[snappyweather]

Hey everyone,

Mom started a new job last week, so I'm home with Bear alot (I'm a grown up so he's not protecting a child) and he's done something twice lately that I've never seen him do!

A bit of background he's 2 years 8 months old and we've only until recently had a problem with him and 1 dog. Callie who is the sweetest dog to man and beast has tried to KILL Bear every time they've been within 10 feet of each other. She is the only dog Bear doesn't get along with...seemingly until recently. We've also kept the 2 dogs away from each other for about the last year.

Last week 2 people were walking 2 pit bulls down the street, one was walking politely, the other was doing whatever he wanted...Bear stood straight up from his perch *our bay window* and went absolutely PSYCHO! This wasn't a protective bark, this was THE bark complete with growling and snarling and teeth bared. I actually thought he would go THROUGH the window so I walked over to him and kept petting him and saying 'calm puppy' until the dog was out of our block. We had the same SORT of problem today with a German Sheperd, the Sheperd was walking really well for it's walker, and Bear's melt down wasn't quite as severe, but I did have to shoo him out of the window.

I'm wondering if we're running into an aggression issue with Bear? Has any other Golden owner dealt with this type of behavior seemingly out of nowhere, and how did they go about handling it?

Mike

(P.S. I'm using Mom's username/pass cause I couldn't remember mine, and we both own Bear)

 

[goldhaven]

If you have handled this issue by petting him and saying calm down puppy, your dog was hearing, good dog keep it up. If you don't like the behavior that your dog is exhibiting at the moment, don't pet him. If he has never been corrected for this behavior before, he will only get worse. Let him know that his behavior is unacceptable to you. Make him leave the window site and calm down. This needs to be done in a firm, no nonsense, I mean business, tone.

 

[Bock]

edited out

 

[goldhaven]

If your dog growls or barks aggressively at other dogs, it doesn't matter how friendly your dog is, it could cause another, not so friendly, dog to attack. This happened to my girlfriends Maltese. She thought that her little doggie was cute barking and growling at other big dogs until a dalmatian attacked her dog and put her in the doggie hospital, not once but twice. Her maltese was on the other end of a leash. She was powerless to stop the attack because when she tried the dog turned on her. Some well meaning neighbors came to her aid.

 

[snappyweather]

In normal situations I can get 'through' to him with a verbal command, or a strong voiced verbal command, but when this happened the first time I was not dealing with the dog I know and love, he wasn't listening, I was never scared of what he'd do to me, I WAS scared of 'ok this is the first time I've not been able to get control of him, what happens if he attempts to go through the window'? Five seconds after I started petting him, I started to get "my dog" back. He wouldn't completely calm down until the other dog was in the next block though, and that took a while because the handler of the other dog was having problems. Granted not the preferred way to handle a situation, but I had to improvise, and when you're in that situation you're not thinking 'ok I'm doing this wrong' all you're thinking is 'I've gotta do SOMETHING', while praying that it works.

When it happened today, I was able to get him to calm and quiet by simply stating firmly '****** bail out of that window'. Today though he was maybe 1/10 as crazed. Pardon the language, but that was exact wording.

If you have handled this issue by petting him and saying calm down puppy, your dog was hearing, good dog keep it up. If you don't like the behavior that your dog is exhibiting at the moment, don't pet him. If he has never been corrected for this behavior before, he will only get worse. Let him know that his behavior is unacceptable to you. Make him leave the window site and calm down. This needs to be done in a firm, no nonsense, I mean business, tone.

 

[Noey]

have you talked to your vet about this?
Health issues can cause odd behavior.

My parents have a GSD who has very bad sight and marginal smeller, so sometimes he reacts to things at a distance with a posture that is protective until he can smell better.

I'd keep a muzzle on him if teeth and snapping are involved. Might help.

Close his visual to whatever gets him going if your in the house and see if that helps. He could be VERY territorial. Which is not good, but he might be overly protecting you.

If the clears him I'd get a review of his behavior by an expert.

 

[LizShort]

When you pet him and say calm puppy while he is acting in an aggressive manner, you are praising his behavior. When he behaves in this fashion, do what you can to break his concentration on what ever he is looking at. Remove him from the situation and wait for him to calm down before praising him.

Please do NOT pet him while he is in this state of mind. Please break his concentration and remove him from the situation. Make him lay down, then sit, then down again. Get him under control before petting him. If you keep praising him when he is going off on another dog, he will go through the window and he will hurt someone.

 

[LibertyME]

If you don't have a slip lead - make one with a leash and get him away from the window...Personally I would not take him by the collar...he is so aroused he could very well swing his head around and bite you.

Barricade him from the windows....put furniture in the way...use scat mats...or a chairmat with the little stubs pointed up.

The more often he repeats this territorial behavior, the worse it will become.

 

[fostermom]

If you don't have a slip lead - make one with a leash and get him away from the window...Personally I would not take him by the collar...he is so aroused he could very well swing his head around and bite you.

Barricade him from the windows....put furniture in the way...use scat mats...or a chairmat with the little stubs pointed up.

The more often he repeats this territorial behavior, the worse it will become.

Okay, I was reading through and was formulating my answer. But LibertyME did it for me.

 

[FlyingQuizini]

If you don't have a slip lead - make one with a leash and get him away from the window...Personally I would not take him by the collar...he is so aroused he could very well swing his head around and bite you.

Barricade him from the windows....put furniture in the way...use scat mats...or a chairmat with the little stubs pointed up.

The more often he repeats this territorial behavior, the worse it will become.

I second what Mary said and add getting a trainer to help you.