Hello Everyone,
I've had my Golden for almost 8 years. He's generally been a great dog, very shy and friendly. However, I've always had a hard time dealing with his random aggressiveness. In the past, this has usually occurred when he would snatch a piece of paper towel (or any type of paper lying around) and hide under my table, where he would proceed tear it apart. Many times, this has not been a paper towel, rather some important document. When I would try to retrieve it, he would snarl, growl and bark at me. To get the paper back, I would usually have to distract him with some type of food, and when he went for the food, I'd snatch the paper back. First, I'd like to mention that I know it was wrong of me to bribe him with food, but I was fairly young at the time and couldn't think of any other way of getting the paper back while it was still intact. These episodes were not frequent and occurred sporadically.
Last night, I took Brinkley out for a walk, of the leash as usual since he is very good about obeying commands, but unfortunately he happened to come across a dead squirrel and brought it over to me. I could not get him to drop it and I was using an authoritative tone when I told him to drop it. He wouldn't. I tried over and over again, but he stood their with it in his mouth and snarled at me. I had to call my Mom over and tell her to bring some food to try and get him to drop it. It was finally accomplished by placing bits of ham, about a foot away from him to get him to walk away from the dead animal in order to get the ham. While my Mom, did this I walked over and kicked the squirrel away. When he realized it was gone, he looked around growling then proceeded to jump and attack the ham that my Mom was holding. I have never been scared of my dog before until this time.
This, however, is not an isolated incident. About a month again, he found a piece of left over sandwich on the ground as I was walking him (on the leash this time). After telling him to drop it a couple times and tugging on the leash, he jumped up on me growling. It seemed like he tried to bite me but in fact didn't. I dragged him, with the leash as tight as possible, all the way home. I could tell he was scared because his tail was curved underneath him.
Im absolutely beside myself right now because this is the first time I've really been scared of my dog. I feel like I'm running out of options and in fear that he may do this to someone else in the future. The only option I see, for an 8 year old dog, is to put him down but I can't even fathom doing so. I know I am in part responsible for his behaviour but I was honestly too young to properly discipline him. If anyone has any information that might help please let me know. I'm desperate.
I've had my Golden for almost 8 years. He's generally been a great dog, very shy and friendly. However, I've always had a hard time dealing with his random aggressiveness. In the past, this has usually occurred when he would snatch a piece of paper towel (or any type of paper lying around) and hide under my table, where he would proceed tear it apart. Many times, this has not been a paper towel, rather some important document. When I would try to retrieve it, he would snarl, growl and bark at me. To get the paper back, I would usually have to distract him with some type of food, and when he went for the food, I'd snatch the paper back. First, I'd like to mention that I know it was wrong of me to bribe him with food, but I was fairly young at the time and couldn't think of any other way of getting the paper back while it was still intact. These episodes were not frequent and occurred sporadically.
Last night, I took Brinkley out for a walk, of the leash as usual since he is very good about obeying commands, but unfortunately he happened to come across a dead squirrel and brought it over to me. I could not get him to drop it and I was using an authoritative tone when I told him to drop it. He wouldn't. I tried over and over again, but he stood their with it in his mouth and snarled at me. I had to call my Mom over and tell her to bring some food to try and get him to drop it. It was finally accomplished by placing bits of ham, about a foot away from him to get him to walk away from the dead animal in order to get the ham. While my Mom, did this I walked over and kicked the squirrel away. When he realized it was gone, he looked around growling then proceeded to jump and attack the ham that my Mom was holding. I have never been scared of my dog before until this time.
This, however, is not an isolated incident. About a month again, he found a piece of left over sandwich on the ground as I was walking him (on the leash this time). After telling him to drop it a couple times and tugging on the leash, he jumped up on me growling. It seemed like he tried to bite me but in fact didn't. I dragged him, with the leash as tight as possible, all the way home. I could tell he was scared because his tail was curved underneath him.
Im absolutely beside myself right now because this is the first time I've really been scared of my dog. I feel like I'm running out of options and in fear that he may do this to someone else in the future. The only option I see, for an 8 year old dog, is to put him down but I can't even fathom doing so. I know I am in part responsible for his behaviour but I was honestly too young to properly discipline him. If anyone has any information that might help please let me know. I'm desperate.
