fear aggression in my terrier

itzii

i have a problem dog (jack russell terrier cross - i think!) that i took in as a stray 5 years ago.. he had obviously been very badly abused (used to scatter under tables if you walked towards him or even just moved your hands or feet near him, this gradually improved) and was always very fearful and aggressive towards strangers, particularily men and youths (surprisingly!!). The aggression was restricted to growling in the beginning, and i kept him away from people he didnt know.

for the first few years he was also fine with dogs, submissive but friendly, until a neighbours springer spaniel attacked him badly without provocation. since then, he has been very aggressive with other dogs. if they come over to sniff him he freezes, growls, and within a few seconds attacks them.

my problem now is that the aggression is being turned on me. he has snapped at other people three times - one the vet (semi understandable), and also my mother and father (when trying to get him into the car, and get him away from the door for a visitor).

with me, the problem is either if someone comes to the door or when i am outside, wanting him to come in. this has been developing over the past year.

if someone comes to the door, and i call him away, he sits or lies down at the door, crosses him back legs and puts his ears back (submissive?), and then growls. if i persist, he springs at my legs, snaps at my jeans fabric and steps back. the first time i got such a fright i let him get away with it, so i guess he won. the second time, i stepped forward, told him "no", and stared til he dropped eye contact. but i still couldnt get him away from the door. now i let visitors in the back door. which is less than ideal!

a new problem, which has started this week, is something similar outside. unless he has been for a very long, exhausting walk, he has started to lie down on the driveway, with his ears back. if i ask/tell him to come in, he lies flatter against the ground and growls. if i continue, he will crawl under the car, and hide. today, i happened to have the leash on him, and i tried tugging him out (probably not the best idea but i was late for work), and he sprang at me, growling and snarling, although i stepped forward saying no sharply so he hid back under the car again.

he loves the car so i opened the back and he crawled out from underneath and hopped in quite happily. and stayed in the car all day while i was at work.. he was quite happy to come back into the house, after that!

apart from these incidents, he is well behaved.. walks at heel, sits and stays, fetches etc.. it is just, when i want him to do something he doesnt want to do, he seems to get very fearful and then attack.

as i mentioned before, he has had a very hard life before arriving with me, and i am loathe to put him to sleep. this has been a gradual deterioration, and i am certain it is something i am doing which is making him worse (he did not snap til i had had him for over a year). probably me keeping him away from strangers was not a good idea - if i have visitors he gets locked in the kitchen - but what else can i do!

another point which may be relevant is that he had 4 (bad - lasting several minutes) tonic-clonic epileptic seizures about 3 years ago, all in the same 2 weeks, although none since. that i know of.

i have ordered a weighted vest from the states as i think a lot of the problem might well be that he is not getting enough exercise, and i have limited time to walk him although he does get about 45 mins a day. i am also going to get the # for a dog behaviourist from the vet, but any suggestions or comments from other people would be very welcome!

Ruu_Old

Well talking to a behaviourist is a great idea as is the weighted vest and long walks. You are correct about keeping him away from strangers didn't help. If you are fearful or anxious when a stranger rings the doorbell, your dog will sense that and only make him worse. The dog behaviourist should have suggestions on how to help your dog meet strangers. Its good that you realise the problems though.

tj-music.com

I also think that it is good to get a behaviourist in. I am a certified pet psychologist and holistic animal healer and my advise is to actually use herbs to calm down the dog and to work on improving the situation:

Larch is often used to tackle the issues of feeling inferior and lack of self-confidence.

If one is strong-willed with a tendency to be domineering Vine can be helpful.

Tiger – Lilly is often prescribed to work on over-aggressiveness and yet Tiger – Lilly itself has been described as a strong aggressive poison, still classed as medicine.

Before recommending anything one has to ask questions about the behavioural symptoms, the history, details of relationship between the animal and other members of the household and any information of any changes that may have upset the animal.

Apart from the fact that animals get less out of balance than humans and therefore flower essences work often quicker and far more immediate.

Also, the age, general health of the animal has to be taken into consideration as well.

You gave quite some information in your post.

I think what you have to take into account is also that YOU as the owner must understand that you are stressed out and that also has an effect on your dog:

The animal will definitely pick up on it and therefore will stress itself out in its quest to act like a mirror, in order to communicate with the owner, to show him or her, that the displayed behaviour is not healthy.

That is not necessarily the case with your dog (although it is a natural thing for a dog to do but often is misleading for the untrained owner). What I am suggesting is that you try to communicate with your dog by sending images.

When you are at home with your dog just sit back and relax and try to send him the image of him greeting people at the door friendly with no aggression and convey the idea that there is nothing to fear.

This might sound strange but I have a rescue dog myself and communicating that way helped our issues a great deal.

You´ve got nothing to loose, so why not try it?!

EGAR

You may laugh at me but I have reason behind my madness. Is he neutered? If so was he neutered when you got him or did you have it done by your vet whom you trust? If not, can you please check if he has both testicles descended?

tj-music.com

EGAR wrote:

You may laugh at me but I have reason behind my madness. Is he neutered? If so was he neutered when you got him or did you have it done by your vet whom you trust? If not, can you please check if he has both testicles descended?

Yes, this could just be it. Why didn´t I think of it??

itzii

good suggestion! but he definately had 2 testicles when i first got him, had him neutered 2 years ago, so they are definately both gone.. it made no difference at all to his aggressive behaviour, although i have the idea that it may have made him more timid but that could just be my imagination!

EGAR

Have you tried a DAP Difuser?