Q&A with ‘The Paw Man’ (607) – 1 Bad Behavior, Multiple - TopicsExpress

Q&A with ‘The Paw Man’ (607) – 1 Bad Behavior, Multiple Possible Causes Nicole Carvell Hi PawMan, I have an American Akita (Diesel) who has just turned 2 years old. When he was 12 weeks old he had a major operation on his stomach which healed beautifully. At 12 months old he started showing signs of aggression, snapping and growling at visitors. He is now unpredictable with who he lets pat him as 1 minute hes ok then hes growling. He has drawn blood more than once on a visitor but only if they pat him. He is an only dog with 2 cats about the same age. It is freaking me out when this happens as I have younger nieces and nephews that cannot come over. I do not want an aggressive dog and am wondering if you have any ideas to help. We live at Greenacres SA. Thanks Nicki Paw Man Nicki this is a tough one because we have to rule out any physiological causes before we can start looking for behavioral causes. So a trip to the vet to have the dog checked over for ‘tender spots’ or ‘pain on movement’ triggers would need to be done. Then there are a lot of questions that need to be answered; 1. Is the aggression ever happening before physical contact? 2. Does the dog ever initiate patting or never? 3. Does the dog have any known tender spots? 4. Does the dog have a normal range of movement? 5. Does the dog play freely with other dogs? 6. Has he ever growled at you for patting him or flinched away when being patted? I suspect that it’s a learned behavior but without being able to assess the dog I cannot be sure. As with anything involving aggression with dogs toward humans I always suggest that you engage the services of a canine professional…. If you have welfare concerns for any humans around the dog then invest in a basket muzzle to allay your fears.