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My 2 y/o shephard/husky/mutt, Aria, has started showing signs of sudden aggression in the last couple months. Before now, she has always disliked confrontation (even would step in when the cats were playing too hard for her liking) and enjoyed playing with other dogs, but now she will show aggression and try to start fights.
It seemed to start after adopting a new dog about 3 months ago. She likes the new dog, a ~2 y/o hound mix, Meryl, and plays well with her. Shortly after getting Meryl, Aria was playing outside and our senior husky tried to play with Aria and it turned into a fight - something that never happened in the year they have been together. Since the fight, Aria will growl and pull towards dogs (usually smaller than her) on walks. When the senior husky wants to play she seems to take it wrong and growls and snarls very aggressively. They are together all day and have no issues otherwise than these random events.
I had her seen by a vet and she suggested a trainer since she was perfectly healthy. The trainer said to give it a little more time to adjust to the new dog. We did and it seemed to get much better where it mostly stopped, but they got into it again tonight - seemingly out of the blue where Aria got mad at both dogs.
We got Meryl to replace Aria's friend that passed at 13 y/o a few months ago, who played very well for her age but much more gently than the new, younger dog. There is no aggression from Meryl, just faster running and more puppy type play.
Does anyone have suggestions? Am I just expecting "perfection" too soon after loss of her friends and the introduction of another dog? She's never shown aggression toward us, other humans or cats.
Thank you!
It seemed to start after adopting a new dog about 3 months ago. She likes the new dog, a ~2 y/o hound mix, Meryl, and plays well with her. Shortly after getting Meryl, Aria was playing outside and our senior husky tried to play with Aria and it turned into a fight - something that never happened in the year they have been together. Since the fight, Aria will growl and pull towards dogs (usually smaller than her) on walks. When the senior husky wants to play she seems to take it wrong and growls and snarls very aggressively. They are together all day and have no issues otherwise than these random events.
I had her seen by a vet and she suggested a trainer since she was perfectly healthy. The trainer said to give it a little more time to adjust to the new dog. We did and it seemed to get much better where it mostly stopped, but they got into it again tonight - seemingly out of the blue where Aria got mad at both dogs.
We got Meryl to replace Aria's friend that passed at 13 y/o a few months ago, who played very well for her age but much more gently than the new, younger dog. There is no aggression from Meryl, just faster running and more puppy type play.
Does anyone have suggestions? Am I just expecting "perfection" too soon after loss of her friends and the introduction of another dog? She's never shown aggression toward us, other humans or cats.
Thank you!