Post by beck92 on Jan 12, 2015 23:16:42 GMT -5
I have a two year old male greyhound at home, we've only had him about two months at this point. Things have gone downhill pretty quickly in the last few weeks. We, myself specifically, have been experiencing some very serious aggression issues. In general, he has been a pretty good boy, he adjusted to most things very quickly and is usually well mannered. We understood the problems we might encounter with a retired racer and were prepared for everything except this. Aside learning basic commands, we couldn't really be disappointed, and when he began to display some minor aggression initially we weren't too surprised since he had had a few weeks to begin to settle in and let his personality come out. We did out best to correct this new aggression but nothing seemed to work permanently and things only escalated. I should note that he has had no food aggression, any issues with small animals (we also have a cat), or with children. There was only one incident with him snapping at me when I went to take a rawhide away from him but I corrected it and there was never an issue with that again. The aggression began first as the typical growling and showing teeth but did get worse quickly. While the aggression did occur at times around his bed and eventually at his kennel, it was not limited to these things only, problems also occurred in our bedroom and just at different parts of our apartment in general. The minor aggression grew into attempted bites and actually lunging towards me. We did out best to correct the incidents when the occurred but it only seemed to have an effect for a day or two. The incidents escalated as I said previously, he became more intent on getting me and there were a couple close calls that I could only prevent by physical intervention. It seemed like the physical interventions, which given the situations I had no other alternative to, were a catalyst for much worse behavior. Generally we took a verbal approach with him and with my boyfriend this still works fine for him, it does nothing for me anymore and if I'm present it will sometimes fail for my boyfriend. He does not want to listen to me at all anymore, it doesn't matter if I'm stern or coaxing, unless its time to eat or go outside it is near impossible for me to get him to do anything else. As of two days ago, I have been bitten on three different occasions. All three times he did not give me the usual warnings (growling, ect) that I was used to and would then be cautious with him. The first time occurred on our bed, he knows he shouldn't be up there and I told him repeatedly to get down which of course he didn't listen to. So I went to get a hold of his collar to lead him down and he turned and bit my arm. He did not break the skin this time. The second time occurred three days back. He was laying on his bed and I needed him to get in his kennel so I could wash the floors. I told him to go a few times and instead he went the opposite way (he usually tries to get to the back of the house away from me), so I blocked him at our kitchen doorway and pointed and told him to go, he refused again. I didn't even have a chance to actually touch his collar and he snapped again without warning. This time he got my hand and did break the skin. The third time was the most severe and occurred two days ago. I took him out to use the washroom and we came back in. It is routine for both of us to wipe his feet with a towel at the door before he walks through the apartment, and we have both done this countless times without incident. I was crouching and wiped his front paw nearest to me, I then reached for the front paw furthest from me and he bit me in the face, he did not want to let go this time (the other two were more of snap and gos). I didn't require stitches thankfully, but there are well defined teeth marks and a large bruise where he got me, on my cheek just below my eye. As I said before, these incident occurred without warning and generally not one after the other. He and I could have had a great day and it seems to come out of the blue. This unpredictability is extremely problematic and given the progression of aggression, is now a safety concern for me. We know for sure that he is scared of me and we started to notice this after the first couple of physical interventions. The interventions were not really that violent either, he lunged at me and I had to smack his face away from me. It was not as if I went out of my way to strike him, but when a dog tries to bite you, you aren't really left with any alternatives when you can't move away physically. But he acts as if I have beaten him severely or something, he will have his tail between his legs or shake after he either tries to or has bitten me. We aren't sure if maybe he had been abused previously and is relating that to me and that possibly my having to be physically firm with him kick started those fears and memories. I can understand that during the first two times it may have been my reaching for him that was the provocation, but when he bit me on the face, I honestly can't think of anything I did wrong, it was just a routine we always do and he had never acted aggressively during it before. Now, if he is on his bed or in his kennel, I can be standing six feet away and tell him to come and he will begin growling. At his point I don't like any physical contact with him, even the necessary things like going outside because I always feel I have to be ready for him since he has become so unpredictable. I don't even need to be directly in front of his kennel, if he sees me and I step towards it when the door is open he usually will growl, bark, display his teeth, and sometimes lunge at the door. We don't know what to do at this point, we do feel that this is something now out of our league. It's sad to say that I am generally afraid of our own dog because of how he's been acting and the fact that he is a really big boy and could cause some serious damage. We are thinking about returning him at this point which is very hard because despite this issues he is great in so many ways, a model greyhound in for some things. But since this problem has arisen, safety has become a concern on my behalf. Personally, I feel that it may be best for him to find a home with people more experienced than us so that he can receive the proper care and training that he very much needs. However I am posting this to see what you guys think, any advice is greatly appreciated.