Aggressive Mature Sheltie Mix

L

Lindsay

Forums Novice
My fiancé has an 8 year old (neutered) sheltie/schipperke mix that has recently started to get aggressive towards people. He got the dog from his sister about 4 years ago (before we met) and they spent just under a year together before I came into the picture. The dog has always had an obsessive personality over my fiancé and has always seemed to have very bad separation anxiety. We got another dog about a year and a half ago in hopes of lessening the separation anxiety since he wouldn’t be home alone while we were at work or when we left the house. This seemed to have no effect at all, though he does get along with our new dog and has yet to exhibit any real aggression toward him. This dog yelps and cries and whines when my fiancé leaves or enters the house. Lately, this has gotten even worse to the point where it sounds like someone is abusing the animal and there is no way to get him to stop until my fiancé enters the house and shows him attention. He doesn’t let out but one bark when I come home and that’s just because he hears a car pulls up and stops once he realizes it’s me.

I’ve been noticing more signs of aggression lately too. When anyone tries to take something from him, he gets this look in his eye like he wants to rip your throat out. This goes for both toys and even for items that he shouldn’t have but has gotten a hold of (I mostly take away things he is trying to shred or things that pose a choking hazard). He has snarled and nipped at me a few times for taking things away that he shouldn’t have. This has gone to the point where I had to put a pillow in front of his face to grab something from him because he kept trying to bite. This item was something that posed a large choking hazard, so I found it urgent to get the item away from him – or else I would have tried to wait until he lost interest in it. He has even yelped and nipped at me just for walking past him. He has bitten me for putting my feet down near him when trying to get out of bed.

Just last week, he ran after and tried to bite a three year old just because the child was running (nowhere near him). Over the weekend, he bit and latched onto me just for pushing him off my fiancé’s leg when he was trying to hump him. He also bit two other people (they were actually messing with him and did probably deserve it), but he also bit an innocent bystander and left several puncture wounds as well as a well-defined bruise. He bit probably 5 or six times just over this weekend and all bites drew blood. This was also the first time that I’ve had a bite from him that drew blood.

My fiancé loves this dog dearly, so he really wants to do something about this, but I have no idea where to start. I’m assuming the dog will still be alive in a few years, so I am absolutely terrified to start having children while the dog is still living in our home. Does anyone have any advice or has anyone gone through this? I want to correct this behavior before he bites the wrong person and we have a lawsuit on our hands. Thank you in advance!
 
no idea where you live but search for dog behaviorists in your area and get an appointment.
the aggression does sound serious so you'll need really good professional help.....
 
I would agree that this calls for immediate intervention with a dog behaviorist. You are right to be concerned.
 
So he's always had the separation anxiety, but the aggression is new? You may have him checked out at the vet too, to make sure there's not something physical causing him to act out worse than usual.
 
A lot of issues there. I agree you should bring in a behaviourist, but run from any that say it's a dominance issue, that approach will make a sheltie worse. What it sounds like is the dog has anxiety issues.

Firstly, I agree, get him to a vet. Aggression is often a sign of pain and if it's a new or escalating problem that could be the cause. You also should speak to your vet about anxiety medication - if he has gotten this bad you may need to get his cortisol and adrenal levels down before you can effectively retrain. It should also help with the separation anxiety. And if you're worried about giving medications, don't - biting is a death sentence and this dog is living on borrowed time.

Resource guarding. There is a method called swapping - where you swap one high value treat for another. Never take anything off him at this stage without offering him an alternative of equal or higher value. He has to get used to the idea that you taking things from him is actually a good thing. Swap food for a treat, a person for a toy and play time. Here's a link to 2 positive behaviourists with more details about resource guarding training http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/resource-guarding-treatment-and-prevention
https://positively.com/dog-behavior/aggression/resource-guarding/

Separation anxiety. This is a big issue and if it is really bad needs a concerted effort. I'm afraid it is too complicated to go through the whole procedure here. You can do a search for threads on this forum. For now, when your fiancé leaves he should give the dog something to keep it occupied. Otherwise it just reinforces that everything good leaves when your fiancé leaves. A couple of things I use for my dogs are treasure hunts (where I hide food around the house), Kongs, snuffle mat, and if I'm in a really big hurry I just throw food behind me as I leave the house. The treasure hunt is the best one as it keeps them occupied for ages. Another thing to do, if he has kibble only give it to him in a treat dispenser or treat bottle (you can make one by cutting kibble sized holes in a plastic water/soft drink bottle), so he's working for his food. This is a great way to divert him from the obvious signs of your fiancé getting ready to leave in the morning.

Now for some smaller things. All good things must come through you now, and your fiancé has to step back. No more over-mothering from him. You feed the dog, brush the dog, walk the dog, play with the dog. Your fiancé reduces the amount of attention he gives the dog, the attention comes more through you. That doesn't mean he withdraws it completely, just small things like he doesn't pet the dog whenever the dog comes up for attention. You're fiancé is likely to struggle with this, and the attention seeking will likely get worse before it gets better, but it does get better. Another thing, never, ever play rough-house games or any games that involve the hands or feet - play is with toys only. Finally, the dog needs to be walked every day, at least once. A bored sheltie is an anxious sheltie, and you want to lift his endorphins while reducing his cortisol - and physical activity and stimulation is the best way to do this. If you can't walk him in the morning, set aside 15min of exhausting play (like chasing a ball) before you go to work so he's tired when your fiancé leaves.
 
Oh boy ... that's the Schipperke in him. Schipperkes, if they're not trained from the outset, are incredibly willful, stubborn and aggressive, and they combine all those traits with unusual intelligence and a zest for adventure that causes many of them to run off and get lost. My daughter, who is a Schipperke aficionado, once owned a three-year-old male who had spent the first three years of his life completely without discipline. She ended up playing Anne Sullivan to his Helen Keller, and after a year had actually civilized him, albeit with great effort and a lot of hand-wringing, just in time for him to run out into the street and get killed by a car. If you were to ask her, I think she'd advise firm discipline with your dog, along with lots of positive reinforcement, and setting of definite boundaries that don't get crossed, with consistent negative consequences for misbehavior. And of course, this will all take time, and loads of patience.

Her latest Schipperke is my Dickens's BFF, and in Schipperke terms is a wonderful dog. But that's because she's had her since three months of age, and has been able to mold her without having to train bad habits out of her.
 
Thank you for all this advice! It is going to be an interesting task working with him on the behavioral issues.

He’s never actually been that aggressive a dog, so I don’t know if it was the ruckus of people being at our house or if this is going to be an actual behavioral change, so I’m going to start keeping a close eye on it, though regardless this behavior is unacceptable so I need to fix it. You’re right in scratching off dominance issue from the list – I do think that both our dogs believe that I’m actually the alpha in the house (even though I’m a female) since I am usually the one to discipline and train.

For your suggestion with the separation anxiety, the dog is so bad to the point that even a treat will not distract him from barking when my fiancé leaves or comes home.
He suggested a bark collar, but that would only actually solve the barking, not the behavior. And I’m pretty sure that he would probably revert as soon as the collar came off. Any other suggestions for this or should we just use the bark collar and give up hope with the obsessive behavior?

Caro said:
A lot of issues there. I agree you should bring in a behaviourist, but run from any that say it's a dominance issue, that approach will make a sheltie worse. What it sounds like is the dog has anxiety issues.

Firstly, I agree, get him to a vet. Aggression is often a sign of pain and if it's a new or escalating problem that could be the cause. You also should speak to your vet about anxiety medication - if he has gotten this bad you may need to get his cortisol and adrenal levels down before you can effectively retrain. It should also help with the separation anxiety. And if you're worried about giving medications, don't - biting is a death sentence and this dog is living on borrowed time.

Resource guarding. There is a method called swapping - where you swap one high value treat for another. Never take anything off him at this stage without offering him an alternative of equal or higher value. He has to get used to the idea that you taking things from him is actually a good thing. Swap food for a treat, a person for a toy and play time. Here's a link to 2 positive behaviourists with more details about resource guarding training http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/resource-guarding-treatment-and-prevention
https://positively.com/dog-behavior/aggression/resource-guarding/

Separation anxiety. This is a big issue and if it is really bad needs a concerted effort. I'm afraid it is too complicated to go through the whole procedure here. You can do a search for threads on this forum. For now, when your fiancé leaves he should give the dog something to keep it occupied. Otherwise it just reinforces that everything good leaves when your fiancé leaves. A couple of things I use for my dogs are treasure hunts (where I hide food around the house), Kongs, snuffle mat, and if I'm in a really big hurry I just throw food behind me as I leave the house. The treasure hunt is the best one as it keeps them occupied for ages. Another thing to do, if he has kibble only give it to him in a treat dispenser or treat bottle (you can make one by cutting kibble sized holes in a plastic water/soft drink bottle), so he's working for his food. This is a great way to divert him from the obvious signs of your fiancé getting ready to leave in the morning.

Now for some smaller things. All good things must come through you now, and your fiancé has to step back. No more over-mothering from him. You feed the dog, brush the dog, walk the dog, play with the dog. Your fiancé reduces the amount of attention he gives the dog, the attention comes more through you. That doesn't mean he withdraws it completely, just small things like he doesn't pet the dog whenever the dog comes up for attention. You're fiancé is likely to struggle with this, and the attention seeking will likely get worse before it gets better, but it does get better. Another thing, never, ever play rough-house games or any games that involve the hands or feet - play is with toys only. Finally, the dog needs to be walked every day, at least once. A bored sheltie is an anxious sheltie, and you want to lift his endorphins while reducing his cortisol - and physical activity and stimulation is the best way to do this. If you can't walk him in the morning, set aside 15min of exhausting play (like chasing a ball) before you go to work so he's tired when your fiancé leaves.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks to all for the advice!

I do have a question regarding “tiring” the dog daily. He – in the best description – is the most hyper lazy dog. Pretty much, he looks like he is going to explode all the time, but all he actually wants to do is sleep. It’s actually pretty hard to get the dog to play with a toy – unless my fiancé is playing with the other dog and sometimes the jealousy triggers a desire to play. Would this still be effective for positive attention?
 
Lindsay said:
Thank you for all this advice! It is going to be an interesting task working with him on the behavioral issues.

He’s never actually been that aggressive a dog, so I don’t know if it was the ruckus of people being at our house or if this is going to be an actual behavioral change, so I’m going to start keeping a close eye on it, though regardless this behavior is unacceptable so I need to fix it. You’re right in scratching off dominance issue from the list – I do think that both our dogs believe that I’m actually the alpha in the house (even though I’m a female) since I am usually the one to discipline and train.

For your suggestion with the separation anxiety, the dog is so bad to the point that even a treat will not distract him from barking when my fiancé leaves or comes home.
He suggested a bark collar, but that would only actually solve the barking, not the behavior. And I’m pretty sure that he would probably revert as soon as the collar came off. Any other suggestions for this or should we just use the bark collar and give up hope with the obsessive behavior?
Click to expand...
Do NOT use a bark collar. This is a dog that is dangerously close to the edge. I know of a dog who acted very similar to your dog. The owners put a bark collar on him and it pushed him right over the edge. They ended up euthanizing him because he attacked their other dogs as well as them - repeatedly, and with escalating aggression. It has been shown repeatedly in research that bark collars are ineffective and actually increase aggressive behaviors.

And yes, Caro is absolutely right. This dog does not need to be "dominated". He does sound as though he would benefit from medication - maybe short term, maybe long term. But he is clearly not able to manage his own emotions right now and needs some help to start calming down at least until he has the "life skills" to manage himself.
 
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