aggressive behaviour

Question
Hi Shelley! I have a 2year old yellow lab. He hasn't been fixed and was recently  diagnosed with heartworms. He has started to show aggression towards strangers by growling and barking visiously. He goes crazy when he sees kids from the neighborhood play with my kids. He has gotten loose once and attacked one of the neighbor's kids and bit her arm, puncturing the skin. He has never hurt any of us but I'm afraid he'll hurt anbody else he doesn't know. I'm desperate for advice on this matter. I don't want to get rid of him but the neighbors might make me if things don't change.   I hope you can help me. God bless! Sincerely, Cynthia

Answer
Hi Cynthia,

Thank you for writing to me about your yellow lab.  The first thing you MUST do is have him neutered.  This will reduce the testosterone and hopefully reduce some of the territorial and hormonal driven behavior.  It takes about 6 weeks for the hormone to deplete after neutering.

Heartworm treatment requires that a dog be kept absolutely quiet.  Getting excited can cause a heart attack so it is crucial for his life that he be kept crated or tethered with just a few gentle walks a day.  Your vet can verify this information.  This means that he must be kept out of visual contact when your children are playing.  Either the children have to play in someone else's yard or your dog has to be kept out of sight of them playing (and I suspect earshot as well).

Your dog should also be checked for Lyme and have his thyroid checked as well.  Both of these can influence behavior.  Make sure that his thyroid reads right in the middle and not low or high normal.

Beyond this advice, I'm going to turn you over to an expert in aggression...which means going to dog behavior under the dog section.  There are some wonderful behavioral experts there that deal with this type of situation...but I strongly suggest the neutering first and foremost.

Your dog should not be allowed to be loose at all in the neighborhood.  It endangers others and without the neutering will cause him to roam if he picks up a female scent and perhaps be stolen or run over.

If you try for the next several months and things seem bleak, do not give him to a kill shelter.  Try rehoming him to a calm home with no children under the age of 10 and a big fenced yard.

Best of luck,
Shelley Davis