Malamute dog

[Stephw1]

My mal has started getting aggressive towards other people she doesn't know. A young 8 year old came in with my sister and she went for him and drew blood. Granted only a slight graze but it's enough to worry me. Will spaying her stop this behaviour?

Unlikely if she is female, I think it is normally advised for male dogs as it reduces their testosterone.

Itis very worrying that she drew blood and didn’t just stop at a warning growl or bark. What age is she, and has she been socialised from a young age with plenty of different people? I think you need to contact a good local trainer to stop this behaviour as a more serious incident could result in your dog being destroyed.

It's common for northern breeds to bond very strongly with their family and become wary/protective around strangers if they're not very heavily socialised at the right time.

Spaying won't help but should be done after the first season anyway for a number of health reasons. If you were planning on breeding from her, you can't now she has shown aggression, so there's no reason not to spay and plenty of reasons to do it.

The aggression needs dealing with and you need the help of a qualified, experienced positive trainer to do it. Contact your local vet for recommendations. If this behaviour has come out of the blue, it would be worth getting a vet check to rule out any underlying medical causes. In the meantime you need to keep your dog away from visiting children and supervised around your own and visiting adults.

We had an Akita who could only be around strangers if they were forewarned not to approach him. He was fine when meetings were on his terms. we mostly kept him away from guests unless they were likely to be long term guests in which case meetings were micro-managed until the dog came to accept them as part of his family.

What were the circumstances of the bite? It's unusual for any breed to bite or snap without reason.

I think it's because the child walked into the house first without her knowing who the child is. Usually she's ok if she goes up to the stranger first. I just panicked when she drew blood. I know she could've done a lot worse if she wanted but it's still not on

Spaying could even be counterproductive, as it reduces the amount of progesterone. I think Frequency has hit the nail on the head.

And Arthur in fact, sorry

Totally agree with frequency. Make sure behaviourist is CFBA registered. We had behaviourist out for our doggy and it was brilliant, like owning a different dog now :-)