Author Topic: Help! Serious aggression  (Read 5489 times)

Offline chaos270

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Help! Serious aggression
« on: February 04, 2006, 05:13:59 pm »
    Lacey has always had some fear aggression as most aussies do and her and Kali have frequently butted heads over dominance in the past.  But lately she's been really bad even towards us.  My mom was petting her and went to work on getting a mat out and she went to bite.  Now she's most attached to my mom which makes that extremely weird.  Also I came home from school this weekend and she has sometimes been giving me the warning look like she was ready to bite anytime I've gone near her and other times she's happy to see me.  Today she attacked Kali for entering the room and they really went at it.  I saw it coming and tried to pull Kali away but Lacey went for her while I was trying to hold Kali. Plus Kali's very protective of us, which makes it impossible to egt after Lacey. She's on a drug called Proin that's for spay incontinance which can cause excitibility and slight aggression and we've taken down the dose for that reason and although we did she's gotten worse.  We think it may be due to a buildup in her system but she can't go off of it or else she pees everywhere and the other medication is really expensive.  So any advice on what to do or any other possibilities as to what's causing it I'd appreciate. 
     And right now she's sitting next to me happy as can be even though it was like 15 minutes ago that she went after Kali and they're getting along fine now.
Erin and the critters
Kali ~ the newf
Lacey ~ the aussie 
Gabby ~ Holsteiner mare
Fire ~ Appendix Quarter Horse/Belgian gelding
Lilah and Hannah ~ Kali's kitties

Offline Kermit

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Re: Help! Serious aggression
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2006, 10:30:47 pm »
Hmm... sounds creepy. And scary! Is there any way you can talk to your vet to see if that's a normal side effect of the drug she's taking?
I hope nobody gets hurt! I'd do some more research on alternatives to that medication, see if there are any other affordable options.

I hope something works out!!! :-\

Offline ZooCrew

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Re: Help! Serious aggression
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2006, 11:14:52 pm »
I have never heard of aggression being a side affect of Proin.  Keiko has been on it in the past and thank goodness we were able to take her off of it eventually (although I'm sure w/i the next year or two she will have to go back on it).

B/c of her age, I'm wondering if there's something else going on here.  I will assume you are still treating her as the alpha dog, so that shouldn't be the issue.  I'm wondering if there's some other medical issue going on.  B/c she will snap in and out of it and not be consistently aggressive, I wonder if there's some chemical imbalance or even a brain issue.  I would have her looked at thoroughly by your vet.

Offline chaos270

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Re: Help! Serious aggression
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2006, 11:57:14 pm »
well the side effect is excitibility and excitibility in aussies leads to aggression because they tend to have fear aggression and such.  And although we are alpha over both dogs it's just they get into spats over dominance which are getting worse as Lacey gets more aggressive.  They haven't gone for blood yet but it's hard to pull Kali off because she refuses to back down which is also a problem. We literally have to sit on top of her for two minutes to get her to settle to the point you can let her up.  I think Kali is the more dominant dog and she's protective of us so if we're mad at lacey she'll go after her so it's pretty much an endless cycle.  And Kali is still in obnoxious puppy play mode where she harasses Lacey almost constantly which doesn't help either.  I can't wait until the yard gets fenced and we can chase them around to wear them down to the point where they're too tired to fight.  They both get decent excersise inside the house when they're playing normally plus Kali gets brought outside and played with as does Lacey.

Oh I forgot to add Lacey is three and she hasn't really had any issues before except for with strangers.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2006, 11:58:16 pm by chaos270 »
Erin and the critters
Kali ~ the newf
Lacey ~ the aussie 
Gabby ~ Holsteiner mare
Fire ~ Appendix Quarter Horse/Belgian gelding
Lilah and Hannah ~ Kali's kitties

Offline ZooCrew

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Re: Help! Serious aggression
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2006, 01:00:44 am »
If they are to the point where they are vying as to who is going to be the top dog, believe me it will only get worse.  And there are few alternatives as to what to do about it if it is at that point.

1) let them work it out between themselves.  Most dog "fights" (like 85% or maybe even more) never draw blood, or if they do it's just a surface wound.  It looks very intense and agressive, but it's mostly scrapping and not actual fighting.

2) Keep them separated from each other or only have them together under extreme supervision.

3) Try some serious training with a professional that has experience with dog aggression and dominance issues

4)  Worst case scenario.  Find one of them a home where they can be the alpha dog with no challenges by other canines.

If they both have dominant or alpha personalities, I'm not sure if things will get better until they figure out where they stand.  Lacy does not want to give up her position as the alpha dog in the house.  Kali is getting older and if it's true that she may be the more dominant of the two, she is now at the age where she may be challenging Lacy without you noticing the subtle signs.  That alone may be setting Lacy off.  If they do get into a serious fight, I'm guessing its going to be Lacy that will be injured, just b/c she is smaller and Kali has a thicker coat to protect her.

Now as for her sudden human aggression issues, I'm going to take a wild stab and say it may still have to do with her being displaced or being on her way to being displaced as the alpha dog.  She may be trying to find her new place, and is trying to work her way up the ladder by challenging those alpha to her, the humans.  She does not want to be on the bottom of the totem pole and is therefore acting out a bit.

Offline chaos270

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Re: Help! Serious aggression
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2006, 09:48:17 am »
Thanks for the help Zoo Crew we'll try giving your advice a try and see if it helps.  If not we'll have to keep them seperated which is what we do when they are being particularly bad about it.  It's generally at night that they do it and they are fine during the day unless everybody is home.  most of the morning they will sleep right next to each other.  I think it'll help that soon they can more exercise and Kali will hopefully mellow out of her obnoxious puppy  behaviour where she literally chews on Lacey and drags her around by her collar(if she's wearing one or her leash).
Erin and the critters
Kali ~ the newf
Lacey ~ the aussie 
Gabby ~ Holsteiner mare
Fire ~ Appendix Quarter Horse/Belgian gelding
Lilah and Hannah ~ Kali's kitties