[nagdu] Barking and growling dogs

[Jenine Stanley]

Yes Rebecca, my last dog, Molly the Lab/Poodle cross, developed, for no
reason we could ever figure out other then the mix of Lab and Poodle not
meshing somehow, a problem with space issues. If she felt at all crowded and
there was another dog in her space, she would growl and toward the end,
snap. 

Snapping is my absolute deal breaker.  Luckily, her retirement was only a
week away when the snapping started. She'd always been a space sensitive dog
though. 

When the growling began in ernest, it was crushing. I tried everything, with
the help of GDF instructors and nothing worked. She turned out to be one of
many Lab/Poodle crosses of ours who had this issue after a few years of
work. 

I was very close to retiring her in December 2007 but had to try a couple
more things. By that point though, our relationship was strained and my
efforts at positive training for the issues weren't even reaching her. It
was very difficult. She also began to develop travel stress. She loved the
airport, did fine on the plane and all that but would throw up about 1 to 2
hours after landing. This time frame grew shorter and shorter. When I took
her back to GDF, we walked into the airport in Columbus, after having taken
way too many flights to and from different places in the past month, and she
just shut down as if to say, "No, I'm done." 

When we got off the plane in Long Island, she recognized the airport and all
but jumped for joy. 

I recently talked with the lady who has her now as a pet. It seems that
Molly is overly suspicious at night, having some other issues that point to
a vision problem at night, and if they meet anyone new or new dogs, Molly
will stand very protectively in front of her and her son. She's working on
having Molly be less suspicious. Once Molly gets to know someone or a dog,
as long as it doesn't crowd her, she's fine, friendly and the adorable diva
we all knew and loved. 

The funny thing about Molly was that it was only about dogs. She was fine
with humans. 

The dog before her, TJ, had a once in a lifetime aggression incident. 

Things started in October of 2004. I went to the conference for the NFB
agencies to speak with a grad and instructor from Guiding Eyes, about guide
dogs fitting into the centers. That's a whole other story, but the grad
didn't always have good control of his dog, not a great ad for our points.
His dog decided to hump mine. TJ hated being humped. 

After that I noticed that TJ was having some trouble with his lower back. We
went to local specialists and they discovered calcified disk. That explained
his reaction to the other handlers dog, a growl, completely out of character
for TJ, and smaller growls whenever the other team came near us that day. 

Then it came time for my husband to start his home training. On the second
day we went to the mall and did some work together. We stopped to have
lunch. TJ went under the table in the booth and laid toward the back.
Jackson then came in to lie down, but being a young, excited, and klutzy
Golden, he must have stepped on TJ or bumped his back somehow because the
next thing we knew, there was a whole lot of growling, snarling and snapping
going on. I thought the instructor was going to die. This is not what you
want during a home training. 

We got the dog separated but I knew it was over for TJ. It wasn't fair to
keep him working and I will not tolerate, no matter what the reason, a dog
who snaps at other dogs in harness. 

I did take him to a specialist at Animal Medical Center in Manhattan who
confirmed that there was really nothing that could be done. 

TJ is now 9 and living with his puppy walker in South Florida, having the
time of his life. She's very careful to keep the puppies away from him, but
she says he's developed a way to show them how to play without coming near
his back end. He also has his own hot tub, or at least he's claimed their
hot tub as his. <grin> He'll lie with his back to the side where it's warm,
or lie on the steps next to a jet that can pulse gently on his entire rear
area. Not spoiled at all. 

I truly don't know which is worse, a behavioral issue or a medical one. The
medical was almost a relief. The behavioral issues, especially if you've
tried everything you can think of and nothing works, and there's not even a
discernable root cause, can really mess with your head and handler
confidence. 

I would never presume to tell anyone when to retire a dog, but you have to
think seriously when it comes to prolonged growling, and move right to
action when snapping is involved imho.

 Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com