Please help me, I don't know what to do.

[hippieshake]

Hi.

I'm writing this as I'm at my last resort. I have a dog called Boo, who has been with my family for 8 years now. He started off as a family pet when I lived at home with my parents, then came to live with DH and I when I moved out. This was due to him running away and misbehaving from the day I moved.

He's crate trained due to seperation anxiety, and this seemed to calm him down for awhile. We also have two other dogs now who are very well behaved.

Boo had always been a 'diva'. He can be quite grumbly when he is annoyed or doesn't get his own way, which has earned him the nickname Victor Meldrew.

However lately his behaviour has gotten out of control. He's gone really distant from Dh and I, he never wants a pet or cuddle. He growls and barks a lot, he keeps going after dogs on the bark, and three times in the past few weeks he has bitten me. Not breaking skin, but snapping at my hands. For example this morning; we were on the park (all dogs off lead) and they stopped to play with a dog that we know. They all started eating grass at the side of the path so I said 'come on guys stop that', both of my other dogs did, but Boo ignored me, so I lightly patted his bum and said 'come on then' with the intention of carrying on with the walk. He turned in a second and bit my hand.

I don't know what's gotten into him. I'm 6 months pregnant with my first child, and I can't have a dog that behaves like that around my baby. He was supposed to be on his final warning, and now he's broken it. I don't think anyone would want him if I rehomed him because of his biting.

I love him to death, but I just can't cope anymore :( I feel like such a failure. I've been crying for the past hour, which surely can't be that good for the baby.

Sorry for the long post. I just don't know what to do.

Have you taken him to the vet to rule out any physical problems?

He may well be in pain and reacting accordingly.

Yes, and he is in perfect health. It's almost like he's gone mad or something. I just don't understand. Nothing has happened to him that would make him change, he has a lovely home and he gets walked everyday. It's just come out of nowhere.

It won't have just come out of nowhere.

If he has had a recent full detailed health check it will be down to behaviour and that will not just appear from nowhere.

Was the vet very thorough? Hearing problems, sight problems, any type of pain will cause a dog to snap and change behaviour.

You mention other issues that he has had and this is probably a continuation of those.

What do you mean by last resort? He has not changed but his environment and things that he has no control have changed around him.

Well by last resort I meant that I'm seriously considering rehoming him. He doesn't like change, and I'm wondering if on some level he knows I'm having a baby. I can only see him getting worse when she arrives.

The vet has been wonderful with him, he's been Boo's vet since Boo was a puppy so he knows all about his history and things too. It's definately a behavioural thing, but I don't know what I can do about it. I've tried disciplining him when he first started biting by taking his toys off him and not making a fuss of him. Then when that didn't work I tried the opposite to see if he needed my attention. Then when that didn't work I tried just ignoring him. It's bothering me that he's also going for dogs on the park now too, because I can see that people think he's aggressive, which I do think he is becoming.

He is highly stressed.

So punishing him is not going to work.

You understandably are feeling a little stressed and considering loads of "What ifs" about the new baby and how you will manage with the dogs - he is picking up on your anxiety is already anxious and so now is going into over drive. (I am guessing this obviously as I have not seen him but it is a very common scenario I have lots of pregnant clients whose dogs "become difficult"!)

Calm the whole situation down, for the time being do not put him in situations that he can not cope with eg walking try to avoid all other dogs, see them in the distance , give a cheery "lets go" and walk in the other direction.

Do not touch him at all over the next few weeks, ask him to come to you and reward with a treat on the floor, if he comes to you put a treat on the floor but do not touch him, you will probably find he will start to nuzzle you if he does then you can gently touch him, often under his muzzle is a good place for stressed dogs.

Give him chill out time in his crate away from the other dogs.

He sounds like he is really tuned into you and is picking up on the changes in the household and is actually trying to help you but in his mixed up doggy head has got it all out of proportion.

If he has a chill out space even when the new baby comes , he will know that what ever is going on around him he can go and chill in his bed and calm down.

Other things you could try (but this may be hard with the other dogs and you will have to keep him separate) is give him a bone. Chewing is very relaxing for a dog.

Also clicker training is fab as everything he does, he does right and this will help to build his confidence and then bring down his stress levels.

Congratulations on your pregnancy

I could have almost written your post hippie when I was newly pregnant.

My lovely spaniel started behaving very oddly with me, growling, snapping, being dominant, etc. Everybody I mentioned it to straight away said 'get him neutered'. We'd never wanted to but realistically there wasn't any reason for keeping him entire, we weren't planning to breed from him so we went for it and were amazed with the results. Gone was the snappy moody creature and our lovely dog was back again.

It is one of the best decisions we ever made, probably second to getting a dog in the first place! And that advice didn't just come form a vet but from all the trainers I worked with at my obedience school, with several years of owning/training/showing/judging/breeding between them.

Hope that's some help. I am purely speaking from experience obviously. If you've already had him done I don't know what else to suggest!