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My dog snapped

1K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  JoanneF 
#1 ·
My dog is 7 years old, he is the sweetest dog ever, (towards people and his family, not so much other dogs) his sister passed away about a year ago and we recently just got two puppies, he has been doing really well adapting to the new puppies but, does growl at them, but he just snapped at my daughter when she tried to pet him/hug him goodnight, he got very aggressive and almost bit her. I don’t know what could have caused him to snap, he has never shown any aggression towards anyone until this time.
 
#2 ·
There may be a few things going on.

First, the puppies annoying him. It's possible this has caused his cortisol (stress hormone) levels to steadily build without the opportunity to drain away, like a bathtub with a trickling tap filling up faster than the water is able to escape down the plug hole. Then, something that wouldn't bother him on a normal day is enough to tip him over and react. We call this trigger stacking and we are the same - after a stressful day at work, a little thing at home can make us snap.

It's also possible he has been communicating his discomfort but the signals haven't been obvious.

Dogs give a series of signals that they are unhappy, but unfortunately most people don't recognise them because they can be quite subtle. To begin with there is often wide eyes, lip licking and yawning. There is also muscular tension in the body. Then the ones we sometimes do see - growl, snarl, nip then bite. If the early signals are not seen (or, in the dog's view, ignored) he won't bother with them because us stupid humans pay no attention anyway; so he may go straight to the bite. So it's important never to ignore the early signals. The graphic below shows this (although I would prefer it to be called ladder of anxiety), note that the snap is at the end of the list after your dog has tried about 9 other things to make stuff stop or go away.



A third possibility is that he is in pain or discomfort - a sudden change in behaviour should always be checked out by a physical exam by a vet.

So - even whether a vet check is clear or not, make sure he has a place to go where he is never, ever disturbed. A safe place to retreat to. Keep the puppies away from him, it's not fair to allow them to pester him and he shouldn't have to warn them off with a growl, your job is to keep it from getting to that stage. Also, tell your daughter not to hug him. Most dogs don't like to be hugged - to them it is restricting, it restrains them - it isn't an affectionate gesture to a dog in any way. It will take up to 72 hours for his stress tub to fully drain down so the first few days are important for letting him be undisturbed. Then, your family can try the five second rule - if he wants contact, stroke him for five seconds then stop. If he nudges you to ask for more (or similar) do another five seconds then stop again. Only continue for as long as he asks. This shows him he can make it stop if he wants, and will build his confidence.

Finally, this isn't in your question but please do some research on littermate syndrome. Even if your pups are not actually siblings, it still applies.
 
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