HELP PLEASE....severe aggression...ADVICE NEEDED

[Texas Carol]

Megan, just be aware, anxiety meds can take months for full effect to occur.

True, also...it can take trying a couple of meds before finding right one.

Had a Springer develop severe anxiety and they put him on Prozac. OMG! He
turned very edgy & aggressive, we took him off and rehomed him to a friend
with lots of time to be home and had a Springer Spaniel so knew the breed.
This had gone on awhile and started when my son hit Jr High so never home,
I'd gone back to work & Hubby worked & in school too. So...his issues were
about abandonment, we solved it by rehoming because we had to be away
and because of that, couldn't provide for his needs. It was a difficult decision,
we loved Pecos so much, he was beautiful and such a great dog, we'd had him
since 10 weeks old and rehomed him at 5 years old. He was happy in his new
home, all that mattered to us

 

[bengardradar]

Has he had his rabies or distemper shot recently??

 

[meganhicks]

Has he had his rabies or distemper shot recently??

yes
i get his shots as soon as they are due.

so rabies and distemper a few weeks ago

 

[meganhicks]

Megan, just be aware, anxiety meds can take months for full effect to occur.

hmm he was on it for 3 weeks and we went back to vets and he said if i didnt see any improvement to stop?....now im wondering if i should have continued for longer?
maybe ill call the vets and see what they think (i have a new vet at same office)

 

[meganhicks]

for shock collar therapy
do i just wait for behaviour or try to encourage it to correct it?

im so nervous to use it (i bought one after work)
it says i need to shock to find appropriate level im scared...she also warned me it could cause aggression to worsen when shocked...anyone have experience with this?

 

[bengardradar]

yes
i get his shots as soon as they are due.

so rabies and distemper a few weeks ago

@meganhicks - I don't want you or anyone else to take anything I say wrong - I have been through a whirl wind with Radar and just saying what has/hasn't worked for us and some things that I have learned through this whole process.

Radar is currently enrolled in a 5 week board and train program to help with some of the same issues you are going through -- I will try to keep our story short, but hopefully you will find something that may help, ease your mind and know that everyone on this site is here to help you and they are always here for you - trust me on this one this site is the only reason I have made it this long with out going completely insane.

Our Story: we got Radar at 11 weeks from a breeder brought him home( we also live in a small town so not a lot of social interaction with people kids other dogs etc) from day 1 bringing him home he spent his days at my in laws house where he didn't have any rules -- things went great till maybe Oct/Nov and he started getting snarky with people who visited the in laws house during the day he would have been about 14 months at this time, not all the time but occassionally - I tried to get my father in law to use the nothing in life is free to no avail. In December things started to change at home Radar started going after our 10 year old son, I couldn't have that so I did my research on the internet and immediately got in touch with the #1 dog thyroid expert in the United States, I told her our situation and the first thing she asked me was if Radar had had his rabies shot recently - he had over Thanksgiving break - she said that the rabies shot can cause these symptoms and put me in contact with a guy to do a herbal detox, we did that and had a full thyroid panel run - Did they run the full panel or just the basics - his results were smack dab in the normal area of everything they tested, so that wasn't it. At the same time as we were going through this Radar started limping and was put on some anti inflamitories The detox seemed to help a little but still had the episodes with him herding our son and strangers in our yard/house. I didn't know where else to turn or what else to do so we had a gentleman come to our house, he said he was a behaviorist but he was a quack, he taught us the same leader of the pack stuff that we need to eat before him, go out doors before him, if we guard a high value treat for 10 minutes he will be cured, my husband was not convinced, I didn't know what else to do so my son and I did the excercises, -- nothing changed. we went through this for quite a few months and nothing changed, Radar's nares were really tight so we made the appointment to have them fixed and his palate shortened in the mean time he was continuing to limp so we had an x-ray and he was diagnosed with a torn ACL so all surgeries were done at the same time. During the time up to Radar's recovery I did more research on training and techniques and tried to find someone who would come to our little 700 person town to train in home when he was all healed from surgery. I had also done enough research and reading that I knew that the force based training would not work, and that may be part of the reason he wasn't getting any better he was scared of us and I wanted the use positive reinforcement training - there are a ton of books out there about clicker training and positive training and a good majority of them are written by people who used to be of the Pack Leader force based training mind set and used it professionally to train there own and other peoples dogs, but have since found that positive training is better. I found someone who was willing to travel out of her normal training area and meet with us, she did and I LOVE HER she is so positive and believes in the positive training, so we set it up that when Radar was healed she would be training him -- long summer later we now have a tripawd bulldog. Radar left almost 4 weeks ago to go to board and train and we have seen him a few times and the change in him is amazing, we still don't know what triggered the agressive change in Radar, but with positive training he is a much happier more confident guy and not the fearful guy he was before.

Call the vet back and try the meds again, we use the generic version of Prozac from Walmart and its $10 for a 90 day supply -- you need to keep him on it that long to make sure it is working and they can't just stop taking it they need to be weaned off of it so the brain doesn't go hay wire

I know this a lot and I truly feel your pain, but stay strong(he can sense your fearful) PM me anytime and if you want some good books to read about clicker training, training and reading Dexter let me know I have read a ton of them, I will be more then happy to get you the names of a few or if you just want to talk, I am by no means an expert but I know what you are going through and the emotional drain that it is when you love them so much

STAY STRONG YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

 

[TyTysmom]

for shock collar therapy
do i just wait for behaviour or try to encourage it to correct it?

im so nervous to use it (i bought one after work)
it says i need to shock to find appropriate level im scared...she also warned me it could cause aggression to worsen when shocked...anyone have experience with this?

I would go with a vibrate collar over a shock collar honestly. Bulldogs already have breathing issues & Id be scared to shock them did the place where you purchased it have vibration ones? Maybe you can swap it out?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[meganhicks]

it is vibrating i just keep calling it shock.....

 

[TyTysmom]

it is vibrating i just keep calling it shock.....

Okay good! Please no shock. I would start as low as possible & only do it if he's having an episode. Gauge his response on the lowest setting and go from there if you need to increase. You only want him to relate it to bad behavior. Does it make any noise too?

Also praise & reward for good behavior so he sees the differences.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[2BullyMama]

for shock collar therapy
do i just wait for behaviour or try to encourage it to correct it?

im so nervous to use it (i bought one after work)
it says i need to shock to find appropriate level im scared...she also warned me it could cause aggression to worsen when shocked...anyone have experience with this?

If you want to go the collar route... I suggest you find a trainer to work with--- timing is EVERYTHING when using this tool. I have years of experience with them and we spent weeks training with a trainer to ensure proper usr

 

[brutus77]

hmm he was on it for 3 weeks and we went back to vets and he said if i didnt see any improvement to stop?....now im wondering if i should have continued for longer?
maybe ill call the vets and see what they think (i have a new vet at same office)

3 Weeks? Really??? My vet told me full effect takes months and sure enough he was right. I would do two things, consider putting him back on the meds, and interviewing new vets.

 

[brutus77]

for shock collar therapy
do i just wait for behaviour or try to encourage it to correct it?

im so nervous to use it (i bought one after work)
it says i need to shock to find appropriate level im scared...she also warned me it could cause aggression to worsen when shocked...anyone have experience with this?

I would not encourage the behavior, if you are considering the use of shock collar, the behavior will be there already.

 

[brutus77]

for shock collar therapy
do i just wait for behaviour or try to encourage it to correct it?

im so nervous to use it (i bought one after work)
it says i need to shock to find appropriate level im scared...she also warned me it could cause aggression to worsen when shocked...anyone have experience with this?

Well, this is what I said before. First, I would start out with a collar that has tone and static. Start with the tone only, I think you will get the results you are looking for. I would not start out shocking him.

 

[brutus77]

it is vibrating i just keep calling it shock.....

I don't understand then, because if it is telling you to find and acceptable level, that means shock. and the lady at the store telling you it could cause worse aggression also means shock. I think you need to understand and know how to operate this collar before use. The collar I showed you earlier has two buttons, a green one and a yellow one. The green is the tone and when the button is pushed, it will activate a beeping sound. The yellow is the static shock and when pressed will send a static shock to the collar. I am going to repeat myself, I would not start out with the shock feature and this is only to be used as a training tool for eventual disuse when the desired behavior is achieved.

 

[ddnene]

I don't understand then, because if it is telling you to find and acceptable level, that means shock. and the lady at the store telling you it could cause worse aggression also means shock. I think you need to understand and know how to operate this collar before use. The collar I showed you earlier has two buttons, a green one and a yellow one. The green is the tone and when the button is pushed, it will activate a beeping sound. The yellow is the static shock and when pressed will send a static shock to the collar. I am going to repeat myself, I would not start out with the shock feature and this is only to be used as a training tool for eventual disuse when the desired behavior is achieved.

IMO you need a trainer to help you learn HOW to use this device before you start shocking your dog… this could be disastrous.