Do I really need to see a pet behaviorist?

Question

My vet suggested I take my 6 month old Pekingese to a pet behviorist. Since her spay last month she has been very mean. She has always bitten my ankles or tried to nibble my fingers but, since the spay she bites hard to cause pain, she has broken skin several times. She actually yells back at me when I yell at her or punish her. If I put her in her crate she throws a holy fit, poops all over it and when she comes out she looks like she is going to have a heartattack she is so out of breath and frantic looking.

When I called the speciaist they were talking about medicine like puppy prozac, I really don't like drugs for humans or dogs. Are there alternatives that have been prven to work... perhaps homeopathic like acupuncture or herbs along with training?

To address some questions/comments:

Bella is on lamb and rice Canidae.

I never used to yell or put her in her crate until I was told by a trainer that I was not showing my dominance and that I did need to be firmer. They also told me "It is ok to use the crate as punishment, they said when I you were younger and got sent to your room you didn't get mad at the room and that it is the same for her"

I have tried everything but the STRICT trainers and medicine.

My definition of strict trainer are the ones that say she cannot sleep with me, she cannot be picked up ever and brought to my level and the ones that use the choke collars and shock collars.

Answer 1

Dog aggression is any behavior meant to intimidate or harm a person or another animal. Growling, baring teeth, snarling, snapping and biting are all aggressive behaviors. Although aggressive behaviors are normal for dogs, they're generally unacceptable to humans. From a dog's perspective, there's always a reason for aggressive behavior. Because humans and dogs have different communication systems, misunderstandings can occur between the two species. A person may intend to be friendly, but a dog may perceive that person's behavior as threatening or intimidating. Dogs aren't schizophrenic, psychotic, crazy, or necessarily "vicious," when displaying aggressive behavior.

Because aggression is so complex, and because the potential consequences are so serious, we recommend that you get professional in-home help from an animal behavior specialist if your dog is displaying aggressive behavior. Our Behavior Helpline can't assist you with aggressive behavior problems (see our handout: "When The Behavior Helpline Can't Help").

Types Of Aggression
Dominance Aggression: Dominance aggression is motivated by a challenge to a dog's social status or to his control of a social interaction. Dogs are social animals and view their human families as their social group or "pack." Based on the outcomes of social challenges among group members, a dominance hierarchy or "pecking order" is established (see our handout: "Dealing With Dominance In Dogs").

If your dog perceives his own ranking in the hierarchy to be higher than yours, it's likely that he'll challenge you in certain situations. Because people don't always understand canine communication, you may inadvertently challenge your dog's social position. A dominantly aggressive dog may growl if he is disturbed when resting or sleeping, or if he is asked to give up a favorite spot, such as the couch or the bed. Physical restraint, even when done in a friendly manner, like hugging, may also cause your dog to respond aggressively. Reaching for your dog's collar, or reaching out over his head to pet him, could also be interpreted by him as a challenge for dominance. Dominantly aggressive dogs are often described as "Jekyll and Hydes" because they can be very friendly when not challenged. Dominance aggression may be directed at people or at other animals. The most common reason for dogs in the same family to fight with each other is instability in the dominance hierarchy (see our handout: "Canine Rivalry").

Fear-Motivated Aggression: Fear-motivated aggression is a defensive reaction and occurs when a dog believes he is in danger of being harmed. Remember that it's your dog's perception of the situation, not your actual intent, which determines your dog's response. For example, you may raise your arm to throw a ball, but your dog, perceiving this to be a threat, may bite you because he believes he is protecting himself from being hit. A dog may also be fearfully aggressive when approached by other dogs.

Protective, Territorial And Possessive Aggression: Protective, territorial and possessive aggression are all very similar, and involve the defense of valuable resources. Territorial aggression is usually associated with defense of property. However, your dog's sense of territory may extend well past the boundaries of "his" yard. For example, if you walk your dog regularly around the neighborhood and allow him to urine-mark, to him, his territory may be the entire block! Protective aggression usually refers to aggression directed toward people or animals that a dog perceives as threats to his family, or pack. Dogs become possessively aggressive when defending their food, toys or other valued objects, such as Kleenex stolen from the trash!

Redirected Aggression: This type of aggression is relatively common, but is a behavior that pet owners may not always understand. If a dog is aroused into an aggressive response by a person or animal that he is prevented from attacking, he may redirect this aggression onto someone else. A common example occurs when two family dogs become excited, bark and growl in response to another dog passing through the front yard. The two dogs, confined behind a fence, may turn and attack each other because they can't attack the intruder. Predation is usually considered to be a unique kind of aggressive behavior, because it's motivated by the intent to obtain food, and not primarily by the intent to harm or intimidate.

Individual Variation
Dogs differ in their likelihood to show aggressive behavior in any particular situation. Some dogs tend to respond aggressively with very little stimulation. Others may be subjected to all kinds of threatening stimuli and events, and never attempt to bite. The difference in this threshold at which a dog displays aggressive behavior is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. If this threshold is low, a dog will be more likely to bite. Raising the threshold makes a dog less likely to respond aggressively. This threshold can be raised using behavior modification techniques. How easily the threshold can be changed is influenced by the dog's gender, age, breed, general temperament, and by whether the appropriate behavior modification techniques are chosen and correctly implemented. Working with aggressive dogs can be potentially dangerous, and should be done only by, or under the guidance of, an experienced animal behavior professional who understands animal learning theory and behavior.

What You Can Do
First check with your veterinarian to rule out medical causes for the aggressive behavior.
Seek professional help. An aggression problem will not go away by itself. Working with aggression problems requires in-home help from an animal behavior specialist.
Take precautions. Your first priority is to keep everyone safe. Supervise, confine and/or restrict your dog's activities until you can obtain professional help. You're liable for your dog's behavior. If you must take your dog out in public, consider a cage-type muzzle as a temporary precaution, and keep in mind that some dogs can get a muzzle off.
Avoid exposing your dog to situations where he is more likely to show aggression. You may need to keep him confined to a safe room and limit his people-contact.
If your dog is possessive of food, treats or a certain place, don't allow him access to those items. In an emergency, bribe him with something better than what he has. For example, if he steals your shoe, trade him the shoe for a piece of chicken.
Spay or neuter your dog. Intact dogs are more likely to display dominance, territorial and protective aggressive behavior.
What Not To Do
Punishment won't help and, in fact, will make the problem worse. If the aggression is motivated by fear, punishment will make your dog more fearful, and therefore more aggressive. Attempting to punish or dominate a dominantly aggressive dog is likely to cause him to escalate his behavior in order to retain his dominant position. This is likely to result in a bite or a severe attack. Punishing territorial, possessive or protective aggression is likely to elicit additional defensive aggression.
Don't encourage aggressive behavior. Playing tug-of-war or wrestling games encourages your dog to attempt to "best" you or "win" over you, which can result in the beginning of a dominance aggression problem. When dogs are encouraged to "go get 'em" or to bark and dash about in response to outside noises or at the approach of a person, territorial and protective aggressive behavior may be the result.

Answer 2

I would recommend that you do go and that you sign up for a good obedience class. My experience as a vet tech showed that when these behaviors start is essential to stop it quickly. Usually, behaviorist don't start off with medication but try to teach you the proper way to deal with the dog and change the unacceptable behavior. In some dogs with severe separation anxiety the medicine can help immediately, but that doesn't sound like what you are dealing with. You're dealing with a dog who's trying to tell you that SHE is in charge, not you.

If you don't deal with the behavior you can end up with a dog that is not suitable as a pet and could become a liability if it bites someone else. Many times people think that little dogs don't need obedience training, but the reality is all dogs benefit from it and so do their owners. Get some expert help on teaching your dog proper manners and what their rank is in the household. It will take time and consistency on your part to correct the behavior, but it can be fixed.

Answer 3

Your dog really does need to see a behaviorist. As a fan of natural remedies over drugs myself, I applaud you for your opinion, BUT if this situation cannot be totally fixed with training, drugs may be necessary because if your dog does bite and harm someone, you could be sued and lose EVERYTHING and even do jail time!!!!! A friend of mine had a dog that bit a neighbor and the neighbor won. My friend's homeowner's insurance paid it, but the insurance company then dropped her and she has to pay out of the nose for insurance now. It really isn't worth the risk only to avoid some drugs. Use the drugs as a last resort and try training first, but don't take the risk if it doesn't work.
As for training, I do suggest you get a behaviorist involved. It sounds like your dog went through some trauma and is acting out. You can't fix this yourself unless you personally have a lot of experience, so hire a trainer as it sounds like you have a lot to learn too about training dogs.

Answer 4

If the behavior is super frantic, a way of calming your dog down is the practice a ‘calm-puppy’ this is where you place the dog gently on its back on your lap (with a larger dog one would hold the back between ones thighs). Since your dog is small you shouldn’t have to worry about that. At first your dog will hate it! They pitch a holy fit, but you can’t let go until they are calm and quite. They learn quickly to calm down. This can be done starting with a few minutes (1-3) and then longer until your dog is comfy just to lie there while you watch a TV program. It can become something they really enjoy, rub the paws and tummy and make them feel important! This way if she starts getting ‘devilish’ then you can neutralize the situation with out drugs.

Answer 5

My vet gave me a herbal liquid to give my 2 year old white shepherd who suddenly decided he didn't like the grand kids! Since my husband and I have no children in the house, and my dogs weren't exposed to children, he has always sorta stayed away when they came to visit. This dog also had hip replacement surgery at 11 months old and never showed any signs of aggression until then. During his recovery (he had to be crated for 10 weeks), he was horrible! If I left the room, he would cry and rant and carry on and if we tried to ignore him, he ate his bed! He cost me 3 orthopedic dog mattresses! He got so stubborn, he wouldn't let my husband take him out to go potty - only me. So he would hold it for 10 hours while I was working then carry on the second I got home to take him out! Brat! My vet says he is "anxious" and rather than put him on doggie Prozac, we tried this herbal remedy. I will admit he is "less" anxious and aggressive when they last visited but we are still cautious with him around children. You may find it beneficial to take your dog to puppy training classes or a behaviorist. Something in your pups mind is rebelling and apparently at you! Does your pup act this way around others? Is she trying to be the lead dog?

Answer 6

First of all, you need to know that your dog's problem is very serious. If you have someone over and she bites them, you could be faced with a big fat law suit on your hands and no one wants that. But you also need to know that her behavior is directly tied with yours. Your screaming at her and locking her in her kennel is not the way to go correcting the problem. You're making worse, in fact. Doggy downers are not necessary, in my belief. The dog just needs to be trained but so do you. Try to find a program that not only reinforces good behavior in your dog but teaches you and the other people in your family how to handle her behavior. Remember, dogs don't understand human language. Screaming at her only frightens her and when animals are frightened, they bite more. Locking her in her kennel is a big no no. Her kennel is her den. It's where she can go to feel safe and secure and you're making it into a negative place, which is why she uses the bathroom in there. Dogs do not use the bathroom in "their space". Biters need love, tenderness, and understanding while at the same time firmness. You're the boss and that's one thing she needs to learn. Good luck with her and as far as those homeopathic methods...Junk and potentially dangerous to your dog. As I said, they're not humans.

Answer 7

You need to be educated about dog behavior. You indicate you do not understand it and punishing a dog is absolutely the wrong thing to do when trying to correct bad behavior. And that you are even considering medicating a dog rather than correct the behavior is another indication that you need to seek the advice of a good dog trainer. The bad behavior your dog is displaying is not that unusual and is easily corrected by someone experienced in dog behavior.

Answer 8

You need someone who can work with you & your dog on a one on one basis.

You can use a spray bottle ajusted to spray as far as it can & squirt her when she bites. A top water pistol is handy too.

When she bites you need to correct her right then & there. I usually recommend a good bop on the nose but she doesn't have a nose to bop.

Grab her up & while holding her mouth shut you bite her back. That she understands cause that is how she was corrected by her moma. Trying crying out when she bites you to let her know she hurt you & then grab her up & bite her. Sometimes it is best to be down on the floor at her level instead of towering over her. See the world as she sees it.

I know a trainer that uses a thumb nail to the ear. He swears that it works.

He hurt you & he needs to know what the consequences are for that. What ever way you choose to go about corrections you need to be consistant & not let one opportunity go by that you can correct.

Peke's are notorious for their bitting & nipping.

Answer 9

I would go with what the pet behaviorist has to say. Although they should be able to do some training rather than just giving the dog medicine. Good Luck I hope you get some control over your dog back.

Answer 10

Yes, there are. Look in your area for a homeopathic vet. Also, you can go to yahoo groups, there are homeopathy mailing lists that can be veryinformative. I will say, though, that a behaviourist is a great idea, just try to find one that isn't trying to shove drugs down his throat.

Also, what are you feeding him? A better diet will help, as well. That "crap in a bag" that alot of people feed their pets can cause more problems than you realize.

Answer 11

You don't need a behaviorist, you need obedience training.

Your dog is out of control, and you don't know how to control her.

Find a dog obedience school and solve this issue early on and for good.