So upset over our aggressive dog, how's this going to end?

[Speckledhen617]

I feel devastated over this. Our pup is just 12 months old, he's an entire terrier.5 months ago we had a succession of incidents in the space of 2 weeks triggered by a child screaming at him and our DS accidentally scaring him whilst he was asleep. He snapped and growled at DS and started growling when he saw the child who screamed at him. We saw a behaviourist and the issues resolved.

Over the last couple of weeks we've now had him shaking and lip curling at fil and bil when they've been in our house and last night whilst I was sat on the sofa and he was on the floor with a new toy he went very stiff, started staring at me and shaking. DH called him out of the room, played with him outside for a while and all was fine. A few hours later as I hugged DH good night he jumped up at us growling.

Its really upset me. I know the advice is to see a behaviourist again, which I'll do on Monday but I'm so worried about it all.

I feel like its a bite waiting to happen. I'd never let him around DS friends or the children in our family, I feel like I can't have any male visitors in the house. We tip toe around him while he's sleeping, what next-no new toys? DS adores him. All we wanted was a family dog. DS's an only child, we waited 12 years to get a dog. We've put in so much love, time and effort and money. We're all so gentle with him. I just feel lost with it all.

What does the breeder say? They should know their lines and what temperaments they carry. They should also be able to advise about having him neutered. It would be first on my list.

Can the uninformed please stop spouting castration as the panacea to behaviour problems. Your opinion is not more valuable that scientific evidence or professional behavioural advice do stop criticising the OP for not agreeing with you. She's right.

Castration will only impact on behaviours driven by sex hormones (usually confident aggression to other male dogs) and often makes fear related aggression worse. It's clear that @Speckledhen617 has researched this and has given good reasons and criticising her reasoning with uninformed opinion isn't helpful.

In cases like this behaviourists and vets would always advise a suprelorelin trial before castrations as thee is definitely the chance that castration could make things worse

@Speckledhen617 it sounds like you have an anxious aggressive dog. Def see your behaviourist again, work on ensuring he has a safe haven and minimising/ eliminating stressful triggers (look up trigger stacking)

I'd be worried about a tumour.
The staring at you and shaking has me thinking you should rule out a health issue, like, as another poster mentioned, epilepsy.

What kind of terrier is he?

The comments about terriers are really unhelpful. I've come here for help

You're clearly not prepared to listen to the advice you are given you sound like a novice dog owner.

@Roselilly36

Get an appointment ASAP with behaviourist. Castration may help calm him down, he’s a little older than recommended though. Usually 6-7 mths. Terriers have big personalities and will rule the roost if they get a chance, as will most male dogs, ours was a softie he was wanting to be Alpha male especially as puberty hits, and that’s probably what is happy with you dog now. Does he usually sit on the sofa? If so I would stop that, if I saw a hint if aggression I would put him in another room away from the family. How old is your child? Make sure they are never alone together. As it sounds like you terrier has a very short fuse. I hope you managed to get these behaviours turned around. Get him bkd in for the castration ASAP as you will probably find if he’s off lead he will go chasing a female. Good luck OP.

Just to correct some misinformation.

Alpha male dogs don't exist as dogs don't have a linear dominance hierarchy. He is not a chicken.

Castration is contraindicated in fear aggression, so no he is NOT too old , it's just that your 'advice' will likely make his behaviour much worse.

I honestly find it bizarre on MN that people see a post and think 'Oh! I know nothing about that but I'll give my opinion anyway' when actually following their advice could be dangerous.

We have a dog who is very anxious, possessive of me and can bite with very little warning. It got worse when he was neutered so I wish now we hadn’t done it. We saw the behaviourist recommended by the vet (who in hindsight wasn’t very good) and we now attend a fortnightly session for anxious/aggressive dogs which is much more helpful.

Essentially we have to manage him all the time. We trained the children not to interact with him in a way that might trigger him. We are very very careful on walks. We never let strangers pat him and he’s not allowed to greet other dogs. Anyone visiting is warned. Over the course of 18months it’s got better and the incidents get rarer, but we still have to be aware of it. 99% of the time he’s a lovely dog. The DC are 11 and 13 so they are old enough to understand this. I wouldn’t do it with younger DC.

We talk about his bucket being filled - essentially everything that stresses him out puts a little more water in the bucket and the bucket overflows he reacts with growling and snapping. Most dogs buckets empty quickly, his is very slow to empty. So if something has stressed him (eg seeing a scary dog on his walk) we need to make sure that he has enough time to empty the bucket before putting him under more pressure. We also try to desensitise him, for example using high value treats to watch from a distance a dog of the same breed that attacked him as a puppy.

I agree about seeing the behaviouralist, getting him neutered and I would also take him to the vet to rule out a physical health cause. I would do these collectively if at all possible to this resolved.

Getting a nervous or I confident dog neutered can make things worse. I have direct experience of this.
It sounds like this a nervous dog that has had a bad experience.
OP it sounds like you have a sensible behaviourist who can hopefully put a plan in place to make life easier for all of you.

[quote Purpledaisychain]@Sertchgi123 What an obnoxious post.

I'm quite happy with terriers thanks. I've had them all my life and none of them have been a mistake. They've all been great family dogs and have never bitten or snapped at anyone. I know plenty of other people with lovely terriers too. I also know people with dogs that aren't terriers that are aggressive.[/quote]
It’s ridiculous to claim that my opinion constitutes an obnoxious post. I didn’t insult the OP or anyone else, I just gave an opinion about dogs.

Just reread your original post, jumped in too early to defend terriers........our terrier used to go rigid, symptoms similar to Canine epileptoid cramping syndrome, on occasion she would have these very uncomfortable episodes lasting about 30 mins we changed her to a gluten free diet and she no longer gets them.

.. unconfident dog.... that was meant to read

@Veterinari

I only suggested castration as a possible option. Because sometimes it does help with aggression and other times it doesn't. It very much depends on the dog and what causes the aggression.

You sound like a switched on owner op, there are a lot of opinions on castration which more recent research debunks.
Could the breeder you got him from shed any light? Did anything go on in his first environment or parents temperaments which might give you clues to unlocking this puzzle?
So lovely that ds adores him, it's worth the effort. Good luck

I don’t think castration will help.

He sounds very stressed, he may be better suited to a calmer household without children. My mother in law has a bichon and he’s very aggressive because he’s so nervous of children, but absolutely fine with adults.

12 months is the second massive hormone surge where they forget how to behave and become weird. 8 months ish is the first.

@Anotherlovelybitofsquirrel

The comments about terriers are really unhelpful. I've come here for help

You're clearly not prepared to listen to the advice you are given you sound like a novice dog owner.

Which advice do you suggest she follow @Anotherlovelybitofsquirrel ? The advice about alpha dogs that is approx 60 years out of date? The advice about castration which contradicts scientific evidence and professional advice and could likely make the problem worse? This thread is rife with terrible advice and criticism of the OP by uninformed posters. I don't blame her at all for not following it. What's your constructive advice?

We’ve been advised that dogs can be castrated FROM 6 months but some wait until 2 years to allow the dog to fully grow/develop. It’s stops them having babies rather than changes their behaviour. We will wait a bit with our beautiful cocker as we might sire him out depending on temperament once he’s a bit older but if you’re not planning to do that (which I hope you’re not planning) then it’s worth getting home neutered as it might help and you’ve not lost anything (except some cash).

I’d be working at taking him out a lot and treats when he sees other people to help with the fear then move to your home - treat when someone comes to the door, treat when they enter etc (warn the guests first so they don’t expect your attention as you need to use them to train the dog).

I’m guessing during lock down you had few visitors so suddenly people are coming and going in your dog’s home and he’s unsettled.

Does he have a crate with door open he can safely go to?

@Sertchgi123

Pretty much saying that getting a terrier was a mistake that was too late to fix, but hopefully the terrier bashing posts will convince any simpletons thinking of getting a terrier that it is a bad idea is obnoxious in my opinion.

You may not like terriers. That is fair enough. But that doesn't mean that owning one is a bad idea or a mistake for someone who does like them. OP has said that she grew up with terriers. She would not have chose to get another one if she had a lifetime of bad experiences with them.

Terriers can be fabulous with children. We had one who had zero interest in other dogs but was great with our DC and with visitors. IME though, males can go through a very tricky phase at 6-18 months and if it isn't resolved (clear boundaries, redirection, training) you can end up with a dog who is unpredictable and hard to handle.

I am inclined to agree with OP about neutering if the aggression is due to fear. We neutered a nervous dog too young on vet advice and have had to live with the consequences for a decade since: the more I read and understand, the more I think that although his issues are a combo of things, the early neuter did not help.

[quote Purpledaisychain]@Veterinari

I only suggested castration as a possible option. Because sometimes it does help with aggression and other times it doesn't. It very much depends on the dog and what causes the aggression.[/quote]
No it very much depends on the type of aggression. Confident aggression between male dogs is driven by sex hormones and castration may help. Fear-related human directed aggression is not.
So the likeliest potential outcome of castration in a case of fear based aggression towards humans is worsening of the aggression as testosterone is removed, confidence levels drop and the dog becomes more fearful and thus more aggressive. It's dangerous advice.

I have experience of terriers. My in laws terrier terrorised my nephew to the point that he’s now afraid of all dogs.

Our friends have terriers and one of them has bitten our dog and has bitten both of them.

My neighbour’s terrier bite their toddler on his face and he had to be hospitalised and the dog removed.

@Speckledhen617
If you're still here it is worth a vet check to rule out pain including abdominal pain - approx 2/3 of behaviour cases referred to specialists have pain as a trigger. Also if your dog is a border terrier the gluten sensitivity may be worth investigating

vetfocus.royalcanin.com/en/doc-152.html

Where did you get the pup from? What were the parents like? Could there be any genetic components to the behaviour?

Also OP reading up on the layered stress model might be useful, depending on what is sparking your dog's issues.

@Sertchgi123

I have experience of terriers. My in laws terrier terrorised my nephew to the point that he’s now afraid of all dogs.

Our friends have terriers and one of them has bitten our dog and has bitten both of them.

My neighbour’s terrier bite their toddler on his face and he had to be hospitalised and the dog removed.

@Sertchgi123 Thanks for your contributions to this thread - they're super helpful, relevant, and constructive