Dogs behaviour change (animal psychologist?!)

saoirsebui

I have a chocolate lab, girl, two years old who has always been perfectly behaved.

However, in the last two weeks her personality has changed.. she's becoming vicious to strangers, has gone off her food and has gone to the toilet inside several times..

Nothing in her environment has changed.. there's no possibilty of anyone hurting her.. her food hasn't changed..

I've brought her to the vet and he has checked her over and said e can't find anything wrong with her..

Does anyone know is there an animal psychologist that might be able to help. It's breaking my heart to see Deera like this, after two years of her being the perfect dog

andreac

Is she neutered?

maggiepip

I would take her to a different vet for a second opinion. The sudden changes in her really point to some type of discomfort. Especially as she went off her food and had accidents in the house.

Kash

I agree with Maggiepip - it points to a medical issue. Of course, it depends on how detailed your vets checkup was - if it was just a generic prod and poke, then you need a more indepth one.

I hope your dog is ok

Zapperzy

First of all is she neutered? If not there's a few things it could be, it could be her heat, pregnancy, phantom pregnancy or pyometra.

Did the vet do blood tests or a urine dipstick? Inappropriate peeing in the house might indicate an infection or some other urinary problem causing discomfort. Dogs can't talk so they use other ways to show pain or discomfort.

DBB

Just to weigh in behind what others have said, in cases where there has been a sudden change in behaviour in an otherwise steady and reliable dog, you won't find a qualified behaviourist to design a behaviour modification program until health problems have been ruled out, and unless your vet has carried out blood tests to assess e.g. organ function, thyroid function, other hormonal function, and had a really, really good root to make sure there are no signs of skeletal problems or sites of pain which may not be too obvious to the observer, then medical problems have not been ruled out.
Actually, if I rang a behaviourist and told them what you've posted, and they took on to treat your dog without the dog being properly medically assessed first, I'd be asking serious questions about the "behaviourist's" qualifications... remember that anyone can call themselves a behaviourist, but few actually have the proper training to be a behaviourist!
It is a bit annoying when vets prod the dog and say she's fine, but given that vets get no compulsory behavioural training, many of them are rather ignorant of the range of tests they need to do when a dog requires a behavioural health assessment.
Some vets are fab when it comes to behavioural health assessments though, and perhaps we can guide you to one such vet as I think a second opinion is very much in order here. If you like, let us know where in the country you are and hopefully we can help!