Puppy aggression??

[NielZ]

Sorry if this post is long but I feel like I need to include a lot of info...Yesterday night we had a very scary experience with our 5 month old Border Collie puppy. It was around 9:30 at night and he was laying on the floor by the refrigerator and I went to pet him on his back/hind legs and he snapped. He lunged at my fiance and bit her on the side of her chest. He showed no warning signs. After this incident he did not let me or my fiance near him without snarling, baring his teeth and lunging at us or trying to bite us for about an hour. It was like he was terrified of us for absolutely no reason. We were able to calm him down by sitting on the floor with him and gently petting him and not letting him bite is and basically just holding him. We don't know if he was hurt, or scared of the thunder since we had a lot of thunderstorms yesterday or if he was exhausted since we had a long day. Earlier in the day we took him to the dog park, and then my fiance took him for a run a few hours later. He then he came to my fiance's parents house for a few hours and then a stopped by a friends house for a bit. The whole time he did not show any signs of aggressive behavior. He is familiar with my parents house and all of the people there so its not like he was uncomfortable or anything. My 2 year old niece was playing with him (supervised) and he was sooo good with her. It was like a we flipped a switch out of nowhere and we cant figure out what happened. The only thing we could think of was that he was scared of the thunder and freaked out or he hurt himself/ he is teething and in pain. Is this possible? This morning he was fine, playful and cuddly as anything.

[Sue R]

One thing that I wonder is your comment that your fiance took him "for a run". At five months of age, his skeleton is not mature enough for significant, repetitive motion like running along with a person on pavement/concrete. He won't be physically mature for extended activity like being a running companion, playing fetch or frisbee (which tend to involve a lot of jumping, twisting, turning, and other impacts), or anything else that requires a lot of repetitive motion and/or impact. So, is it possible that his hind end was sore from this activity (and maybe something that he did in the dog park) so that he was hurting last night? Did you startle him when he was sleeping by the fridge and he snapped instinctively, and then was fearful? Have you ever noticed signs of him being sensitive to thunder (and/or other loud sounds)?

 

I am not a behaviorist and none of us here saw what happened, but I would be cautious of overdoing the exercise with him and of startling him when he is asleep (if that was the case, and this is also good advice for any sleeping dog). I would also watch for other evidence of noise phobia (thunder phobia, fear of gunshots, etc.).

 

I hope someone can give you some better advice than I can.

[NielZ]

Thanks for the advise. We do not usually take him for runs, but we decided to take him for a quick 10 min jog. He has so much energy and we were trying to help him relive some.

 

He actually was not sleeping when my fiance pet him, he was wide awake.

[GentleLake]

A visit to the dog park (and I'm assuming he was running and playing there?) followed by another run, all as part of a very busy day made me also think he might have been reacting to pain.

 

I'd suggest making notes of all this information and then keeping a log if it ever happens again so that you can have the information at hand in case this continues. If it does happen again, it could be useful information for a vet to have when evaluating for pain or a behaviorist's evaluation.

 

IME, which I understand is limited and may not mesh with others', is that pups that young dogs don't seem to be affected by thunderstorms. All my thunder phobic dogs developed it later, sometimes as late as about 2 years old. This doesn't mean it may not have played a part in your case though.

 

I really hope this was a fluke and that it isn't the beginning of something serious. I wish I had more to offer than my sympathy and concern.

[Sue R]

Something that can be much better than a run to tire out a pup is mental exercise - practice manners, obedience, silly pet tricks, etc. Keep the time short enough to not lose his attention and keep it interesting enough (good treats help) to keep him eager to learn.

[Tommy Coyote]

I am just going to throw this out. Sometimes when a dog is coming out of a siezure they can get vicious. Then it passes and they act normal again .

 

This sounds to me like the dog may have really been in pain and didn't want to be messed with.

[Solo33]

One time Solo, about 10.5 months old at the time, was sleeping at the foot of a recliner. My 8 year old daughter got up and walked by him. I'm not sure if she bumped him or what, but he woke up and absolutely freaked out at my daughter, barking, hackles up, acting like she was an intruder. We were all shocked. He didn't attack her, but you could tell he was incredibly fearful and might have snapped at her if she went after him. She talked to him and it's like he couldn't see through his panic.

 

The next day he was still a little leery of her, and then it's like he forgot all about it! Solo's breeder thinks that he is a hard sleeper and might have been having a bad dream and woke up and associated it with her. Who knows what is going on in their heads sometimes.