minute
From. The facts you presented you did the right thing you can't take a chance with people safety especially children a dog like that needs to be put down or shot if needed you can't put up with a uncontrolled biting dog period especially if he's big and can really hurt you or even kill you I you got to be willing to dispatch it if necessary
There is no reason should be a case of “shot or put down”. Just taking the health of the dog seriously and not giving it up for adoption to an unsuspecting family should be the right action.
I’ve had dogs all my life. One was a Pit/Akita rescue that was a real handful. He was great with me and the rest of my household but I never trusted him around strangers, especially adolescent males. And when the trainer mentioned in the vid the change in an animals eyes before they attack, he is spot on. I’d always watch my dog’s eyes when we were around other people and I’d see when he “went somewhere else”, and it would happen fast and I’d immediately remove him from the situation. First rescue. Last rescue. I put more work into that dog than any other I’ve had (under the direction of the behavioralist the rescue referred me too, and although he was great with his immediate family he was too traumatized by his early life to ever properly adjust to dealing with strangers (and to him that was almost everyone other than his household). Regardless of his challenges he was a good friend and I miss him.
I just went through this with a rescue that had been badly abused as a puppy and had some neurological issues. We tried for three years to learn his triggers and "fix" his aggression but in the end, it got worse and unpredictable despite attempts at training and long-term medications. In the last few months he tried to bite my wife and the vet and did bite me recently. Something was different in his eyes, we both saw it. At times he looked confused, lost. It was like a light switch - a sweetheart 99.9% of the time or the .1% viciousness that just came out. Our vet said he never had a chance at a normal life given his neurological issues. Like you, I miss him greatly and am angry that this perfectly healthy (physically) dog was incapable of being mentally normal. At least he had three good, loving years with us but I couldn't risk him killing our other dog or hurting other people after his aggression got unpredictable.
I’m a lifelong dog owner. German shepherds are my breed. Love their intelligence and loyalty. They were/are all very well loved. Active parts of the family. Only once did I have a close call of being bit. Was midday and Nikki just layed down on the couch. I was getting ready to take him for a walk- which he absolutely lived for. Well apparently in that short time he was on the couch he must’ve drifted off into sleep. Probably dreaming about a fine girl dog. Lol. Not knowing he was asleep, i surprised grabbed him (a common play technique I’ve used a hundred times before to initiate play). He jumped up like never before and like this guy said- you can see it in the eyes. Never before seen those eyes and never since. It took maybe 5 seconds for those eyes to slowly dissolve into his normal self. Then after the eyes were gone , knowing my dog I could see he was just pissed, but he was present again. I profusely apologized and we never had a problem ever again. He was in his prime and 120 lbs. wouldn’t have been pretty. But it wasn’t him with those eyes- was sheer instinct. Taught me a very powerful lesson that day
I have a vicious German shepherd at the moment, and frankly don't know what to do anymore. He is 5 years old, and during the last year he bit my son, and after a few months he bit me. We both had to get stitches, the wounds were deep! According to the vet he must be put down, but we really love him. He is the 3rd German shepherd I've had in my live, but the first to show this kind of aggression. Someone told me that maybe he was not bred to be a family dog, rather a tactical dog. It is a very sad situation.
My dog and I were attacked by a German shepherd. I was the one that ended up with 6 stiches in my leg. The Dr. Said it looked like a shark bit about 6" long and it was concave. It took about a year to get my feeling back in my foot.
I have a Corso and you definitely need to respect the breed with these types of fierce breeds: their instinct in fight or flight situations is gonna be fight. Aggression, emotion and dominance by the owner is a really bad pattern to become a habit: best to treat them like the little soldiers they are and your relationship with your dog and your command will thrive.
I LOVE that Beckman has the perspective of a father of young children too. Because there's a broader sense of protection and understanding. Really appreciate that and I can't stress how considerate that is.
I love his show and thisjust summarizes and lays out all of the basic methods he uses on the show. What i love about this guide th-cam.com/users/postUgkxKkYeOoCV_w2vPX0CSyVWkhew2c4FYk0d is that you don' need to read the whole book cover to cover ... You can skip to the chapter (lesson) you want to read about. The book is arranged almost as a problem-solving guide ... Here is the problem and here is what you need to know/do to correct it. This man knows his stuff ... But more importantly knows how to teach people how they can work with their pups themselves!
My dog had a bacterial infection on her face and it also got to her brain. It took almost four years to heal after her treatments. It was so bad at times that I didn’t even know her and she hardly recognized our family or us. She’s my girl again and is nine years old and getting older.
High emotional drive in combination with high intensity/high energy is a very bad combination in anyone, man or animal. It causes instability, upset/rage, sudden reactions "out of the blue," unpredictability, danger, what can be termed domestic violence. It can be caused by a brain injury or condition that has gone undetected.
I totally understand where you're coming from @dee, I believe that the stronger the bond between a dog and it's owner is the key to a dog's heart and soul, and when a dog lets you in, only then can you (really talk with dogs).🐶👍😁✌🇬🇧❤
@@tiptip9495 even people with mental illness don't know there about to have an incident.. you can't predict when its going to happen.. and there sure is no way your going to sense it coming lol.. If only mental illness was that considerate that it gave you a warning xD
Yes , if you are in tune with your dog, you should know their body language and their attitude / feelings. Like when your dog has an ear infection, you can tell your dog has an ear infection because of the shaking of the head, the head tilting, the stinkiness of the ear, or an odor coming from your dog. So you can tell that your dog is not feeling well.
My first dog was an English Springer Spaniel. She showed “Springer Rage” 3 times during her life. I was horrified when I found out from the breeder that my dog’s mother showed similar behaviour, but was still used for breeding, because she was a good show dog! I was only able to control these situations because I’d spent the first two years of her life training her to a very high standard. She was always so unhappy afterwards, knowing something was wrong, but not knowing why. On another occasion, we had a friend with a lovely Golden Retriever who was also well trained, then after a few years she suddenly started showing aggression. In the end they had to put her down, but they asked the vet to do an autopsy which revealed a brain tumour, which of course explained the aggression. As you mentioned Joel in your video.
When I was a child, we also had a springer who had Springer Rage. He'd just be sitting with us, then his eyes would glaze over and he'd snap. My dad took him to be put down after he sunk teeth into my little sister. Yes, it is from inbreeding and keeping mentally ill lines around because they're pretty. My husband and I now only adopt from shelters. Mixed breed dogs tend to be healthier overall.
Same with my dog . What o found weird was he bit everyone but me . talk to vet said it had springer rage . He wanted to put him on Prozac!! I said no way!!! But what was weird was he got his rabies shots all the years he bit. Three years in a row I did not get him his shots and in those three years he didn’t bite anyone! Hmm
@@butterfly23faith84 That’s extraordinarily risky to not vaccinate because if it HAD even nipped someone during this time, that’s a mandatory euthanasia where I live so they can examine the brain for rabies. The owner can also be brought up on criminal charges.
I am so glad you actually talked about mental illness in dogs. It exists and I have worked with and have done rescue with dogs since 1988. I myself have rescued a few dogs with mental illness. Only one resulted in aggressive behavior, but I have seen it over the years in other dogs I have worked with or been around. This topic needs more focus. Spaniel rage is a real thing, I actually had read a book written by a Dr. who treated dogs with different mental issues (using medications) and he discusses Springer or Spaniel Rage. His theory is that is was more of a type of seizure like occurrence in the brain that caused the outbursts. Because he had mentioned that after the episodes the dogs would blank or zone out mentally for a while, like some do after a seizure. I'm glad to see you mention this. I hope you touch on this topic in future videos.
I know about springer rage due to a friend buying one of those. It would attack my German wire hair pointer‘s and get beat up bad. I finally said don’t bring that dog hunting I don’t want it around. I don’t like hunting my pointers with flushers anyway. That dog had to be sedated while still in a crate before a vet could even get close to it.
@@criticalmass6249 Yes I worked at a huge boarding kennel in Somis, CA. and dealt with all breeds imaginable. I was also a dog groomer and dealt with a lot of Spaniel breeds. Cockers and Springers were very difficult and were some of the worst for biting. I would not compare that to the Spaniel rage though. From what I read about it, the dog's attack for no reason at all and seem totally out of it after the event. It was thought that it might be more of a neurological issue. However, some Spaniel breeds do tend to be very defensive and quick to bite. Not all breeds, I have dealt with English Cocker Spaniels who seemed more stable and of course the Cavaliers are super sweet. In my experience it was mostly American Cocker Spaniels and Springers.
@@criticalmass6249 Springer rage is a well-known phenomenon among veterinarians. A friend of mine got a springer and the vet had to sedate that dog while it was in a crate before he could examine him for anything. I quit hunting with him because the dog was vicious and I didn’t want my German wire hair pointer’s fighting with that dog even if they did beat him up consistently.
@@Acadian.FrenchFry I have a Cockapoo, the sweetest and adorable dog. But he doesn't like his ears touched, dogs know that it is very easy to cut their ears and they know if they are cut, they will bleed and bleed. It requires a lot of coaxing and training for them to build up trust that they safe when a person goes to their most vulnerable areas of their bodies. He likes his groomers and always excited to see them, but he doesn't like them grooming him, so I've been doing a lot more myself. In America specifically, dogs receive far more vaccinations than they do in the UK, that isn't healthy for the brain of the dogs, anymore than vaccinations are healthy for our immune systems and brains.
We adopted a dog 10 years ago with undisclosed mental issues. He was the sweetest lovebug little guy in the world until he wasn't. There were no triggers, it was like his brain would turn off an he would try and kill what ever was closest. Like Beckman said you could see it in his eyes, reminded me of an old friends crazy cat right before she would attack to kill. The other dog was taking the brunt of the bites because she was throwing herself between him and his target. They normally shared a dog bed and would eat from the same bowl if we didn't keep a close eye on them no issues. After a few rounds of stitches for the other dog and and meds for him we had a wakeup call when he nearly got ahold of my old cat. The other dog saved the cats life but her leg was torn open bad and their relationship broken. She didn't want him near the family any more he was a threat, to get beagle/lab mix to that point. None of the rescues near us could handle him, the rescue we got him from said he was our problem, meds weren't working, making him sick and unhappy, we had to make a hard call to put him down. Even now it break my heart. We don't know if he was born that way or from a head injury. He had poor vision in one eye, broken teeth and an old break on his eye socket all treated once we got him. Did his get that when someone fought off an attack or did the injury cause the mental illness who knows. This has made be very wary of rescues there are only two in my area I would adopt from. An abused dog I can handle, this was a horror that still haunts the family to this day. Thanks for this video it helped explain some of what was going on with him
Our border collie mix (who is almost 4) has been with us since he was 5 months old. He was born outside, so he came with some fears, but has always loved us and bonded with us and our other animals immediately. Two years ago, while my daughter was trimming his paw fur - which was a normal routine thing - he suddenly snapped at her face out of nowhere. Since this was completely out of character for him, we took him to the vet the next morning. They said he had the worst ear infection they'd ever seen, and we had no idea at all since he showed no signs prior to the snap. She must have put just a bit of pressure on his head and caused him to react in pain. We treated the infection and he's never had an incident like that since, but we are also very aware of his ears now. You're right about the pain and definitely taking them to the vet right away.
@@amysands8925 When those cougars are running around people's back yards in certain areas of so. cal. for example, it's either that or a high-powered slug to the skull. Real life, not Disney cartoons, cupcake.
@@amysands8925 Tigers and pandas would have gone extinct already if it wasn't for rescue shelters. Or do you think you can stop a Somali pirate or other groups who hunt animals, from killing animals for their hide and organs?
I had a standard poodle from pup, who grew up with my oldest daughter. In the whole 10 years of his life, the only 1 time he growled at her was when he had an ear infection and she was bothering him. She understood he was feeling bad and still remembers it to this day as it was so shocking for him to growl at all. He was the bestest boy. Toddlers could roll over him and fall asleep on him. ❤❤
@caitlindonald6777 it doesn't really happen where I live. People care so much for their dogs in the UK. It's too dangerous, in my opinion, for the dog unless you have a huge plot of private land, maybe.
TW. Joel, thank you for validating my experience. It made me feel more at peace with day I met a GSD that still haunts my dreams. I am a veterinary technician with almost 20 years on the job. I was caught off guard by very reactive dog upon returning him to his owners. He wasn't paying any attention (overtly) to me until the leash was handed back and then he showed his true feelings. He came open mouth straight for my face- defensively I shoved my arm as far in his mouth as I could. I had punctures of all his molars but wasn't able to get those canines in. His shocked owners were able to pull him away and my team was able to pull me into the building before he could try anything else. I was so baffled as I had been with the head of our behavior department before this all happened with him. She and I agreed it was better to abort trying to muzzle him for vaccines when he could come in with sedation for medical management. I have never been attacked in all my years and I was so thrown for awhile. Your video gave me perspective as the year before he was being treated for an injury, that in conjunction with new owners I think cracked his psyche. He is mentally ill now and very much a loose cannon. As far as cocker rage- also look into setter rage... I think it has something to do with gene color- because even now redder Goldens are exhibiting this issue. It truly comes down to breeding crap into the lines but.
It's in some of the whiter Goldens as well. Poor breeding. May have to do with hereditary malfunctions of brain electrical system- sometimes seizures. Sometimes something not quite a seizure- I don't know if there is a name for that.
Back in the late 90's when I was still working with dogs I noticed the red golden retrievers were more aggressive. I worked as a groomer and at a boarding kennel in Somis California that house something like 160 dogs max. There was a small team of us who worked there and some were dog trainers. What I also noticed about these Golden Retrievers they were more slender in build like an Irish Setter. I don't know if they were all coming from the same breeder or what the deal was, but it was something that seemed pretty consistent in that area back in the mid-late 90's.
@@Acadian.FrenchFry Are you aware that Irish setters are in the Golden Retriever background genetically? Yep, that's why you'll sometimes see a red Golden Retriever. They used the Irish setter to help create the Golden Retriever.
@@TedH71 Did you read my comment? I was talking about a specific line of Goldens in our area in the 90's that had terrible temperaments. Very aggressive. I was not debating on the foundation breeds, I was describing what those dogs looked like in our area at that time that were consistently aggressive.
I was given a rescue dog many years ago, he was a Blue Heeler we named Max. We had the dog for six weeks and the dog and my 6yr old daughter bonded nicely. Then my husbands 6yr old son came to stay with us , I watched our son and dog play in the yard for 20 mins -as I watched I suddenly saw something change in the dogs face/eyes, it scared me. The child did nothing to set the dog off and he didn’t see the dog ‘turn’. I ran outside and put myself between the dog and our son, the dog tried to go round me and grabbed our son by the back of his neck. I kicked the dog, grabbed our son and shoved him toward the house and told him to run, he was confused but luckily did as he was told. I ran behind him and locked the dog in the yard. My husband took the dog to the vet as soon as he got home. But the dog’s FACE/EYES definitely changed. I believe there was something very wrong with that dog. We currently have our 4th rescue dog and two of my uncle’s are vets, so I understand about hurt and abused dogs but this was very different.
Sorry, but in my humble opinion you shouldn’t have told your son to 🏃run. First of all there’s no way a six year old could outrun ANY dog, and second of all that immediately gives the dog confidence and shows your son as prey. Of course I wasn’t there and thank goodness it worked, but nonetheless it’s probably the worst thing you could’ve done...
My red cattle dog would always nip people that came into our backyard without our knowledge They're trained with cattle! They're not afraid to do what they're bred to do
Yes exactly - it’s a physical change, they turn “ wolf” I call it. And it’s terrifying when they do it and you never ever quite trust them the same !! I’ve had so many dogs and worked with rescue dogs , even abused dogs! I’ve seen dogs react and bite before, but this is different and very hard to explain if you have never seen it for yourself ! We had a springer spaniel also and I must say she was an sweetheart - gentle and kind, till we went camping and she met some cows she definitely did not like lol
My Doberman was adopted at 8 months from a guy who kept him in an appartement by himself 12 hours a day. He was completely unsocialized and had dog aggression and redirected aggression but he never actually bit me, he would just grab onto my forearm and give me bruises . I finally found a trainer that helped me with that. When he was about to attack, his eyes would go completely black, it was scary as hell. Super smart and protective of me though.
How you solve the problem? The trainer helped me but he's getting my arms on the walks again and he hurts me very much. He is just 11 months and the trainer said that he thinks my arm is a toy and when he gets frustrated on the walks he jumps and bite my arms. I'm short and he is like an Irish terrier with 30 kgs... I don't know what else to do... I'm exhausted...
@@SandrinhaReisM I'm not a trainer but have had dogs all my life . What I would do at the very moment he does that say ( no bad boy and turn around go strait home every single time ) it just like when my parents would tell us if we don't behave they were going to turn the car around and go home . Well it's worth a try right . Again I'm not a trainer and , hope it helps .
@@SandrinhaReisM I am not a trainer either but have had dogs all my life. From the very get go as a puppy it is not allowed to jump up at me as this behaviour will carry on to others. I am always alert to that possibility and use my knee to push the dog away. This I do every single attempt followed by a stern NO. This may work with your pup. Not an aggresive knee jerk but one that says this behaviour will not be tolerated. All my dogs have over the years been a delight as basic manners around humans is a must for me.
@@SandrinhaReisMI had same issue. I got thick rods and made few knots on it. It’s 20 centimeters long approximately. So - whenever my pup wants a connection / to bite - I give him that rope. Helps to avoid bites…
@@SandrinhaReisMI had same issue. I got thick rods and made few knots on it. It’s 20 centimeters long approximately. So - whenever my pup wants a connection / to bite - I give him that rope. Helps to avoid bites…
On the matter of mental health - I have noticed that my dog’s behaviour is different depending on diet. When I first got him I fed him on a high quality grain free kibble (as he has a hard time with grains and he was emaciated when he came to me, with a very upset gut). I noticed he was very excitable with a tendency to ‘lose it’ a bit. Quite scary as he is a large bull lurcher. I decided to transition him on to a raw diet mainly because I was hearing some bad things about some of the grain-free kibbles. Over the months he became noticeably calmer and I just put this down to him getting older (he was 2 when I got him and he’s 5 now). But recently I have started to give him a little bit of kibble again (I keep some for emergencies but have to use it up slowly and buying new so that it’s not too old) and I’m noticing some of those old behaviours starting to dial up again. Not anywhere near as bad because it’s only a small part of his diet. I know human diets can have profound effects on human mental health. It makes me wonder how much mental health in dogs is down to inappropriate diets in dogs that are a bit more sensitive gut-wise.
My rescue foster was on a grain free diet, junk treats and on 2 medications to calm his over excitement. He had terrible manners, was getting easily frustrated and didn't like being told "no" or being touched a certain way (cuddles and massages , he craved them, melts away but removing him by grabbing his harness or collar was not okay for him, i resorted to body blocking which he was okay with). He got me a few times the first 3 weeks of getting to know each other, i had to fight him back a couple of times and locked myself in another room, it was bad. I had bite marks on my arms and legs but none of the bite really got to the point of really bleeding. I started to notice that his behaviour was different when he wasn't getting his full regiment of meds, like being on them was putting him on edge. He would bark just watching a bird or any time he was in the car and saw another dog, a motorcycle, a bus, certain stranger in the street. He wore a muzzle for a bit, outside and inside. I started transitioning him to a raw diet and eventually stopping his meds and he got much calmer. I hand fed him as his food was used for training. When he used to go at me, his look was very unique and it was scary but I still had a sweet spot in my heart for him despite fearing him. Once i surpassed my fear of him getting at me when he was frustrated, we started building a stronger relationship, he had to learn what was acceptable and what wasn't and his behaviour started to really change, he was getting calmer by the day. Getting mouthy was still happening after the diet change and stopping the meds, we worked on it and now that's in the past. Now he a completely changed dog. With time, patience and learning to rebuild trust with each other, we changed our relationship to the better. I am so glad i didn't give up on him. And with training he has learnt to make better decisions, he loves his car rides, he is so relaxed now. I am well aware of his dark and sweet side. His health is much better too.
@@sydoly123 fab story. They really are worth the effort. Thank you for persevering where so many would have branded him a dangerous dog with the tragic consequences that come with that. So many people think they are dog people and they aren’t really.
I agree 💯! My female pitbull used to go "bat shit crazy" & become troublesome right before a nap. She's always my favorite little spazzy girl but this would get outrageous. So I fed her a mostly all raw diet of chicken or beef. It was like putting a quarter in a jukebox, or an Addie for ADHD. She was focused, patient observant before reaction & loving us (humans, other 2 dogs & cats) in an appropriate (no headbutts) way. I believe the dry puppy food was leaving HER malnourished. Each dog is different. My boy pitbull pup is just fine on the dry alone but has more stamina to play as long & as intense as my girl.
This may be one of the most useful videos on youtube. It is an extremely important question and most pet owners don't understand the why, the how, or what to do about it. We've had 7 cats and 2 dogs during the past 60 years and learned more about our pets during the last 15 years than all of the previous years. I wish we had known more in the beginning. It's the same with raising children: it's "on the job training" and it would be better for society if people were trained before they had pets or produced children . . .
THANK YOU for talking about the mental illness issue in a dog being a reason for the more rare "snap" attacks and also bad breeding being a cause for this. I feel these two things are what lead people to genuinely see pits as "turning". We have a ton around here that are backyard bred and prob used for fighting. Also, had a question about whether poor/too severe training tactics or disorganized/inconsistent training on certain temperaments of dogs can lead to turning on the owner?
resource guarding is a huge issue.. During my rehab from cancer I was weak.. I was on the bottom hierarchy in my home. I had my Rottweiler snap at me several times. I invited him into my space for pets. He moved in real close to where I wasnt comfortable. I got up and he snapped. He has also redirected while someone else was walking him. Not a bad bite but it did break the skin..Some dogs need very strong leadership.
I have experienced this myself…in a milder variant…when I have one of my health episodes, my dog usually doesn‘t react as well to being called back or being leashed as she does when I‘m feeling fine….sad, but true
Your last line there, that some dogs need strong leadership, is absolutely true. When a person picks, adopts or takes on a dog, they need to make sure that their energy and mental strength is greater than the dog's. If the dog's mental energy or drive is stronger, he will rule the roost. It's the law of the alpha, the stronger one rules. High physical energy often indicates strong mental energy, but not always. It is possible for a person or a dog to be physically energetic and still be easy-going, cooperative, deferring, submissive, but very often, physical energy co-occurs with strong mental energy. If a soft hearted, easy-going, pliable or low "energy" ( >> meaning mental drive, "low" meaning not pushy, not insistent) person wants a dog, they need to choose a low energy dog that is easily led, that offers no resistance, no stubbornness, no strong opinions, no power struggle. Any power struggle from a dog means that the dog thinks he's stronger, which means that's not the dog for you. Energy is everything for compatibility and peace. (This is exactly why when you have two sets of 'antlers' in the same house, they go head to head and arguments ensue.)
My mother had a similar situation with her dog. He was never aggressive and never resource gaurded until my mother became ill... and then he became very aggressive and domineering. Which he had never been prior to that. Unfortunately a dog trainer told her that she should put him down because they said he was dangerous. When I found out he had been put down I was heart broken.. I raised him and house trained him when he was a puppy. He was such a lovely dog. I still feel heart broken about it. I wish I had been living with her at the time so I could have helped him but she never even told me about the issue.. she just had him put down and I only found out later from my sister 😔
@@TJ-Judge That's terrible. (It's regrettable that some don't seek further information before they take wrong action.) Something that many don't understand (I think the Dog Whisperer covered this) is that even a submissive dog will step up to try to fill the alpha role if it becomes vacant, if there's no one else to do it, as that alpha role being filled is so vital for them. It was explained that it *_has_* to be filled, no matter what, that dogs derive a huge sense of security and safety, predictability and knowledge of their world from their alpha, the head of their pack. When a wolf pack leader dies, the strongest remaining steps into that role: it is never left vacant. It was explained that some dogs by temperament are never suited to be pack leaders, that they are followers and comfortable as followers, that they *_don't want to lead,_* that it is too much pressure and too difficult for them, that it is overwhelming for them. Still, because that role *_has_* to be filled, a weaker dog will step into it because of sheer necessity, and then not handle it well because that was never a role suited for them. I surmise that is what occurred with your beloved dog that you raised from a puppy. If someone had filled that pack leader position, and thus offered adequate predictability and protection that alphas bring, then your dog could have relaxed and stopped worrying. Often, "aggression" is just overwhelming *_FEAR._* If the dog didn't have a brain tumor or pain, I believe it was simply the issue of the pack-leader role having been vacated in his eyes, and that he felt he had to try to fill it. Your key-word that conveyed that was "domineering," as alphas are always dominant, not merely "aggressive." He was trying his best to be a pack-leader, to look after and to protect his family/pack, doing it badly, but trying his best, not being suited for it. Someone needed to step into that role. No one did, apparently, so he felt he had to. If someone had, and had done so sufficiently, he likely would have been able to settle down, assured that someone was in charge, and that things would be okay. Asking a submissive dog to be a pack-leader is like expecting Bambi to be a bull elk, and they're just not outfitted for that. Lack of knowledge is a costly thing, it is unfortunate. I send my condolences to your grieving heart.
Man, I've been watching so many of your videos. A neighbors pit, who got out their yard, almost attacked me while I was jogging to catch up with my bike riding family. There are so many dogs in this general area and probably one out of fifty people treat and train their dogs properly. It's so frustrating! all these dogs stay in their yards and get totally "mental". Anyways, thank you so much for your videos.
@@JohnTheRevelat0r it is sad how so often people see living animals as a toy for ones one amusement from the positive feedback they give humans. So many maulings could have not happened if owners were responsible and understood a dog is still an animal that needs to intensively cared for emotionally and behaviorally.
In Nederland willen ze verplichte cursus in gaan voeren voor mensen die een hond aan willen gaan schaffen. Ik hoop dat daar Verzorging . Gedrag. Lichaamstaal. Kosten. Tijd. Opvoeding . Rassen en welk ras past bij ons . Bij wordt behandeld zodat er minder honden in asiels belanden ,of gedumpt worden.
I have a mentally ill GSD. Went through a very traumatic puppy hood. He is such a lovely being, but I had to learn a lot of hard lessons to get to the point to give him the care he needs. Dogs are like your children. You need to listen to them, and not have expectations based on breed. This is my third GSD. Each has been a different being in more ways than less. Good luck, my friends!
Thank you for talking about mental health in dogs. My partner had a harlequin Dane who around her 2nd birthday just started getting a bit too strung out with the cat, barking all around & under the house wherever the cat was. One day I woke up to the Dane attacking my staffy, there were many wounds to my staffy’s face, chest & legs 😔 she survived and fully recovered but we had to get the Dane put down, it was too dangerous to have her around our 4 small kids & we didn’t feel right rehoming the Dane when we knew that she had lost her mind and done so much damage. Was a terrible experience which we still find hard to move past 2 years later.
Some dogs you really really can’t rehome. If it was a smaller animal, maybe but a Great Dane is such a risk and it’s just not worth passing on it’s mental illness to surprise some other new owner. A woman (a breeder I think) was recently killed while walking her pack of Great Danes when they turned on her. All the dogs were humanely euthanized. Just too high liability and risky of a breed for them to not behave perfectly.
My neighbor was walking with a large 8 month old Cane Corso, who just got back from a 2 week training session without the owner. I noticed he had on an electronic collar. He was fearful and lunging at me on the leash. The neighbor owner thought it was great and smiled proudly at his dog. I am 70 yrs. old and worked with thousands of dogs and animals over my lifetime as an animal trainer. I told him my opinion on the e-collar and his dog's behavior. I just saw them again as I was coming back from getting my mail. This dog was ballistic now! Lunging, growling, fighting the leash, frothing at the mouth, etc. I will have to bring my taser with me and maybe my knife in case this dog breaks the leash and attacks me or someone else. I've seen this scenario many times before. When the owner thinks this behavior is funny and shocks the dog to correct it, etc. the prognosis is not good at all. 😢🐾🐾🐕🎭
The owner shouldn't laugh and correct but you are overreacting. Its pretty common for dogs to lunge scarily, especially on a leash, if they are untrained by the owner: it doesn't mean they will actually attack, dogs do it all the time
I have been attacked by dogs and animals before. I have been training animals for show, Protection, Military, Police, commercials and movies for over 40 years as a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Certified Animal Behaviorist, Certifed Service Dog Trainer and Handler, Exotic Cat Trainer of America President, and more...I have the scars to prove it. It is thinking like yours that gets people maimed or killed, then the animal gets blamed. Unless you were there you have no clue at how this dog's behavior escalated in just a few weeks. Unless you were there, be quiet....
The Cane Corsa is out of control. 8 months old and lunging. Disgraceful. I've had this breed but mainly Rottweilers. The owner obviously can't control the dog as he had to send him away and he lunged at you at his return. .You and I know if we spent an hour with this dog his temperament would be different. Had we spent the same time with the owner, I think we could put an electric collar on him. And maybe gelding!!
Yep, my husband suffered a terrible 're-directive' bite to the arm, just below the elbow. He was chomped, breaking up a serious fence fight between 2 large male dogs. One of our 100lb American Bulldogs sunk his canines into my husband's arm. As soon as the dog realized, he immediately let go. It was as quick as the snap of a finger. Sadly, the damage had already been done. The dog literally knew he had done something bad, he couldn't take back. My husband still bears the scars and that was over 15yrs. ago. His arm has a permanent sunken space from muscle damage, tooth scars and he swears the bone in his arm was either cracked or chipped (it was never x-rayed). Nothing like that ever happened again for the rest of the dog's life and my husband never held a grudge or had any lasting trust issues working with that dog or any other. As a matter of fact, that particular dog turned out to be one of our very best. I definitely agree there are some dogs out there with mental issues, although I believe it to be much more prevalent in the feline world. : )
I got it on the hand breaking up a fight between two pitties at a rescue. She did exactly the same thing, was going for the other dog, missed and got me and released instantly, before even finishing biting down. Her canines went right through the pad of my thumb and put a groove in my index finger but none of her other teeth broke the skin despite my thumb being in her mouth. Another other trainer helping stop the fight was bitten almost exactly the same on the leg, just twin punctures on one side, two small twin bruises on the other. I've been an IPO or -G target for a friend a few times, and even with a suit and sleeve I've been had purple all over my forearm from her shepherd, which do have a bit stronger bite and significantly bigger teeth, but not that much stronger. I forget exactly, but an adult working male APT has an avg of 250-275 or so and working Czech or DDR GSDs about 275-290. Shepherds are deceptive because their pointy snoots and ears really mask the powerful muscles so easy to see on bully breeds! Some bully breeds do develop huge muscle mass including their facial muscles, but what to really look at is the width of the muscle between a dogs teeth and skin as they're panting and looking at you face on. I didn't realize it, but when I checked my brother's golden it was under half the width of my dog's.
@@greattribulation3759oh they turn on you alright. I refuse to go in homes with cats cause i’ve been attacked several times by different cats, including our first cat, and i know plenty of people bitten by cats. Cat attacks are a lot more frequent, tho they are seldomly put down cause the damage isn’t significant
Yes I did rescued & we knew Torties (f) of course can get pretty crazy. Some can be dang well dangerous😢 I've known cats having to be euthanized because of serious reactive disorders hurting their people and themselves 😥
As a kid I was training a dalmatian. He was a puppy and as he grew the dog would start acting oddly......really stressed but no triggers. One day he attacked and bite me with the whole body shake. it took my grandfather and my collie to get him off me.......nasty bite. The dog got put down and it turned out that he had a genetic defect where his brain was too big for his skull and that caused extreme headache pain. Recently I have a neighbor with a female cattle dog that was abused by her ex boyfriend. The dog is great with me and my cattle dog...a little socialization needed but nothing so bad. However when the dog is with her owner......it sometimes it is reactive and overprotective of the owner who suffers from anxiety, OCD behavior and bi polar disorder.......Since she is my neighbor.....I noticed the dog is reactive when the owner is off her meds. The dog trusts me and even came to our door at 2am because her owner took the wrong meds and was out of it. You could see it in the dogs eyes........I don't know what to do please help my owner!! When the police/emts came the dog wanted to protect her and if I wasn't there.....it would be hard to control that dog. I know the dogs helps her a lot but when she goes off the rails the dog also goes off the rails and I told her both she and her dog need behavior training.......she has to stay on her meds if she wants to keep that dog safely. I feel sorry for the dog.....its smart and empathic and wants to help the owner.....maybe therapy dog training would help.....I don't know
Your good Beckman Watching this i recalled problems my dogs long past suffered from ! Today I'm a lot wiser than i was at a young age But its still nice to learn more as i stroll down the path of life with my companions "The dog " We should not fail them ❤
I personally think Joel's lose leash walking method is the key to solving many dog behavior problems. My dog used to be so excited and wanted to jump on everyone, and now she is so well-behaved around people. When I walk her, people can't believe she is only 7 months old and I trained her all by myself.
The puppy my son brought home, if he gets over-excited, on a hike or during play in the yard, he will do something remarkably like attacking. I use the beep on the Ecollar to get his attention. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO NOT LET HIM GET WORKED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE. The door method, and loose leash walking, which I learned from these videos has been incredibly helpful in structuring him. Had I seen them sooner, I probably wouldn’t have needed the E collar. As soon as I notice the puppy turning, I get him sitting, put the leash back on and go from there. Years ago I had a Belgian Tervueren. If she became overexcited she would turn. I could see in her eyes that she didn’t even recognize me. The secret with her, was to never let her begin barking during play. All play would have to stop until barking stopped. Her eyes would come back into focus and she was once again a domesticated animal… Anyway, keep up the good work with these videos! Very down-to-earth and helpful.
Thought I'd tell you my thoughts. After playtime or when the dog Needs More. Try a short walk to disrupt what they're thinking. Works well with my GSD!!!✌️💗
I had a pomeranian i got from a small, reputable breeder at 8 weeks. I trained him to a very high standard. He was so smart, funny, fiercly loyal, such an amazing companion 95% of the time.... the other 5% he was randomly, violently agressive. I tried so so hard for 2 years to help him. Did so much training, read so many books, broke the bank at the vet. After 2 years, my vet told me some dogs are just mentally ill and need to be put down. If he had been a larger dog he would have been way too dangerous to keep from 5 months old, but he was 2 by the time we had to throw in the towel. He had injured both of us, many others, we were always stressed every moment. The final straw was when two small kids moved into the home. It just wasnt safe at all, and his unpredictable attacks were becoming more frequent. It was so incredibly hard and sad. Love you Frodo. Miss you.
Aww Frodo. It sounds like you did everything you could possibly do. The majority of people wouldn’t have given him a chance after a week, you powered thru 2 years. ❤ take care
I've recently got a puppy. I watch your videos 3-4 times a week. I've learned invaluable information, and am having good success. I've never been bitten by any of my dogs. I did have an experience where a dog beared his teeth at me. I knew nothing about dog training at the time. He was a full grown husky. Got him at 2 years old Had him for about two weeks. I was yelling at him for something he had done, and he bared his teeth. I said one or two more things to him then backed away When I thought about the situation, I realized I had backed this dog into a corner, and we were both unfamiliar with each other. I made sure I never did that to him again. The dog turned into a good, obedient dog who stayed with me till old age.
If you bred me for someone's pet, took me away from my brother's, sister's, mum, dad.... And cut my testical's off, then locked me up all day... I'd bite your face off... "Animal lovers"... RIGHT?
@@NosferatuUndead I got my rescue after losing my beloved 14 yr old the week before. Grief, stress from work & a tough marriage combined had made me a yelling, tense mess. When I got this 10wk old boy at my age of 62, I had never owned a dog in my entire life (had MANY dogs & breeds over that time frame), that I had ever had to train or that had behavior problems. Also, had never adopted a shelter dog before. WHOLE. NEW. BALLGAME. I've had to relearn everything I ever thought I knew about dogs. 3 years in, I've finally figured out that 1) He feeds off MY moods. 2) I cant yell or strike him 3) Patience, patience, patience 4) Just cause Cesar says it doesnt make it right. Never even thought about food. Thought dogs could eat anything you dumped on the floor for them cause that's what I was taught. "They're just dogs." No they're not.
We had a dog once that broke his back and had to be put down. Even when he was in immense pain, he would never hurt any of us (though obviously we were gentle with him). No judgement on any other dog, but he will be missed, some dogs just don't seem to have it in them to hurt people.
my dad and i run a small vet clinic in germany, over the years we had 3 cases were we had to put a dog down coz he "flipped" from one day to another, what we found in 2 out of the 3 cases was a growth in the brain a "glioblastoma" in its relative early phase which would press on the "amygdala". we never foundout what was wrong with nuber 3 tho
Hello ,, First time I came to your page,, Your are 100% on what happen to me with my dog ,, 120lb american bull dog , turned on me , he tried to take me out. I never treaded him bad.. You are the first person to talk about this. It hurt me to my heart that my dog did this to me.. He had mental problems , but no one believed me. Thank you for the video and explaining it.
Great video. I've had three dogs with cancer, and in pain - but they always turned to me for comfort when the vet arrived to 'put them to sleep'. Having said this, I have been bitten as a result of your first reason. i.e. two dogs fighting, and holding them apart left them nose to nose.... I understood this, and was eventually forced to leave them to fight it out, as I was bleeding badly and one of my dogs was shaking her head to cause more injury, and force me to let go...... She was one of the dogs that eventually came down with cancer, but walked into my arms when the vet arrived.
Spaniel Rage is, sadly, very real. I've only just seen this podcast. We bought our beautiful English springer Spaniel as a puppy, Pip. He was our fourth Springer, so we thought we knew their general character, bouncy, fun-loving, and usually eager to please. The first two years went by as normal. Then we started to notice a slight change in his personality. He would start to be grumpy. We took him to our vets and he could find nothing wrong, nothing giving him pain or discomfort. Months went by, and his grumpiness grew. He started to go for one of the cats, totally out of the blue one day, and stopped when he heard us shout at him. He looked puzzled as if he'd done nothing wrong. the cat had done nothing to apparently upset him other than just be in the same room as him. Life carried on with these occasional out of the blue attacks on the cats. None of our other spaniels ever attacked our indoor cats, ever! And growls from under the table where he lay in his bed. Now at night when a torchlight catches a dog's eyes they appear greeny blue - not Pip's eyes - they shone red! Then one evening, Pip was half on my lap and half on the arm of my chair(as per). My fave tv programme was about start, so I said to Pip come on down you go and pushed him off onto the floor. Something we had done many times before. Well he turned round and grabbed my hand, biting it hard and started to shake his head. The pain was immense, he would not let go, just kept biting harder, with me at this stage screaming for him to stop. He held my hand like this for a good half minute, or maybe more, and then suddenly let go of me, and stood staring at me blankly as though he hadn't a clue that he had turned on me. Oh yes, there was plenty of blood!! Very very sadly we felt we could no longer trust Pip, and so the next day my husband took him to our vets. I believe Spaniel Rage has been caused by over-breeding of these pedigree dogs. Pip's brain had been "wired all wrong", as a friend of ours said. Those canines do damage, and those other teeth! I have the scars to prove it. We now have a Spreagle, who is adorable, is mentally as thick as two short planks and twice as dense, but we love her to bits. She behaves with our cats, although she will chase off any outside intruder felines! (A Spreagle is a cross between a Springer Spaniel and a Beagle hound, for those of you unfamiliar with the word)
This is great to hear, my dog “attacked” a puppy the other day, he didn’t bite, no damage at all and he still listened to commands once the excitement was over. He was definitely just trying to play, he didn’t bare teeth at all just ran up barking and tackled.
Rage syndrome appears in some breeds,its rare but fairly well documented. It's actually not a mental illness,it's neurological, more of a seizure disorder akin to epilepsy. Cockers and dobermans are the breeds that I'm most aware of being at risk of it. We had to pts a dobie mix that had it. Kind of like when tigers go green,the dogs eyes would change,go blank a bit and glaze and then it would stiffen and snarl.
No like petit Mal seizures in humans. Staring, glazed look, unresponsive for a brief time, and then shake it off and in a different mood than before the seizure. ( grand Mal seizures include falling to the ground, shaking, spasming, perhaps drooling etc)
@@befriendly wowzers! Ive seen this! It's a real thing! And a good reason I chose NOT to get a Large carnivorous animal for a pet. Yikes! Opted for our 3 pound Yorkie bc if she ever went into the Red Zone, no one would die or be maimed! 😢💔
Fantastic video, thanks Joel. Yes, Cocker owners often seem to experience crazy aggression... What comes to mind is during my time training dogs in the local Rottweiler club, intact males would seriously attack their owners in battles of dominance, for lack of a better term: Either objecting to leash-correction during heel-work, or to the "drop" command during bite-work. okay, the latter could be redirection due to frustration. But 1 case had a young adult intact Rottie hump their new owner. When he tried to push the dog down, he got bitten so badly his entire arm and shoulder ended up in a cast. Also, male intact Malinois would sometimes object to corrections and bite the owner's leg, or attack a new owner when they walk into the dog's kennel.
Probably one of the biggest scenarios you didn't mention would be a dog with PTSD. That could be from dogs that were bred for fighting, abused in some other way or some other reason and this could go under that category of mental illness. Also dog with rabies which would go under physical pain I guess but still common enough it's worth mentioning.
If you bred me for someone's pet, took me away from my brother's, sister's, mum, dad.... And cut my testical's off, then locked me up all day... I'd bite your face off... "Animal lovers"... RIGHT?
Absolutely agree. My Dad once owned a 11 month old German Shepherd that had been pre viously abused about the paws by a man. For years afterwards he would attack anybody who tried to touch his paws. Especially men.
We had an incident here in Western Australia few months ago where the owner was attacked by one of her Rottweiler and she suffered extensive limb and face injuries and nearly lost her life. There was speculation that her 2 rottweilers were fighting and one of them turned on her when she tried to break up the fight. The police had to shoot the dog to stop it from killing her and the other was impounded by the city but had to put down later as it was then classed as a dangerous dog and she was not in a position to meet the council's requirements. Very sad incident for all involved including dogs, owner and her family.
Great video! I lost an older male Vizsla this spring, to cancer. Six months before he died, his behavior changed, markedly. We took him in to the vet and they found no issues with blood work. I didn't think about doing an ultrasound at that time. Turns out that he had a massive tumor that had been growing into his lungs, heart, liver, etc. The pain must have been horrible. He would get aggressive if you tried to pet him on the belly or when laying down. Never showed aggression ever before. We suspect there may have been tumor in the brain. So sad. If your dogs behavior rapidly changes get to the vet, get blood work done, and have them do an ultrasound of the chest and stomach area.
As always, an amazing topic with a lot of valuable information. I live in South Africa and we have human settlements where dogs roam freely and often have to fend for themselves. The weak dogs generally don't make it and as a result, we have dogs with very strong genetic survival skills. My mother's dog came from there and at the age of 12 moved into my pack recently. Although she is sweet and loving, she turns on me when I grab her collar. Although very loved, this dog never had any formal training, she lived on a 10-acre plot and her only outings were to the vet. She resource guards me and has shown very dominant behaviour towards the other dogs. I have worked on the collar grabbing daily and even though she now accepts it, I am still wary and careful. I will always make sure that she is aware of my presence. Please could you do a video on resource guarding, especially if it is a human?
Yes Joel resource guarding especially of a human much needed topic. I have a 11 month old Basenji (central African breed as well) and he resource guards me especially when I’m sleeping or alone with him and someone else comes in the room. Can be the greatest most loving dog in the world but resource guards very odd things from time to time. Items of no importance, not edible, not a possession of the family, like a random water bottle, or rubber chair arm
Do you really need to grab their collar? Many dogs just don’t like it. Instead of grabbing them (physical prompt), try using verbal prompts (come, here, come NOW)
We took in a Dalmatian from the pound around 7 months ago. He’s now a year old, up-to-date on shots & neutered. Very high strung & energetic. Plays rough, always has. We believe that he was starved bc he’s constantly hungry & will eat literally anything/everything. My 14 year old son was outside petting him & he had a really small bone in his mouth. The dog growled, my son brushed it off bc this dog always growls while playing. Well he snapped, turned up & bit him in the face. Bit almost thru his cheek fully and split his upper lip in half. He has possible nerve damage bc he cannot smile fully. It’s heartbreaking to see him like this. I believe that my son pulled away when he was bitten (bc, instinct) which is why so much damage was done. He received 14 stitches & 2 internal sutures to his lip.. My husband is super attached to this dog, but as you say in your video, your own dog should NEVER turn on the owners! And esp on kids! If this bite had occurred just a few inches lower, he would have gotten his throat & he could have DIED. My question is, should he be returned to the pound? I say yes, as my sons terrified of him & who knows if this will happen again! My hubby believes that it was our kids fault, he shouldn’t have stayed while the dog growled. I don’t feel this is any time for a “guilt trip” toward my son.. I understand that we’ve put a LOT of time, love & effort into raising this dog the best we can, but obviously it’s not working out.
My dog had extreme anxiety, social anxiety towards people and other dogs. He might have even had some ptsd. He was 15 pounds and was never aggressive but he definitely had a mental illness. Lots of training helped but he was essentially broken 😢. He was my best friend and I am glad he was mine because I truly believe he would have been turned over to a rescue or abused because he was such a mess. Rip Max
I have one right now the same way, he's 16 months major anxiety major mouthing me since had him. I've had lots of dogs never one like this. I love him more than anything in the world. Took almost a year just to be able to get him to walk past people without going insane. He has major stomach issues I think from stress, I now home cook for him. I worry if anything happens to me, the vet saw it first time I went wanted to put him on meds, but major bad side affects so never gave them to him. He was bottle fed but his brother is fine. I watching this video because he bit at me earlier but he doesn't actually bite me, he gets mad at me because I wouldn't let him get into bird seed in ground. He's a mini schnauzer very head strong to.
Thank you for posting this very informative video. I've had dogs most of my life and had no idea dogs can have mental illnesses. You are a wealth of knowledge.
Of all my dogs, only the first one I ever had, turned on me and bit me. I rescued him off the highway, when a car pulled over and threw him out in the road, and he walked right in front of my car at night in Brooklyn. I took him home with me, and we became extremely close, and he loved the family, and the cats, and everybody for five years. Our relationship was very strong and our communication was very good. He was never alone, and nothing ever tormented him. He was treated royally, and was basically a very good dog, a fiery red Pomeranian. Then one day my uncle was just walking by in the house, when he suddenly lunged, attacked, and bit him. He was very close with my uncle, who would take him for his daily walks two times a day. They had an excellent relationship, and nothing ever happened between them. About a week later I was walking him, when he suddenly turned around and bit into my knee. I don’t know why he became a different dog after five great happy years, other than perhaps he had become sick. I don’t know how old he was when I got him, but he was in terrible condition, and looked like he had been neglected and abused for a very long time. Perhaps as he aged, flashbacks from his early life abuse started to occur. RIP Cherry.
Had a dog which i had for years when suddenly he began biting me with the last time leaving 4 punctures in my calf ... left a message with the vet to have him put down . They ran a test first and discovered he had no functioning thyroid.... after starting the thyroid med he didn't ever bite for the rest of his life (about 4 years) and regained a happy attitude
I was a dog groomer for 15 years. I had one dog that would suddenly lose it's mind and start screaming and biting for no real reason. After many attempts at figuring it out, it actually turned out the dog was having seizures, they just weren't grand mal seizures where they fall over and start shaking. They got her on seizure meds and it fixed like 80% of the problem. The dog was still nervous and reactive about certain things, but I knew what her triggers were (mostly foot stuff), and I could go slow and gentle and she would be okay. That wasn't a redirect, a mental illness, or pain. It was a medical problem though. Also during my career I had one dog that was truly mentally ill. I had groomed him since he was a puppy so he was okay with me, but he would lose his mind at strangers at home (and other places) for no reason once he reached adulthood. He could not calm down and the vet could not help. The owners got another dog who was nothing like that and that was when they realized how mentally ill he was. They ultimately had to put him down even though he was a small dog, which was very sad, but the responsible thing to do. He was definitely poorly bred which may have had something to do with it.
I had a Cocker with rage syndrome. He was literally Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. There was no noticeable trigger. I had to put him to sleep. So sad. But he bit multiple people. Who knows I was young and took my vets advice. I loved that dog though. He was great with me except for food resource guarding. He would growl and pee over his food when you came near him. Scary.
This happened in my family as well. A cocker spaniel, too. 😪 He severely injured male members of my family in different occasions. At that time there was no treatment they could do on him. He had to be put down too...
@@ashleyhilbert9228 It was really awful because when he was good he was the best little dog. And he never bit me. only growled. He slowly got worse and worse and more and more unpredictable.
My parents had a Chow named Bear. He was a beautiful dog. But three times he bit neighborhood kids who had come to the house to play with my little brother. One of them I actually witnessed. My mom had given the kid a dog biscuit to give to Bear. As soon as Bear was let out of his kennel, he turned and lunged on the kid, sinking his canines into the kid’s abdomen. My mom said it happened because Bear remembered this kid teasing him previously, which made absolutely no sense to me. I am still surprised my parents were never sued by the parents of the kids that Bear bit. Then one day, a storm was coming and my dad was standing in the doorway with Bear by his side. Bear turned around and sunk his teeth into my dad’s knee. That is when they made the decision to put Bear down. My mom regretted that decision for years and said she would have rather taken him to live with a sweet old lady in a remote location. I think that would have ended badly, too.
I want to thank you for opening a new world for me. Your videos and instruction are always on point and have actual situational applications. I take pride on being a good dog owner. I have a daughter who always fed her two dogs together. Food caused the death of the smaller dog. I now give ample space while feeding my dogs.
@@wuffa4503 you gotta love when people respond with no context of size or breed or most importantly the age yet feel compelled to give thier astute assessment. For the record, the smaller dog was the dominant animal in the house. If you were to say... the bigger, younger boy dog was being passive aggressive after being put in his place several times by the older female alpha, then sure. Honestly, I would never take advice from you in any matter.
I encountered an unstable adult male Rottweiler at a friend's house around 30 years ago, which had come from an abusive home according to my friend. The dog bit my friend (required medical attention and antibiotics), friend's brother (required antibiotics), and I personally witnessed the dog "flip" from playing with a ball to toy aggression when the ball went behind a person's leg and the chair or sofa the person was sitting in. It was a tense few minutes where we all sat stock-still, the dog growled in a close stance with face inches from the leg, and the owner attempted to verbally recall the dog. Eventually diffused, thankfully. The second incident I encountered with this dog was when I was in the house to get something from the living room while almost everyone else was outside in a hot tub. The dog started stalking me and had me backing into a corner when I was able to call the owner to come intervene. I refused to go visit friend after that, knowing it was unlikely the dog would be crated, muzzled, or otherwise restrained for human safely. Months later, I learned the dog had been euthanized after (and only after) it attacked a person and she required extensive stitches to face, etc. It was a sad, preventable incident. Thinking about your reasons, I am wondering if a fourth reason for dogs to turn on owners is a history of abuse/trauma or abusive use of e-collars resulting in an accelerated rate of excitement/reactivity so a dog can go from being "okay" to "not okay" too fast for us to redirect or catch in time to prevent an incident.
My young dog was raised with my 2 dogs happy life. Introduced to dogs, children, people etc, no problems. Suddenly she started to hate my old dog. We tried everything but couldn't work out why. We noticed our young one seemed unwell so we took her to the vet , she was treated for it for 2 weeks due to a fever. In that time she moved to be with the old dog cuddling close & liking her faceas usual. When the younger one got better she attacked the old one twice & I got hurt trying to stop my dog getting killed. In that time we had separated them and been trying different methods to work out & help. In the end after the last attack the vet had to put her down. Possibly due to infection affecting her brain or a sudden mental breakdown? We don't know. But we were so distressed, we loved them both, it was difficult to put one down. Thankfully our older dog survived the surgery and is ok. I took a while to heal but still trying to understand why it happened or if we could have done something differently. Though vet said that it wasn't our fault. It's very upsetting anyway.
sometimes it's a situation where the younger dog goes after the older dog to become.alpha. Or the other dog was sick and thee younger dog new it and decided to make it's play to dethrone the older dog.
Our dog who we fostered then adopted (he was the absolute sweetest with such a big heart) came to us with both ears infected, worn down canines from chewing on a chain, heartworm, and a penis infection. He was a Rottweiler, bull dog, lab mix. Not once in his whole precious life did he growl with the exception of one warning to our other dog on day one, so as not to get his food stollen. He was a big strong dog, just so unbelievably gentle.
I don't know if this actually falls under "turning on their owners" but some may think this is what it is. As dogs start losing their sight or hearing, they are easily startled which can lead to fear bites.
I got a fear bite on my wrist from a slightly blind little dog. I carefully approached him with his good eye and was petting him just fine. But my long hair fell from over my shoulder (as I was leaning to pet) my hair was more towards the blind sided eye and it scared the dog so much he bit me. Yeouch!
Recently my 14 year old Westie bit me while bathing her and working at the gunk in her eye. Hubby used that expression ‘She turned on you’ and I said, nope, she protested clearing gunk from her eye, she’s deaf and nipping at me was her only way to protest that I caused her pain first. I slowed down working at that gunk and she trembled but didn’t nip again. However I do believe, don’t get a size dog beyond your age and ability to deal with them.
My first GSd was hit by a car and lost a front leg. Though medical exams didn't find anything other than a fractured elbow, she had pain at random times during her life. Then she got early arthritis from compensating. She couldn't stand active children or dogs for the reasons you outlined. She was fine as long the child or dog approached slowly and gently. Just before her 12th birthday, She lost the use of her back legs and had more pain from this Neuro issue. While monitoring her in her final days, she snapped at everyone but me and made a serious attempt to bite my husband's hand. So I was her sole care taker during a time of intensive care and numerous vet visits, where The techs couldn't even help. I was changing her bedding one night and she just looked at me and curled her lip. Broke my heart, but I knew we'd gone as far as we could and the pain was too much for her. I always said that one dog would never bite me. And she didn't because she knew she didn't have to.
Border collies give the ‘side eye look’ and that generally means they’re in a funny mood! I warned my son when he was a child not to wind my fluffy collie up and he never did! Although he did fall on my Ferrel when he was learning to walk… Ferrel did not growl or bite but my son did avoid my dog for a long, long time and my dog did the same! I miss my Ferrel so much! He passed at 15 and I miss him dearly… he was my pal for 15 years… 😢 best collie ever! We currently have a 16 month old flat coated border collie meat missile! ‘Fidget’! And the vet said that was a very appropriate name for him when we took him to be neutered! His energy is off the scale! And we’ve previously owned crazy Labradors! Love your channel, just found you and subbed immediately!!!
I tried to rescue a Shiba Inu a few months ago. I couldn't keep the dog because after getting 4 bites in a month and needing stitches, the 4th time too much fear set in with me. This dog was fantastic if he had a military routine. Like clock work 4 walks a day with play, the walks alone never totaled under 10 kn of excersize. After walks, we would do some basic commands with one new one in practice to help him learn. After that, he would get a puzzle toy with treats to keep him mentally stimulated. His biggest issues that we were working on were fear of noises like traffic and the train that would pass by our house. If the house was quiet, the smallest noise would set him into excited barking and pacing. If it was raining, he was obsessed with chasing the streams of water in the cracks on the sidewalk. So my initial thoughts were, at the very least, this dog had anxiety of some kind so I found some relaxing spa music thar sometimes helps me to just relax and played it for him the one day. This was like an instant switch in him. Instead of reaching the smallest creak in the hallway, he could sleep through construction outside my building with the windows open. We did our best to keep him on his strict schedule but it was so bad that even 30 min late on a walk would have him obsessively licking and sniffing the floor and if you tried to get his attention in any way he would instantly attack and draw blood every time. In the end, all this was too much to handle, and I had to give him back, but it bothers me every day that I don't know what was actually wrong and thar I couldn't help him. Now instead I'm obsessively watching dog training videos and wondering if I would be able to master the skills to help other dogs be better. ( I think guilt for the one I couldn't help) Sorry for the sad rant. This is probably not a good place to post this.
I am in almost the same situation. Mini-aussie mix. Now a year old. We walk. We play ( no set schedule). Random resource guarding or even be eating, stop and run at me on bed in other room, tense up, growl, snarl and basically have me pinned. If i move, I WILL get bit. Meanwhile she still has food in her bowl. Vomit is a MAJOR issue. She will NOT let you near it to clean it up. All just RANDOM acts but I need to stop this behavior. That thin skin syndrome is no joke!
My cane Corso turned on my son. My son was on the computer and was told to go to bed and he got angry and aggressive at me, shoving furniture and yelling at my face. My cane Corso lunged (gave warning by huffing several times) and sunk his teeth into my son’s arm and began to shake. My guardian breed saw my son as a threat. We had to take my son to the ER for stitches and had to give up the dog to animal control after a CPS visit. My son has never acted like that to me again.
Very interesting. I agree about dogs and kids. My son's older dog used to always go under their dining room table to get away from the kids. Smart dog.
I know of a collie who slept on their owners bed and had a very strong relationship with their owner who attacked the owner viciously in her sleep putting her in hospital, it turned out the dog had some sort of brain tumour that at some point caused the dog to just switch.
At footy training when my boys were about 8-10 years old, a friendly Staffordshire Terrier used to drop by and play with the kids. On one occasion, my son was lying on the grass and the Staffy was playing (tail wagging) and snuffling around my son's face and head. Then the dog just started tugging his hair violently trying to rip it out. I yelled at my son to stand up straight away and yelled at the dog. Also, recently in the Australian news, a rescue blue heeler cross was shot by the police because it turned on 3 members of the family. The dog had a traumatic past (unknown) and had only been with the family for one month. The father was sitting on the floor at the time and the dog attacked his throat. It then went on to attack other family members when it was locked out of the room. I have noticed that my own dogs notch up their play if I am on the floor at their level. Keen to know your thoughts on this theory.
I got on all fours to play with my 3 month half dauchshound, half Maltese terrier/poodle. I'll never do that again. He looked at me in confusion, started barking aggressively and jumping up on his hind legs. He clearly felt threatened but I don’t know why. I wasn't in his face, and I did a playbow with sweet tone of voice. Other times he’ll just randomly start barking violently at my adult daughter or myself, and trying to bite us, out of the blue. It scares me. I'm worried that there may be something mentally wrong with him, but most of the time he's so happy and chill.
Thankyou Joel, this was fascinating. I met a lady once at the hospital, who's bull terrier had fallen asleep by her on the sofa it's was dreaming and woke up startled it clamped onto her arm and caused serious bone, nerve, tendon damage. She said the dog was old, had gotten it from a pup, that up to that point had a marvelous temperament and that usually her child would of had its head on her knee where her arm was. Luckily the child wasn't at home that night. She was distraught about having her dog put to sleep. The vet had mentioned that due to age it was probably very confused when it woke up.
When I was young I had a dream where I was very mad at my husband for something he had done. In the dream I was saying to myself, slap him slap him. I woke up and slapped him two or three times before I was fully awake. He woke up to being slapped and was in shock. We never struck each other. I sure am glad he didn't have me put to sleep. I was still young.
Redirected aggression can happen with pet cats as well. It's called displacement I think in cats. I once had a female tabby who was the queen of displacement. When she sat in her window and saw another cat outside she would growl and bristle. If another cat or person was nearby at the time she would attack. She would snap out of it instantaneously once removed to the floor and the stranger-cat was out of her vision.
thanks for posting this video! it does make a lot of sense. In light of recent attack on mother with two children by two pitbulls in USA I wanted to dig into this topic a bit deeper as alegadely those pitbulls displayed no signs of any kind of aggressiion for 8 years and out of blue killed both kids and Injured their mother(I'm sure you have heard about it on the news). my current dog us a husky and in my youth I had German shepherds and neither of my dogs had ever displayed any kind of aggressiion toward me or my siblings and my current husky dog which we had from puppy it's the gentlest dog i have ever had. he is almost 3 and great with my kids, no signs of aggression of any kind. In light of that Pitbull attack and people around telling me you can never trust the dog as they can all turn at anytime like timing bomb- I agree that we should always be cautious especially with dogs and kids, I don't think small kids should never be left unsupervised but I look at my clumsy gentle dog and I'm thinking with no episodes of aggression of any sort and him being obidient to his owners what are really the chances that he could just switch like those pitbulls? I appreciate you saying about mental illness but then that could happen to any dog and at anytime which really could mean that all dogs could potentially be timing bombs? i guess looking after dogs physical health and making sure his needs are satisfied: decent daily walks, play time etc I'm sure that contributes to maintain healthy mind as well?
I have one other situation I can think of that I don’t think falls into these 3 categories, and that’s resource guarding/hoarding. I had a black lab when I was younger turn on me and bite me in the face (nearly took an eye), because I sat next to her and starting petting her back and head while she was gnawing on a new bone. I worked hard with my newest dog on this sort of thing to make them comfortable with people and other dogs around their food and bones even to the point of allowing anyone to take the bone from then without eliciting an aggressive response.
there you go,,you learned from your mistake and now you have a dog you can trust,,,,,but here is an important point,,,that dog will still protect you if you should be attacked...many people think teaching a dog respect will result in one who will not be aggressive when it is warranted.They are wrong,,dogs are smarter then that.
Most people also forget that we humans have a lot more fragile skin, so a simple back-off bite that wouldn’t hurt another dog can certainly hurt the delicate skin of a human face. That’s why I would never let any child play with any dog unsupervised, they’re even more delicate than an adult, and a dog might treat them as they would an annoying puppy (which wouldn’t actually hurt the puppy) but it can seriously harm the child.
Resource guarding - you nailed it. Not sure why this video didn’t address it. Not to mentioned he asked for comments and hasn’t replied to seemingly any here. Geesh!
sounds like a great stress reliever. So many health benefits to dog ownership. (once you get your eyeballs put back into your head, that is) Must have been great for your blood pressure.
Sudden rage syndrome presents between 1 yr and 3 yrs old, rare condition but very real, my 20 month old male caucasian shepherd started showing this 10 months ago, an outburst of unprovoked aggression toward myself, my husband and my other 226 lb male caucasion, just out of the blue, bit my husband on the shoulder, this episode will last 2 minutes then he acts like nothing happened afterwards, very scary, from what ive read, does not get better, cant explain it, causes unknown and euthanizing is the usual outcome😢
I rescued an 8 yr old neutered male border collie. From info I got, he had an abusive home first 2 yrs of his life. He was 'taken in' by a neighbor. He ran away was struck by a truck and ended up a tripod with front key amputation. Was told he was food and toy aggressive. As a knowledgeable dog owner, and former breeder of border collies, I had limited fears taking this dog in. He was good with other dogs, cats, etc. He seemed to fit right in. We accommodated his feeding regime and found he was fine with toys as long as you told him to drop it and then picked it up. He was fine on leash, fine meeting new people. Then out of nowhere, one Sunday morning I'm cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and both my dogs were sitting watching. It's a galley kitchen. I told them to go lay down, which they both did. They returned the second time, and I repeated. They went and layed down. The third, with no warning, the bc, came in and leaped at me and grabbed my right arm. He let go, and jumped and grabbed and bit the second time. In my trying to protect my self, he also bit my left hand and then my arm. I am yelling get away, go lay down, get out of here. Which after the 4 full on bites, he did. Thank God the other dog, younger, did not respond. He seemed shocked by what he witnessed. The 'biter' went and layed in his bed. He looked quilty. BUT you are correct about the look in their eyes. When he entered the kitchen the 3rd time, and I turned and looked at him, I knew I was in trouble. I had no where to go. I could've easily hit him with a frying pan but feared that would aggravate the situation as well as being cruel. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I've workef in rescue for years. Long story short. Vets the next day, and learned this dog who had previously had a clean bill of health, was found to have infections and blood work indictive of cancer, and an area of brain damaged. In hindsight he should've been pts following being hit by a truck instead of the amputation. My point is no matter how prepared you are, how aware you are, how knowledgeable you are, bad things can happen. This dog was definitely 'not right in the head' to quote the vet. Ps. Thank God his bite was not a clamp down and shred type bite. It was a bite and let go. Unbelievable the damage to my arms and hands.
These stories are so helpful. I worry about undetected brain tumors in large breed dogs because I own an older large breed who is very powerful. It's always in the back of my mind, so I watch for changes in behavior. Guess I just wanna be prepared. I appreciate all of these posts.
I think these situations certainly warrant defending yourself, its not something that is cruel or unusual. Think of it this way, if it were a horse and it was a 1000lb animal trying to bite you, that frying pan might not have even been effective enough. We have to recognize that these animals are dangerous and like any self defense, nothing is off the table as long as you are defended. It is a shame yes, but your safety should always be priority over a dog.
It is not cruel to protect yourself from an attack. Doesn't matter if an animal is not right in the head or not because at that moment it becomes a life or death situation and you have to determine how badly you want to live.
The old saying, let sleeping dogs lie is true with a lot of dogs. I have a dog that simply doesn’t want to be petted while he is sleeping. He is very gentle, never has bitten anyone, but I quickly learned from his soft growls that that he wanted his space while sleeping.
My Labrador is like that, but only at night, on my bed, and one of our feet touch her. If she’s napping next to me on the sofa, she doesn’t growl if I touch her. She also tends to kick me while she’s sleeping, if she’s positioned “wrong”.
One of my dogs was sleeping off some post exam sedation next to me and I just shifted and jounced him slightly. He came immediately awake and snarled with his teeth bared at me, a totally unique behavior. He quickly realized it was me, and I was aware to stay still and not respond with anger, and he lowered his ears and moved to come appease me with his head down. He didn't look "nuts" but he was not himself, I've tripped over him in the dark when he's out cold and he never responded aggressively, or when I need to examine/treat/groom him. I think it's very closely related to the mental illness category, but temporary and externally initiated like a family member who is great until one too many drinks and then they're trying to start a fight every minute.
This might be a long one but I'll give you my experience. My first dog when I was 12 was an Old English Sheepdog from a championship line with BEAUTIFUL color and markings. He was always on the aggression, over-protection side and he was extremely smart. I found that he also had an unnecessarily mean streak in his play with me as he grew from a puppy. Like we had a game of chase where as he got bigger and faster he would bite pretty hard (not skin piercing). Soon I resorted to jumping up a tree to escape him. And he would go hysterical as I waited for him to calm down...eventually. But when he got fast enough that he could leap and grab my leg, he did whatever it took to snatch me out the tree and pounce on me in aggressive "play" mauling. After a couple times of that I stopped playing the chase game. Another example of his nature is when I would lock myself out the house and had to break in through a 6' high window. This dog would patiently wait until I was half-way through then snatch me down and proceed with the same hurtful engagement. I dreaded when I locked myself out. Well this behavior did serve my family well when during a blackout someone broke into that same window. And I KNOW that dog must've sat patiently waiting in the dark for that burglar to get half-way in. When we came home the front gate and front door was wide open. We pretty much followed a trail of blood drops to the slashed window. And then our bloody maw dog trotted back in the house moments later panting and proud. Anyway by the time I was 17, my household was chaotic. My parents were constantly arguing. Sometimes physical. There was a whole bunch of bad energy around that house. And just as it impacted me, it triggered my dog even worse. Add to that my father was intimidated by the dog's nature and my mom coddled the dog-- even if it showed complete aggression toward my father or I. During one of my parent's bad episodes, I was so angry I punched a door to get their attention and then my dog lunged a bit me on the back of my arm. This did break the skin but he didn't sink he teeth in. But it broke up the argument at least. Some time later, another argument, this time I'm going to leave the house and let all 3 of them fight among themselves. But when I was leaving out the door my dog grabbed me by my boot, clamped down and snatched me back in the house as he's violently shaking. I could tell he broke skin. I snapped trying to kick the dog off my foot. I only got free when I was able to grab a vase and smash it on his head. He let go but it was on-- he was coming back for my leg! I tried my very best to him. He ducked AND THEN LUNGED AT MY FACE/NECK. Amazingly I caught him mid-air by the scruff of the neck as he went berserk and I threw him out of the door and over the porch. When he came back up the porch, he had his head lowered and skulked back in the house--until he got behind my mom and SHOW ALL HIS TEETH. From this point, the dog's behavior just escalated as the turmoil continued. Our relationship deteriorated and at that point he kind of became my parent's dog. Eventually he did wind up sending me to the hospital for a few days with the fear of losing my hand when I was 20 (But that's another epic story). And my parent's still kept him. Pretty soon after that, they split apart. And not too long after that I relocated to NYC. I always thought that maybe that dog was so crazy because of something in the breeding. Sometimes I muse that some evil reincarnated soul leapt into my dog at birth. Well since that experience I went on to have 2 Rottweilers and now 2 English Staffordshire Terriers and a Pitbull. Never once did or has any one of them ever showed me anything but the love I and my family have poured into them. It is unfathomable for me to think that they would ever turn on me or any one of our family. I myself sometimes assume that if a pet turns on its owner, it must be neglected or abused... but then I remember my first dog, Callicoe, and think, yeah sometimes things come out the oven spoiled BUT stability of a home may provide just as much to the dog's temperament.
@@SolidGeddoe Funny thing is my uncle passed from AIDS and left my dad with the house. So the dog was born crazy in one house (that was broken into) and became a nightmare once we relocated to my late uncle's house. My uncle was one of the most beautiful people I've ever known. Nah, nothing supernatural in that house. The marriage had long since ran its course-- an institution built on a foundation of hurt, lies and betrayal --barely held together by weathered love, stubbornness and fear of change. The best part of this story is that each parent have since moved on, took personal assessment of how to improve themselves in a relationship and now both have their own happy, loving and supportive marriage. And I learned many a lessons from that dog. From him, l learned that can always take advice and learn how to be a better dog owner and to assess any undesired behavior and work fast to nip that shit in the bud before it becomes a problem.
It’s very unusual for an OES to be that mouthy at all (but not uncommon for them to just generally be a nuisance). Typically they prefer to herd with their bodies. If he wasn’t clamping down HARD I would suspect he was trying to aggressively nip and herd you. I had a collie type dog who had high drive and would try to herd us kids. We just knew we couldn’t run around the yard with him otherwise we could end up with a tooth in us. Your chase game was inappropriate play for any kind of herding dog. Sounds like your parents didn’t manage the dog at all. Pastoral breeds especially (but really any dog breed) does not fair well in a stressful and violent household. They will almost always try to root out the problem and try to manage things into a more stable environment. This is what they were bred to do. I can only imagine the other dogs you owned later in life would fair just as badly if not worse in such a violent environment.
your excellent story telling had me in stitches . I am so sorry i really do not mean to be callous . until i read the end of of your trauma with your childhood dog . unlike you i had spend most of my life fearful of dogs until recently . (you are a natural born raconteur).
Thank you, very informative. I think resource guarding (food, sofa, preferred human, etc..) is a common motive for aggression. I guess it's a dominance issue. I see this in households where one or more of the family members are perceived by the dog lower on the hierarchy ladder.
That happened to me recently when my brother's Belgian Malinois bit me very hard while I was taking a nighttime glow collar off. I only met him when he was a year old and sometimes my brother asked me to watch him while they occasionally went out to dinner or a movie. The dog has always been very affectionate towards me and he is socialized towards people. He has never bitten anyone or acted aggressively. He wears an e-collar and I was wearing the shock device. Various things were going on. The neighbor's dog was in heat. My brother is not usually gone that long. The seasons were changing and it was getting dark earlier. He was used to staying out later to exercise. My brother told me to go through his training exercises so he would tire because he was not interested in doing anything earlier. He would only do one set. We went out before it got dark and launched a few balls for him to catch. He started walking down the driveway but he came back when I called him. We played with his tug toy for a short time and he started acting out sexually with the toy. Then he switched from that and started growling and acting out with his training mat. He wanted to climb into my lap but I said no. Then he started licking my hand. I put the glow collar on and took him out. It was when I tried to take it off he suddenly growled and bit my hand plus wrist. I was hesitant to shock him. Usually we just have to hold it up and he knows what it is. I told him to let go. I walked out the door because my arm was bleeding. He is touchy about his e-collar and prong collar. He only lets my brother remove them but he does not wear the glow collar all the time. I put it on him once before. My brother thinks he was upset because he had not returned home. I stayed outside until my brother got home to give the dog space. He was bred once and twice he was showing signs of resource guarding after he returned from the breeder who wanted to breed him with his female. My brother said all along I babied him too much and was not establishing any leadership. My parting words as I walked out the door was "I am telling your dad". He growled but never bothered to follow me or cross the room. He just turned 2 in January 2024. This incident was shortly before Christmas. Usually my brother comes home he stands on his hind legs howling. He wants the door open right now. He did not come to the door when my brother arrived home. My brother called him to come out in the garage where we were standing. He came slinking out, going to welcome his wife. She said no. He went to my brother and he brought him over and said "look what you did, you hurt her". He put him on a short leash and we went in to wrap my hand in something before going to ER. Now he is back to his affectionate little self but my brother does not want me left alone with him. He never thought he would bite me because he us always so excited when he sees me but he says I do not correct him enough. He says the dog is training you rather than you training him.
@vaska1999 I was afraid he would become more irritated if shocked. He did not follow me when I crossed the room and walked out the door. I held it up and told him he would be shocked. He knows what shock means and he recognizes the device. He let go when I told him to let go. He was at my house yesterday and he was back to his loveable self but my brother was with him. He weighs 90 pds and he is getting too strong for me. He always wants to jump up to greet me or sit in my lap and he is trying to break him. He has a trainer for him. My brother is with him most of the time and now he worries about leaving his wife alone with him but she feels comfortable with him. At age 74, I am 15 years older than my brother, not to mention having RA. He just never thought he would bite me because he is affectionate towards me and I have watched him for short periods of time or hung out with his dog while he was remodeling his house or doing yard work. His wife is younger and stronger so I do not think he would bite her, plus she lives with him. My brother thinks the dog was upset because he was gone so long. Also the dog usually knows when he is leaving but he left while he was playing with me in the other room. He ran to the window and looked out when his car was pulling out of the driveway. I think it was a control thing because he considers me lower on the hierarchy. He definitely knows I am weaker but he has never tried to overpower me. It is strange. If we go to the pet supply store or some outdoor event, he starts barking if I move away from them or go out of his sight. Once the sales clerk came to see what all the barking was about. I had returned and the dog stopped barking. He ran towards me and jumped up with his paws on my shoulder. We are breaking him of that because he is too strong. His trainer said not to let him jump up like that. I watched his Akita for him but that was years ago. I never allowed his Akita to jump up like that.
I have a dog like that….it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever had to deal with. It’s complex, and too long to explain, but we have never abused him, but he had bad allergies and we had to clean them and it hurt, now we can’t go near him, as he growls and will try to bite.. we can have great days, you touch near his collar, his eyes turn , lips come up, fierce growling and he is huge. Trying to love him, to not show fear,but it’s scary.
Thank you Joel for this video. My friend had a dog whose eyes would go somewhere else and growl at him. It got worse and worse, always with the glazed eyes, and eventually she was euthanized after a bad bite. He tried to seek help for his dog but could not find help. Background info is she was an American Bulldog mix who spent ages 4m to 8m at the shelter. The shelter uses individual small rooms for each dog where they can not hear, don't have a window and no toys. Thanks again for the work you do. It has helped my dog and me a ton
I've only experienced a couple dogs that nipped, but never gone crazy. I remember when I got a GSD as a puppy I worried a little because I was a 70s kid when GSD were considered a dog to fear. I told my kids to "never" let him bite you. I'd have them tap his nose when he bit as a puppy. He grew up to be a great dog, super respectful of kids & adults.
My husband just got bitten by a german shepard when he got our Amstaff off of her ear, german shepard was crying like a pig getting slaughtered, but in the end both dogs didn't even have a scratch, but my husband now has a broken finger and a really bad flesh wound... So a video on how to safely/correctly get fighting dogs apart would be great... Thanks for all your content, I already learned so much since I stumbled upon your channel!
Hey Joel, love your channel. Long time viewer. Last year, May 18th, my pitbull Kane had to be euthanized for this exact reason. He bit my uncle once and grandmother twice. All incidents required an ER visit and lots of stitches. The last bite was the worst. He did bad damage to my grandmothers face. Kane was the most loyal dog I ever had. Always listened, obedient, good health, always up for adventure. We did everything together. I just don't understand. He had these random moments where he would just turn. He disliked other dogs, but always loved people. Ive racked my brain on this topic for the past year. Would love your input or even a discussion about this. Thank you for all you do! -TJ
I saw my labrador snap a couple of times in its life and yes you see it in the eyes when a dog truly snaps, you can also see it in the eyes when they come back. His case was a painful spot getting touched. I stopped the attacks before he could sink his teeth in and as soon as I realized the trigger I taught the family to avoid that trigger and we never had another problem
Mental illness is something I think doesn't get talked about enough in the dog training world. Out of curiosity, did you ever find out what happened to that one dog you mentioned? The one who turned on you and it's owner for no apparent reason?
"The Myth of Mental Illness" enters the canine world. Does it not occur to us that conditioning CAUSES "mental illness", and our departure from nature, what is natural, is causal. Blame the dog, medicate the dog, although it is we, it is us who have abandoned our nature, and then blames genetic determinism rather than look at epigenetics, and project this error onto our family pets (and family members) Considering the increase in ingested meds for dogs, formerly treated externally HAS to be part of the problem. In fact, I cannot recall the specific product, but it did a lot (Heartworm prevention, flea control, etc.), and it said, "some reports of neurological disorders." Poor doggos subject to human ignorance, or more accurately naivete...trusting the FDA and for-profit PHARMA. Intuitively, we should know better. K9-DSM en route. SMH.
@@Eric-tj3tg My guess: inbreeding and keeping bad genes because the dog "looks nice". Nothing about domestic dogs is "natural". They have been bred by humans for thousands of years.
@@lyaneris Agreed the departure has been such for awhile. But do you agree that it is getting worse in that at the root of the dog, remains its true nature, just as it is so for humans (though we rarely find it in its entirety). It is conditioning and lack of understanding of pack leadership on the part of otherwise well-meaning owners (oftentimes), which results from poor or inconsistent training, and the establishment of boundaries. We cannot fall back on genetic determinism, ignoring epigenetics, and simultaneously, our part in making our animals more neurotic. Just as it is so with understanding the still-natural newborn baby, and its perspectives and needs. Recall also, that the in utero, epigenetics are at play, one example being that a mother in heightened stress, living with increased levels of cortisol and adrenaline, has a developing embryo/fetus doing so in THAT enviornment. Interpersonal Neurobiology has come a long way in understanding of the neural connections and lack thereof, amygdala (safety center) size, etc., which result from such an environment en utero. And, I recall in my undergrad days the "science" had shown the importance of the first trimester. It wasn't wrong, it was merely incomplete.
My dog has shown severe fear aggression over the last two months since we moved. However, he also started being unpredictably aggressive toward me and my husband for everyday things like when he was in his crate (for no reason), when his leash was put on him, getting him off the couch. It was like a light switch went off and his aggression became unpredictable. Also, his fear for things on the outside didn’t make sense, because although we moved, the things he was afraid of were things we’d exposed him to before. We had to put him down on Monday because he attacked my husband’s hands after getting him down from the couch, again which we always did. He wouldn’t stop, and we had to cut off his airflow to get him off. I keep wondering if we failed him, but when I look at the progression of his bite (and attempted bite) and aggression history and then turning on us, I believe we made the best decision for safety of us and him physically, emotionally and mentally. This is the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do.
Maybe your dog sensed something. Like the new place is haunted or something. I'm not trying to be insensitive and I'm sorry for your loss. But dogs' senses are keener and in a sense completely different from ours. It may have been fear of the new/of change or maybe it was a "vet psychiatric" problem, but maybe it sensed something you couldn't and was just scared
😢...I in the middle of taking the decision of putting my dog down...😢I'm 63 not strong enough and my adopted dog ( pit bull) is too strong for me, I can't control him and he is very aggressive now.
This sounds very very similar to my situation now. Actually exact! I came to this video because I am STRONGLY considering letting him go. It’s hard but after reading your story….. it just sounds so familiar; I believe I’m getting closer to making that hard move. Thank you for sharing this ❤
I just put my Springer Spaniel down a few months ago. I had her 9 years. She bit me several times, canine sinking like he talks about here. I could never break her of it. Anything she didn't like, she would hesitate to bite me. I have had many dogs over the years, several Springers, a Brittany, toy fox terriers, even a beautiful Akita. Never ever had a dog put their teeth on me until this one. I put up with her for 9 years, I did love her and she did have some positive traits and could be loving. I was a hostage to her behavior as I coukd never travel because I could not board her or have a pet sitter for fear of liability that she would bite them.I put up with her much longer than I should have ! I also have a chihuahua mix that was her companion for 7 of those years, she was submissive to him ! even though he was much smaller. The final bite was the last straw. I reached down to put her leash on her and let bite my arm hard, sunk in her canines... I called the Vet and took her in immediately. They put her down. They knew her history, whenever I took for exams, shots they had muzzle her and she still tried to bite them. I miss her but it's also a relief she is gone.
I think a lot of it can be personality. Some dogs are possessive or a bit nervous or flighty. And I think there are just "not nice" dogs who boss their own owners around, and they are far more likely to turn at some point. Like dogs will fight when the pecking order is challenged. I think the dog/owner relationship can be like an abusive relationship with humans if the dog runs the home. I also think that dogs are more likely to turn if they are badly trained or even kept in an almost feral state, like herding and farm dogs can be. Purposefully kept with limited human contact so they will bond with the herd and not be distracted or treated sentimentally. And some dogs like some people and just DO NOT like others. There are dogs that never warm up to their owners. I know that pain and possibility of injury were mentioned, but I would also mention specifically blindness or deafness that will make the dog more fearful or self defensive. I'm happy that I've owned quite a few dogs and never had one turn. It would be a bit heart breaking, especially if it wasn't something that could be "cured". I cried at the end of Old Yeller.
I always wondered about mental illness as I boarded a german shepard (maybe mix) for 3 months. He was very sweet, but would suddenly turn on people... like you said, you could see it in his eyes, he wanted to kill. He only did it to me once. I think because I fed him... Here's what happened... I took his food out to his run (like every day) I told him to sit, which he did. When I went to bend down, he growled. I looked up and he was looking at me. I got so angry. I thought to myself, I can beat him to death with this huge stainless steel dog bowl, or walk away. ... I walked away, bowl still in my hands. I went inside and sat down until I was calm... maybe 15 minutes?When I was calm. I went outside, told him to sit (like every day), he sat and I gave him his food. He NEVER pulled that on me again. Other people he did. We kept him in his run or on a teather until his owner returned from school. Luckily for me, the people were able to step back out of his reach of the teather. With other people, it could have been a pain issue. Because he could take pets up to a point. But with me, I wasn't touching him as it took two hands for me to carry that bowl filled with kibble and warm water. I always thought he was crazy, BUT he learned that he couldn't pull that crazy on me. Walking away with his food threatened his life and I'm sure he knew that I was so angry, the hair on my head was standing up. So, after watching this video, I'm wondering if this turning behavior isn't due to him feeling insecure. Because people would pet him over his head. It could have been he just liked to see people jump. But his eyes definitely said he was out for blood. 💖🌞🌵😷
there is very rare occasions where dogs have had nightmares, woke up suddenly and attacked their owners in a frenzy. that's why it can be dangerous to let your dogs sleep with you on your bed
Some medical treatments have been known to cause this switch to happen as well. I have seen the switch you are referring to more than I care to remember. I was brought up with a dog that not only bit but attacked members of the family. We lived on a ditch that was full of poisonous snakes and he was poisoned four different times and went through radiation treatments 4 different times. This left him with brain damage especially as he got older. He got to where he sometimes didn't seem to recognize us, you could tell by the look in his eye. (the switch) The only people he didn't bite were my little brother and myself (we were the youngest and spent the most time playing with him.) but it wasn't for lack of trying. I know this was a mental deficit because of the one time he tried to attack me. I was in the backyard around the side of the house cleaning out his doghouse for him. I heard him start growling and saw him running in tight circles in the backyard area and I moved back around the corner but he came charging around the corner towards me and lept into the air towards my face. I had a board with nails in it in my hands and swung it with all my might striking him in the side of the head. He yelped loudly and fell to the ground and ran off. I calmed myself and went to find him to see if he was ok. (I was only 12 yrs old and he had torn my older brother and neighbor kid up pretty good already, I just reacted.) I found him and spoke softly to him for a bit and he let me clean him up. It didn't do any internal damage, just a cut on his head and thankfully I missed his eye. He never tried to bite me again after that and never even growled at me. I was eventually elected his caretaker when he was having a bad day especially if he had gotten out of the backyard and was terrorizing the neighborhood because I was the only one that could deal with him. As an adult, I'll never understand why my father didn't do something after he turned on the family so many times. My older brother was torn up by him pretty bad 3 different times and it traumatized him. His dinner often wound up in a pile in the backyard because he would snarl and guard it as a resource before the bowl was even put down. He was never allowed inside and eventually I was the only one that would spend time with him and even that was only an hour or two a day. I would watch him fight the rats to keep them from eating his left over food from my window at night and felt so sorry for him but I was just a kid. Since then, I have been a multiple dog owner for most of my life, worked as a vet tech for about 7 years, and then later in life became a counselor.
Beckman, thank you so much for this video, it is very interesting and informative. Fortunately, in my case, my dogs have never turned on me but now I know what to do if it ever happens. I look forward to seeing more of your videos! You just earned a new subscriber! 😎
I added a 4 month old rescued what we think was a Pit/Boxer mix (Brandy) to my family and we already had a very social but submissive 1 year Boxer/Lab mix (Buddy). Brandy showed dominance immediately, but Buddy was alright with it. However, I had to set her straight over exhibiting acceptable and respectful behavior during feedings as she would have steamrolled him and eaten all of his meals, he’d just back off and look at me and whimper. 😂 She also came to us with a bit of resource guarding, with not just food but toys too. I worked that out with her. First feeding by hand, then in her bowl but holding it, then with body touch while she ate out her bowl in its stand. Never showed another sign of guarding her food. And we worked out the toy issue with discipline and back and forth give and take - both building trust and an understanding of who’s really in charge and that no one was taking her things away from her, she could trust us. They hit it off playfully immediately, but I had to work with her about her trying to dominate him and work with him about calming the hell down and not trying to play every waking moment. Respecting each other formed a bond that was unbreakable, they were inseparable until the day Buddy passed, Brandy passed only 6 months later. They were both trained professionally as well, and that I believe was KEY. But that’s a foundation that you still need to work into your individual family and house rules. Eventually they knew wrestling was for outdoors, and we don’t steal food or hoard toys. She learned to sit about 6 feet behind him while he ate, (as I stood between at first but didn’t need to for long) and when he was done and walked away, she then was allowed to go lick his bowl clean after every meal. She also learned not to snatch toys out of his mouth when they weren’t actively playing. I even helped her overcome her instinct to hunt small animals, as she bought us bunnies and dig up moles in the backyard. At first she wanted to kill them but after a ton of training, she was laying on her dog bed with our daughters 2 guinea pigs 😂 You have to really understand your dogs and pay close attention to catch their cues EARLY to get a jump on the potential for problems. And all of that training I did with them, whenever they did get injured, they actually sought us out to let us tend to their wounds. Brandy would avert her eyes and every once in a while slip us a side eye, exhibiting LOADS of self restraint, which made me so proud of her. Whereas Buddy was the one who gave us sad eyes, looked like he was so thankful for the help. Very different dogs, but both trusted us explicitly in their own ways. Had either one ever given me crazy eyes or lunged, we probably wouldn’t have been able to keep them. I wouldn’t have put my kids at risk like that. While puppy nipping is one thing, I would NOT have tolerated any of us being bitten. No way. So, Training is NECESSARY, and that means continued training every single day . I DON’T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS!!! That’s how you have happy, healthy mentally and emotionally balanced dogs.
If only you knew how much your comment means to me! I have the similar uneasy situation between my adult and my younger dog. Is there a way I can reach out to you? I'd love to hear some advices and tips from you ❤️
I had a Chow Chow previously and she literally switched in a moment. Her eyes went from brown to black. This happened after she had drawn blood after nipping someone visiting my mom and walked in between my mom and my dog while my mom was dog sitting my dog. It was devastating because she was never the same after that. The brown to black eyes happened directed at my nephew. The vet told me you never know if you have a sound chows till they turn 3yrs old. I wish I had known of you way back when.
I had a lovely dog who developed essentially canine dementia. She had never even nipped before but suddenly after she hit 14 she would have episodes of extreme aggression with no discernible triggers. I had to completely separate her from our other dogs and she couldn’t visit with guests because she was just too unpredictable. It was devastating to have a dog go from being the best friend you could ask for, to you being afraid to get your face within bite range in case she loses it. The worst part was that you could tell during her more coherent moments that she missed our old cuddly interactions but we just couldn’t risk it. It was horrible.
That's really sad..❤
Same. My dog just passed away two weeks ago, and the last 4 months were just like you described. He was such a beautiful boy but then near the end of his life😭😭 the unpredictable behavior caused fear of cuddling with him... he hated that, and so did I.
My ex mother in law I think had canine dementia.
I've been there
It is horrible,so horrible 😢
I had one who did that. For no reason. You'd be petting her then she attack you. She was 14 plus years old. got so I had a choice sedate her or put her down. She broke skin on my husband when he walked near her. I could not see her being sedated the rest of her life, so we choose to put her down. Seh may have been older than that, we got her at the pound. Hardest thing I ever did. I became afraid of her. She would just go into total attack mold no reason. She was physically fine, vet thought maybe she had a stroke, or dementia. I could not keep her secured from everybody and other animals in the home. She attacked them too. I felt it was no life for her. Prayers for you.
I fostered a dog that was returned because of biting. The dog also had seizures. Despite my decade of experience and a very structured and safe environment, she turned on me twice. I definitely said I could see it was a “turn” and something was seriously wrong with her. The rescue would not hear what I was saying and wanted me to still adopt her out to regular families. It created so much tension that I ended up parting ways with them. I just felt it was so incredibly irresponsible. It was so sad and disturbing.
Yeah I hear you! We must come to a point where it’s accepted that some dogs has a “ screw loose” and no matter all your efforts, they will turn on you, fast and unexpected ! It’s awful if rescues blames that on the fosters as they could let a dog be adopted that could turn on a child in a NY minute
Yes that was definitely irresponsible with them. A dog that is so aggressive for no reason could seriously hurt a child or another person.
From. The facts you presented you did the right thing you can't take a chance with people safety especially children a dog like that needs to be put down or shot if needed you can't put up with a uncontrolled biting dog period especially if he's big and can really hurt you or even kill you I you got to be willing to dispatch it if necessary
You should have shot the dog. " Dog ran away". It's what a responsible person would have done.
There is no reason should be a case of “shot or put down”. Just taking the health of the dog seriously and not giving it up for adoption to an unsuspecting family should be the right action.
I’ve had dogs all my life. One was a Pit/Akita rescue that was a real handful. He was great with me and the rest of my household but I never trusted him around strangers, especially adolescent males. And when the trainer mentioned in the vid the change in an animals eyes before they attack, he is spot on. I’d always watch my dog’s eyes when we were around other people and I’d see when he “went somewhere else”, and it would happen fast and I’d immediately remove him from the situation. First rescue. Last rescue. I put more work into that dog than any other I’ve had (under the direction of the behavioralist the rescue referred me too, and although he was great with his immediate family he was too traumatized by his early life to ever properly adjust to dealing with strangers (and to him that was almost everyone other than his household). Regardless of his challenges he was a good friend and I miss him.
I just went through this with a rescue that had been badly abused as a puppy and had some neurological issues. We tried for three years to learn his triggers and "fix" his aggression but in the end, it got worse and unpredictable despite attempts at training and long-term medications. In the last few months he tried to bite my wife and the vet and did bite me recently. Something was different in his eyes, we both saw it. At times he looked confused, lost. It was like a light switch - a sweetheart 99.9% of the time or the .1% viciousness that just came out. Our vet said he never had a chance at a normal life given his neurological issues. Like you, I miss him greatly and am angry that this perfectly healthy (physically) dog was incapable of being mentally normal. At least he had three good, loving years with us but I couldn't risk him killing our other dog or hurting other people after his aggression got unpredictable.
@@jimolson2557 I agree. It’s wonderful the years he had with you.
A very unfortunate combination of DNA
A dog for a professional
thank you for becoming the best friend of a dog that needed someone like you most ❤
We have a chihuahua mix and a bichon mix. They hardly ever chew someone's face off.
I’m a lifelong dog owner. German shepherds are my breed. Love their intelligence and loyalty. They were/are all very well loved. Active parts of the family. Only once did I have a close call of being bit. Was midday and Nikki just layed down on the couch. I was getting ready to take him for a walk- which he absolutely lived for. Well apparently in that short time he was on the couch he must’ve drifted off into sleep. Probably dreaming about a fine girl dog. Lol. Not knowing he was asleep, i surprised grabbed him (a common play technique I’ve used a hundred times before to initiate play). He jumped up like never before and like this guy said- you can see it in the eyes. Never before seen those eyes and never since. It took maybe 5 seconds for those eyes to slowly dissolve into his normal self. Then after the eyes were gone , knowing my dog I could see he was just pissed, but he was present again. I profusely apologized and we never had a problem ever again. He was in his prime and 120 lbs. wouldn’t have been pretty. But it wasn’t him with those eyes- was sheer instinct. Taught me a very powerful lesson that day
I have a vicious German shepherd at the moment, and frankly don't know what to do anymore. He is 5 years old, and during the last year he bit my son, and after a few months he bit me. We both had to get stitches, the wounds were deep! According to the vet he must be put down, but we really love him. He is the 3rd German shepherd I've had in my live, but the first to show this kind of aggression. Someone told me that maybe he was not bred to be a family dog, rather a tactical dog. It is a very sad situation.
My dog and I were attacked by a German shepherd. I was the one that ended up with 6 stiches in my leg. The Dr. Said it looked like a shark bit about 6" long and it was concave. It took about a year to get my feeling back in my foot.
I have a Corso and you definitely need to respect the breed with these types of fierce breeds: their instinct in fight or flight situations is gonna be fight. Aggression, emotion and dominance by the owner is a really bad pattern to become a habit: best to treat them like the little soldiers they are and your relationship with your dog and your command will thrive.
This sounds dangerous.
People matter more than animals. I’d put that dog down.
I LOVE that Beckman has the perspective of a father of young children too. Because there's a broader sense of protection and understanding. Really appreciate that and I can't stress how considerate that is.
I love his show and thisjust summarizes and lays out all of the basic methods he uses on the show. What i love about this guide th-cam.com/users/postUgkxKkYeOoCV_w2vPX0CSyVWkhew2c4FYk0d is that you don' need to read the whole book cover to cover ... You can skip to the chapter (lesson) you want to read about. The book is arranged almost as a problem-solving guide ... Here is the problem and here is what you need to know/do to correct it. This man knows his stuff ... But more importantly knows how to teach people how they can work with their pups themselves!
Yes
My dog had a bacterial infection on her face and it also got to her brain. It took almost four years to heal after her treatments. It was so bad at times that I didn’t even know her and she hardly recognized our family or us.
She’s my girl again and is nine years old and getting older.
Seriously? I just got a rescue that was diagnosed with a bacterial infection on his head. I hope we caught it early.
Awe poor girl
I’m glad she is better
❤❤😢
Pain, injury and fear can cause anger in people as well. Thank you for the informational video.
So TRUE!!!!
😈
High emotional drive in combination with high intensity/high energy is a very bad combination in anyone, man or animal. It causes instability, upset/rage, sudden reactions "out of the blue," unpredictability, danger, what can be termed domestic violence. It can be caused by a brain injury or condition that has gone undetected.
pretty much all animals
When you are truly in sync with your dog you will feel his energy just like he feels yours. You just know.
This is silly. Humans have mental illness, dogs have too. Sometimes the change comes and goes so quick that you won't have time sense the change.
I totally understand where you're coming from @dee, I believe that the stronger the bond between a dog and it's owner is the key to a dog's heart and soul, and when a dog lets you in, only then can you (really talk with dogs).🐶👍😁✌🇬🇧❤
@@tiptip9495 even people with mental illness don't know there about to have an incident.. you can't predict when its going to happen.. and there sure is no way your going to sense it coming lol.. If only mental illness was that considerate that it gave you a warning xD
Go away, please, with this new age-y nonsense.
Yes , if you are in tune with your dog, you should know their body language and their attitude / feelings. Like when your dog has an ear infection, you can tell your dog has an ear infection because of the shaking of the head, the head tilting, the stinkiness of the ear, or an odor coming from your dog. So you can tell that your dog is not feeling well.
My first dog was an English Springer Spaniel. She showed “Springer Rage” 3 times during her life. I was horrified when I found out from the breeder that my dog’s mother showed similar behaviour, but was still used for breeding, because she was a good show dog! I was only able to control these situations because I’d spent the first two years of her life training her to a very high standard. She was always so unhappy afterwards, knowing something was wrong, but not knowing why. On another occasion, we had a friend with a lovely Golden Retriever who was also well trained, then after a few years she suddenly started showing aggression. In the end they had to put her down, but they asked the vet to do an autopsy which revealed a brain tumour, which of course explained the aggression. As you mentioned Joel in your video.
When I was a child, we also had a springer who had Springer Rage. He'd just be sitting with us, then his eyes would glaze over and he'd snap. My dad took him to be put down after he sunk teeth into my little sister. Yes, it is from inbreeding and keeping mentally ill lines around because they're pretty. My husband and I now only adopt from shelters. Mixed breed dogs tend to be healthier overall.
I saw it in my first Dogo. I could see the switch and I tried to manage it but one day he got my face
Same with my dog . What o found weird was he bit everyone but me . talk to vet said it had springer rage . He wanted to put him on Prozac!! I said no way!!! But what was weird was he got his rabies shots all the years he bit. Three years in a row I did not get him his shots and in those three years he didn’t bite anyone! Hmm
@@butterfly23faith84 Some kind of side effect or allergy or something maybe.
@@butterfly23faith84 That’s extraordinarily risky to not vaccinate because if it HAD even nipped someone during this time, that’s a mandatory euthanasia where I live so they can examine the brain for rabies. The owner can also be brought up on criminal charges.
I am so glad you actually talked about mental illness in dogs. It exists and I have worked with and have done rescue with dogs since 1988. I myself have rescued a few dogs with mental illness. Only one resulted in aggressive behavior, but I have seen it over the years in other dogs I have worked with or been around. This topic needs more focus. Spaniel rage is a real thing, I actually had read a book written by a Dr. who treated dogs with different mental issues (using medications) and he discusses Springer or Spaniel Rage.
His theory is that is was more of a type of seizure like occurrence in the brain that caused the outbursts. Because he had mentioned that after the episodes the dogs would blank or zone out mentally for a while, like some do after a seizure. I'm glad to see you mention this. I hope you touch on this topic in future videos.
I know about springer rage due to a friend buying one of those. It would attack my German wire hair pointer‘s and get beat up bad. I finally said don’t bring that dog hunting I don’t want it around. I don’t like hunting my pointers with flushers anyway. That dog had to be sedated while still in a crate before a vet could even get close to it.
I have heard that spaniels are known to be one of the number one ☝️ biters, in general. Maybe this is why (?!) Sad. 😕
@@criticalmass6249 Yes I worked at a huge boarding kennel in Somis, CA. and dealt with all breeds imaginable. I was also a dog groomer and dealt with a lot of Spaniel breeds. Cockers and Springers were very difficult and were some of the worst for biting. I would not compare that to the Spaniel rage though. From what I read about it, the dog's attack for no reason at all and seem totally out of it after the event. It was thought that it might be more of a neurological issue. However, some Spaniel breeds do tend to be very defensive and quick to bite. Not all breeds, I have dealt with English Cocker Spaniels who seemed more stable and of course the Cavaliers are super sweet. In my experience it was mostly American Cocker Spaniels and Springers.
@@criticalmass6249 Springer rage is a well-known phenomenon among veterinarians. A friend of mine got a springer and the vet had to sedate that dog while it was in a crate before he could examine him for anything. I quit hunting with him because the dog was vicious and I didn’t want my German wire hair pointer’s fighting with that dog even if they did beat him up consistently.
@@Acadian.FrenchFry I have a Cockapoo, the sweetest and adorable dog. But he doesn't like his ears touched, dogs know that it is very easy to cut their ears and they know if they are cut, they will bleed and bleed. It requires a lot of coaxing and training for them to build up trust that they safe when a person goes to their most vulnerable areas of their bodies. He likes his groomers and always excited to see them, but he doesn't like them grooming him, so I've been doing a lot more myself. In America specifically, dogs receive far more vaccinations than they do in the UK, that isn't healthy for the brain of the dogs, anymore than vaccinations are healthy for our immune systems and brains.
We adopted a dog 10 years ago with undisclosed mental issues. He was the sweetest lovebug little guy in the world until he wasn't. There were no triggers, it was like his brain would turn off an he would try and kill what ever was closest. Like Beckman said you could see it in his eyes, reminded me of an old friends crazy cat right before she would attack to kill. The other dog was taking the brunt of the bites because she was throwing herself between him and his target. They normally shared a dog bed and would eat from the same bowl if we didn't keep a close eye on them no issues. After a few rounds of stitches for the other dog and and meds for him we had a wakeup call when he nearly got ahold of my old cat. The other dog saved the cats life but her leg was torn open bad and their relationship broken. She didn't want him near the family any more he was a threat, to get beagle/lab mix to that point. None of the rescues near us could handle him, the rescue we got him from said he was our problem, meds weren't working, making him sick and unhappy, we had to make a hard call to put him down. Even now it break my heart.
We don't know if he was born that way or from a head injury. He had poor vision in one eye, broken teeth and an old break on his eye socket all treated once we got him. Did his get that when someone fought off an attack or did the injury cause the mental illness who knows. This has made be very wary of rescues there are only two in my area I would adopt from. An abused dog I can handle, this was a horror that still haunts the family to this day. Thanks for this video it helped explain some of what was going on with him
Our border collie mix (who is almost 4) has been with us since he was 5 months old. He was born outside, so he came with some fears, but has always loved us and bonded with us and our other animals immediately. Two years ago, while my daughter was trimming his paw fur - which was a normal routine thing - he suddenly snapped at her face out of nowhere. Since this was completely out of character for him, we took him to the vet the next morning. They said he had the worst ear infection they'd ever seen, and we had no idea at all since he showed no signs prior to the snap. She must have put just a bit of pressure on his head and caused him to react in pain. We treated the infection and he's never had an incident like that since, but we are also very aware of his ears now. You're right about the pain and definitely taking them to the vet right away.
Your story is enlightening. At the same time, you're actually lucky you still have a daughter. Some dogs can't stop once they attack.
So glad it wasn't an actual bite. Your dog's warning snap was actually really decent bite inhibition.
I love that picture of young Joel with the cougar- the smile on your face shows your expression of doing what you were born to do.
They should be in the wild not on a chain.
@@amysands8925 really not a necessary comment
Ever hear of rescues? They would die in the wild, so they’re better off educating the public.
@@amysands8925 When those cougars are running around people's back yards in certain areas of so. cal. for example, it's either that or a high-powered slug to the skull.
Real life, not Disney cartoons, cupcake.
@@amysands8925 Tigers and pandas would have gone extinct already if it wasn't for rescue shelters. Or do you think you can stop a Somali pirate or other groups who hunt animals, from killing animals for their hide and organs?
I had a standard poodle from pup, who grew up with my oldest daughter. In the whole 10 years of his life, the only 1 time he growled at her was when he had an ear infection and she was bothering him. She understood he was feeling bad and still remembers it to this day as it was so shocking for him to growl at all. He was the bestest boy. Toddlers could roll over him and fall asleep on him. ❤❤
Another thing I would like to know is how you feel when a dog without a tie out or fence let's them outside unsupervised
@caitlindonald6777 it doesn't really happen where I live. People care so much for their dogs in the UK. It's too dangerous, in my opinion, for the dog unless you have a huge plot of private land, maybe.
TW. Joel, thank you for validating my experience. It made me feel more at peace with day I met a GSD that still haunts my dreams. I am a veterinary technician with almost 20 years on the job. I was caught off guard by very reactive dog upon returning him to his owners. He wasn't paying any attention (overtly) to me until the leash was handed back and then he showed his true feelings. He came open mouth straight for my face- defensively I shoved my arm as far in his mouth as I could. I had punctures of all his molars but wasn't able to get those canines in. His shocked owners were able to pull him away and my team was able to pull me into the building before he could try anything else. I was so baffled as I had been with the head of our behavior department before this all happened with him. She and I agreed it was better to abort trying to muzzle him for vaccines when he could come in with sedation for medical management. I have never been attacked in all my years and I was so thrown for awhile. Your video gave me perspective as the year before he was being treated for an injury, that in conjunction with new owners I think cracked his psyche. He is mentally ill now and very much a loose cannon. As far as cocker rage- also look into setter rage... I think it has something to do with gene color- because even now redder Goldens are exhibiting this issue. It truly comes down to breeding crap into the lines but.
It's in some of the whiter Goldens as well. Poor breeding. May have to do with hereditary malfunctions of brain electrical system- sometimes seizures. Sometimes something not quite a seizure- I don't know if there is a name for that.
Back in the late 90's when I was still working with dogs I noticed the red golden retrievers were more aggressive. I worked as a groomer and at a boarding kennel in Somis California that house something like 160 dogs max. There was a small team of us who worked there and some were dog trainers. What I also noticed about these Golden Retrievers they were more slender in build like an Irish Setter. I don't know if they were all coming from the same breeder or what the deal was, but it was something that seemed pretty consistent in that area back in the mid-late 90's.
@@Acadian.FrenchFry Are you aware that Irish setters are in the Golden Retriever background genetically? Yep, that's why you'll sometimes see a red Golden Retriever. They used the Irish setter to help create the Golden Retriever.
@@TedH71 Did you read my comment? I was talking about a specific line of Goldens in our area in the 90's that had terrible temperaments. Very aggressive. I was not debating on the foundation breeds, I was describing what those dogs looked like in our area at that time that were consistently aggressive.
Seizure do not always have bodily presentations. I wonder if seizure disorders were present in these dogs.
I was given a rescue dog many years ago, he was a Blue Heeler we named Max. We had the dog for six weeks and the dog and my 6yr old daughter bonded nicely. Then my husbands 6yr old son came to stay with us , I watched our son and dog play in the yard for 20 mins -as I watched I suddenly saw something change in the dogs face/eyes, it scared me. The child did nothing to set the dog off and he didn’t see the dog ‘turn’. I ran outside and put myself between the dog and our son, the dog tried to go round me and grabbed our son by the back of his neck. I kicked the dog, grabbed our son and shoved him toward the house and told him to run, he was confused but luckily did as he was told. I ran behind him and locked the dog in the yard. My husband took the dog to the vet as soon as he got home. But the dog’s FACE/EYES definitely changed. I believe there was something very wrong with that dog. We currently have our 4th rescue dog and two of my uncle’s are vets, so I understand about hurt and abused dogs but this was very different.
Sorry, but in my humble opinion you shouldn’t have told your son to 🏃run. First of all there’s no way a six year old could outrun ANY dog, and second of all that immediately gives the dog confidence and shows your son as prey.
Of course I wasn’t there and thank goodness it worked, but nonetheless it’s probably the worst thing you could’ve done...
@@criticalmass6249 she told him to run after getting him in the house.
@@jamesbasham5439 I’ve had mostly rescues. The only truly crazy aggressive dog I’ve ever had was a purebred, bought for my birthday Pomeranian.
My red cattle dog would always nip people that came into our backyard without our knowledge
They're trained with cattle! They're not afraid to do what they're bred to do
Yes exactly - it’s a physical change, they turn “ wolf” I call it. And it’s terrifying when they do it and you never ever quite trust them the same !!
I’ve had so many dogs and worked with rescue dogs , even abused dogs! I’ve seen dogs react and bite before, but this is different and very hard to explain if you have never seen it for yourself ! We had a springer spaniel also and I must say she was an sweetheart - gentle and kind, till we went camping and she met some cows she definitely did not like lol
My Doberman was adopted at 8 months from a guy who kept him in an appartement by himself 12 hours a day. He was completely unsocialized and had dog aggression and redirected aggression but he never actually bit me, he would just grab onto my forearm and give me bruises . I finally found a trainer that helped me with that. When he was about to attack, his eyes would go completely black, it was scary as hell. Super smart and protective of me though.
How you solve the problem? The trainer helped me but he's getting my arms on the walks again and he hurts me very much. He is just 11 months and the trainer said that he thinks my arm is a toy and when he gets frustrated on the walks he jumps and bite my arms. I'm short and he is like an Irish terrier with 30 kgs... I don't know what else to do... I'm exhausted...
@@SandrinhaReisM I'm not a trainer but have had dogs all my life . What I would do at the very moment he does that say ( no bad boy and turn around go strait home every single time ) it just like when my parents would tell us if we don't behave they were going to turn the car around and go home . Well it's worth a try right . Again I'm not a trainer and , hope it helps .
@@SandrinhaReisM I am not a trainer either but have had dogs all my life. From the very get go as a puppy it is not allowed to jump up at me as this behaviour will carry on to others. I am always alert to that possibility and use my knee to push the dog away. This I do every single attempt followed by a stern NO. This may work with your pup. Not an aggresive knee jerk but one that says this behaviour will not be tolerated. All my dogs have over the years been a delight as basic manners around humans is a must for me.
@@SandrinhaReisMI had same issue. I got thick rods and made few knots on it. It’s 20 centimeters long approximately. So - whenever my pup wants a connection / to bite - I give him that rope. Helps to avoid bites…
@@SandrinhaReisMI had same issue. I got thick rods and made few knots on it. It’s 20 centimeters long approximately. So - whenever my pup wants a connection / to bite - I give him that rope. Helps to avoid bites…
On the matter of mental health - I have noticed that my dog’s behaviour is different depending on diet. When I first got him I fed him on a high quality grain free kibble (as he has a hard time with grains and he was emaciated when he came to me, with a very upset gut). I noticed he was very excitable with a tendency to ‘lose it’ a bit. Quite scary as he is a large bull lurcher. I decided to transition him on to a raw diet mainly because I was hearing some bad things about some of the grain-free kibbles. Over the months he became noticeably calmer and I just put this down to him getting older (he was 2 when I got him and he’s 5 now). But recently I have started to give him a little bit of kibble again (I keep some for emergencies but have to use it up slowly and buying new so that it’s not too old) and I’m noticing some of those old behaviours starting to dial up again. Not anywhere near as bad because it’s only a small part of his diet. I know human diets can have profound effects on human mental health. It makes me wonder how much mental health in dogs is down to inappropriate diets in dogs that are a bit more sensitive gut-wise.
I agree with this 100%. I think the quality of their food impacts their attention and overall intelligence.
My rescue foster was on a grain free diet, junk treats and on 2 medications to calm his over excitement. He had terrible manners, was getting easily frustrated and didn't like being told "no" or being touched a certain way (cuddles and massages , he craved them, melts away but removing him by grabbing his harness or collar was not okay for him, i resorted to body blocking which he was okay with). He got me a few times the first 3 weeks of getting to know each other, i had to fight him back a couple of times and locked myself in another room, it was bad. I had bite marks on my arms and legs but none of the bite really got to the point of really bleeding. I started to notice that his behaviour was different when he wasn't getting his full regiment of meds, like being on them was putting him on edge. He would bark just watching a bird or any time he was in the car and saw another dog, a motorcycle, a bus, certain stranger in the street. He wore a muzzle for a bit, outside and inside. I started transitioning him to a raw diet and eventually stopping his meds and he got much calmer. I hand fed him as his food was used for training. When he used to go at me, his look was very unique and it was scary but I still had a sweet spot in my heart for him despite fearing him. Once i surpassed my fear of him getting at me when he was frustrated, we started building a stronger relationship, he had to learn what was acceptable and what wasn't and his behaviour started to really change, he was getting calmer by the day. Getting mouthy was still happening after the diet change and stopping the meds, we worked on it and now that's in the past. Now he a completely changed dog. With time, patience and learning to rebuild trust with each other, we changed our relationship to the better. I am so glad i didn't give up on him. And with training he has learnt to make better decisions, he loves his car rides, he is so relaxed now. I am well aware of his dark and sweet side. His health is much better too.
@@sydoly123 fab story. They really are worth the effort. Thank you for persevering where so many would have branded him a dangerous dog with the tragic consequences that come with that. So many people think they are dog people and they aren’t really.
Probably a very large amount.
I agree 💯! My female pitbull used to go "bat shit crazy" & become troublesome right before a nap. She's always my favorite little spazzy girl but this would get outrageous. So I fed her a mostly all raw diet of chicken or beef. It was like putting a quarter in a jukebox, or an Addie for ADHD.
She was focused, patient observant before reaction & loving us (humans, other 2 dogs & cats) in an appropriate (no headbutts) way.
I believe the dry puppy food was leaving HER malnourished. Each dog is different. My boy pitbull pup is just fine on the dry alone but has more stamina to play as long & as intense as my girl.
This may be one of the most useful videos on youtube.
It is an extremely important question and most pet owners don't understand the why, the how, or what to do about it.
We've had 7 cats and 2 dogs during the past 60 years and learned more about our pets during the last 15 years than all of the previous years. I wish we had known more in the beginning. It's the same with raising children: it's "on the job training" and it would be better for society if people were trained before they had pets or produced children . . .
THANK YOU for talking about the mental illness issue in a dog being a reason for the more rare "snap" attacks and also bad breeding being a cause for this. I feel these two things are what lead people to genuinely see pits as "turning". We have a ton around here that are backyard bred and prob used for fighting.
Also, had a question about whether poor/too severe training tactics or disorganized/inconsistent training on certain temperaments of dogs can lead to turning on the owner?
I’ve seen this in Wheaten Terriers. I’m convinced it’s bad breeding.
resource guarding is a huge issue.. During my rehab from cancer I was weak.. I was on the bottom hierarchy in my home. I had my Rottweiler snap at me several times. I invited him into my space for pets. He moved in real close to where I wasnt comfortable. I got up and he snapped. He has also redirected while someone else was walking him. Not a bad bite but it did break the skin..Some dogs need very strong leadership.
I have experienced this myself…in a milder variant…when I have one of my health episodes, my dog usually doesn‘t react as well to being called back or being leashed as she does when I‘m feeling fine….sad, but true
Your last line there, that some dogs need strong leadership, is absolutely true. When a person picks, adopts or takes on a dog, they need to make sure that their energy and mental strength is greater than the dog's. If the dog's mental energy or drive is stronger, he will rule the roost. It's the law of the alpha, the stronger one rules. High physical energy often indicates strong mental energy, but not always. It is possible for a person or a dog to be physically energetic and still be easy-going, cooperative, deferring, submissive, but very often, physical energy co-occurs with strong mental energy. If a soft hearted, easy-going, pliable or low "energy" ( >> meaning mental drive, "low" meaning not pushy, not insistent) person wants a dog, they need to choose a low energy dog that is easily led, that offers no resistance, no stubbornness, no strong opinions, no power struggle. Any power struggle from a dog means that the dog thinks he's stronger, which means that's not the dog for you. Energy is everything for compatibility and peace. (This is exactly why when you have two sets of 'antlers' in the same house, they go head to head and arguments ensue.)
This breed is known for some dogs who have dominance issues.
My mother had a similar situation with her dog. He was never aggressive and never resource gaurded until my mother became ill... and then he became very aggressive and domineering. Which he had never been prior to that. Unfortunately a dog trainer told her that she should put him down because they said he was dangerous. When I found out he had been put down I was heart broken.. I raised him and house trained him when he was a puppy. He was such a lovely dog. I still feel heart broken about it. I wish I had been living with her at the time so I could have helped him but she never even told me about the issue.. she just had him put down and I only found out later from my sister 😔
@@TJ-Judge
That's terrible. (It's regrettable that some don't seek further information before they take wrong action.) Something that many don't understand (I think the Dog Whisperer covered this) is that even a submissive dog will step up to try to fill the alpha role if it becomes vacant, if there's no one else to do it, as that alpha role being filled is so vital for them. It was explained that it *_has_* to be filled, no matter what, that dogs derive a huge sense of security and safety, predictability and knowledge of their world from their alpha, the head of their pack. When a wolf pack leader dies, the strongest remaining steps into that role: it is never left vacant. It was explained that some dogs by temperament are never suited to be pack leaders, that they are followers and comfortable as followers, that they *_don't want to lead,_* that it is too much pressure and too difficult for them, that it is overwhelming for them. Still, because that role *_has_* to be filled, a weaker dog will step into it because of sheer necessity, and then not handle it well because that was never a role suited for them. I surmise that is what occurred with your beloved dog that you raised from a puppy. If someone had filled that pack leader position, and thus offered adequate predictability and protection that alphas bring, then your dog could have relaxed and stopped worrying. Often, "aggression" is just overwhelming *_FEAR._* If the dog didn't have a brain tumor or pain, I believe it was simply the issue of the pack-leader role having been vacated in his eyes, and that he felt he had to try to fill it. Your key-word that conveyed that was "domineering," as alphas are always dominant, not merely "aggressive." He was trying his best to be a pack-leader, to look after and to protect his family/pack, doing it badly, but trying his best, not being suited for it. Someone needed to step into that role. No one did, apparently, so he felt he had to. If someone had, and had done so sufficiently, he likely would have been able to settle down, assured that someone was in charge, and that things would be okay. Asking a submissive dog to be a pack-leader is like expecting Bambi to be a bull elk, and they're just not outfitted for that. Lack of knowledge is a costly thing, it is unfortunate. I send my condolences to your grieving heart.
Man, I've been watching so many of your videos. A neighbors pit, who got out their yard, almost attacked me while I was jogging to catch up with my bike riding family. There are so many dogs in this general area and probably one out of fifty people treat and train their dogs properly. It's so frustrating! all these dogs stay in their yards and get totally "mental". Anyways, thank you so much for your videos.
@@JohnTheRevelat0r it is sad how so often people see living animals as a toy for ones one amusement from the positive feedback they give humans. So many maulings could have not happened if owners were responsible and understood a dog is still an animal that needs to intensively cared for emotionally and behaviorally.
In Nederland willen ze verplichte cursus in gaan voeren voor mensen die een hond aan willen gaan schaffen. Ik hoop dat daar Verzorging . Gedrag.
Lichaamstaal.
Kosten.
Tijd.
Opvoeding .
Rassen en welk ras past bij ons .
Bij wordt behandeld zodat er minder honden in asiels belanden ,of gedumpt worden.
I have a mentally ill GSD. Went through a very traumatic puppy hood. He is such a lovely being, but I had to learn a lot of hard lessons to get to the point to give him the care he needs. Dogs are like your children. You need to listen to them, and not have expectations based on breed. This is my third GSD. Each has been a different being in more ways than less. Good luck, my friends!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Thank you for talking about mental health in dogs. My partner had a harlequin Dane who around her 2nd birthday just started getting a bit too strung out with the cat, barking all around & under the house wherever the cat was. One day I woke up to the Dane attacking my staffy, there were many wounds to my staffy’s face, chest & legs 😔 she survived and fully recovered but we had to get the Dane put down, it was too dangerous to have her around our 4 small kids & we didn’t feel right rehoming the Dane when we knew that she had lost her mind and done so much damage. Was a terrible experience which we still find hard to move past 2 years later.
Some dogs you really really can’t rehome. If it was a smaller animal, maybe but a Great Dane is such a risk and it’s just not worth passing on it’s mental illness to surprise some other new owner. A woman (a breeder I think) was recently killed while walking her pack of Great Danes when they turned on her. All the dogs were humanely euthanized. Just too high liability and risky of a breed for them to not behave perfectly.
My neighbor was walking with a large 8 month old Cane Corso, who just got back from a 2 week training session without the owner. I noticed he had on an electronic collar. He was fearful and lunging at me on the leash. The neighbor owner thought it was great and smiled proudly at his dog. I am 70 yrs. old and worked with thousands of dogs and animals over my lifetime as an animal trainer. I told him my opinion on the e-collar and his dog's behavior. I just saw them again as I was coming back from getting my mail. This dog was ballistic now! Lunging, growling, fighting the leash, frothing at the mouth, etc. I will have to bring my taser with me and maybe my knife in case this dog breaks the leash and attacks me or someone else. I've seen this scenario many times before. When the owner thinks this behavior is funny and shocks the dog to correct it, etc. the prognosis is not good at all. 😢🐾🐾🐕🎭
The owner shouldn't laugh and correct but you are overreacting. Its pretty common for dogs to lunge scarily, especially on a leash, if they are untrained by the owner: it doesn't mean they will actually attack, dogs do it all the time
I have been attacked by dogs and animals before. I have been training animals for show, Protection, Military, Police, commercials and movies for over 40 years as a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Certified Animal Behaviorist, Certifed Service Dog Trainer and Handler, Exotic Cat Trainer of America President, and more...I have the scars to prove it. It is thinking like yours that gets people maimed or killed, then the animal gets blamed. Unless you were there you have no clue at how this dog's behavior escalated in just a few weeks. Unless you were there, be quiet....
The Cane Corsa is out of control. 8 months old and lunging. Disgraceful. I've had this breed but mainly Rottweilers. The owner obviously can't control the dog as he had to send him away and he lunged at you at his return. .You and I know if we spent an hour with this dog his temperament would be different. Had we spent the same time with the owner, I think we could put an electric collar on him. And maybe gelding!!
@@HotSeat17 Right. I can't believe he even questioned you.
@@terrylangstaff Just curious. Do you feel electric collar could contribute to aggression?
Yep, my husband suffered a terrible 're-directive' bite to the arm, just below the elbow. He was chomped, breaking up a serious fence fight between 2 large male dogs. One of our 100lb American Bulldogs sunk his canines into my husband's arm. As soon as the dog realized, he immediately let go. It was as quick as the snap of a finger. Sadly, the damage had already been done. The dog literally knew he had done something bad, he couldn't take back.
My husband still bears the scars and that was over 15yrs. ago. His arm has a permanent sunken space from muscle damage, tooth scars and he swears the bone in his arm was either cracked or chipped (it was never x-rayed). Nothing like that ever happened again for the rest of the dog's life and my husband never held a grudge or had any lasting trust issues working with that dog or any other. As a matter of fact, that particular dog turned out to be one of our very best.
I definitely agree there are some dogs out there with mental issues, although I believe it to be much more prevalent in the feline world. : )
I got it on the hand breaking up a fight between two pitties at a rescue. She did exactly the same thing, was going for the other dog, missed and got me and released instantly, before even finishing biting down. Her canines went right through the pad of my thumb and put a groove in my index finger but none of her other teeth broke the skin despite my thumb being in her mouth. Another other trainer helping stop the fight was bitten almost exactly the same on the leg, just twin punctures on one side, two small twin bruises on the other. I've been an IPO or -G target for a friend a few times, and even with a suit and sleeve I've been had purple all over my forearm from her shepherd, which do have a bit stronger bite and significantly bigger teeth, but not that much stronger. I forget exactly, but an adult working male APT has an avg of 250-275 or so and working Czech or DDR GSDs about 275-290. Shepherds are deceptive because their pointy snoots and ears really mask the powerful muscles so easy to see on bully breeds! Some bully breeds do develop huge muscle mass including their facial muscles, but what to really look at is the width of the muscle between a dogs teeth and skin as they're panting and looking at you face on. I didn't realize it, but when I checked my brother's golden it was under half the width of my dog's.
Have you ever owned a domesticated cat? They don’t just turn on you. 🤣
And domesticated felines don’t leave damage like domesticated canines because they’re a way smaller animal, usually.
@@greattribulation3759oh they turn on you alright. I refuse to go in homes with cats cause i’ve been attacked several times by different cats, including our first cat, and i know plenty of people bitten by cats. Cat attacks are a lot more frequent, tho they are seldomly put down cause the damage isn’t significant
Yes I did rescued & we knew Torties (f) of course can get pretty crazy. Some can be dang well dangerous😢 I've known cats having to be euthanized because of serious reactive disorders hurting their people and themselves 😥
You can 100% see the switch in the eyes..found your channel today by far one of the best dog trainers there is..honest, and you know your stuff
As a kid I was training a dalmatian. He was a puppy and as he grew the dog would start acting oddly......really stressed but no triggers. One day he attacked and bite me with the whole body shake. it took my grandfather and my collie to get him off me.......nasty bite. The dog got put down and it turned out that he had a genetic defect where his brain was too big for his skull and that caused extreme headache pain. Recently I have a neighbor with a female cattle dog that was abused by her ex boyfriend. The dog is great with me and my cattle dog...a little socialization needed but nothing so bad. However when the dog is with her owner......it sometimes it is reactive and overprotective of the owner who suffers from anxiety, OCD behavior and bi polar disorder.......Since she is my neighbor.....I noticed the dog is reactive when the owner is off her meds. The dog trusts me and even came to our door at 2am because her owner took the wrong meds and was out of it. You could see it in the dogs eyes........I don't know what to do please help my owner!! When the police/emts came the dog wanted to protect her and if I wasn't there.....it would be hard to control that dog. I know the dogs helps her a lot but when she goes off the rails the dog also goes off the rails and I told her both she and her dog need behavior training.......she has to stay on her meds if she wants to keep that dog safely. I feel sorry for the dog.....its smart and empathic and wants to help the owner.....maybe therapy dog training would help.....I don't know
Sensitive breeds like Pitties are known to absorb owners PTSD.
If I were you, I’d keep supporting the neighbour to keep to her meds. Remind her of the benefits
Your good Beckman Watching this i recalled problems my dogs long past suffered from ! Today I'm a lot wiser than i was at a young age But its still nice to learn more as i stroll down the path of life with my companions "The dog " We should not fail them ❤
I personally think Joel's lose leash walking method is the key to solving many dog behavior problems. My dog used to be so excited and wanted to jump on everyone, and now she is so well-behaved around people. When I walk her, people can't believe she is only 7 months old and I trained her all by myself.
"Loose" lease
Well done
@@TheWolfCreekRetreat Loose leash
@@wendymoran6759It's hilarious that you took the opportunity to correct the corrector. 😂
@@adatshhc I couldn't resist! Lol
The puppy my son brought home, if he gets over-excited, on a hike or during play in the yard, he will do something remarkably like attacking. I use the beep on the Ecollar to get his attention. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO NOT LET HIM GET WORKED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE. The door method, and loose leash walking, which I learned from these videos has been incredibly helpful in structuring him. Had I seen them sooner, I probably wouldn’t have needed the E collar. As soon as I notice the puppy turning, I get him sitting, put the leash back on and go from there. Years ago I had a Belgian Tervueren. If she became overexcited she would turn. I could see in her eyes that she didn’t even recognize me. The secret with her, was to never let her begin barking during play. All play would have to stop until barking stopped. Her eyes would come back into focus and she was once again a domesticated animal… Anyway, keep up the good work with these videos! Very down-to-earth and helpful.
Thought I'd tell you my thoughts. After playtime or when the dog Needs More. Try a short walk to disrupt what they're thinking. Works well with my GSD!!!✌️💗
I had a pomeranian i got from a small, reputable breeder at 8 weeks. I trained him to a very high standard. He was so smart, funny, fiercly loyal, such an amazing companion 95% of the time.... the other 5% he was randomly, violently agressive. I tried so so hard for 2 years to help him. Did so much training, read so many books, broke the bank at the vet. After 2 years, my vet told me some dogs are just mentally ill and need to be put down. If he had been a larger dog he would have been way too dangerous to keep from 5 months old, but he was 2 by the time we had to throw in the towel. He had injured both of us, many others, we were always stressed every moment. The final straw was when two small kids moved into the home. It just wasnt safe at all, and his unpredictable attacks were becoming more frequent. It was so incredibly hard and sad. Love you Frodo. Miss you.
Aww Frodo. It sounds like you did everything you could possibly do. The majority of people wouldn’t have given him a chance after a week, you powered thru 2 years. ❤ take care
I've recently got a puppy. I watch your videos 3-4 times a week. I've learned invaluable information, and am having good success.
I've never been bitten by any of my dogs.
I did have an experience where a dog beared his teeth at me. I knew nothing about dog training at the time. He was a full grown husky. Got him at 2 years old
Had him for about two weeks. I was yelling at him for something he had done, and he bared
his teeth. I said one or two more things to him then backed away
When I thought about the situation, I realized I had backed this dog into a corner, and we were both unfamiliar with each other. I made sure I never did that to him again.
The dog turned into a good, obedient dog who stayed with me till old age.
If you bred me for someone's pet, took me away from my brother's, sister's, mum, dad.... And cut my testical's off, then locked me up all day... I'd bite your face off... "Animal lovers"... RIGHT?
Makes sense. Many dogs understandably won’t tolerate disrespect.
@@NosferatuUndead I got my rescue after losing my beloved 14 yr old the week before. Grief, stress from work & a tough marriage combined had made me a yelling, tense mess. When I got this 10wk old boy at my age of 62, I had never owned a dog in my entire life (had MANY dogs & breeds over that time frame), that I had ever had to train or that had behavior problems. Also, had never adopted a shelter dog before. WHOLE. NEW. BALLGAME. I've had to relearn everything I ever thought I knew about dogs. 3 years in, I've finally figured out that 1) He feeds off MY moods. 2) I cant yell or strike him 3) Patience, patience, patience 4) Just cause Cesar says it doesnt make it right. Never even thought about food. Thought dogs could eat anything you dumped on the floor for them cause that's what I was taught. "They're just dogs." No they're not.
We had a dog once that broke his back and had to be put down. Even when he was in immense pain, he would never hurt any of us (though obviously we were gentle with him). No judgement on any other dog, but he will be missed, some dogs just don't seem to have it in them to hurt people.
So so sorry, I cannot imagine
I'm so sorry for your terrible loss, he's no longer in pain ❤
He broke his own back?
Nnnmmmnkkkkl.kk@@SerpentFire
my dad and i run a small vet clinic in germany, over the years we had 3 cases were we had to put a dog down coz he "flipped" from one day to another, what we found in 2 out of the 3 cases was a growth in the brain a "glioblastoma" in its relative early phase which would press on the "amygdala". we never foundout what was wrong with nuber 3 tho
That is very interesting, thank you.😊
Hello ,, First time I came to your page,, Your are 100% on what happen to me with my dog ,, 120lb american bull dog , turned on me , he tried to take me out. I never treaded him bad.. You are the first person to talk about this. It hurt me to my heart that my dog did this to me.. He had mental problems , but no one believed me. Thank you for the video and explaining it.
Can i ask what you what happened with your dog? Do you still have him?
So sorry that happened to you.
Just have been horrible.
@@traffictwatsLol I’d bet he just got another one
You have menthal problems as you dont know the simple fact that you have to dominate over them!
Great video.
I've had three dogs with cancer, and in pain - but they always turned to me for comfort when the vet arrived to 'put them to sleep'.
Having said this, I have been bitten as a result of your first reason. i.e. two dogs fighting, and holding them apart left them nose to nose.... I understood this, and was eventually forced to leave them to fight it out, as I was bleeding badly and one of my dogs was shaking her head to cause more injury, and force me to let go...... She was one of the dogs that eventually came down with cancer, but walked into my arms when the vet arrived.
Spaniel Rage is, sadly, very real. I've only just seen this podcast.
We bought our beautiful English springer Spaniel as a puppy, Pip. He was our fourth Springer, so we thought we knew their general character, bouncy, fun-loving, and usually eager to please. The first two years went by as normal. Then we started to notice a slight change in his personality. He would start to be grumpy. We took him to our vets and he could find nothing wrong, nothing giving him pain or discomfort.
Months went by, and his grumpiness grew. He started to go for one of the cats, totally out of the blue one day, and stopped when he heard us shout at him. He looked puzzled as if he'd done nothing wrong. the cat had done nothing to apparently upset him other than just be in the same room as him. Life carried on with these occasional out of the blue attacks on the cats. None of our other spaniels ever attacked our indoor cats, ever! And growls from under the table where he lay in his bed.
Now at night when a torchlight catches a dog's eyes they appear greeny blue - not Pip's eyes - they shone red!
Then one evening, Pip was half on my lap and half on the arm of my chair(as per). My fave tv programme was about start, so I said to Pip come on down you go and pushed him off onto the floor. Something we had done many times before. Well he turned round and grabbed my hand, biting it hard and started to shake his head. The pain was immense, he would not let go, just kept biting harder, with me at this stage screaming for him to stop. He held my hand like this for a good half minute, or maybe more, and then suddenly let go of me, and stood staring at me blankly as though he hadn't a clue that he had turned on me. Oh yes, there was plenty of blood!!
Very very sadly we felt we could no longer trust Pip, and so the next day my husband took him to our vets.
I believe Spaniel Rage has been caused by over-breeding of these pedigree dogs. Pip's brain had been "wired all wrong", as a friend of ours said.
Those canines do damage, and those other teeth! I have the scars to prove it.
We now have a Spreagle, who is adorable, is mentally as thick as two short planks and twice as dense, but we love her to bits. She behaves with our cats, although she will chase off any outside intruder felines! (A Spreagle is a cross between a Springer Spaniel and a Beagle hound, for those of you unfamiliar with the word)
This is great to hear, my dog “attacked” a puppy the other day, he didn’t bite, no damage at all and he still listened to commands once the excitement was over. He was definitely just trying to play, he didn’t bare teeth at all just ran up barking and tackled.
Rage syndrome appears in some breeds,its rare but fairly well documented. It's actually not a mental illness,it's neurological, more of a seizure disorder akin to epilepsy. Cockers and dobermans are the breeds that I'm most aware of being at risk of it. We had to pts a dobie mix that had it. Kind of like when tigers go green,the dogs eyes would change,go blank a bit and glaze and then it would stiffen and snarl.
I agree with Cockers can be totally nuts.
Im convinced my shit-zu Maltese has this….and yes, that glazed look in their eyes.
Is it like false pregnancies?
No like petit Mal seizures in humans. Staring, glazed look, unresponsive for a brief time, and then shake it off and in a different mood than before the seizure. ( grand Mal seizures include falling to the ground, shaking, spasming, perhaps drooling etc)
@@befriendly wowzers! Ive seen this! It's a real thing! And a good reason I chose NOT to get a Large carnivorous animal for a pet. Yikes! Opted for our 3 pound Yorkie bc if she ever went into the Red Zone, no one would die or be maimed! 😢💔
Thank you so much for your insight on this it honestly gave me closure on an attack I witnessed at a young age
Fantastic video, thanks Joel. Yes, Cocker owners often seem to experience crazy aggression... What comes to mind is during my time training dogs in the local Rottweiler club, intact males would seriously attack their owners in battles of dominance, for lack of a better term: Either objecting to leash-correction during heel-work, or to the "drop" command during bite-work. okay, the latter could be redirection due to frustration. But 1 case had a young adult intact Rottie hump their new owner. When he tried to push the dog down, he got bitten so badly his entire arm and shoulder ended up in a cast. Also, male intact Malinois would sometimes object to corrections and bite the owner's leg, or attack a new owner when they walk into the dog's kennel.
Pertinent feedback!
Probably one of the biggest scenarios you didn't mention would be a dog with PTSD. That could be from dogs that were bred for fighting, abused in some other way or some other reason and this could go under that category of mental illness. Also dog with rabies which would go under physical pain I guess but still common enough it's worth mentioning.
Yes. Dogs with PTSD need therapy and understanding too.
If you bred me for someone's pet, took me away from my brother's, sister's, mum, dad.... And cut my testical's off, then locked me up all day... I'd bite your face off... "Animal lovers"... RIGHT?
I think rabies defs goes under mental illness bro.
Absolutely agree. My Dad once owned a 11 month old German Shepherd that had been pre viously abused about the paws by a man. For years afterwards he would attack anybody who tried to touch his paws. Especially men.
@@mrpiccolukThat poor dog. I hope the guy who abused him gets his one day. And he will. It's called karma. 👌
We had an incident here in Western Australia few months ago where the owner was attacked by one of her Rottweiler and she suffered extensive limb and face injuries and nearly lost her life. There was speculation that her 2 rottweilers were fighting and one of them turned on her when she tried to break up the fight. The police had to shoot the dog to stop it from killing her and the other was impounded by the city but had to put down later as it was then classed as a dangerous dog and she was not in a position to meet the council's requirements. Very sad incident for all involved including dogs, owner and her family.
Great video! I lost an older male Vizsla this spring, to cancer. Six months before he died, his behavior changed, markedly. We took him in to the vet and they found no issues with blood work. I didn't think about doing an ultrasound at that time. Turns out that he had a massive tumor that had been growing into his lungs, heart, liver, etc. The pain must have been horrible. He would get aggressive if you tried to pet him on the belly or when laying down. Never showed aggression ever before. We suspect there may have been tumor in the brain. So sad. If your dogs behavior rapidly changes get to the vet, get blood work done, and have them do an ultrasound of the chest and stomach area.
As always, an amazing topic with a lot of valuable information. I live in South Africa and we have human settlements where dogs roam freely and often have to fend for themselves. The weak dogs generally don't make it and as a result, we have dogs with very strong genetic survival skills. My mother's dog came from there and at the age of 12 moved into my pack recently. Although she is sweet and loving, she turns on me when I grab her collar. Although very loved, this dog never had any formal training, she lived on a 10-acre plot and her only outings were to the vet. She resource guards me and has shown very dominant behaviour towards the other dogs. I have worked on the collar grabbing daily and even though she now accepts it, I am still wary and careful. I will always make sure that she is aware of my presence. Please could you do a video on resource guarding, especially if it is a human?
Yes Joel resource guarding especially of a human much needed topic. I have a 11 month old Basenji (central African breed as well) and he resource guards me especially when I’m sleeping or alone with him and someone else comes in the room. Can be the greatest most loving dog in the world but resource guards very odd things from time to time. Items of no importance, not edible, not a possession of the family, like a random water bottle, or rubber chair arm
Do you really need to grab their collar? Many dogs just don’t like it. Instead of grabbing them (physical prompt), try using verbal prompts (come, here, come NOW)
We took in a Dalmatian from the pound around 7 months ago. He’s now a year old, up-to-date on shots & neutered. Very high strung & energetic. Plays rough, always has. We believe that he was starved bc he’s constantly hungry & will eat literally anything/everything.
My 14 year old son was outside petting him & he had a really small bone in his mouth. The dog growled, my son brushed it off bc this dog always growls while playing. Well he snapped, turned up & bit him in the face. Bit almost thru his cheek fully and split his upper lip in half. He has possible nerve damage bc he cannot smile fully. It’s heartbreaking to see him like this.
I believe that my son pulled away when he was bitten (bc, instinct) which is why so much damage was done. He received 14 stitches & 2 internal sutures to his lip..
My husband is super attached to this dog, but as you say in your video, your own dog should NEVER turn on the owners! And esp on kids!
If this bite had occurred just a few inches lower, he would have gotten his throat & he could have DIED.
My question is, should he be returned to the pound? I say yes, as my sons terrified of him & who knows if this will happen again! My hubby believes that it was our kids fault, he shouldn’t have stayed while the dog growled.
I don’t feel this is any time for a “guilt trip” toward my son.. I understand that we’ve put a LOT of time, love & effort into raising this dog the best we can, but obviously it’s not working out.
So basically, my question is, should someone keep a dog who has turned on their owner & bit a member of the family, especially a child?
My dog had extreme anxiety, social anxiety towards people and other dogs. He might have even had some ptsd. He was 15 pounds and was never aggressive but he definitely had a mental illness. Lots of training helped but he was essentially broken 😢. He was my best friend and I am glad he was mine because I truly believe he would have been turned over to a rescue or abused because he was such a mess. Rip Max
I understand that
Thank you for taking this special pup and loving them
R.I.P Max
RIP to your beautiful friend. Thank-you for loving him unconditionally ❤
@@melt2947 You are very kind. Thank you. He was such a special boy ❤️
I have one right now the same way, he's 16 months major anxiety major mouthing me since had him. I've had lots of dogs never one like this. I love him more than anything in the world. Took almost a year just to be able to get him to walk past people without going insane. He has major stomach issues I think from stress, I now home cook for him. I worry if anything happens to me, the vet saw it first time I went wanted to put him on meds, but major bad side affects so never gave them to him. He was bottle fed but his brother is fine. I watching this video because he bit at me earlier but he doesn't actually bite me, he gets mad at me because I wouldn't let him get into bird seed in ground. He's a mini schnauzer very head strong to.
Thank you for posting this very informative video. I've had dogs most of my life and had no idea dogs can have mental illnesses.
You are a wealth of knowledge.
I believe my dog has PTSD. He goes through unbelievable, almost uncontrollable behavior.
Thank YOU for your video.
Of all my dogs, only the first one I ever had, turned on me and bit me. I rescued him off the highway, when a car pulled over and threw him out in the road, and he walked right in front of my car at night in Brooklyn. I took him home with me, and we became extremely close, and he loved the family, and the cats, and everybody for five years. Our relationship was very strong and our communication was very good. He was never alone, and nothing ever tormented him. He was treated royally, and was basically a very good dog, a fiery red Pomeranian. Then one day my uncle was just walking by in the house, when he suddenly lunged, attacked, and bit him. He was very close with my uncle, who would take him for his daily walks two times a day. They had an excellent relationship, and nothing ever happened between them. About a week later I was walking him, when he suddenly turned around and bit into my knee. I don’t know why he became a different dog after five great happy years, other than perhaps he had become sick. I don’t know how old he was when I got him, but he was in terrible condition, and looked like he had been neglected and abused for a very long time. Perhaps as he aged, flashbacks from his early life abuse started to occur. RIP Cherry.
So in 5 years since you got him you never went to a vet?
You should never spoil dogs.
Heartbreaking
@@danielletracyannwhat’s an example of spoiling a dog?
@@NosferatuUndead”He was treated royally” reread the comment and you’ll see it.
Had a dog which i had for years when suddenly he began biting me with the last time leaving 4 punctures in my calf ... left a message with the vet to have him put down . They ran a test first and discovered he had no functioning thyroid.... after starting the thyroid med he didn't ever bite for the rest of his life (about 4 years) and regained a happy attitude
So quick to schedule purring the dogdown?
I don’t understand why you were so quick to put your dog down. Are you grateful to the vet who was clearly so caring?
I can honestly say that I personally have never met a stable Cocker Spaniel. I love how cute they are, though lol
I worked at a dog groomer's when I was younger, and they were absolutely my least favorite breed to work with.
I was a dog groomer for 15 years. I had one dog that would suddenly lose it's mind and start screaming and biting for no real reason. After many attempts at figuring it out, it actually turned out the dog was having seizures, they just weren't grand mal seizures where they fall over and start shaking. They got her on seizure meds and it fixed like 80% of the problem. The dog was still nervous and reactive about certain things, but I knew what her triggers were (mostly foot stuff), and I could go slow and gentle and she would be okay. That wasn't a redirect, a mental illness, or pain. It was a medical problem though.
Also during my career I had one dog that was truly mentally ill. I had groomed him since he was a puppy so he was okay with me, but he would lose his mind at strangers at home (and other places) for no reason once he reached adulthood. He could not calm down and the vet could not help. The owners got another dog who was nothing like that and that was when they realized how mentally ill he was. They ultimately had to put him down even though he was a small dog, which was very sad, but the responsible thing to do. He was definitely poorly bred which may have had something to do with it.
I had a Cocker with rage syndrome. He was literally Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. There was no noticeable trigger. I had to put him to sleep. So sad. But he bit multiple people. Who knows I was young and took my vets advice. I loved that dog though. He was great with me except for food resource guarding. He would growl and pee over his food when you came near him. Scary.
This happened in my family as well. A cocker spaniel, too. 😪 He severely injured male members of my family in different occasions. At that time there was no treatment they could do on him. He had to be put down too...
@@ashleyhilbert9228 It was really awful because when he was good he was the best little dog. And he never bit me. only growled. He slowly got worse and worse and more and more unpredictable.
With respect never take behavior advice off a vet. Sorry loss of your dog.
I had the same happen with a golden retriever about 30 years ago. Two trainers and two vets later, we finally had to euthanize. So sad.
@@alphacanine9641 I know that now. I was 18 and not very savvy.
My parents had a Chow named Bear. He was a beautiful dog. But three times he bit neighborhood kids who had come to the house to play with my little brother. One of them I actually witnessed. My mom had given the kid a dog biscuit to give to Bear. As soon as Bear was let out of his kennel, he turned and lunged on the kid, sinking his canines into the kid’s abdomen. My mom said it happened because Bear remembered this kid teasing him previously, which made absolutely no sense to me. I am still surprised my parents were never sued by the parents of the kids that Bear bit. Then one day, a storm was coming and my dad was standing in the doorway with Bear by his side. Bear turned around and sunk his teeth into my dad’s knee. That is when they made the decision to put Bear down. My mom regretted that decision for years and said she would have rather taken him to live with a sweet old lady in a remote location. I think that would have ended badly, too.
I want to thank you for opening a new world for me. Your videos and instruction are always on point and have actual situational applications. I take pride on being a good dog owner. I have a daughter who always fed her two dogs together. Food caused the death of the smaller dog. I now give ample space while feeding my dogs.
wrong,,she allowed the bigger dog to be aggressive to the smaller one,,,the food was just the catalyst.
@@wuffa4503 you gotta love when people respond with no context of size or breed or most importantly the age yet feel compelled to give thier astute assessment. For the record, the smaller dog was the dominant animal in the house. If you were to say... the bigger, younger boy dog was being passive aggressive after being put in his place several times by the older female alpha, then sure. Honestly, I would never take advice from you in any matter.
@@wuffa4503uhhhhh wrong
I encountered an unstable adult male Rottweiler at a friend's house around 30 years ago, which had come from an abusive home according to my friend. The dog bit my friend (required medical attention and antibiotics), friend's brother (required antibiotics), and I personally witnessed the dog "flip" from playing with a ball to toy aggression when the ball went behind a person's leg and the chair or sofa the person was sitting in. It was a tense few minutes where we all sat stock-still, the dog growled in a close stance with face inches from the leg, and the owner attempted to verbally recall the dog. Eventually diffused, thankfully. The second incident I encountered with this dog was when I was in the house to get something from the living room while almost everyone else was outside in a hot tub. The dog started stalking me and had me backing into a corner when I was able to call the owner to come intervene. I refused to go visit friend after that, knowing it was unlikely the dog would be crated, muzzled, or otherwise restrained for human safely. Months later, I learned the dog had been euthanized after (and only after) it attacked a person and she required extensive stitches to face, etc. It was a sad, preventable incident.
Thinking about your reasons, I am wondering if a fourth reason for dogs to turn on owners is a history of abuse/trauma or abusive use of e-collars resulting in an accelerated rate of excitement/reactivity so a dog can go from being "okay" to "not okay" too fast for us to redirect or catch in time to prevent an incident.
Dogs are like all of us sometimes they just get sick of that shit.
My young dog was raised with my 2 dogs happy life. Introduced to dogs, children, people etc, no problems. Suddenly she started to hate my old dog. We tried everything but couldn't work out why. We noticed our young one seemed unwell so we took her to the vet , she was treated for it for 2 weeks due to a fever. In that time she moved to be with the old dog cuddling close & liking her faceas usual. When the younger one got better she attacked the old one twice & I got hurt trying to stop my dog getting killed. In that time we had separated them and been trying different methods to work out & help. In the end after the last attack the vet had to put her down. Possibly due to infection affecting her brain or a sudden mental breakdown? We don't know. But we were so distressed, we loved them both, it was difficult to put one down. Thankfully our older dog survived the surgery and is ok. I took a while to heal but still trying to understand why it happened or if we could have done something differently. Though vet said that it wasn't our fault. It's very upsetting anyway.
Of course it's upsetting and not your fault. Sorry for this difficult decision ❤
sometimes it's a situation where the younger dog goes after the older dog to become.alpha. Or the other dog was sick and thee younger dog new it and decided to make it's play to dethrone the older dog.
WHAT IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Thank you for making this. This type of information is difficult to find
Our dog who we fostered then adopted (he was the absolute sweetest with such a big heart) came to us with both ears infected, worn down canines from chewing on a chain, heartworm, and a penis infection. He was a Rottweiler, bull dog, lab mix. Not once in his whole precious life did he growl with the exception of one warning to our other dog on day one, so as not to get his food stollen. He was a big strong dog, just so unbelievably gentle.
I don't know if this actually falls under "turning on their owners" but some may think this is what it is. As dogs start losing their sight or hearing, they are easily startled which can lead to fear bites.
I got a fear bite on my wrist from a slightly blind little dog. I carefully approached him with his good eye and was petting him just fine. But my long hair fell from over my shoulder (as I was leaning to pet) my hair was more towards the blind sided eye and it scared the dog so much he bit me. Yeouch!
Yes Fear is what I was thinking
My 14 yo dog is blind in 1 eye and she does growl and show her teeth if you approach her from the blind side.
Recently my 14 year old Westie bit me while bathing her and working at the gunk in her eye. Hubby used that expression ‘She turned on you’ and I said, nope, she protested clearing gunk from her eye, she’s deaf and nipping at me was her only way to protest that I caused her pain first. I slowed down working at that gunk and she trembled but didn’t nip again.
However I do believe, don’t get a size dog beyond your age and ability to deal with them.
Not an attack though.
My first GSd was hit by a car and lost a front leg. Though medical exams didn't find anything other than a fractured elbow, she had pain at random times during her life. Then she got early arthritis from compensating. She couldn't stand active children or dogs for the reasons you outlined. She was fine as long the child or dog approached slowly and gently. Just before her 12th birthday, She lost the use of her back legs and had more pain from this Neuro issue. While monitoring her in her final days, she snapped at everyone but me and made a serious attempt to bite my husband's hand. So I was her sole care taker during a time of intensive care and numerous vet visits, where The techs couldn't even help. I was changing her bedding one night and she just looked at me and curled her lip. Broke my heart, but I knew we'd gone as far as we could and the pain was too much for her. I always said that one dog would never bite me. And she didn't because she knew she didn't have to.
Border collies give the ‘side eye look’ and that generally means they’re in a funny mood! I warned my son when he was a child not to wind my fluffy collie up and he never did! Although he did fall on my Ferrel when he was learning to walk… Ferrel did not growl or bite but my son did avoid my dog for a long, long time and my dog did the same! I miss my Ferrel so much! He passed at 15 and I miss him dearly… he was my pal for 15 years… 😢 best collie ever! We currently have a 16 month old flat coated border collie meat missile! ‘Fidget’! And the vet said that was a very appropriate name for him when we took him to be neutered! His energy is off the scale! And we’ve previously owned crazy Labradors! Love your channel, just found you and subbed immediately!!!
I tried to rescue a Shiba Inu a few months ago. I couldn't keep the dog because after getting 4 bites in a month and needing stitches, the 4th time too much fear set in with me.
This dog was fantastic if he had a military routine. Like clock work 4 walks a day with play, the walks alone never totaled under 10 kn of excersize. After walks, we would do some basic commands with one new one in practice to help him learn. After that, he would get a puzzle toy with treats to keep him mentally stimulated.
His biggest issues that we were working on were fear of noises like traffic and the train that would pass by our house. If the house was quiet, the smallest noise would set him into excited barking and pacing. If it was raining, he was obsessed with chasing the streams of water in the cracks on the sidewalk. So my initial thoughts were, at the very least, this dog had anxiety of some kind so I found some relaxing spa music thar sometimes helps me to just relax and played it for him the one day. This was like an instant switch in him. Instead of reaching the smallest creak in the hallway, he could sleep through construction outside my building with the windows open. We did our best to keep him on his strict schedule but it was so bad that even 30 min late on a walk would have him obsessively licking and sniffing the floor and if you tried to get his attention in any way he would instantly attack and draw blood every time. In the end, all this was too much to handle, and I had to give him back, but it bothers me every day that I don't know what was actually wrong and thar I couldn't help him.
Now instead I'm obsessively watching dog training videos and wondering if I would be able to master the skills to help other dogs be better. ( I think guilt for the one I couldn't help)
Sorry for the sad rant. This is probably not a good place to post this.
I think this is the perfect place to post it.
We’re all here to learn.
We had a 14 yr old Shiba that was the biggest sweetheart who ended up with a brain tumor. Saddest ending to a sweet dog. :(
I am in almost the same situation. Mini-aussie mix. Now a year old. We walk. We play ( no set schedule). Random resource guarding or even be eating, stop and run at me on bed in other room, tense up, growl, snarl and basically have me pinned. If i move, I WILL get bit. Meanwhile she still has food in her bowl.
Vomit is a MAJOR issue. She will NOT let you near it to clean it up. All just RANDOM acts but I need to stop this behavior. That thin skin syndrome is no joke!
All you said was very good and well thought through. Yet I think another reason is fear due to past abuse.
Exactly that too
My cane Corso turned on my son. My son was on the computer and was told to go to bed and he got angry and aggressive at me, shoving furniture and yelling at my face. My cane Corso lunged (gave warning by huffing several times) and sunk his teeth into my son’s arm and began to shake. My guardian breed saw my son as a threat. We had to take my son to the ER for stitches and had to give up the dog to animal control after a CPS visit.
My son has never acted like that to me again.
The poor dog was protecting you , how sad, I hope he got a good home.😊
Poor dog that's soooo unfortunate. I would've kept my buddy.
Well that is so sad. Dog was only doing his job - protecting you
That’s what happens when the hierarchy in the family is wrong, the dog should be the bottom of the hierarchy
@@shapiro9640Unfortunately because he injured somebody, they probably euthanized him.
Very interesting. I agree about dogs and kids. My son's older dog used to always go under their dining room table to get away from the kids. Smart dog.
I know of a collie who slept on their owners bed and had a very strong relationship with their owner who attacked the owner viciously in her sleep putting her in hospital, it turned out the dog had some sort of brain tumour that at some point caused the dog to just switch.
Fear makes them freak out too.
At footy training when my boys were about 8-10 years old, a friendly Staffordshire Terrier used to drop by and play with the kids. On one occasion, my son was lying on the grass and the Staffy was playing (tail wagging) and snuffling around my son's face and head. Then the dog just started tugging his hair violently trying to rip it out. I yelled at my son to stand up straight away and yelled at the dog. Also, recently in the Australian news, a rescue blue heeler cross was shot by the police because it turned on 3 members of the family. The dog had a traumatic past (unknown) and had only been with the family for one month. The father was sitting on the floor at the time and the dog attacked his throat. It then went on to attack other family members when it was locked out of the room. I have noticed that my own dogs notch up their play if I am on the floor at their level. Keen to know your thoughts on this theory.
I got on all fours to play with my 3 month half dauchshound, half Maltese terrier/poodle. I'll never do that again. He looked at me in confusion, started barking aggressively and jumping up on his hind legs. He clearly felt threatened but I don’t know why. I wasn't in his face, and I did a playbow with sweet tone of voice. Other times he’ll just randomly start barking violently at my adult daughter or myself, and trying to bite us, out of the blue. It scares me. I'm worried that there may be something mentally wrong with him, but most of the time he's so happy and chill.
Thankyou Joel, this was fascinating. I met a lady once at the hospital, who's bull terrier had fallen asleep by her on the sofa it's was dreaming and woke up startled it clamped onto her arm and caused serious bone, nerve, tendon damage. She said the dog was old, had gotten it from a pup, that up to that point had a marvelous temperament and that usually her child would of had its head on her knee where her arm was. Luckily the child wasn't at home that night. She was distraught about having her dog put to sleep. The vet had mentioned that due to age it was probably very confused when it woke up.
When I was young I had a dream where I was very mad at my husband for something he had done. In the dream I was saying to myself, slap him slap him. I woke up and slapped him two or three times before I was fully awake. He woke up to being slapped and was in shock. We never struck each other. I sure am glad he didn't have me put to sleep. I was still young.
Redirected aggression can happen with pet cats as well. It's called displacement I think in cats. I once had a female tabby who was the queen of displacement. When she sat in her window and saw another cat outside she would growl and bristle. If another cat or person was nearby at the time she would attack. She would snap out of it instantaneously once removed to the floor and the stranger-cat was out of her vision.
thanks for posting this video! it does make a lot of sense. In light of recent attack on mother with two children by two pitbulls in USA I wanted to dig into this topic a bit deeper as alegadely those pitbulls displayed no signs of any kind of aggressiion for 8 years and out of blue killed both kids and Injured their mother(I'm sure you have heard about it on the news). my current dog us a husky and in my youth I had German shepherds and neither of my dogs had ever displayed any kind of aggressiion toward me or my siblings and my current husky dog which we had from puppy it's the gentlest dog i have ever had. he is almost 3 and great with my kids, no signs of aggression of any kind. In light of that Pitbull attack and people around telling me you can never trust the dog as they can all turn at anytime like timing bomb- I agree that we should always be cautious especially with dogs and kids, I don't think small kids should never be left unsupervised but I look at my clumsy gentle dog and I'm thinking with no episodes of aggression of any sort and him being obidient to his owners what are really the chances that he could just switch like those pitbulls? I appreciate you saying about mental illness but then that could happen to any dog and at anytime which really could mean that all dogs could potentially be timing bombs? i guess looking after dogs physical health and making sure his needs are satisfied: decent daily walks, play time etc I'm sure that contributes to maintain healthy mind as well?
I have one other situation I can think of that I don’t think falls into these 3 categories, and that’s resource guarding/hoarding. I had a black lab when I was younger turn on me and bite me in the face (nearly took an eye), because I sat next to her and starting petting her back and head while she was gnawing on a new bone. I worked hard with my newest dog on this sort of thing to make them comfortable with people and other dogs around their food and bones even to the point of allowing anyone to take the bone from then without eliciting an aggressive response.
there you go,,you learned from your mistake and now you have a dog you can trust,,,,,but here is an important point,,,that dog will still protect you if you should be attacked...many people think teaching a dog respect will result in one who will not be aggressive when it is warranted.They are wrong,,dogs are smarter then that.
Most people also forget that we humans have a lot more fragile skin, so a simple back-off bite that wouldn’t hurt another dog can certainly hurt the delicate skin of a human face. That’s why I would never let any child play with any dog unsupervised, they’re even more delicate than an adult, and a dog might treat them as they would an annoying puppy (which wouldn’t actually hurt the puppy) but it can seriously harm the child.
Resource guarding - you nailed it. Not sure why this video didn’t address it. Not to mentioned he asked for comments and hasn’t replied to seemingly any here. Geesh!
sounds like a great stress reliever. So many health benefits to dog ownership. (once you get your eyeballs put back into your head, that is) Must have been great for your blood pressure.
@@kitten6363not everyone is so fearful over everything
Sudden rage syndrome presents between 1 yr and 3 yrs old, rare condition but very real, my 20 month old male caucasian shepherd started showing this 10 months ago, an outburst of unprovoked aggression toward myself, my husband and my other 226 lb male caucasion, just out of the blue, bit my husband on the shoulder, this episode will last 2 minutes then he acts like nothing happened afterwards, very scary, from what ive read, does not get better, cant explain it, causes unknown and euthanizing is the usual outcome😢
I rescued an 8 yr old neutered male border collie. From info I got, he had an abusive home first 2 yrs of his life. He was 'taken in' by a neighbor. He ran away was struck by a truck and ended up a tripod with front key amputation.
Was told he was food and toy aggressive.
As a knowledgeable dog owner, and former breeder of border collies, I had limited fears taking this dog in. He was good with other dogs, cats, etc.
He seemed to fit right in. We accommodated his feeding regime and found he was fine with toys as long as you told him to drop it and then picked it up. He was fine on leash, fine meeting new people.
Then out of nowhere, one Sunday morning I'm cooking breakfast in the kitchen, and both my dogs were sitting watching. It's a galley kitchen. I told them to go lay down, which they both did. They returned the second time, and I repeated. They went and layed down. The third, with no warning, the bc, came in and leaped at me and grabbed my right arm. He let go, and jumped and grabbed and bit the second time. In my trying to protect my self, he also bit my left hand and then my arm. I am yelling get away, go lay down, get out of here. Which after the 4 full on bites, he did. Thank God the other dog, younger, did not respond. He seemed shocked by what he witnessed. The 'biter' went and layed in his bed. He looked quilty.
BUT you are correct about the look in their eyes. When he entered the kitchen the 3rd time, and I turned and looked at him, I knew I was in trouble. I had no where to go. I could've easily hit him with a frying pan but feared that would aggravate the situation as well as being cruel.
To say I was shocked was an understatement. I've workef in rescue for years.
Long story short. Vets the next day, and learned this dog who had previously had a clean bill of health, was found to have infections and blood work indictive of cancer, and an area of brain damaged.
In hindsight he should've been pts following being hit by a truck instead of the amputation.
My point is no matter how prepared you are, how aware you are, how knowledgeable you are, bad things can happen.
This dog was definitely 'not right in the head' to quote the vet.
Ps. Thank God his bite was not a clamp down and shred type bite. It was a bite and let go. Unbelievable the damage to my arms and hands.
These stories are so helpful. I worry about undetected brain tumors in large breed dogs because I own an older large breed who is very powerful. It's always in the back of my mind, so I watch for changes in behavior. Guess I just wanna be prepared. I appreciate all of these posts.
@@Anon_E_Muss 9
I think these situations certainly warrant defending yourself, its not something that is cruel or unusual. Think of it this way, if it were a horse and it was a 1000lb animal trying to bite you, that frying pan might not have even been effective enough. We have to recognize that these animals are dangerous and like any self defense, nothing is off the table as long as you are defended. It is a shame yes, but your safety should always be priority over a dog.
It is not cruel to protect yourself from an attack. Doesn't matter if an animal is not right in the head or not because at that moment it becomes a life or death situation and you have to determine how badly you want to live.
Poor pup this just makes me so angry I cannot understand how people can abuse their dogs. Tough life for that dog sad
The old saying, let sleeping dogs lie is true with a lot of dogs. I have a dog that simply doesn’t want to be petted while he is sleeping. He is very gentle, never has bitten anyone, but I quickly learned from his soft growls that that he wanted his space while sleeping.
My Labrador is like that, but only at night, on my bed, and one of our feet touch her.
If she’s napping next to me on the sofa, she doesn’t growl if I touch her.
She also tends to kick me while she’s sleeping, if she’s positioned “wrong”.
This is why crate training is so important. Your dog needs it's space.
One of my dogs was sleeping off some post exam sedation next to me and I just shifted and jounced him slightly. He came immediately awake and snarled with his teeth bared at me, a totally unique behavior. He quickly realized it was me, and I was aware to stay still and not respond with anger, and he lowered his ears and moved to come appease me with his head down. He didn't look "nuts" but he was not himself, I've tripped over him in the dark when he's out cold and he never responded aggressively, or when I need to examine/treat/groom him. I think it's very closely related to the mental illness category, but temporary and externally initiated like a family member who is great until one too many drinks and then they're trying to start a fight every minute.
This might be a long one but I'll give you my experience. My first dog when I was 12 was an Old English Sheepdog from a championship line with BEAUTIFUL color and markings. He was always on the aggression, over-protection side and he was extremely smart. I found that he also had an unnecessarily mean streak in his play with me as he grew from a puppy. Like we had a game of chase where as he got bigger and faster he would bite pretty hard (not skin piercing). Soon I resorted to jumping up a tree to escape him. And he would go hysterical as I waited for him to calm down...eventually. But when he got fast enough that he could leap and grab my leg, he did whatever it took to snatch me out the tree and pounce on me in aggressive "play" mauling. After a couple times of that I stopped playing the chase game. Another example of his nature is when I would lock myself out the house and had to break in through a 6' high window. This dog would patiently wait until I was half-way through then snatch me down and proceed with the same hurtful engagement. I dreaded when I locked myself out. Well this behavior did serve my family well when during a blackout someone broke into that same window. And I KNOW that dog must've sat patiently waiting in the dark for that burglar to get half-way in. When we came home the front gate and front door was wide open. We pretty much followed a trail of blood drops to the slashed window. And then our bloody maw dog trotted back in the house moments later panting and proud.
Anyway by the time I was 17, my household was chaotic. My parents were constantly arguing. Sometimes physical. There was a whole bunch of bad energy around that house. And just as it impacted me, it triggered my dog even worse. Add to that my father was intimidated by the dog's nature and my mom coddled the dog-- even if it showed complete aggression toward my father or I. During one of my parent's bad episodes, I was so angry I punched a door to get their attention and then my dog lunged a bit me on the back of my arm. This did break the skin but he didn't sink he teeth in. But it broke up the argument at least.
Some time later, another argument, this time I'm going to leave the house and let all 3 of them fight among themselves. But when I was leaving out the door my dog grabbed me by my boot, clamped down and snatched me back in the house as he's violently shaking. I could tell he broke skin. I snapped trying to kick the dog off my foot. I only got free when I was able to grab a vase and smash it on his head. He let go but it was on-- he was coming back for my leg! I tried my very best to him. He ducked AND THEN LUNGED AT MY FACE/NECK. Amazingly I caught him mid-air by the scruff of the neck as he went berserk and I threw him out of the door and over the porch. When he came back up the porch, he had his head lowered and skulked back in the house--until he got behind my mom and SHOW ALL HIS TEETH.
From this point, the dog's behavior just escalated as the turmoil continued. Our relationship deteriorated and at that point he kind of became my parent's dog. Eventually he did wind up sending me to the hospital for a few days with the fear of losing my hand when I was 20 (But that's another epic story). And my parent's still kept him. Pretty soon after that, they split apart. And not too long after that I relocated to NYC. I always thought that maybe that dog was so crazy because of something in the breeding. Sometimes I muse that some evil reincarnated soul leapt into my dog at birth.
Well since that experience I went on to have 2 Rottweilers and now 2 English Staffordshire Terriers and a Pitbull. Never once did or has any one of them ever showed me anything but the love I and my family have poured into them. It is unfathomable for me to think that they would ever turn on me or any one of our family. I myself sometimes assume that if a pet turns on its owner, it must be neglected or abused... but then I remember my first dog, Callicoe, and think, yeah sometimes things come out the oven spoiled BUT stability of a home may provide just as much to the dog's temperament.
Damn,sounds like something out of a horror movie like pet sematary,maybe the house was haunted and that effected you,the dog and your parents?
@@SolidGeddoe Funny thing is my uncle passed from AIDS and left my dad with the house. So the dog was born crazy in one house (that was broken into) and became a nightmare once we relocated to my late uncle's house. My uncle was one of the most beautiful people I've ever known. Nah, nothing supernatural in that house. The marriage had long since ran its course-- an institution built on a foundation of hurt, lies and betrayal --barely held together by weathered love, stubbornness and fear of change.
The best part of this story is that each parent have since moved on, took personal assessment of how to improve themselves in a relationship and now both have their own happy, loving and supportive marriage. And I learned many a lessons from that dog. From him, l learned that can always take advice and learn how to be a better dog owner and to assess any undesired behavior and work fast to nip that shit in the bud before it becomes a problem.
It’s very unusual for an OES to be that mouthy at all (but not uncommon for them to just generally be a nuisance). Typically they prefer to herd with their bodies. If he wasn’t clamping down HARD I would suspect he was trying to aggressively nip and herd you. I had a collie type dog who had high drive and would try to herd us kids. We just knew we couldn’t run around the yard with him otherwise we could end up with a tooth in us. Your chase game was inappropriate play for any kind of herding dog. Sounds like your parents didn’t manage the dog at all. Pastoral breeds especially (but really any dog breed) does not fair well in a stressful and violent household. They will almost always try to root out the problem and try to manage things into a more stable environment. This is what they were bred to do. I can only imagine the other dogs you owned later in life would fair just as badly if not worse in such a violent environment.
your excellent story telling had me in stitches . I am so sorry i really do not mean to be callous .
until i read the end of of your trauma with your childhood dog .
unlike you i had spend most of my life fearful of dogs until recently .
(you are a natural born raconteur).
Stephen King? Is that you?!!! 🤣
I have had dogs when my children were young I always taught them never inter fear when they are eating ,sleeping,and when they needed their own space
I have had dogs and I taught them to NEVER bite a human!
And that shouldn’t have to happen in your home, you fool.
@@zeebest1004 that seems very unrealistic. Obviously you never encountered a troubled dog.
Thank you, very informative. I think resource guarding (food, sofa, preferred human, etc..) is a common motive for aggression. I guess it's a dominance issue. I see this in households where one or more of the family members are perceived by the dog lower on the hierarchy ladder.
That happened to me recently when my brother's Belgian Malinois bit me very hard while I was taking a nighttime glow collar off. I only met him when he was a year old and sometimes my brother asked me to watch him while they occasionally went out to dinner or a movie. The dog has always been very affectionate towards me and he is socialized towards people. He has never bitten anyone or acted aggressively. He wears an e-collar and I was wearing the shock device. Various things were going on. The neighbor's dog was in heat. My brother is not usually gone that long. The seasons were changing and it was getting dark earlier. He was used to staying out later to exercise. My brother told me to go through his training exercises so he would tire because he was not interested in doing anything earlier. He would only do one set. We went out before it got dark and launched a few balls for him to catch. He started walking down the driveway but he came back when I called him. We played with his tug toy for a short time and he started acting out sexually with the toy. Then he switched from that and started growling and acting out with his training mat. He wanted to climb into my lap but I said no. Then he started licking my hand. I put the glow collar on and took him out. It was when I tried to take it off he suddenly growled and bit my hand plus wrist. I was hesitant to shock him. Usually we just have to hold it up and he knows what it is. I told him to let go. I walked out the door because my arm was bleeding. He is touchy about his e-collar and prong collar. He only lets my brother remove them but he does not wear the glow collar all the time. I put it on him once before. My brother thinks he was upset because he had not returned home. I stayed outside until my brother got home to give the dog space. He was bred once and twice he was showing signs of resource guarding after he returned from the breeder who wanted to breed him with his female. My brother said all along I babied him too much and was not establishing any leadership. My parting words as I walked out the door was "I am telling your dad". He growled but never bothered to follow me or cross the room. He just turned 2 in January 2024. This incident was shortly before Christmas. Usually my brother comes home he stands on his hind legs howling. He wants the door open right now. He did not come to the door when my brother arrived home. My brother called him to come out in the garage where we were standing. He came slinking out, going to welcome his wife. She said no. He went to my brother and he brought him over and said "look what you did, you hurt her". He put him on a short leash and we went in to wrap my hand in something before going to ER. Now he is back to his affectionate little self but my brother does not want me left alone with him. He never thought he would bite me because he us always so excited when he sees me but he says I do not correct him enough. He says the dog is training you rather than you training him.
@@lindadoss1055 The dog bit you but you were hesitant to shock him? Your brother's right: you shouldn't be left alone with the dog.
@vaska1999 I was afraid he would become more irritated if shocked. He did not follow me when I crossed the room and walked out the door. I held it up and told him he would be shocked. He knows what shock means and he recognizes the device. He let go when I told him to let go. He was at my house yesterday and he was back to his loveable self but my brother was with him. He weighs 90 pds and he is getting too strong for me. He always wants to jump up to greet me or sit in my lap and he is trying to break him. He has a trainer for him. My brother is with him most of the time and now he worries about leaving his wife alone with him but she feels comfortable with him. At age 74, I am 15 years older than my brother, not to mention having RA. He just never thought he would bite me because he is affectionate towards me and I have watched him for short periods of time or hung out with his dog while he was remodeling his house or doing yard work. His wife is younger and stronger so I do not think he would bite her, plus she lives with him. My brother thinks the dog was upset because he was gone so long. Also the dog usually knows when he is leaving but he left while he was playing with me in the other room. He ran to the window and looked out when his car was pulling out of the driveway. I think it was a control thing because he considers me lower on the hierarchy. He definitely knows I am weaker but he has never tried to overpower me. It is strange. If we go to the pet supply store or some outdoor event, he starts barking if I move away from them or go out of his sight. Once the sales clerk came to see what all the barking was about. I had returned and the dog stopped barking. He ran towards me and jumped up with his paws on my shoulder. We are breaking him of that because he is too strong. His trainer said not to let him jump up like that. I watched his Akita for him but that was years ago. I never allowed his Akita to jump up like that.
I have a dog like that….it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever had to deal with. It’s complex, and too long to explain, but we have never abused him, but he had bad allergies and we had to clean them and it hurt, now we can’t go near him, as he growls and will try to bite.. we can have great days, you touch near his collar, his eyes turn , lips come up, fierce growling and he is huge. Trying to love him, to not show fear,but it’s scary.
You're fearful of him now. Period. He knows that. You need to use MORE patience and GENTLENESS with him. Yes, more
@@truecynic1270 he had passed now 😢
Thank you Joel for this video. My friend had a dog whose eyes would go somewhere else and growl at him. It got worse and worse, always with the glazed eyes, and eventually she was euthanized after a bad bite. He tried to seek help for his dog but could not find help. Background info is she was an American Bulldog mix who spent ages 4m to 8m at the shelter. The shelter uses individual small rooms for each dog where they can not hear, don't have a window and no toys. Thanks again for the work you do. It has helped my dog and me a ton
damn I'm so sorry for that dog to live in that type of place, and that shelter honestly sounds horrible
That would be like a human child living in a small room by themselves from age 6 mos to 7 yrs old. 😢 a recipe for anguish and
I've only experienced a couple dogs that nipped, but never gone crazy. I remember when I got a GSD as a puppy I worried a little because I was a 70s kid when GSD were considered a dog to fear. I told my kids to "never" let him bite you. I'd have them tap his nose when he bit as a puppy. He grew up to be a great dog, super respectful of kids & adults.
My husband just got bitten by a german shepard when he got our Amstaff off of her ear, german shepard was crying like a pig getting slaughtered, but in the end both dogs didn't even have a scratch, but my husband now has a broken finger and a really bad flesh wound... So a video on how to safely/correctly get fighting dogs apart would be great...
Thanks for all your content, I already learned so much since I stumbled upon your channel!
Hey Joel, love your channel. Long time viewer. Last year, May 18th, my pitbull Kane had to be euthanized for this exact reason. He bit my uncle once and grandmother twice. All incidents required an ER visit and lots of stitches. The last bite was the worst. He did bad damage to my grandmothers face. Kane was the most loyal dog I ever had. Always listened, obedient, good health, always up for adventure. We did everything together. I just don't understand. He had these random moments where he would just turn. He disliked other dogs, but always loved people. Ive racked my brain on this topic for the past year. Would love your input or even a discussion about this. Thank you for all you do! -TJ
I saw my labrador snap a couple of times in its life and yes you see it in the eyes when a dog truly snaps, you can also see it in the eyes when they come back. His case was a painful spot getting touched. I stopped the attacks before he could sink his teeth in and as soon as I realized the trigger I taught the family to avoid that trigger and we never had another problem
That's amazing that you were able to fix the problem! May I please ask what the trigger was? Thanks
@@melt2947 a cyst he had on his chest being touched
Mental illness is something I think doesn't get talked about enough in the dog training world. Out of curiosity, did you ever find out what happened to that one dog you mentioned? The one who turned on you and it's owner for no apparent reason?
Mental illness is often used as a screen for poor training, so even though it is legit, many dismiss it.
The Pitbull was on a Ceasar Milan episode and got cured.I"ll try and find the episode .
"The Myth of Mental Illness" enters the canine world.
Does it not occur to us that conditioning CAUSES "mental illness", and our departure from nature, what is natural, is causal.
Blame the dog, medicate the dog, although it is we, it is us who have abandoned our nature, and then blames genetic determinism rather than look at epigenetics, and project this error onto our family pets (and family members) Considering the increase in ingested meds for dogs, formerly treated externally HAS to be part of the problem. In fact, I cannot recall the specific product, but it did a lot (Heartworm prevention, flea control, etc.), and it said, "some reports of neurological disorders."
Poor doggos subject to human ignorance, or more accurately naivete...trusting the FDA and for-profit PHARMA. Intuitively, we should know better.
K9-DSM en route. SMH.
@@Eric-tj3tg My guess: inbreeding and keeping bad genes because the dog "looks nice". Nothing about domestic dogs is "natural". They have been bred by humans for thousands of years.
@@lyaneris Agreed the departure has been such for awhile. But do you agree that it is getting worse in that at the root of the dog, remains its true nature, just as it is so for humans (though we rarely find it in its entirety). It is conditioning and lack of understanding of pack leadership on the part of otherwise well-meaning owners (oftentimes), which results from poor or inconsistent training, and the establishment of boundaries. We cannot fall back on genetic determinism, ignoring epigenetics, and simultaneously, our part in making our animals more neurotic. Just as it is so with understanding the still-natural newborn baby, and its perspectives and needs. Recall also, that the in utero, epigenetics are at play, one example being that a mother in heightened stress, living with increased levels of cortisol and adrenaline, has a developing embryo/fetus doing so in THAT enviornment. Interpersonal Neurobiology has come a long way in understanding of the neural connections and lack thereof, amygdala (safety center) size, etc., which result from such an environment en utero. And, I recall in my undergrad days the "science" had shown the importance of the first trimester. It wasn't wrong, it was merely incomplete.
My dog has shown severe fear aggression over the last two months since we moved. However, he also started being unpredictably aggressive toward me and my husband for everyday things like when he was in his crate (for no reason), when his leash was put on him, getting him off the couch. It was like a light switch went off and his aggression became unpredictable. Also, his fear for things on the outside didn’t make sense, because although we moved, the things he was afraid of were things we’d exposed him to before. We had to put him down on Monday because he attacked my husband’s hands after getting him down from the couch, again which we always did. He wouldn’t stop, and we had to cut off his airflow to get him off. I keep wondering if we failed him, but when I look at the progression of his bite (and attempted bite) and aggression history and then turning on us, I believe we made the best decision for safety of us and him physically, emotionally and mentally. This is the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do.
Maybe your dog sensed something. Like the new place is haunted or something. I'm not trying to be insensitive and I'm sorry for your loss. But dogs' senses are keener and in a sense completely different from ours. It may have been fear of the new/of change or maybe it was a "vet psychiatric" problem, but maybe it sensed something you couldn't and was just scared
😢...I in the middle of taking the decision of putting my dog down...😢I'm 63 not strong enough and my adopted dog ( pit bull) is too strong for me, I can't control him and he is very aggressive now.
This sounds very very similar to my situation now. Actually exact! I came to this video because I am STRONGLY considering letting him go. It’s hard but after reading your story….. it just sounds so familiar; I believe I’m getting closer to making that hard move. Thank you for sharing this ❤
@doraray9964 your vulnerable put him down.
I just put my Springer Spaniel down a few months ago. I had her 9 years. She bit me several times, canine sinking like he talks about here. I could never break her of it. Anything she didn't like, she would hesitate to bite me. I have had many dogs over the years, several Springers, a Brittany, toy fox terriers, even a beautiful Akita. Never ever had a dog put their teeth on me until this one. I put up with her for 9 years, I did love her and she did have some positive traits and could be loving. I was a hostage to her behavior as I coukd never travel because I could not board her or have a pet sitter for fear of liability that she would bite them.I put up with her much longer than I should have ! I also have a chihuahua mix that was her companion for 7 of those years, she was submissive to him ! even though he was much smaller. The final bite was the last straw. I reached down to put her leash on her and let bite my arm hard, sunk in her canines... I called the Vet and took her in immediately. They put her down. They knew her history, whenever I took for exams, shots they had muzzle her and she still tried to bite them. I miss her but it's also a relief she is gone.
I think a lot of it can be personality. Some dogs are possessive or a bit nervous or flighty. And I think there are just "not nice" dogs who boss their own owners around, and they are far more likely to turn at some point. Like dogs will fight when the pecking order is challenged. I think the dog/owner relationship can be like an abusive relationship with humans if the dog runs the home. I also think that dogs are more likely to turn if they are badly trained or even kept in an almost feral state, like herding and farm dogs can be. Purposefully kept with limited human contact so they will bond with the herd and not be distracted or treated sentimentally. And some dogs like some people and just DO NOT like others. There are dogs that never warm up to their owners. I know that pain and possibility of injury were mentioned, but I would also mention specifically blindness or deafness that will make the dog more fearful or self defensive.
I'm happy that I've owned quite a few dogs and never had one turn. It would be a bit heart breaking, especially if it wasn't something that could be "cured". I cried at the end of Old Yeller.
Dogs have unbelievable awareness and control of their bite
I always wondered about mental illness as I boarded a german shepard (maybe mix) for 3 months. He was very sweet, but would suddenly turn on people... like you said, you could see it in his eyes, he wanted to kill.
He only did it to me once. I think because I fed him... Here's what happened... I took his food out to his run (like every day) I told him to sit, which he did. When I went to bend down, he growled. I looked up and he was looking at me. I got so angry. I thought to myself, I can beat him to death with this huge stainless steel dog bowl, or walk away. ... I walked away, bowl still in my hands. I went inside and sat down until I was calm... maybe 15 minutes?When I was calm. I went outside, told him to sit (like every day), he sat and I gave him his food. He NEVER pulled that on me again. Other people he did. We kept him in his run or on a teather until his owner returned from school. Luckily for me, the people were able to step back out of his reach of the teather.
With other people, it could have been a pain issue. Because he could take pets up to a point. But with me, I wasn't touching him as it took two hands for me to carry that bowl filled with kibble and warm water.
I always thought he was crazy, BUT he learned that he couldn't pull that crazy on me. Walking away with his food threatened his life and I'm sure he knew that I was so angry, the hair on my head was standing up.
So, after watching this video, I'm wondering if this turning behavior isn't due to him feeling insecure. Because people would pet him over his head. It could have been he just liked to see people jump. But his eyes definitely said he was out for blood. 💖🌞🌵😷
there is very rare occasions where dogs have had nightmares, woke up suddenly and attacked their owners in a frenzy. that's why it can be dangerous to let your dogs sleep with you on your bed
Some medical treatments have been known to cause this switch to happen as well. I have seen the switch you are referring to more than I care to remember. I was brought up with a dog that not only bit but attacked members of the family. We lived on a ditch that was full of poisonous snakes and he was poisoned four different times and went through radiation treatments 4 different times. This left him with brain damage especially as he got older. He got to where he sometimes didn't seem to recognize us, you could tell by the look in his eye. (the switch) The only people he didn't bite were my little brother and myself (we were the youngest and spent the most time playing with him.) but it wasn't for lack of trying. I know this was a mental deficit because of the one time he tried to attack me. I was in the backyard around the side of the house cleaning out his doghouse for him. I heard him start growling and saw him running in tight circles in the backyard area and I moved back around the corner but he came charging around the corner towards me and lept into the air towards my face. I had a board with nails in it in my hands and swung it with all my might striking him in the side of the head. He yelped loudly and fell to the ground and ran off. I calmed myself and went to find him to see if he was ok. (I was only 12 yrs old and he had torn my older brother and neighbor kid up pretty good already, I just reacted.) I found him and spoke softly to him for a bit and he let me clean him up. It didn't do any internal damage, just a cut on his head and thankfully I missed his eye. He never tried to bite me again after that and never even growled at me. I was eventually elected his caretaker when he was having a bad day especially if he had gotten out of the backyard and was terrorizing the neighborhood because I was the only one that could deal with him.
As an adult, I'll never understand why my father didn't do something after he turned on the family so many times. My older brother was torn up by him pretty bad 3 different times and it traumatized him. His dinner often wound up in a pile in the backyard because he would snarl and guard it as a resource before the bowl was even put down. He was never allowed inside and eventually I was the only one that would spend time with him and even that was only an hour or two a day. I would watch him fight the rats to keep them from eating his left over food from my window at night and felt so sorry for him but I was just a kid.
Since then, I have been a multiple dog owner for most of my life, worked as a vet tech for about 7 years, and then later in life became a counselor.
This made me cry, for you and the dog. He needed so much love and understanding
@@melt2947well said
Beckman, thank you so much for this video, it is very interesting and informative. Fortunately, in my case, my dogs have never turned on me but now I know what to do if it ever happens.
I look forward to seeing more of your videos! You just earned a new subscriber! 😎
I added a 4 month old rescued what we think was a Pit/Boxer mix (Brandy) to my family and we already had a very social but submissive 1 year Boxer/Lab mix (Buddy). Brandy showed dominance immediately, but Buddy was alright with it. However, I had to set her straight over exhibiting acceptable and respectful behavior during feedings as she would have steamrolled him and eaten all of his meals, he’d just back off and look at me and whimper. 😂
She also came to us with a bit of resource guarding, with not just food but toys too. I worked that out with her. First feeding by hand, then in her bowl but holding it, then with body touch while she ate out her bowl in its stand. Never showed another sign of guarding her food. And we worked out the toy issue with discipline and back and forth give and take - both building trust and an understanding of who’s really in charge and that no one was taking her things away from her, she could trust us.
They hit it off playfully immediately, but I had to work with her about her trying to dominate him and work with him about calming the hell down and not trying to play every waking moment. Respecting each other formed a bond that was unbreakable, they were inseparable until the day Buddy passed, Brandy passed only 6 months later. They were both trained professionally as well, and that I believe was KEY. But that’s a foundation that you still need to work into your individual family and house rules. Eventually they knew wrestling was for outdoors, and we don’t steal food or hoard toys. She learned to sit about 6 feet behind him while he ate, (as I stood between at first but didn’t need to for long) and when he was done and walked away, she then was allowed to go lick his bowl clean after every meal. She also learned not to snatch toys out of his mouth when they weren’t actively playing. I even helped her overcome her instinct to hunt small animals, as she bought us bunnies and dig up moles in the backyard. At first she wanted to kill them but after a ton of training, she was laying on her dog bed with our daughters 2 guinea pigs 😂 You have to really understand your dogs and pay close attention to catch their cues EARLY to get a jump on the potential for problems.
And all of that training I did with them, whenever they did get injured, they actually sought us out to let us tend to their wounds. Brandy would avert her eyes and every once in a while slip us a side eye, exhibiting LOADS of self restraint, which made me so proud of her. Whereas Buddy was the one who gave us sad eyes, looked like he was so thankful for the help. Very different dogs, but both trusted us explicitly in their own ways.
Had either one ever given me crazy eyes or lunged, we probably wouldn’t have been able to keep them. I wouldn’t have put my kids at risk like that. While puppy nipping is one thing, I would NOT have tolerated any of us being bitten. No way.
So, Training is NECESSARY, and that means continued training every single day . I DON’T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS!!! That’s how you have happy, healthy mentally and emotionally balanced dogs.
If only you knew how much your comment means to me! I have the similar uneasy situation between my adult and my younger dog. Is there a way I can reach out to you? I'd love to hear some advices and tips from you ❤️
I had a Chow Chow previously and she literally switched in a moment. Her eyes went from brown to black. This happened after she had drawn blood after nipping someone visiting my mom and walked in between my mom and my dog while my mom was dog sitting my dog. It was devastating because she was never the same after that. The brown to black eyes happened directed at my nephew. The vet told me you never know if you have a sound chows till they turn 3yrs old. I wish I had known of you way back when.