Post by smilesbetter on Oct 16, 2016 8:04:22 GMT
Heya,
Was chatting to my parents last night and they mentioned that they are getting worried about Sasha, their dog, as she has growled at each of them in the last two weeks, which is coincidentally since my brothers baby was born.
My brothers family live directly above my parents' house but the two houses are connected by a stair case (in the process of being split to two deprecate "flats"). My parents say that there has been very little noise from my brothers nearly two week old baby, but that when they do here her cry, Sasha gets upset and whiney.
By the way Sasha will absolutely not be loose around baby.
Anyway last week Sasha growled at my mum. Mum doesn't know why, she couldn't think of anything which would have reasonably caused it. There wasn't even food or toys around, although she did say that Sasha has never had a problem around these in the past even if mum steps on her toys or something.
Since then, when feeding her, mum has told Sasha to stop, which she did, and Sasha calmly watched as mum moved the food around in the bowl before allowing Sasha to eat again (I did loads of training with Sasha when we first got her with this as she was very possessive).
This week Sasha growled at dad and "went for him" (not sure what he meant by that) while my nephew and cousin (12ish and over 16 years old) were there playing pool. Some of Sashas toys were on the floor this time (I asked) but no one was that near them.
Sasha has previously growled when playing with balls in the garden which is why I asked about toys then, but in those occasions she has always willingly given me the toy when told to leave and it doesn't seem like an aggressive grown if you know what I mean.
Sasha is a staffie/GSD cross and is a very muscular, powerful wee dog. Like a tall staffie, but smaller than a GSD, and she is now over 10 years old. She's a very stubborn lady set in her ways and who loves routine. Naturally since baby has been born I assume her routine has changed somewhat. She hasn't been allowed in the same room as baby although I think this hasn't been an issue much as I believe baby has mainly been in the flat upstairs. My main worry here is for my parents. If Rosa suddenly went vicious, although she's a little taller than Sasha, she would be easy enough to restrain, but Sasha is a very powerful and muscular dog with an incredibly strong jaw. She has once, over 9 years ago, got a hold of another dog and ragdolled it by its neck, not letting go (thankfully it was a Shetland sheepdog and it's hair saved it). If she went mad and tried to attack someone, I wouldn't bank on them surviving it, as scary a though as that is.
And by the way since she attached that dog she has always been muzzled and harnessed during walks. My parents don't walk her so much though as they are terrified something might happen and she'll have to get put down. They have a garden which she loves, although the neighbours dogs are also aggressive at times and it results in the dogs viciously barking at each other through the fence (unable to see each other) so the neighbours and my parents signal to each other when their dogs are out. The dogs owner is moving out of that house soon and it seems unlikely that the remaining family members will get another dog, so that should reduce stress in Sashas life. Oh, and dad exercises Sasha in the garden every day. I have suggested he does the game "find it" with her to get her hunting for treats in the garden to give her more stimulation, and will suggest he does more training with her out there too.
Sasha used to mouth peoples arms when we first got her from rescue but since then (and even then as it wasn't done in an aggressive way), about 9 years ago, she has never shown any sign of aggression towards any human other than her light playful growling when playing in the garden with her balls, and now these two occasions. I do think it is linked with the new baby due to the timing.
I have though about a few possibilities as to the problem:
1. Stress from new baby
2. Possessiveness
3. Possibly starting to go deaf or blind
4. Going a bit senile in her old age
5. Lacking stimulation
6. Pain of some sort (she previously had very clicky joints but the vet said there was no issue, and it appeared to be resolved after she switched to raw).
7. Other medical issue like a tumour or cancer or something, or even simply blocked anal glands!
I will be home for one night on the Monday after tomorrow (if that makes sense!) and will check her over for myself then and I'm going to arrange a vet visit for then too.
Oh, Rosa & I will be visiting them for a total of three weeks in Dec/Jan (one week, then off to Ireland for a week, then two weeks in Scotland) and I have suggested that my parents crate train Sasha from now and have her sleeping in a crate in their room so that the visit with Rosa will not change Sashas routines too much. Currently Sasha sleeps in the room adjoining the one Rosa and I will be sleeping in. I've explained to them how to do this gradually so that Sasha will think of her crate as her safe den rather than as jail.
Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated!
Was chatting to my parents last night and they mentioned that they are getting worried about Sasha, their dog, as she has growled at each of them in the last two weeks, which is coincidentally since my brothers baby was born.
My brothers family live directly above my parents' house but the two houses are connected by a stair case (in the process of being split to two deprecate "flats"). My parents say that there has been very little noise from my brothers nearly two week old baby, but that when they do here her cry, Sasha gets upset and whiney.
By the way Sasha will absolutely not be loose around baby.
Anyway last week Sasha growled at my mum. Mum doesn't know why, she couldn't think of anything which would have reasonably caused it. There wasn't even food or toys around, although she did say that Sasha has never had a problem around these in the past even if mum steps on her toys or something.
Since then, when feeding her, mum has told Sasha to stop, which she did, and Sasha calmly watched as mum moved the food around in the bowl before allowing Sasha to eat again (I did loads of training with Sasha when we first got her with this as she was very possessive).
This week Sasha growled at dad and "went for him" (not sure what he meant by that) while my nephew and cousin (12ish and over 16 years old) were there playing pool. Some of Sashas toys were on the floor this time (I asked) but no one was that near them.
Sasha has previously growled when playing with balls in the garden which is why I asked about toys then, but in those occasions she has always willingly given me the toy when told to leave and it doesn't seem like an aggressive grown if you know what I mean.
Sasha is a staffie/GSD cross and is a very muscular, powerful wee dog. Like a tall staffie, but smaller than a GSD, and she is now over 10 years old. She's a very stubborn lady set in her ways and who loves routine. Naturally since baby has been born I assume her routine has changed somewhat. She hasn't been allowed in the same room as baby although I think this hasn't been an issue much as I believe baby has mainly been in the flat upstairs. My main worry here is for my parents. If Rosa suddenly went vicious, although she's a little taller than Sasha, she would be easy enough to restrain, but Sasha is a very powerful and muscular dog with an incredibly strong jaw. She has once, over 9 years ago, got a hold of another dog and ragdolled it by its neck, not letting go (thankfully it was a Shetland sheepdog and it's hair saved it). If she went mad and tried to attack someone, I wouldn't bank on them surviving it, as scary a though as that is.
And by the way since she attached that dog she has always been muzzled and harnessed during walks. My parents don't walk her so much though as they are terrified something might happen and she'll have to get put down. They have a garden which she loves, although the neighbours dogs are also aggressive at times and it results in the dogs viciously barking at each other through the fence (unable to see each other) so the neighbours and my parents signal to each other when their dogs are out. The dogs owner is moving out of that house soon and it seems unlikely that the remaining family members will get another dog, so that should reduce stress in Sashas life. Oh, and dad exercises Sasha in the garden every day. I have suggested he does the game "find it" with her to get her hunting for treats in the garden to give her more stimulation, and will suggest he does more training with her out there too.
Sasha used to mouth peoples arms when we first got her from rescue but since then (and even then as it wasn't done in an aggressive way), about 9 years ago, she has never shown any sign of aggression towards any human other than her light playful growling when playing in the garden with her balls, and now these two occasions. I do think it is linked with the new baby due to the timing.
I have though about a few possibilities as to the problem:
1. Stress from new baby
2. Possessiveness
3. Possibly starting to go deaf or blind
4. Going a bit senile in her old age
5. Lacking stimulation
6. Pain of some sort (she previously had very clicky joints but the vet said there was no issue, and it appeared to be resolved after she switched to raw).
7. Other medical issue like a tumour or cancer or something, or even simply blocked anal glands!
I will be home for one night on the Monday after tomorrow (if that makes sense!) and will check her over for myself then and I'm going to arrange a vet visit for then too.
Oh, Rosa & I will be visiting them for a total of three weeks in Dec/Jan (one week, then off to Ireland for a week, then two weeks in Scotland) and I have suggested that my parents crate train Sasha from now and have her sleeping in a crate in their room so that the visit with Rosa will not change Sashas routines too much. Currently Sasha sleeps in the room adjoining the one Rosa and I will be sleeping in. I've explained to them how to do this gradually so that Sasha will think of her crate as her safe den rather than as jail.
Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated!